Tuesday marks day one in the search for Kelsey Berreth’s remains

Day one of the search for Kelsey Berreth’s remains is officially underway Tuesday at the Midway Landfill near Fountain.

It was a foggy start to the morning as investigators started digging through garbage.

As police monitored the entrances of the landfill, investigators sorted through trash in an area the size of four football fields. Commander Chris Adams with the Woodland Park Police Department explained what exactly they are looking for.

“As it came out last Tuesday, I think during the processes that her body was burned. We are going to be looking for any human remains, any bones anything to help us bring Kelsey home,” Adams said.

The search area is easily seen from the Indian Village Heights, a main street in the Midway community. That’s where many residents stopped to watch the search themselves.

Kirstie Owens and her husband were picking up their daughter at the bus stop when they stopped to look.

She said, “it’s pretty disturbing. No one wants to come to term with the fact that they’re searching for human remains over there.”

Berreth’s body was allegedly burned in a tote by her fiance, Patrick Frazee. Frazee is accused of blindfolding her and then beating her to death on Thanksgiving Day. He faces charges of murder and solicitation to commit murder.

A total of 40 people from local and state law enforcement agencies are involved in the search, and they will work in groups of 10, eight hours a day, five days a week.

Adams said, “We are going to have an excavator bring the trash out and put it in lines, then we will have the searchers just search and go through each piece and just search for it.”

Whatever crews find still leaves the Owens family with lots of question. She wants to know if “the remains were put in his dumpster or and then carried out through the normal trash process or if he actually drove himself to put it out here? That’s kinda the big question.”

Her husband Patrick said, “it’s a little disturbing to know I’m sleeping right across the street from that.”

While the search goes on here, the day-to-day operations continue, and Waste Management wouldn’t comment on the impact.

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