Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Murdered Kelsey Berreth Bombshell! Rodeo queen Krystal Lee Kenney sentence TOSSED!

Episode Date: February 24, 2021

Krystal Lee Kenny, the key witness in the murder case of Kelsey Berreth, has had her sentence vacated. Kenney was sentenced to three years for her guilty plea for evidence tampering. Berreth disappeared on Thanksgiving Day 2018, Her then-boyfriend Patrick Frazee was convicted for bludgeoning Berreth to death in her Woodland Park, Colorado, a townhouse that evening. Kenney testified that Frazee called her and demanded that she drive from Idaho to Colorado to clean up the crime scene. She reportedly complied and also accompanied Frazee to his nearby ranch, where she said he burned Berreth’s remains as well as her personal belongings. Joining Nancy Grace today: Ken Belkin Criminal Defense, Federal Criminal Cases, Civil Rights, Constitution Law Expert, Matrimonial Law Dr. Bethany Marshall - Psychoanalyst, www.drbethanymarshall.com, New Netflix show: 'Bling Empire'  Joseph Scott Morgan Forensic Expert, Professor of Forensics, Author, "Blood Beneath My Feet" Ashley Franco - Reporter at KKTV 11 News Colorado Springs @AshleyKKTV Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. A 29-year-old new mother goes missing. We now know Kelsey Barrett was murdered. In the last hours, a stunning development in the case. The mistress of her longtime fiance has had her sentence vacated. What does it all mean? How did the whole thing start? Listen.

Thanksgiving is the last known time Kelsey Barrett was seen in public. It was at this Safeway store where she was captured by the store's security cameras. Cheryl Barrett says she spoke with Kelsey by phone that day twice. What did you talk about that day? It was just small things. And initially she needed a recipe. Based on that conversation, there was nothing to make you believe there was anything wrong. Exactly. Yeah. Her voice was fine. She was, yeah, she was, it was a normal day for her. A recipe for a meal that Kelsey Barrett was cooking that night for her longtime fiance,

that fiance, Patrick Frazee. So why would she be cooking a meal for her fiance that night along with their little baby girl and then suddenly just bug out and disappear? She didn't. You were just hearing our friend Joe Fryer at the Today Show. Take a listen to this. Her brother traveled to Colorado to help find her posting. After arriving at Kelsey's house and combing through her things, we know one thing is certain. Kelsey did not pack to go anywhere. All luggage is here. Her purse is all that seems to have gone. Barrett's cars are still in Colorado and police tell me they have searched her home for clues and are working closely with her family to learn more about her, including her life on social media and anyone she's been in contact with.

You were just hearing our friend Mariah Villareal at CBS News. Joining me, an all-star panel to break it down and put it back together again. In the last hours, a bombshell in the case of Kelsey Barrett, a beautiful young mom. We now know to be dead, even though her body has never been found with me criminal defense attorney uh renowned who practices throughout the country in federal court ken belkin dr bethany marshall psychoanalyst to the stars joining us out of la star of a new series bling empire on netflix and you can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. Professor of Forensics, Jacksonville State University,

author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon and star of a new series on True Crime Network, Poisonous Liaisons, death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, two special guests joining us from KKTV11, Ashley Franco. Ashley, thank you so much for being with us. When the brother first went into the home where Kelsey Barrett lived with her daughter, her little baby girl,

of course, the fiance, Patrick Frazee, did not live in the condo with her. He really didn't see anything at all wrong, did he, Ashley? Right. He went in there and he didn't see a thing out of place. And that was a little bit shocking to them. Obviously, her purse and her keys weren't there, but everything else seemed to be in place. Only now, in retrospect, do we realize a horrible and bloody crime scene had gotten the, quote, woman's touch. Take a listen to a neighbor who could shed light on what helped, what happened with Kelsey.

