48 Hours - The Murder of Kelsey Berreth

Episode Date: October 6, 2019

A mom vanishes and now her fiancé is in jail awaiting trial for her murder. His former rodeo queen girlfriend says she knows what really happened. CBS News correspondent Nikki Battiste reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Woodland Park, Colorado is a serene mountain town and home to a young mother who seemed to vanish into thin air. I believe that Kelsey Barrett was disappeared on Thanksgiving, leaving her family questioning her whereabouts. Not long after Kelsey Barrett disappeared, one woman told a wild story that had more twists and turns than these mountain roads. But it would lead to a huge break in the case and Kelsey's

fiance being charged in her death. Today we arrested Patrick Frazee on charges of first degree murder of Kelsey Barrett. As a reminder, Patrick Frazee is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Once I heard that he had been arrested, it just solidified that feeling deep down that I knew that she wasn't coming back. Kelsey is a very kind and thoughtful person. She didn't want any drama, but it wasn't until later on in life that she, I think, really decided that I want to be a pilot. And once she realized that was her dream, she just went for it. This surveillance video of Kelsey Barrett and her one-year-old daughter at a Woodland Park supermarket is the last anyone's seen of the 29-year-old mother.

I think it's the story of a tragic and troubled relationship with a lot of problems that simmered under the surface. This is an apartment complex where the houses are adjoined. This isn't like a rural farm in which something could happen and nobody would notice for months. When they got the search warrants and went in there specifically with a team.

What did they find? They found blood in the bathroom. Some of that blood was Kelsey's. Investigators have been out here the last two days taking things in and out of Kelsey's... There was also a mix of male and female DNA in the sink. But the key is that male DNA did not belong to Patrick Frazee. The physical evidence in this case so far is incredibly weak.

When Patrick Frazee was arrested, I was called in. I was in the shower and got out, sopping wet. Didn't dry my hair, didn't put makeup on, ran to the station, got into a car. That day he was arrested, it was frantic. Only 11 News was here earlier this week as investigators took boxes out of this home over the past two days. The story started here locally in Colorado and then all of a sudden the media is coming from all over the country. We're in tonight to search for Kelsey Barrett. There's a lot of people's hope in this community right now. Anyone saw Kelsey Barrett?

This case blew up. And then we have a rodeo queen in Idaho who enters this mystery. Right. She admits to cleaning up the crime scene and tells the prosecution the whole entire story of what happened. There's poison coffee. There's a baseball bat, scented candles, a blindfold, phones that are pinging all over Colorado and in Idaho. You know, who would do this? Why would they do this? All of the clues in the case that investigators are getting are from one person.

She's the bread and butter to this case. She's the only person in the world that they have to possibly convict Patrick Frazee. Do we know if any of this is true? Can anyone believe it? Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets,

the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access,

I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.

The scary cult classic was set in a Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear.

But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're gonna talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked.

And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. The images are haunting. A mother in the grocery store shopping with her baby. Thanksgiving Day, 2018. The last time Kelsey Barrett was seen in public.

She's not the kind that runs off. This is completely out of character. Kelsey loves her God. She loves her family and friends, and she loves her job. It was Cheryl Barrett who reported her 29-year-old daughter missing after trying to reach her for days. Kelsey, we just want you home. Call us if you can, and we won't quit looking. At that time in early December, Woodland Park Police had not publicly named a suspect. We are treating Kelsey's disappearance as a missing persons case at this time. Her mother still had hope of finding Kelsey alive. You can't eat and you can't sleep, and the stress won't end until we find her.

Did any of you text her or try to call her? I did. I told her that I hoped that she was okay and that I loved her. None of you received any responses? No. No. It does feel a little bit incomplete without Kelsey, because usually it was us four all together all the time. Ashley Cogburn, Amanda Smith, and Nicole Haywood had an unbreakable bond with Kelsey.

