An Idaho nurse has been charged with tampering with physical evidence in thecase of Kelsey Berreth, the missing Colorado mom whom authorities presume was murdered.
Prosecutors in Colorado who already have brought murder charges against Berreth’s fiancé,Patrick Frazee, 32, allege that Kenney “destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed, or altered physical evidence” in the case “believing that an official proceeding was pending or about to be instituted,” according to the formal charge.
Police have been investigating whether Kenney allegedly dumped Berreth’s phone in Idaho on Nov. 24 or 25, where the missing mom’s mobile device last pinged off cell towers shortly before authorities launched a search for her.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney Dan May would not discuss the plea deal with KOAA, but she did confirm Kenney’s court appearance.
In addition to two counts of murder, 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 five charges Frazee faces were filed 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.
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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.
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.
The status of the Berreth and Frazee’s relationship remains something of a mystery, with relatives saying she had ended the engagement weeks before vanishing. Others have claimed the couple split the day of the alleged killing.
If convicted, Frazee faces life imprisonment as well as a possible death sentence.
source: people.com