Take a listen to our friend Sam Kramer at KOAA. What do you remember seeing Thanksgiving Day just up the road here? I looked up there and there was both red pickups up there Thanksgiving day and that was from about 12 30 to 1. She says she never saw anybody but the information aligns with what Frazee told police through his attorney saying he picked up their daughter sometime Thanksgiving day. The Safeway surveillance video includes a 1205 time stamp meaning the truck would have arrived shortly thereafter. The other two cars were parked with the vehicles facing the apartment, but his was parked sideways behind them. The neighbor says it's the same truck she's seen the last two years, driven by a man picking up and

dropping off a baby. And when I showed her video of Frazee's truck towed off his property Friday, she says it looks the same. So now we're understanding Patrick Frazee's truck towed off his property Friday. She says it looks the same. So now we're understanding Patrick Frazee, Fiance's truck, had her Kelsey Barrett basically blocked in like a T-bone in that condo. When I said the condo got the woman's touch, this is what I mean. Take a listen to Jennifer Mechels at 9 News Denver. Crystal Lee testified that she and the defendant, Patrick Frazee, had a long and complicated relationship. She said Patrick killed Kelsey, the mother of his child, with a baseball bat,

and that Crystal Lee has helped clean up the crime scene. Crystal pleaded guilty to tampering with evidence in this case. And this morning, Crystal told the jury that the terms of her plea deal were for her to tell the truth. She said that has not been easy back when this first started and now as she testifies. But when prosecutors asked her why she decided to tell the truth, Crystal answered this, quote, I couldn't have lived with what I knew and Kelsey's family deserves to know what happened. Straight out to Ashley Franco, KKTV 11 News, Colorado Springs. Ashley, what now do we know happened in Kelsey Barris' condo with her baby nearby? Well, we were told that Thanksgiving Day that Patrick Frazee had gone in and blindfolded Kelsey,

had candles sitting out that were all lit as some sort of a game, perhaps, to maybe spice up their romance life. And we were told by Crystal Lee that Patrick Frazee killed Kelsey with a baseball bat and beat her multiple times with their one-year-old sitting in the room right next door. So let me understand this. Ashley Franco, KKTV, the mistress, I believe is a rodeo queen, Crystal Kinney? Correct. Single mom?

Mm-hmm. She learns from her boyfriend, her lover, Patrick Frazee, who has engaged Kelsey Barrett, the mother of his daughter, that he, Patrick Frazee, convinces Kelsey on Thanksgiving, when she's in the middle of cooking dinner for him, to let herself be blindfolded to smell

different candles. And while she's blindfolded, he beats her in the head with a baseball bat. Is that right? That's correct, yes. Take a listen to ABC Denver 7. Prosecutors say Frazee blindfolded Kelsey to smell candles and guess the scent and then beat her to death with a baseball bat and burned her body. Prosecutors told the jury this is a case of a cold calculated manipulator and while showing a photo of Frazee called him the face of a killer. We learned the trial hinges on cell phone records, trace amounts of blood evidence and testimony from Idaho nurse Crystal Lee Kenny without a body. Crystal is the state's star witness. She told investigators she tried to kill Kelsey three times at Patrick's

request but couldn't go through with it. She says that's when Frazee took matters into his own hands and she drove down from Idaho to clean up a bloody mess in Kelsey's apartment. Dr. Bethany Marshall, what person in their right mind would drive from out of state to come clean up a bloody murder scene? Nancy, I don't even know where to begin with this. I mean, you know, the easy answer would be, hey, she was brainwashed by him. She was lovesick. But I don't think that's true. I think that she had as much hatred and malice towards the victim as her boyfriend did.

They both hated this woman together. And why? The victim was beautiful. She had a child. She had her whole life ahead of her. You know, Nancy, sometimes envy plays such a primary role in these kinds of crimes. When one woman sees another who seemingly has it all, and they just want to blot that woman off the face of the earth because they cannot stand that that person's around. That's the only thing I can think of.

Otherwise, why would a woman clean up a bloody crime scene? I mean, as part of that, Kelsey's tooth was found. He beat her so badly about the face and the head with a baseball bat while she's blindfolded with the baby in the next room her teeth flew out of her head and this woman Crystal Kinney leaves her own family to come clean up the crime scene I mean Ken Belkin you're the famous criminal defense attorney explain to me how in the world you would explain that away to a jury. And now in the last hours, we understand Ashley Franco, KKTV, is it true that Crystal Kinney, the rodeo queen that cleaned up a crime scene, backed out of her deal?