They grew up together in Moses Lake, Washington. From the pictures, she's gorgeous, obviously, and very put together. And so you might think that she's this prissy girl, but she was not. She was raised on a hay farm and very much a tomboy. Country girl? Yeah, she's out there driving tractors and bucking bales. In flying planes, she was a flight instructor. Do you remember Kelsey talking about wanting to be a pilot?

Yeah, I actually got to go up with her one time, and that was pretty amazing. I was terrified at first. She a good pilot? Oh, yeah actually got to go up with her one time and that was pretty amazing. I was terrified at first. She a good pilot? Oh yeah, she was really good. She wasn't afraid to challenge the typical boundaries. So it wasn't a surprise when a Colorado cowboy named Patrick Frazee caught Kelsey's eye on a dating website in 2016. Did Kelsey say what it was she liked about Patrick? You know, he was like a country boy, and that's what she was used to. That's what she liked. They started a long-distance relationship.

Patrick Frazee lived on a 35-acre ranch in rural Florissant, Colorado. These are four dogs. They'll be our dogs to train this fall and winter. Patrick Frazee lived on a 35-acre ranch in rural Florissant, Colorado. These are four dogs that will be our dogs to train this fall and winter. In this video, Patrick can be heard training cattle dogs. Pepper, that'll do. Down. He also shooed horses and groomed donkeys. The black and white one is Flash. Clint Klein has known Patrick for seven

years. Patrick is the farrier for the donkeys. People call them horseshoers and all that, but our donkeys don't have shoes. So he trims their feet. He trims their feet. He gives them, as we call it, donkey manicures. Klein says Patrick was quiet and dedicated to his work. He's kind of laid back, you know, kind of staged to himself. He had his ranch to take care of. Had you ever met Kelsey? I did. I met her one day. She came out during one of the trimmings and spent the day. Were they affectionate at all? Well, this isn't the most affectionate place in the world, so I'd say that day no. Eventually, Kelsey moved to Colorado from Washington state to be closer to Patrick, and they were expecting a child. Her mother Cheryl says they were engaged. Does she have a dress yet?

No. I don't think she cared about the big wedding kind of thing. It was between them and God. Even after their daughter Kaylee was born in October 2017, the couple still didn't live together but shared parenting duties. He never came to see her, but she would, like, on her days off, she would go back and be with him. Friends say Kelsey was struggling to balance the baby, her job, and a long commute. Her relationship with Patrick seems strained. She seemed to be kind of stressed out from the whole thing that she couldn't make him happy. Was Patrick emotionally abusive?

him happy. Was Patrick emotionally abusive? It appeared that way from what I saw, and it seemed like it was just knocking her spirit down. Did Kelsey ever say he was physically abusive? No. Ashley says Kelsey once mentioned there may have been another woman in Patrick's life. I think Kelsey had mentioned one time about an ex-girlfriend who still kind of wanted to be with Patrick. Kelsey wasn't worried about it. I don't know if it was because she knew she lived far away. Kelsey didn't seem all that worried about it. After Kelsey was reported missing, police talked to Patrick.

He told them that the day before Thanksgiving, Kelsey said she wanted to end their relationship. KKTV reporter Ashley Franco. He said that Kelsey wanted to go their separate ways and things weren't working out between them. They wanted to split custody 50-50 and they were just not meshing anymore. Patrick told police he and Kelsey met to exchange the baby on Thanksgiving Day.

He also returned Kelsey's belongings. A purse, keys to the car, keys to the townhome, and then a gun that Kelsey owned. It was a gun, Patrick says, he had once taken from Kelsey for her own protection. Police say Patrick told them Kelsey struggled with depression, hinting that she may be suicidal. When you hear that Patrick said Kelsey was unstable, that she was maybe suicidal. No, not at all. It doesn't match up with Kelsey. Patrick told investigators Kelsey was in treatment for substance abuse.

