Kelsey Berreth Murder: Patrick Frazee's Arraignment Delayed

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (CBS4) - The 32-year-old Florissant man accused of killing his 29-year-old fiancee last November faced a judge for an arraignment hearing on Friday morning but it was delayed because forensic evidence is still being tested. Patrick Frazee is charged with two counts of murder and three counts of solicitation of murder in the death of Kelsey Berreth.

Berreth was last seen on Thanksgiving Day in her hometown of Woodland Park and police have yet to find her body.

Frazee was expected to enter a plea on the charges he faces on Friday but that won't happen now until the new date for the hearing -- May 24. He has been in custody since his arrest in December 2018.

He appeared in court wearing a bulletproof vest and Teller County's signature pink handcuffs.

Attorneys on both sides agreed more time was needed for evidence testing to be completed, so the arraignment was delayed.

Teller County District Attorney Dan May said the arraignment hearing will start a clock ticking on his office's decision on whether to pursue the death penalty against Frazee.

"Death penalty decisions aren't made until after arraignment by law in Colorado," May said. "Once the defendant enters a not guilty plea we have nine weeks to decide whether this is a death penalty case or not."

Investigators who have testified in the case said Frazee's mistress, Krystal Lee Kenney of Idaho, told police he beat Berreth to death with a bat and then burned her body and planned to dump her remains in a river or at a landfill.

Crews have been searching for Berreth's remains at a landfill in Fountain for more than a month.

"This is kind of our incident command center... you can see just above my finger there... you can see a few people up there... that's where we are doing our search up there," a video on the city of Woodland Park's Facebook page described.

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It could be December before Frazee goes to trial.