Berreth’s mother, brother and investigators take the stand in Frazee trial

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. (KRDO) - On Monday, witnesses in the Patrick Frazee murder trial revealed that the investigation into Kelsey Berreth's murder began with an empty townhome, a blood smear and a request for surveillance video.

Cheryl Berreth, Kelsey's mother, was the first to take the stand. She and her son, Clinton, arrived to check on Kelsey at her apartment on Dec 3, 2018.

They spent the next week with the Woodland Park Police Department. Police said they went to check on Kelsey at her townhome on Lake Avenue, but she wasn't inside. Her two vehicles, a Toyota Corrolla and Red Chevy Truck, were still parked outside covered in snow.

That was a tell-tale sign for Sgt. Michael McDaniel. He said, "for someone to be missing and not take their vehicles, means she had to leave on foot."

When Cheryl Berreth first walked into the home, she explains that it was warm. Uncomfortably warm. The garbage bin hadn't been dumped.

Clinton Berreth says he noticed cinnamon rolls sitting in the kitchen, uncovered.

They also noticed everything was wiped down.

It wasn't until Clinton was in the bathroom one morning when he noticed a bloody smear on the bottom of toilet bowl. They took a picture, sent it to police, and from that moment on, we're not allowed back in.

Sgt. McDaniel explained to prosecutors while searching the house that he collected Kelsey's toothbrush and mouthguard he found inside her medicine cabinet, even though it was still only a missing persons case at the time.

"Something started to feel wrong," he said.

The first officer to speak with Patrick Frazee after a welfare check -- days before the Berreth family arrived in town -- was Cpl. Deana Currin.

Frazee's 15-minute conversation with Currin, played aloud in the courtroom, was mostly unremarkable. Except for, in Currin's opinion, "the lack of concern. There was no future date of exchange with their child."

As the Berreth family and Woodland Park Police continued their investigation, Patrick Frazee was doing some digging of his own, one witness says.

Patricia Key, an employee of the ENT Bank in Woodland Park told the court that on December 5th Frazee and an unidentified male entered the bank and asked to review ATM surveillance video.

"Once we were in my office, Frazee asked if he could get surveillance video from November 22nd," Key said. November 22, 2018 was Thanksgiving Day. and the date of Kelsey Berreth's alleged murder.

Key says Frazee explained that he and his fiancee had broken up the day before. He said she hadn't been seen, and that he needed to have a timeline of his activity for that day.

Key told the court she felt empathy for Frazee, as he had lost someone in his life. She says Frazee responded, "All I know is after she was seen at Safeway, she talked with mother Sunday and no one's seen her since."

That's when Key says she pressed the issue. She told Frazee, "Well, if she talked to her mom Sunday, then she didn't go missing on Thanksgiving."

Frazee ended the conversation. The other man seen alongside him in a still-picture from the surveillance picture wasn't identified in court.

Testimony in the trial against Mr. Frazee continues all week.

Stay with KRDO.com for the latest.