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Frazee defense does not file motion for alternate suspect

Posted at 5:26 PM, Sep 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-11-01 13:29:33-04

TELLER COUNTY — Patrick Frazee's legal team did not file a motion before midnight Monday to use an alternate suspect as a defense for his murder trial this fall.

A court spokesman confirmed late Monday that no filings were entered during the day. However, Frazee's lawyers had until 11:59 p.m. to file the motion.

At an Aug. 23 motions hearing, Judge Scott Sells accepted the state's request for advance notice if Frazee's attorneys plan to use the alternate suspect defense for the murder of Kelsey Berreth. The deadline was set for Monday, giving both sides enough time to prepare for that defense before the trial beginning Oct. 28.

Frazee, 33, faces eight total counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, for the murder of Berreth, 30, who's been missing since Thanksgiving. She was last seen shopping at a grocery store in Woodland Park.

Through interrogation of a second suspect — Krystal Kenney, an Idaho nurse who admitted to dating Frazee — prosecutors allege Frazee used a baseball bat to beat Berreth to death inside her Woodland Park townhome. Kenney told police Frazee had her drive down, clean up the scene and assist in destorying evidence.

She admitted to taking Berreth's cell phone to deliver a ping off a tower in Idaho in an attempt to deceive police.

Police never named Frazee a suspect, despite serving a search warrant on the Florissant property he lives at with his mother on Dec. 14. He was arrested Dec. 21.