Right. Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that they would like her sentence to be vacated and have her possibly resentence. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the brutal murder of a 29-year-old mother of one. She was no edgy, guys. As I recall, Ashley Franco, she had a great job. She was a trained pilot. She bought her condo all on her own. No help from the fiance, I might add.

And was raising her child on her own. And doing a really good job at it. So explain to me, Ken Belkin, what you could possibly say to defend the mistress, Crystal Kinney, who literally is a rodeo pageant queen, who three times says she backed out of killing Kelsey. She knew Kelsey was going to be killed. She could have saved her life, but she didn't. Well, she was obviously operating under extreme duress at the behest of her lover at the time.

And, you know, clearly she loved this man and was willing to. Kim Belkin. Objection. Duress.ress in other words coercion isn't it true that under the law for you to claim coercion as a defense in other words you admit you did it but you were coerced forced to do it you have to be in fear of your own life or the life of another at the moment you act. Isn't that true, Ken Belkin? Well, you could argue that maybe she was if her lover was willing. She was in a different state. She was in Idaho. How could she be afraid she was about to take a bullet to the head? She was nowhere near the defendant. Well, she was certainly operating under some form of diminished capacity. Oh, I see your defense is shifting.

It was coercion. But since I explained the law of coercion, now it's what did you say? Mental. Did you say mental? Yeah. So she was insane for the moment that she drove to Idaho, cleaned up the crime scene and then went home. And oh, by the way, remember to get rid of Kelsey's cell phone along the way, diminished capacity, and as soon as she got back home, she came to?

Well, certainly not the actions of the same person, right, Nancy? Look, listen, Kim Belkin, you're a great lawyer. You've got a great reputation. You practice in federal courts all around the country. And I know I'm putting you on the hot seat where there's really not a good defense. And guys, that's why, even though I would never do it myself, that's why it must be hard to be a defense lawyer because you're stuck with these horrible facts. And somehow you've got to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. That's what it boils down to sometimes.

So how in the hay, before I circle back to beat up poor Kim Belkin for a moment, Ashley Franco, what do you mean the Rodeo Queen's sentence has been vacated? So the Colorado Court of Appeals, her attorney went to the Colorado Court of Appeals and said, we think that they illegally sentenced our client. And the Colorado Court of Appeals said after reviewing everything, we believe that the district court erroneously sentenced Kenny outside of the maximum term. And so we're vacating her sentence. Can you slow down a little bit? Just a little bit. What? So they said that they believe the district court erroneously sentenced Kenny outside of the maximum term.

And they want her sentenced to be vacated and they want her to be resentenced. Well, didn't her defense attorney went along with the plea and after sentencing. Just filed this complaint that they sentenced her wrong, but according to the defense attorney and I just talked to her, she was given the plea paperwork late at night and then the next morning they just went along with with everything. So that was that. Are you telling me the defense attorney just, quote, went along? Right. There was nothing in court to, you know, object the plea agreement. I was sitting right there in court. There was nothing at the time that anyone had a problem with. So what was the sentence, Ashley Franco? This woman who has known about the murder plot for a long time, backed out of murdering Kelsey herself three times, went and cleaned up a bloody crime scene, hid evidence from police, lied about it.

What was her sentence? She was sentenced to three years in prison as she pleaded guilty to a tampering with evidence charge in exchange for information about Kelsey's death. So if you are convicted of tampering, what is the appropriate sentence, Ashley? In Colorado, the maximum sentence is 18 months. How many charges did she have of tampering? She pled guilty to just one charge of tampering with evidence. How many was she charged? How many counts was she charged with?

They didn't give her anything else but that one charge. And the DA's office only had said on one occasion that she could be charged with several charges of tampering with evidence. They never give a number, but that's what he had said. Okay, Ken Belkin, criminal defense attorney, you got me over a barrel. I know when something's wrong and this plea deal is wrong. You can't sentence somebody to a term greater than is allowed by the law. It was the prosecutor's decision to let her plead guilty on a much lesser charge. I think she should have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder

myself. But according to Ashley Franco, they let her plead guilty to one tampering with evidence charge. The only sentence for that maximum 18 months according to Ashley Franco, and they sentenced her to three years.

