Patrick Frazee leaves the Teller County District Court in Cripple Creek, Colo., Monday, Dec. 31, 2018. Frazee learned of the five charges against him during his brief court appearance Monday in Cripple Creek. A charging document says the 32-year-old Frazee is accused of working to find someone to kill Kelsey Berreth between September and November and causing her death on or around Thanksgiving. (Chappin Everett/The Gazette via AP)
DENVER (AP) — A Colorado man was charged Monday with murder and solicitation to commit murder in the death of his missing fiancee as police try to find out what happened to the mother of his child.
Patrick Frazee is accused of trying to find someone to kill Kelsey Berreth three times between September and November and causing her death on or around Thanksgiving, according to a charging document. Berreth was last seen Thanksgiving Day on a grocery store surveillance video with the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, and Frazee said the two met that day to exchange their child.
The girl is staying with her mother’s family, and authorities have not said if they have found Berreth’s body.
Frazee, 32, was told in court that he is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder. No details were provided about who else may have been involved in Berreth’s death.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May declined to say whether the three soliticiation charges mean investigators believe Frazee tried to get three people to kill Berreth, a flight instructor.
When Frazee was arrested Dec. 21, police said more arrests were possible, but they have not announced any. They have said the evidence suggests Berreth was killed at her home in Woodland Park, a mountain town near Colorado Springs, and that her cellphone was tracked to Gooding, Idaho, three days after Thanksgiving.
The Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office in Idaho said last week that the FBI and Colorado authorities asked the agency and police in the city of Twin Falls, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) southeast of Gooding, to help prepare and serve “several search warrants” and process some evidence in the case.
The sheriff’s office didn’t provide details about the searches or the evidence.
The document detailing the evidence for Frazee’s arrest is sealed. His lawyers are expected to get a copy of it Monday but are not allowed to discuss it with him until a judge decides if they can. A hearing is set for Friday.
May said prosecutors have kept the information secret at the request of investigators, who are still tracking down leads and trying to interview people.
Frazee did not speak in court and is not expected to enter a plea until after evidence is scheduled to be presented at a Jan. 29 hearing.
By COLLEEN SLEVIN
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