Patrick Frazee Writes CBS4 From Prison: 'I Didn't Do It'

CROWLEY COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - The man sentenced to life in prison for a murder case that got national attention is speaking out. In a letter written to CBS4's Rick Sallinger, Patrick Frazee says he wants a voice.

Frazee says his attorneys told him not to speak to the media. He has been a man of no words. He did not testify at his trial or speak at his sentencing. Now in a letter he is finally having his say.

The return address is from the Colorado Department of Correction Arkansas Valley Correctional Facility in Ordway in Crowley County.

It begins "Dear Rick." He quickly gets to the point.

"Let me start by telling you I did not kill Kelsey!"

Kelsey Berreth, the mother of their child, suddenly disappeared on Thanksgiving Day 2018 after being seen on video in a Woodland Park Safeway. Despite extensive searches, her body has never been found.

Frazee wrote, "I want my daughter to know the truth. Most of all I want my daughter to know I did not kill her mother!"

The key witness against him was his sometimes-girlfriend Krystal Lee, an Idaho nurse.

Lee testified Frazee asked her three times to kill Berreth, but she couldn't do it. However, she did clean up  Berreth's residence after the murder took place there.

"Dan May (the 4th Judicial District Attorney) and the media took this story from Krystal and ran with it," Frazee wrote.

He claimed unknown male DNA was found in the sink in Kelsey's bathroom. The CBI told CBS4 all DNA was identified.

Frazee complained that his attorneys did not even try to present a defense at the trial adding, "Everyone I ever thought I had, has turned on me because of this. I did not do this."

It appears Frazee may have had assistance writing the letter, but the lead investigator on the case told us the signature does appear to be his.

Frazee is now appealing his life plus 156 year sentence. Lee received only three years.

She could be moved to a halfway house after spending just two months of her sentence behind bars. Lee is being referred for consideration of placement in a community corrections program.

Something Kelsey Berreth's family and the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office are strongly opposing .