The sentence is wrong. Oh, look, this is the basic thing here. Conviction comes in two parts, the plea and the sentence. If it's a plea deal, that's up to the DA's office, the prosecutor, to offer a deal. But it is up to the judge to sentence the individual. And in every plea deal, the court, the plea deal is given in consideration of a court commitment to a certain sentence now here the maximum sentence on this particular charge was 18 months but in certain circumstances where there are aggravating factors you could be sentenced to up to three years on this charge now she took she took the plea one day, and it was adjourned for sentencing,

and on the sentencing date, the judge felt that there were aggravating factors and sentenced her to three years. But you can't do that. There's Supreme Court precedent that says you cannot sentence someone on aggravating factors on a plea deal unless those aggravating factors are proven beyond a reasonable doubt to the trier of fact, which would mean a jury. And they were not in this case. So the court was wrong in sentencing her. And not only that, Kim Belkin, criminal defense attorney, you can find them at

BelkinLaw.com. Those aggravating circumstances must be enunciated by the court or by the prosecution in the charges similar to when the state decides to seek the death penalty in a murder case. In every jurisdiction in our great and wonderful country, to seek the death penalty, you must very specifically lay out aggravating circumstances on which you are relying to seek the death penalty. Why is this murder different from every other murder? Why is this person being singled out for the death penalty when that person is not? You must enunciate it clearly, and then in front of a jury, you must prove those specific aggravating circumstances. That was not done here.

So after all this investigation, after the months and months of hard work by detectives, we have Crystal Kenny, rodeo queen, 33 years old, sentence is thrown out right out the window. Can you imagine how Kelsey Barrett's family is feeling today? Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Guys, we are talking about the death, the murder of a young mom. Her daughter will be raised never having mommy, knowing that she, the daughter, sat in the next room as a baby

as her mother was brutally murdered and then influences the mistress, the rodeo queen, to clean up the mess. And boy, did she clean it up well. When people came into the home, they thought it looked neat and undisturbed. They had no idea it had once been sprayed with Kelsey's blood. Take a listen to this. Holding back tears, she detailed a long relationship with Patrick Frazee at one point getting pregnant by him. I guess you are a baby killer or not,

she claimed Frazee told her. Lee said she then got an abortion and prepared divorce papers in order to be with Frazee. Later, she learned he already had a daughter with another woman, Kelsey Barrett. Lee said that Frazee claimed that daughter was being abused by Barrett. He wanted her not to be a problem anymore. He wanted her dead. Lee told the court Frazee had her bring a poisoned Starbucks drink to Barrett, but she didn't taint the drink. Next, Lee said Frazee wanted her to kill Bereth using a pipe, then another time with a bat. But each time she backed out. And now this woman has somehow slithered out of a three year sentence behind bars after all that.

What I don't understand, Ashley Franco joining me, KKTV 11. Ashley, you've been on the case from the very beginning. You've been in court. Why they gave her such a sweet deal to start with. Right. We talked to the district attorney about this multiple times, and you'll hear him say after Patrick Frazee's sentence that they made a deal with the devil. But they had to get information on Kelsey Barrett's death

and her, at that time, disappearance. They had no idea what had happened to her until Crystal Lee Kenney had come forward and put out this whole story, this whole master plan by Patrick Frazee. They needed all of her facts in order to put Patrick Frazee away for life. And that was the only way.

She was the only way they could do that. Hmm. I don't know about that. True. Sometimes, Ashley Franco, you got to go to hell to get the witness, to put the devil in jail. But I don't know if it was that easy in this case. Let's go to forensics expert Joseph Scott Morgan.

What did we learn at the crime scene, Joe Scott? Oh, my God. Okay, let me break this down for you. People are familiar with aluminum. Don't talk so fast. Okay. Poor Jack, he can hardly take it in. Go. People are

familiar with a reagent that we use in forensic science called luminol. Luminol is a very old substance. Not everybody knows about luminol. It's a reagent that actually... Spray it. And it lights up

blood there. It does. That's what luminol does. It actually lights up blood there. That's what liminal does. Iron in our blood. Well, now there's a newer reagent that's based on the same molecule called Blue Star. Well, they applied Blue Star in Kelsey's apartment, Nancy, and it is mind blowing what they found, because as you stated earlier, they walked in. It looked like a surgical suite. You know, it was pristine. It was clean.