That is the extreme opposite of who Kelsey was. Her friends say she did seek help, but for fatigue and stress. She did attend a program, but it was not a drug program. It's nutrition, it's spiritual counseling. I want there to be no questions as to the strength of her morals and her spiritual character. Police searched Kelsey's home but turned up no signs of foul play. Then Cheryl and her son went to the house to check it out. They want to find Kelsey. They want to know what happened to her.

So they're staying in Kelsey's townhome and things kind of get a little odd. There was a mat, like a rug of some sort in the bathroom, and it's gone. And she had also noticed that the refrigerator looked like it had been wiped down recently. You could see streaks. Later, her son is in the bathroom and notices blood on the base of the toilet. And the alarms go off in their minds. Alarms go off. Kelsey's mother, Cheryl, alerted investigators who returned to the house. This time, they used chemicals to detect the presence of blood. They found trace amounts of blood everywhere in the bathroom. Do we know whose blood? DNA results showed it was Kelsey's.

The discovery of Kelsey's blood inside her home was huge. Then investigators found important evidence in Kelsey's driveway near her car. They come back with the cadaver cadaver dogs the canine units and they find human decomposition. Investigators believed Kelsey had been murdered but they needed more evidence. A closer look at Kelsey and her fiance's cell phone activity Thanksgiving weekend would lead them to her suspected killer. What lead them to her suspected killer?

In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn. And it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn Trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America

has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers

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From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're gonna dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Patrick Frazee was taken into custody this morning in Florissant, Colorado, just after seven o'clock this morning, Mountain Standard Time. Nearly a month after Kelsey Barrett vanished,

Woodland Park Police Chief Miles DeYoung made this grim announcement. Today we arrested Patrick Frazee on charges of first-degree murder of Kelsey Barrett. As a reminder, Patrick Frazee is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Patrick, what do you have to say? Despite the murder charge, Kelsey's body had not been found. As you can tell from the arrest, sadly, we do not believe Kelsey is still alive. Kelsey's daughter, Kaylee, is in protective custody and will be reunited with Kelsey's family.

From the beginning, investigators had questions about Patrick's story, starting with his initial claim that the day before Thanksgiving, Kelsey told him she wanted to break up and, quote, go their separate ways. So this is Woodland Park? This is Woodland Park. Yet, there she was, shopping the next day for the family dinner. And the surveillance video here at Safeway becomes central to this case. Right.

Last day, she's seen publicly. Grabs a cart, you see her grab a cart and put Kaylee in the cart and then go off. And that's the last time publicly anyone had seen Kelsey Barrett. What does she buy here at Safeway? She buys ingredients for a sweet potato casserole. Investigators wondered if Kelsey had broken up with Patrick, why would she send him this text? I bought some sweet potatoes in case you wanted sweet potato casserole. Kelsey didn't tell her mother she and Patrick were breaking up when she spoke with her Thanksgiving morning. Did she sound normal? Definitely. She sounded happy and normal mom-daughter talk.

Yeah, yeah. Another big question investigators had was when Patrick said he last saw Kelsey. Patrick told officers that he hadn't seen her since Thanksgiving, November 22nd, when he exchanged their daughter, Kaylee Barrett. Patrick claims that exchange happened outside her home, but he's never said when. Patrick claims that exchange happened outside her home, but he's never said when. Shortly after 1.15 p.m., he is seen on Walmart surveillance with a baby carrier. Fifteen minutes later, a neighbor's security camera captures an image of Patrick and Kelsey with a baby carrier in front of Kelsey's door. But then, according to authorities, around 3.30, that same security camera captures an image of an individual that matches the physical description of Frazee at Barrett's residence. We don't know whether he's coming or going. He doesn't have Kaylee,

and he's not with Kelsey. And then that's it. University of Colorado law professor Aya Gruber has read the court filings in this case. The critical question is what happened in between around 1.30, 1.45 and 3.30 when they get that picture of him. Police say this is likely when Patrick killed her. Investigators have recovered a number of items that make us suspicious that the crime did occur at Kelsey's residence. Patrick told authorities he drove their daughter Kaylee to his ranch for Thanksgiving dinner.

