Kelsey Berreth case: Jury to hear opening statements in Patrick Frazee murder trial
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Colorado jury is slated on Friday to hear opening statements as the trial of Kelsey Berreth’s accused killer reaches the next stage.
Berreth’s disappearance in Woodland Park on Thanksgiving last year drew headlines across the country. The jury was seated this week in Cripple Creek.
Prosecutors have accused her fiancé Patrick Frazee, 32, of Florissant, Colo., of beating her to death with a baseball bat before burning her body. Berreth was the mother of his 1-year-old daughter. He has been charged with murder.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The photo shows Patrick Frazee and Kelsey Berreth one year ago. (Kelsey Berreth Facebook)
POLICE END SEARCH FOR KELSEY BERRETH REMAINS IN LANDFILL
Investigators conducted a massive search at a landfill but have never found her body.
The prosecution’s star witness is an Idaho nurse, Krystal Kenney, who told investigators Frazee killed the 29-year-old Berreth after soliciting her to do it.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Investigators said she also told them Frazee ordered her to clean up the blood after the murder and to drive Berreth’s phone to Idaho to throw off investigators.
Kenney said she and Frazee were lovers at the time of the murder.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We wouldn't even know where the murder happened in the apartment, even which room or where it happened at all, without her testimony," District Attorney Dan May said of Kenney in February, according to KMGH-TV.
The station spoke to a criminal defense attorney who said he expects the defense to attack Kenney’s truthfulness when she undergoes cross-examination.
"They want to tear down her credibility as much as possible, and what better way to do that than to say she's more involved in this crime than she's going to say, and that gives her the motivation to fabricate what the defendant, Patrick Frazee, did," Stephen Longo told that station.
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Kenney struck a deal to testify against Frazee in exchange for a three-year prison sentence for evidence tampering.