CRIPPLE CREEK – Patrick Frazee, the man suspected of killing his fiancée Kelsey Berreth, was formally charged with a total of five felony counts, including first-degree murder Monday morning.
4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May spoke following the hearing, when he announced the list of charges.
Frazee was formally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, but both are related to the presumed death of Berreth.
May explained that in Colorado law, it requires prosecutors to differentiate between the “theories” of murder. One of the charges was for murder with deliberation and the second was a charge of felony murder.
The list of charges obtained by News 5 indicated that Frazee, alone or with other persons, attempted to rob Berreth and killed her during the course of the crime. The deliberation charge said Frazee “after deliberation, and with the intent to cause the death of a person other than himself, caused the death of Kelsey Berreth.”
The other three separate charges were for solicitation to commit first-degree murder. The description beneath the list of charges read, “Between and including September 1, 2018 and November 1, 2018, Patrick Frazee unlawfully and feloniously commanded, induced, entreated, or otherwise attempted to persuade another person to commit murder in the first-degree.”
May told News 5’s Sam Kraemer that the three counts of solicitation does not necessarily mean that three different people might have been involved in solicitation efforts, but that Frazee had reached out to an individual on at least three different occasions.
At this time, Frazee is the only person who has been arrested in connection to Berreth’s disappearance. Prosecutors motioned for consumptive testing, which means that investigators need to destroy a piece of evidence in order to build the case. That motion will be further discussed Friday.
May said Frazee is being held without bond until Jan. 29. That’s when he is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 29 at 9 a.m.
May also said that the 4th Judicial District will not make a decision about whether to seek the death penalty until a plea is entered. After that, prosecutors would have a 9-week window to make that decision.
Frazee had a chance to enter a plea at Monday’s hearing, but the defense chose not to. The five charges were not read aloud in court.
The defense will receive a copy of the arrest warrant, however the probable cause affidavit remains sealed and is expected to be sealed for some time while investigators follow leads. Prosecutors called it an active investigation.
A multi-agency team arrested Frazee on Dec. 21 following multiple searches of Berreth’s home in Woodland Park, nearly one month after she was last seen on Thanksgiving. Her body has not yet been found.