He said Kelsey wasn't with them. But investigators discovered that her cell phone was. They pulled cell phone records and found that on Thanksgiving Day, November 22nd, all of a sudden Kelsey's phone and Patrick's phone started traveling together, but Patrick and Kelsey were not together. Investigators say Patrick took Kelsey's cell phone after he killed her as part of a scheme to cover his tracks. They believe he faked 19 calls between the two phones over Thanksgiving weekend and was sending texts between them, including this one from Kelsey's phone.

I'm going running. I'll call you guys when I get home. His response, OK, be safe. The theory that the prosecution is going to put forward is that that was Patrick with her phone, and he's texting pretending to be Kelsey. Two days after Thanksgiving, authorities believe Patrick concocted this conversation. Are you awake? Sorry, I didn't hear my phone. Going to jump in the shower. I'll call you guys when I get out. Okay. Then investigators believe to keep up his ruse that Kelsey wanted the breakup,

Patrick sent this message. If this is truly what you want, I'll respect your wishes and give you space. On Sunday, three days after Thanksgiving, there was a bizarre development that would send this case in a very different direction. Phone records show while Patrick Sell stayed near his ranch, Kelsey's phone was on the move, heading west out of Colorado. There was a text from Kelsey's phone to her supervisor at DOS Aviation saying, I won't be at work. So people had thought maybe they heard from Kelsey. The next text from Kelsey's phone said, Do you even love me?

That text pinged off a cell phone tower 800 miles away. Reports are correct that Kelsey's phone gave a location near Gooding, Idaho on November 25th. When that came out, I think everyone was just shocked. And where's Kelsey? And where's Kelsey? No one knows where Kelsey is. So how did her phone end up in Idaho? This woman may have the answer. It was startling news when investigators revealed that three days after Kelsey Barrett was last seen,

her cell phone had pinged in Gooding, Idaho, 800 miles from her home. Tonight, we have new information about a 32-year-old Twin Falls woman that may have helped Patrick Frazee cover up the disappearance and alleged murder of his fiancée, Kelsey Barrett. At the time of Kelsey's disappearance, phone records show that Patrick was in touch with this woman, Crystal Kenny Lee. Crystal was a nurse and avid horsewoman who grew up here. Is this Crystal's world? Horses, open spaces? This is Crystal's world. KMVT news director and weekend cowboy Cade Atwood.

This is what we do, you know. We in the Magic Valley, we work hard to be able to do this on the weekends. Crystal and her family are a big part of the rodeo community, a very prominent family. Talk horses and that's, you're speaking her love language, you know. Michelle Stein is Crystal's best friend. Horses are her life. She loves horses. Oh no! She was a cowgirl who liked to have fun. Take a look at this!

And in Idaho, where rodeo rules, Crystal was royalty. In 2008, she was crowned Queen of the Magic Valley Rodeo. She was so loud. Laura Stutzman has known Crystal since she was a teenager. Crystal was so kind with everybody that it was just so difficult to turn her down in any way. Crystal had a reputation of getting what she wanted? No, I wouldn't say it was a reputation of getting what she wanted. Crystal worked so hard at everything she did to try to do everything completely correct. Authorities believe that it was Crystal who traveled to Idaho with Kelsey's phone.

But when the FBI made their initial call to Crystal, she said she had no idea who Kelsey Barreth was. She also denied knowing Patrick Frazee. Then she changed her story. They asked her, when was the last time you talked to him? And she said, I don't know. I'd have to look at my phone. And then says, oh, in the last month. Investigators are thinking, okay, but we already know that your phone has called his phone multiple times in the last few weeks. She says, I don't have a personal relationship with Patrick Frazee. I've gone to Colorado and looked at a few of his horses, and that's the extent of our relationship.

