On Thanksgiving Day in 2018, a Safeway camera recorded Kelsey Berreth shopping with her young daughter in Woodland Park, Colorado. It was an ordinary errand that would become evidence. After Berreth disappeared, her cellphone continued to leave a trail. Finding the phone’s path, investigators would learn, was not the same as finding her.
Listen to “Kelsey Berreth Mystery” on Spreaker.
Editorial note: The written article below has been fact-checked and updated. The retained audio or video may reflect an earlier version.
A Missing Mother and a Misleading Trail
Berreth was twenty-nine, a flight instructor and the mother of a daughter just over a year old. Patrick Frazee, her fiancé and the child’s father, lived separately. Her mother reported her missing on December 2. By December 21, authorities had arrested Frazee in connection with her death.
The investigation had to reconstruct the space between a familiar public image—a mother in a grocery store—and a killing prosecutors said happened later that day at her home. A phone could send a message or register far away without its owner accompanying it. The distinction became central to the case.
What the Evidence Actually Showed
At trial, investigators described surveillance footage and communications records used to assemble a timeline. An investigator searching the condo testified that she did not find Berreth’s purse, vehicle and apartment keys, or gun.
Neighbor surveillance placed Frazee outside the condo at a time when, prosecutors argued, his own account placed him elsewhere. Other footage showed his pickup carrying a large tote. Those were pieces of evidence to be assessed alongside testimony, not permission to judge guilt from whether a person appeared sufficiently distressed.
The Witness Who Explained the Phone
Krystal Lee Kenney, also identified in reporting as Krystal Lee, had previously been romantically involved with Frazee. She became a prosecution witness after reaching a plea agreement. She admitted disposing of Berreth’s phone; records showed the two women’s phones traveling together to Idaho.
Kenney testified that Frazee called her to clean the aftermath of the killing. She said he described attacking Berreth with a baseball bat after blindfolding her in a purported candle-scent guessing game. This account of the attack came through Kenney’s testimony about what Frazee told her; she was not an eyewitness to the murder.
Frazee’s defense challenged Kenney’s credibility and emphasized the benefit of her agreement. Jurors had to weigh her account against the other evidence, including the digital trail.
Timeline of the Case
- November 22, 2018: Berreth is recorded shopping with her daughter. The prosecution establishes this as the date of her murder.
- December 2, 2018: Her mother reports her missing.
- December 21, 2018: Frazee is arrested.
- November 18, 2019: A jury finds Frazee guilty. He is sentenced to life without parole plus 156 years.
A Conviction Without Her Body
The prosecution argued that Frazee burned Berreth’s body. Neither her body nor the murder weapon had been recovered when the case reached its verdict.
A missing body did not prevent a conviction. But a verdict and a recovery answer different questions. One establishes criminal responsibility; the other would return physical remains to a family. The legal conclusion does not erase that distinction.
Berreth’s story is often reduced to its technological clues. Those clues mattered because they could test a narrative against times and places. Yet the person at the center was not a phone signal or a case file. The grocery-store image records a mother with her daughter before an ordinary day became the last day investigators could reconstruct.
FAQ
Who killed Kelsey Berreth?
Patrick Frazee was convicted of her murder in November 2019.
Was her body found before trial?
No. The defense emphasized that neither her body nor the weapon had been recovered.
What sentence did Frazee receive?
Life imprisonment without parole plus 156 years.
What did the phone evidence establish?
It helped trace movements and communications. Kenney admitted transporting and disposing of Berreth’s phone; its activity was not proof that Berreth remained alive.
Research Sources
The following resources were consulted to verify and update this article.
- Denver7: Inside the Patrick Frazee Trial — Original courtroom reporting, surveillance timeline and testimony that purse, keys and gun were not found in the condo.
- ABC News: verdict and sentencing — Verdict, exact sentence, Kenney’s attributed testimony, defense response and absence of recovered body.
- Colorado Supreme Court: Frazee opinion — Official procedural background, arrest date and the couple’s young daughter.
- KKTV: trial and investigation chronology — Reporting of the investigation timeline and prosecution evidence.
🔎 If this story stayed with you, the author suggests these real cases next:
- The disappearance story that collapsed when the evidence stopped cooperating
- The serial killer case where one simple piece of tech finally betrayed him
- The cold case that waited decades for one breakthrough to finally crack it open
- A woman vanishes in daylight, leaving behind one of the most haunting last traces on camera
Explore more Solved Cases stories here:
