Fiancé Allegedly Planned Murder of Colo. Mom Nearly 3 Months in Advance: Prosecutors
In new charging documents, prosecutors state they believe the suspected killing of 29-year-old Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth was planned over two months — allegedly by her fiancé, who stands accused of murder.
In addition to two counts of murder, Patrick Frazee, 32, faces three counts of solicitation to commit murder in the death of his still-missing fiancée, who is the mother of his 1-year-old daughter.
While Teller County investigators have yet to detail the specific allegations that led to the solicitation counts, it likely means prosecutors think Frazee allegedly solicited an individual three times or three people on three separate occasions as part of an alleged murder plot.
The alleged solicitations occurred between Sept. 1 and Nov. 1, 2018, according to the charging documents, which were obtained by PEOPLE.
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According to the documents, prosecutors filed two murder counts because they have two theories about how the presumed killing may have taken place: either Frazee killed Berreth by himself, or he and someone else allegedly tried to rob Berreth before she was killed.
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The five charges Frazee faces were filed Monday, nearly a month after Berreth disappeared without a trace. Officials believe Berreth was killed, but have yet to find her remains.
Berreth, a flight instructor from Woodland Park, hasn’t been seen in public since Thanksgiving, when surveillance video captured her and her daughter entering a local market.
Frazee, who did not live with Berreth, told police that he and his fiancée met up that same day so that Berreth could hand off their daughter to him.
Berreth’s mother, who lives out of state, reported her missing 10 days later, on Dec. 2, 2018.
Frazee was arrested on Dec. 21, 2018, without incident on suspicion of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit first-degree murder. He remains in police custody without bond.
PEOPLE was unable to determine if Frazee had entered pleas to the charges filed this week, and his attorney could not be reached for comment.
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Authorities have not discussed a possible motive for the presumed killing.
The couple’s daughter had been staying with Frazee after Berreth disappeared but is now with Berreth’s family, authorities announced.
Three days after Berreth apparently vanished, her mobile phone pinged on a cell tower near Gooding, Idaho, nearly 600 miles from her home, police have said.
That same day, texts from the phone of Berreth were sent to her employer, Doss Aviation, saying she would not be at work for the next week.
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The status of the couple’s relationship remains something of a mystery, with relatives saying Berreth had ended the engagement weeks before vanishing. Others have claimed the couple split the day of the alleged killing.
Frazee will be back in court on Friday for the next hearing in his case.
If convicted, he faces life imprisonment as well as a possible death sentence.