But, Nancy, I'm just reading over this right now. They found blood around the base of the toilet. They found it on the walls. They found it. They found it in the tub. They found it on the sink. They found it everywhere. After applying this Blue Star Reagent, even the mother, Kelsey's mother, come in and said, you know what's missing out of this photograph? The rug that used to surround the toilet. It's gone. It's completely gone. It's been done away with because she always kept a rug in the bathroom.

Hold on. Slow down, Nellie. Wait a minute. My point is, we didn't need the rodeo queen. Remember Joe Scott Morgan and the recent Connecticut Missing Mom of Five? There was such a vast quantity of blood found at the crime scene. Of course, there had been a primitive cleanup. That a medical examiner would testify there was so much blood, the person, Jennifer, had to be dead because so much blood had been seeped out of her body.

Same thing here. I don't need the rodeo queen to tell me what happened. I can look at the crime scene findings by forensics and I know Kelsey Berth is dead because of the quantity of blood and the clean up. Somebody came in after all that blood and cleaned it up. And I know who was there. The neighbor tells me Patrick Frazee was there. And cell phone records tell me the rodeo queen mistress, Crystal Kinney, came from Idaho to that location that day. Why do I need her testimony? I would put those two wet cats in a barrel, try them at the same time, and see what the jury said. We didn't need her to start with.

Joe Scott, finish telling me about the crime scene. All of this could have been evidence in a trial against the rodeo queen. But no, they took the easy way out and got a plea. Go ahead. Yeah yeah they did and i think you know as uh as was mentioned just a few moments ago by our reporter the uh they did need this key because right now we don't have a body what we do have is a lot of blood at the scene they need a key they could match that blood to Kelsey Barrett from other DNA. They're trying to, you know, at the end of the day, unlike the case that you had previously mentioned up in Connecticut. Jennifer Dulos, yes. Right, Ms. Dulos.

We didn't have a body with that. There is a body. There's Kelsey's body. And let me. No, we don't have Kelsey's body. Well, we do in a manner because this is kind of reflected in what they believe happened, according to the. You left out the blood all over the stuffed animals. The baby stuffed animals were covered in blood.

Kelsey is dead. With all that blood, we can establish that. And we know who was with her last. Bam. Go ahead. And there's evidence that cleaning supplies were used. We had blood that was present on bleach bottles and also on a Swiffer, you know, a wet mop. But what we came to find out through, you know, what the police have put together, Kelsey's body, and this gives you an idea of how small she is.

Allegedly, well, not allegedly now known, she was placed into a black nylon tote, taken to this person's ranch. And he used a tractor to actually put her body in the tote on top of a bale of hay to kind of store it until he could decide what he wanted to do with it. And at the end of the day, he took all those items. Remember, we were talking about the missing items that were kind of connected to her. Everything went into a 100-gallon, allegedly 100-gallon horse trough. And there was a mix, a mix, Nancy, of accelerants, things like motor oil, gasoline, diesel, all this stuff. And everything was set on fire at that moment in time to make her essentially vanish, go into thin air.

And I'd like to point out, and correct me if I'm wrong, Ashley Franco, Ashley joining us from KKTV 11, witnesses saw Patrick Frazee, the killer fiancé, guarding over a huge fire on his property in the days that followed Kelsey's murder. Isn't that true? Yes, that's absolutely true. There were several neighbors who said that they saw that fire. And Nancy, if I can just interject one more. Yeah.

