In addition to two counts of murder,Patrick Frazee, 32, faces three counts of solicitation to commit murderin 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 Monday,nearly a month after Berreth disappeared without a trace. Officials believe Berreth was killed, but have yet to find her remains.
Patrick Frazee, Kelsey Berreth and the couple’s infant.Facebook
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.
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.
PEOPLE was unable to determine if Frazee had entered pleas to the charges filed this week, and his attorney could not be reached for comment.
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 Berrethwere sent to her employer, Doss Aviation, saying she would not be at work for the next week.
• Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage?Click hereto get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter.
The status of the couple’s relationship remains something of a mystery, with relatives saying Berreth had ended the engagement weeks before vanishing. Others have claimed the couple split the day of the alleged killing.
Woodland Park Police Department
Frazee will be back in court on Friday for the next hearing in his case.
If convicted, he faces life imprisonment as well as a possible death sentence.
source: people.com
