WOODLAND PARK, CO – Updated: Woodland Park police and 75 emergency personnel from multiple agencies completed a search of the ranch property of the fiancé of missing Colorado mother Kelsey Berreth, 29, last seen on Thanksgiving Day.
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Deputies from the Teller County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant Friday on the 34-acre cattle ranch property near Florissant of Berreth’s fiancé, Patrick Frazee. Investigators included agents of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation and the FBI. Teller County Sheriff’s Office searched the area with dogs. Backhoes were brought on to the property, but no sign of Berreth was found, police said.
An anonymous donor has posted a $25,000 reward for information related to the disappearance of the female pilot and flight instructor who disappeared without a trace.
Police Chief Miles De Young said Friday that the disappearance of Berreth was being considered “more suspicious” than a missing persons case. Law enforcement officials no do not believe that Berreth is “intentionally avoiding efforts to find her,” he said.
Investigators seized Frazee’s red pickup truck in the raid on his property. More information was not available, since the search warrant was sealed.
Here are five things to know about the Kelsey Berreth case:
Berreth was missing for 10 days before a missing persons report was filed.
Police were asked to make a welfare check on Berreth by her mother, Cheryl Berreth of Idaho ten days after she had last been seen. Investigators said Berreth was last seen by her fiancé, who told police, through his lawyer, that she brought the couple’s baby to him on Thanksgiving Day. Police said three days after she disappeared, text messages from Berreth’s phone were received at her employer, Pueblo-based Doss Aviation and Frazee. Investigators said Berreth’s phone “pinged” near Gooding, Idaho, about 600 miles from her home in Woodland Park, a small town in the mountains west of Colorado Springs.
Police released video from grocery store; investigators found cinnamon rolls in Berreth’s oven
On Dec. 11, the Woodland Police Department released a short surveillance video taken Nov. 22 at the Safeway grocery store that showed Berreth entering the store with her baby’s car seat and loading the seat into a grocery cart.
Investigators said when they checked Berreth’s home in Woodland Park, they found both of her cars at home and a batch of cinnamon rolls in the oven. Her clothes and personal items did not seem to be moved.
Berreth is a pilot and works for an aviation company
Kelsey Berreth is a certified pilot and works as a flight instructor for Doss Aviation, commuting about 60 miles or more than an hour each way. Berreth does not own a plane, her family members posted on Facebook. “She does not own a plane nor do we know of any local friends that she would borrow one from,” they wrote on Facebook. “I don’t believe she has ever made a flight without filing a flight plan. We do realize that it is possible to rent a plane, but I believe someone would be missing it by now.”
Fiancé’s lawyer made statements contradicting law enforcement’s
Patrick Frazee’s lawyer, Jeremy Loew, told the Denver Post that Frazee had spoken with investigators and shared his phone and a DNA swab. But in a Dec. 14 press conference, police investigators said Frazee had only communicated through his lawyer and had refused, so far, to appear in person to be questioned. “We are asking [Patrick] to talk to one of our investigators,” Police Chief De Young said.
“Patrick Frazee continues to cooperate with law enforcement in the missing person investigation of Kelsey Berreth,” Loew said in a statement Friday. “We understand that a search warrant was executed on Mr. Frazee’s property. Mr. Frazee was never asked to voluntarily participate in this search. We encourage law enforcement to take whatever steps it deems necessary to find Kelsey Berreth and to be able to exclude Patrick Frazee as a possible suspect in this missing person investigation. Mr. Frazee will continue not to participate in any interviews with the media and instead focus on parenting the child he shares with Ms. Berreth.”
Frazee told television reporters to scram from the private road leading to his multi-acre ranch property.
After the search of his property, Frazee was allowed to return to his ranch, police said.
Frazee owns a cattle ranch and didn’t participate in press conference for his missing fiancee, will not let grandparents see the baby
Frazee did not attend Monday’s press conference asking for help finding his fiancee. His attorney, Loew said that’s because Frazee only got one hour of notice before the event. Berreth’s mother, Cheryl Berreth, was present at the press conference.
Frazee also did not attend a candlelight vigil for Berreth, which was held Thursday night.
Police said Friday that Berreth’s parents had not been allowed to see the baby.
Frazee had been having financial difficulties, which was interfering with the couple’s plans to get married, Cheryl Berreth told NBC.
“Their relationship has been good, but it hasn’t been ideal, given the economy and things. .. They had plans, they were planning to find a place for them to live, and the economy with prices dropping out and Kelsey’s fiancé has come cattle and the prices were poor, so the money wasn’t available as soon as they had hoped. But they make it work,” she said.
Anyone with information on Kelsey Berreth’s disappearance is asked to contact the police at [email protected].
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