She lies. She lies. Turns out, Crystal Lee and Patrick Frazee had a long history. They met after high school. Then, eight months before Kelsey disappeared, Crystal and Patrick's relationship heated up. Crystal was recently divorced with two children. She had been out here multiple times to see him, and it was a type of affair. What did Crystal say about Patrick? Was she in love with him? I think she was, to a point.

Were they in a sexual relationship? I don't know. When she would go to Colorado, it wasn't just to see Patrick. She has family in Colorado. During the investigation, the FBI got a tip that Michelle had explosive information about the case. She says Crystal called and confided in her about a disturbing conversation she and Patrick had a month before Kelsey disappeared. She was very, very upset, very distraught. She had told me that he had asked her

to take care of his baby mama. And you took that to mean she took that to mean? So I was like, well, I was in shock at first because people, who says that? Nobody says that. So I was like, wait, what? And she said, yeah, he asked me if I would kill the mother of his baby.

I mean, what are you thinking at that point? I was just in shock and disbelief. What was Crystal's tone when she was telling you this? She was bawling. She was crying. She was extremely upset and scared. Michelle says she asked Crystal why Patrick wanted to kill Kelsey. What'd she say? And she said that he had told her it was because she wanted to take him back to court to get custody of the baby. And he was in fear that she was going to harm the baby. Investigators found no proof Kelsey had harmed her daughter,

but did find evidence that Patrick had planned to challenge Kelsey for custody and believe that may have been his motive for murder. Do you regret now not calling authorities? Well, this is the thing. People need to understand, what was I supposed to do? Michelle claims she didn't know the full names of either Patrick or Kelsey.

So I was supposed to call somewhere in Colorado and say, hey, there's some guy in Colorado that wants to kill some girl. I don't know their names and I don't know where they live, but, you know, good luck finding them. I guess that's what people think I should have done. Michelle says she pushed Crystal to call the police. I kept telling her, I think you need to call and tell somebody.

See, you got to understand, I'm trusting her to do the right thing. But I think, Michelle, people watching will say, call the police. Say, you need to talk to my friend. Someone's asking her to kill someone. Yeah, you're right. Okay, of course the viewers are going to think that. But do you have regret? Of course I regret it.

I regret it every day. Oh, my God. I would do anything to have stopped that somehow. Kelsey had been gone about a month before Michelle talked to the FBI. And when the FBI went back at Crystal a second time, she too was ready to talk. I think at that point she kind of knows I have to come clean. But first, Crystal wanted a deal. In exchange for her testimony against Patrick, she agreed to plead guilty to evidence tampering.

She admitted to getting rid of the gun, to tossing Kelsey's keys in a canyon, and destroying her phone. It's a tampering with evidence charge, which is a minor charge compared to murder or, you know, accessory to murder or attempted murder. She only faces, at max, three years in prison. This is a pretty good deal that she gets. What Crystal revealed to investigators would become the center of the prosecution's case against Patrick Frazee. When Crystal Lee finally started talking, she didn't stop for four and a half hours. Her story was stunning. She claimed Patrick tried to get her to kill Kelsey three different times.

And the first idea on how to kill Kelsey was what? The first idea was to get a caramel macchiato from Starbucks, Kelsey's favorite drink, and put poison in it. Two months before Kelsey went missing, Crystal says she drove 12 hours from Idaho to this Starbucks near Kelsey's home in Colorado. Hi, welcome to Starbucks. What can I get started for you today? Crystal, a nurse, told investigators she suggested the perfect potion, a lethal dose of Ambien and Valium. She says, I'll get the drugs, I'll poison the coffee.

Is that parmacchiato for you? Thank you. Enjoy. This is the drink. That is the drink Crystal Lee had ordered to put poison in to give to Kelsey Barrett. So Crystal brings this Starbucks caramel macchiato right here. Waits in the alleyway, walks up to Kelsey's door, knocks on the door, and tells... Kelsey opens it?