And you and I have covered so many of these cases where people attempt to use heat in order to dispose of bodies. One thing that the public might not understand, this is not something where you can just apply gasoline and the body just vanishes. Just as was just spoken, it requires tending. It requires kind of a constant fueling in order to make a body eventually render down. And still, at some point in time, you might, if you do a thorough search of the scene, find things like chips of bone. But it's a very, very labor-intensive task in order to facilitate that. And that's what Frazee was about at the scene, tending this fire. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Guys, in the last hours, a stunning blow to the victim's family and for the state in the death of 29-year-old mom of one Kelsey Barrett, who was brutally murdered by her killer fiance, Patrick Frazee. His mistress, who took part in the cleanup and the planning of the murder, got a sweetheart deal just three years for tampering with evidence. And guess what? She tricked the state. She has now vacated that sentence and she'll serve even less time. For those of you just joining us to Ashley Franco, bring us up to date with the vacated sentence of Rodeo Queen, Crystal Kenney. So just recently, Colorado

Court of Appeals had ruled that the district court erroneously sentenced Kenney outside of the maximum term. And they decided that they wanted her sentence to be thrown out and they wanted the Teller County judge to resentence her. So the max would be 18 months, I guess. Ken Belkin with me, a veteran trial lawyer, criminal defense attorney joining us. You can find him at BelkinLaw.com. Ken, based on the forensics evidence, and there is more, by the way, which I'm sure you're familiar with, I believe the state could have proven this case and tried both of them for murder. What do you think?

I mean, I think they could have prosecuted them for it. But the fact of the matter is most of that evidence is circumstantial. And what they really needed was some direct evidence. And that is what Ms. Kenney's testimony provided. She provided that direct evidence. Let me ask you a question, Ken, because what I learned getting my J.D. at Mercer and my LL.M. in criminal and constitutional law at NYU and practicing criminal law my entire career is that the judge actually instructs the jury verbatim from the law that circumstantial evidence has an equal weight as direct evidence. Isn't that true? Of course. Oh, because the way you said it, it could mislead a listener to think that somehow, quote, just a circumstantial case

is somehow inferior to a case that has direct evidence. But that's certainly not true, is it? But you know, as a prosecutor, that a defense attorney is going to jump all over a case that only brought circumstantial evidence. They're going to jump all over any case, Belkin. That's a good defense attorney, Will, anyway. But, you know, that testimony really is the nail in the coffin that gets them to that conviction. But, Ken, based on the forensics alone and the fact that three times she, Crystal Kinney, agreed to kill Kelsey Barrett and then threw away Kelsey's cell phone, made it look as if Kelsey had traveled out of state to get away from her responsibilities, cleaned up a crime scene, destroyed evidence,

and stood by while Frazee burned evidence. It's so obvious to me she should have been tried for murder along with Patrick Frazee. Well, they certainly could have tried her, but, you know, they really wanted that testimony from her, that direct evidence. And also, in light of the fact that she has no criminal record, they probably wanted to show her some mercy and give her an easy way out or an easier way out than what she would have faced had she have gone to trial. Earlier, guys, you heard our friends at ABC Denver 7 and Denver CBS 4. Now take a listen to Rick Salinger, CBS 4. Crystal Lee, the other

party to this love triangle, testified this week that Patrick Frazee admitted killing Bereth with a baseball bat. Law enforcement agents searched Frazee's fluorescent ranch several times and found three wooden baseball bats. They also located part of a tooth. It was beneath some plastic, but over a spot where Crystal Lee said she believed Barrett's body was burned. And take a listen to what else Crystal Kinney had to say in court. Here's our friends at KDVR. Just a few moments after Crystal Lee continued her second day of testimony, she began to cry. She had been handed several photographs of Kelsey Barrett's condo, which she had cleaned. Lee went on to say, I saw blood all over the floor and all over the wall.

Her belongings were covered in blood. More tears began rolling down her face when Kelsey Barrett's baby girl Kaylee appeared on a large screen above the jury box and when she was asked to describe a couch she had wiped down. She said today Frazee told her to text from Barrett's phone after she was dead saying he wanted to make it look like she was still alive. Lee told the court today that she was present when he started the fire in which Barrett's body was burned. Frazee's attorney pointed out that Lee had not told the truth until a plea agreement was made. He said, that's the story you had to tell agents to get your plea deal. Lee said, I had to tell them the truth. The reality is that everything that Crystal Kinney did divulge was corroborated by evidence.