Kelsey opens it, tells Kelsey this elaborate story. She says, I'm new to the neighborhood. Someone had told me that you had helped get my dogs out of trouble. And Kelsey says, no, I didn't do that. Does Kelsey take the coffee? Allegedly, Kelsey takes the coffee inside and closes the door. And from there, we don't know what Kelsey does with the coffee. But Crystal says she couldn't do it.

She didn't poison the coffee. And when Patrick found out, he was angry. He was furious. He was not happy that she didn't go through with it. He would play head games with her. A lot. Crystal's best friend, Michelle Stein. He just had a way of manipulating her into doing things. After Crystal said she couldn't go through with the poison plan,

she told investigators Patrick came up with a different idea. He calls her back and says, okay, I'll give you a second chance. You can come out here and I'll give you a new way to kill her. You can come out here and I'll give you a new way to kill her. What does he say? He says, I have a metal pipe that I'll leave outside my property that you can come pick up. And I want you to go wait for Kelsey at her townhome. And when she comes, hit her on the back of the head. The way Crystal tells it, she drove to Kelsey's house with that metal pipe, but didn't attack her and drove back to Idaho.

A week later, she says Patrick called with a new murder plan. Once again, Crystal drove from Idaho to Kelsey's Colorado townhouse. Crystal claims she waited for Kelsey outside her home, this time with an aluminum baseball bat. But just like her earlier attempts, she says she chickened out. It's just hard to believe these stories. They seem outlandish and wild. Phone record show Patrick called Crystal in Idaho around 4.30 on Thanksgiving Day. Crystal said he told her, you need to get out here now. You got a mess to clean up.

And at that point, Crystal knows something has happened to Kelsey. What does Crystal do next? Crystal says that she can't come out that same day, but will come out a few days later. She's in Idaho, loads up the car with cleaning supplies, bleach, hair nets, you know, gloves, trash bags. She was so convinced not only it was going to be a murder, but a bloody one,

that she basically brought the equivalent of a hazmat suit and every sort of cleaning product that one might see in one of those TV shows about how to clean up a crime scene. Two days later, on Saturday morning, Crystal says she drove 800 miles to Patrick's ranch to pick up a set of Kelsey's keys he left for her outside. Then she says she drove to Kelsey's home. Crystal tells authorities she opens the door and the scene is horrific. There's blood everywhere. There's bloody footprints. Every inch of the townhome is covered in blood. According to Crystal, Kelsey's body was not inside. And then spends, you know, three to four hours

cleaning and scrubbing the murder scene. And she throws away a few items that she says she can't get clean. Right. You know, there's baby toys, there's books, and she takes some of the things that she couldn't clean and puts them into trash bags and loads them in the back of the car she was driving. Crystal claims Patrick was back at his ranch during the cleanup. There was a point in time when Patrick Frazee had told Crystal Lee,

when you go to clean up her townhome, there is possibly a tooth somewhere. Crystal said she threw that tooth and a bloody sweater in a trash bag. So one of the things Crystal says is that after she does about three to four hours of cleaning, she goes and gets a Sonic burger. Who goes to get a Sonic burger after cleaning up what she describes as a horrific, bloody scene for three to four hours? Yeah, that is, you know, just something that feels really unbelievable. Crystal told investigators after the cleanup she met with Patrick.

She described to them how he said he lured Kelsey to her death. Crystal claims Patrick invited his fiancée to play a guessing game with candles. his fiancée to play a guessing game with candles. She says that he takes a sweater from Kelsey's room and blindfolds her with the sweater and has candles sitting out in front of Kelsey and is telling Kelsey to guess the scent of each candle. During her interview with investigators, Crystal said Patrick told her while baby Kaylee was in another room, he took a baseball bat and quote, he went to swinging. After killing Kelsey with that baseball bat on Thanksgiving Day, Crystal says Patrick

told her he put her body in a black tote. Then, two days later after the cleanup, Crystal claims she met Patrick at his ranch and watched him burn that tote. When Crystal wrapped up her interview with investigators, she took them to Kelsey's home and pointed out where she claims she intentionally left blood for them to find. Hours later, on December 21st, 2018, Patrick was arrested at his ranch and charged with Kelsey's murder. This is a case without a body. This is a case without a lot of physical evidence. So what we mainly have connecting Patrick Frazee to an incredibly brutal and violent crime is Crystal Lee's testimony.