Straight out to Dr. Bethany Marshall, psychoanalyst joining us out of L.A. You can find her at drbethanymarshall.com. How bad is this for Kelsey Barris' family to have Crystal Kinney's sentence, light as it was, vacated. Bad, Nancy, bad. I'm listening to all of this. I'm listening to the panel, and I almost can't believe my mind. I mean, the defense attorney is talking about, oh, did she have a prior record? And the fact that something came know, something came up trial

that now the sentence has to be vacated. If this was a man. Who lurked around a woman's apartment cross state line several times, went into a bloody scene, blood all over the place that victim has a toddler. There's a tooth in another part of the room and was a part of that bloody crime scene. But they get 18 months. I mean, just because Crystal Kenny is a rodeo queen,

just because she's a woman, so she ate it and abetted her boyfriend, I don't think we should call this aiding and abetting. I think that she was as aiding the bedding. I think that this was, she was as murderous as he was. She just was a coward and came in after the fact. I mean, Ashley Franco, KKTV

11, you hear Dr. Bethany Marshall. I've got a feeling a jury would agree with Bethany. And also, regarding the light sentence that she got. She started crying on the stand. Boo.

Who? Why is she crying? She is the one that stoked the fire that ended with Frazee murdering Kelsey Barrett. As a matter of fact, before you comment on that, take a listen to our friend over at CBS News. This is Nikki Batista. Lee testified that Frazee told her he beat his fiance to death with a baseball bat on Thanksgiving Day. And that Barrett's last words were, please stop. After the murder, Lee says Frazee called her and said she had a mess to clean up. Crystal Lee says when she walked into Kelsey Barrett's townhome, she saw blood everywhere.

She was cleaning up this massive crime scene. Lee claims she drove from Idaho to Colorado and cleaned up the crime scene because Frazee told her to and she feared for her life. A few days after the murder, Lee says she watched as Frazee burned a black tote bag that he told her contained Barrett's body and the baseball bat. Tasha Franco, KKTV 11, 11 News there in Colorado Springs. Ashley, did the mistress, Crystal Kenney, stay together in the relationship with Frazee after the murder? Yes, she was with him the whole entire time. And she, even on the stand, said that she was still in love with him when she testified against him. So she definitely had something that was just, I guess,

in her heart saying that she still loved him. Nancy, if I could interject really quickly. Please do. She had so many opportunities to go to the authorities and tell them that he was planning on killing the single mother of a toddler. Did she go to the authorities? No. Even after the victim was bludgeoned to death. She's still sleeping with him.

That's what it boils down to. She is still sleeping with a guy she knows to be a brutal killer. And the state's defense. Take a listen to ABC Denver 7. The district attorney says Kenny got off too lightly, but says they had to make a deal with the devil in order to convict Frazee. It was a horrible, gruesome scene to hear the description of what happened. He deserves every day he got and then some. The brutal murder of Kelsey Barrett led to a highly charged and highly emotional case with ex-lover Crystal Lee Kenny at the center as the state's star witness. Do I feel bad every day that she only got three years today? You betcha. But in the end, we needed to solve this case. He needed to be held accountable for what he did. He's the one who brutally

murdered this woman. Well, District Attorney Dan May calls her three-year prison sentence inadequate. Here's the reality. The judge gave Kenny the maximum punishment allowed under her plea agreement. Kenny signed that deal in exchange for her testimony against Frazee. Testimony and evidence prosecutors say they needed to put Frazee away for life. When we asked May if Kenny could get out early for good behavior, his answer was yes. May called out Colorado lawmakers for letting it happen. What we're finding anymore is it's not unusual for someone to serve maybe 25 percent of their sentence on a crime no matter what it is. Wow, A lot of finger pointing right now about whose fault it is that this, what I believe to be

co-conspirator to murder, is walking free. Ashley Franco, KKTV. What happens now? So we're told by the district attorney that they will be conferring with the Colorado Attorney General's office. And from there, they will both kind of see what goes next. And then the court, the Teller County Court, is supposed to set a date as to when that resentencing will happen. We wait to see if justice can be salvaged in any way.

Nancy Grace, Crown Stories, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast. Grace Cranstory signing off. Goodbye, friend.