Crystal, who had cut that deal with prosecutors, seemed shaken when she appeared in court after she turned herself in to authorities. Why do you think she did this? I don't know. You do not know the sleepless nights I have had trying to figure that out. The crystal I knew could do no wrong. But the crystal that has done the things that came out of her mouth is somebody I don't know. And that leaves Laura Stutzman with one question. Why? Patrick Frazee has entered a plea of not guilty,

and if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. I think every time I see him, it's frustrating. Because he sits there and he just stares. He doesn't show emotion. Two months after his arrest, authorities searched a landfill for Kelsey's remains. Investigators searched the landfill for weeks and didn't find a thing. But investigators did find a potentially damning piece of evidence

at Patrick's ranch. They are working to test a fragment of a tooth that is just so small. They're working to test it for DNA to see who it belongs to. And they have been treating this tiny piece of evidence like it is the biggest part of the case. Still, there are unanswered questions.

Initial forensic tests at Kelsey's home revealed some of her blood was mixed with unknown female and male DNA. The key is that male DNA did not belong to Patrick Frazee. Do we know whose female DNA that is yet? We don't yet. And to this day, there's no body and there's no murder weapon.

What's that mean for the prosecution? I think it makes it a much more difficult case. The cell phone evidence tells a story, and that's very helpful. But it can't tell a full story. So what this case lives and dies on is the testimony of Crystal Lee. That is the connective thread for everything. As for Crystal, she's not in jail, she's home. She'll be sentenced after Patrick's trial, but if her story doesn't hold up, that plea deal she got from prosecutors is off the table. In the rodeo world, where Crystal once reigned, folks live by the cowboy code. It's about honor and trust.

Crystal broke all the rules. I think I can speak for a lot of our community here where the ones who knew and loved Crystal with all their heart feel rather betrayed. There's no sentence imposed by a judge that can actually be more harsh than what her community will put on Crystal. Those who know her best can't fathom how it came to this. Why is the question that everybody has. Why? Crystal had it all. She had it all. Investigators said that Crystal told them she loved Patrick and wanted to please him. But there was something else. She was afraid that Patrick might harm her family.

She had a legitimate fear for her life here. Crystal's best friend, Michelle Stein. He did a lot of threatening. He threatened Crystal a lot. He threatened Crystal's daughter. How? I'm not exactly sure the specifics of how he threatened her, but he did say little girls come up missing all the time. Prosecutors are counting on Crystal's story to convict Patrick of murder, but his defense team has already pointed the finger right back at the former rodeo queen, suggesting Crystal fabricated portions of her story, or may herself have been involved in Kelsey's murder. Is Crystal believable?

It's hard to say because we know she lied to investigators the first time they talked to her. We don't know if she's being truthful. to investigators the first time they talked to her. We don't know if she's being truthful. Come on, Tarzan. Here you go. Patrick's friend, Clint Kline, is reluctant to speculate. His life's been turned upside down. Guilty or innocent, it's been turned upside down. What's the big question on your mind? I think a lot of people are wondering if they got the right person in jail. Patrick Frazee remains under tight security while he awaits trial for Kelsey's murder. Their two-year-old daughter is being raised by Kelsey's parents. Friends say nothing can bring Kelsey back, but they will always be there for her daughter. I think I would tell her, you know, if you ever feel yourself being driven or shy,

a little feisty or playful, just know that that's your mother coming through. I can't tell you how many times I see an airplane flying by and wonder if that's Kelsey up there. She had her wings down here and she was an earthly angel. And now she'll have real angel wings, heavenly angel wings. Patrick Frazee's murder trial is due to begin on October 28th.

For more details, read Patrick Frazee's arrest affidavit at 48hours.com.