Going West: True Crime - Kelsey Berreth // 454

Episode Date: November 16, 2024

On Thanksgiving, 2018, a 29-year-old woman went missing in Colorado after last being spotted in a grocery store with her daughter. When investigators found traces of blood at her abandoned townhome, a sinister plot was uncovered that involved poisoned coffee, numerous road trips, and a baseball bat. This is the story of Kelsey Berreth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on true crime fans? I'm your host T and I'm your host Daphne and you're listening to going west. Hello everybody hope you're having a good day. Today's case comes to you recommended by Nathan and Mariah. After diving into this, I cannot believe we haven't covered this case yet because this is truly one of the most shocking, unreal, horrible cases we have covered on this show. I cannot tell you how many times my jaw dropped reading the details of this case.

And I just can't imagine what her poor family has gone through just having to learn the facts and and deal with the aftermath because oh my god. So thank you again to Nathan and Mariah and get ready everybody. Yeah, there is a lot of twists and turns in this one and I don't want to waste any more time. So let's get into this episode today I almost said my line early all right guys this is episode 453 of going west so let's get into it ["Santa Claus Is Coming to Town"] Red One We're coming at ya

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The search has intensified for Kelsey Barreth who vanished November 22nd from Woodland Park. And just within the past 24 hours we've obtained new video of Kelsey from the day she disappeared. But the question remains, what happened to Kelsey Barreth? She's been missing since Thanksgiving Day. Surveillance video shows her walking into a safe way with her baby the day she vanished Now to the new text messages revealed in the case of that missing mom Kelsey Barrett who disappeared on Thanksgiving She doesn't run off and someone knows where she's at. There were absolutely no signs Zero signs that Kelsey Barrett would quote run away. And as a matter of fact, if she did run away, how?

Both of her cars, both of her vehicles are parked at her house. Three days after Thanksgiving, November 25th, police say a series of mysterious text messages were sent from Barrett's phone. Patrick kills Kelsey in a horrific manner with a bat in the back of the head as Kelsey is sniffing candles with a blindfold. There's blood everywhere. There are bloody footprints everywhere. Kelsey Marie Barrett was born on September 15, 1989, growing up alongside a younger brother named Clint in Moses Lake,

which is a city in central Washington. So she grew up in the Pacific Northwest. Kelsey was raised on a hay farm and grew up spending time outside, driving tractors and just admiring the crop dusting plans as they coated the nearby vegetation. And this admiration led to a fascination with flying. So Kelsey set her sights on becoming a pilot. Her mom

Cheryl recalls quote, she always wanted to fly as a child. Thus after graduating from high school Kelsey enrolled in community college to pursue aviation studies. Upon the completion of her program, she accepted a job as a flight instructor in her home state of Washington while her parents relocated just east to Idaho. Kelsey maintained a tight group of girlfriends from childhood and was very close with her extended family and her parents despite them moving out of state. Her uncle Scott Moran described, quote, "'Kelsey was a light.

She lit up a room. She lit up your heart.' Scott added that she loved everyone and that everyone loved her. Her family and friends remember her as kind, smiley, and gentle, which, of course, are traits that she used very well in her job as an instructor, like she just

had a perfect personality to guide others. Now, in 2015, when Kelsey was turning 26 years old, she met a self-described Colorado cowboy on a dating site and fell fast and hard for him. Patrick Frazee lived and worked on his family's farm in Florissant, Colorado, which is a former mining town of fewer than 200 people just northwest of Colorado Springs. There Patrick worked as a rancher and a farrier, which is somebody who trims and tends to the hoves of horses and donkeys. Now although Florissant is over a thousand miles or 1600 kilometers from where Kelsey was living in Washington, and multiple states away, the two struck up a whirlwind romance

that resulted in Kelsey moving out of the Pacific Northwest and into Colorado to be closer to him. Now, at work on the farm, Patrick was known for being quiet and pretty laid back. Like Kelsey, he was a hard and dedicated worker and valued farm life, the animals, and the outdoors. So they shared a lot of similar interests and core values. So like Daphne said, Kelsey moved down to Colorado to be with him, and this happened in May of 2016.

But the pair decided not to move in together yet, so she actually settled into Woodland Park, Colorado, which is just northwest of Colorado Springs, and about 20 minutes east of Florissant. Which I feel like is a healthy decision. You have never lived in the same state, you've been dating for a little while, but you've never actually spent

huge chunks of time together. I think this is a very healthy decision they made. Sure, yeah. She's just kind of feeling out the situation and seeing what's gonna happen. Now, Kelsey worked a handful of different jobs while looking for something more permanent after the move to this new state.

And then finally, in July of 2017, so over a year after her move, she landed a job at DOS Aviation, which is a flight school that specializes in training Air Force pilots. So that seemed like, you know, this perfect fit for Kelsey. She completed another round of training before she was instated as an instructor there, and another hiree at the time named Ira Klein remembered that Kelsey was never without a smile, and that she just had the biggest heart

saying, quote, that's how we knew her her she was a joy for all of us to be around now the training was described as grueling even for Air Force hopefuls but Kelsey completed it swiftly and without complaint another fellow instructor David DeRay was a frequent flight companion of Kelsey's and called her a quote, natural pilot. Like she was just skilled at comprising test questions for her students, not too difficult, but not too easy, and again, her gentle nature was the perfect guiding force for her students. David recalled fondly quote, I'll remember her kindness and smile the most. A smile like hers would lift me up.

I'm grateful that I was able to know her and call her my friend. So shortly after starting at DOS Aviation, Kelsey actually learned that she was expecting her first child with her boyfriend Patrick, which had definitely seemed to come as a surprise for both of them. But they decided to make the most of the situation by getting engaged and planning a future together with their upcoming baby. Vowing to make plans to move in together and get married in the future. Like everything just kind of happening all at once and they're trying to decide where

to go from here. But initially they decided that they would live in co-parent separately, so they were kind of keeping certain boundaries to make sure that this was going to be the best situation possible for both of them. On October 5th, 2017, Kelsey gave birth to a baby girl that she named Kaylee. Kaylee came three weeks early and had to spend time in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, or the NICU, prior to coming home, but when she did, she was the center of Kelsey's life. Her coworkers described her as the proudest mom, and Kelsey's mom Cheryl remembered her

as a loving, patient, and devoted parent, saying, quote, her life revolved around Kaylee. However, on the contrary, Patrick seemed to struggle with the weight and responsibility of being a parent. And because of this and other factors, Kelsey and Patrick's relationship really began to sour, like the commute between Kelsey's home and Patrick's farm was really wearing on her. And she felt like Patrick just wasn't pulling his weight in the relationship, both with her and with

their child. One of Kelsey's best friends Ashley later claimed that she considered Patrick to be emotionally abusive, but she never herself witnessed or heard of physical abuse. Ashley also described Patrick as controlling and manipulative, so it wouldn't have been a surprise if there was other abuse happening behind closed doors. It's just that Ashley herself had not seen this or heard about it. But later on, an ex-girlfriend of Patrick's would also describe him as manipulative and controlling, but by then, it would be too late.

Vanessa Curie dated Patrick back in 2010, so years before he met Kelsey. But terrifyingly, even back then, Vanessa described him as a monster and said that he, quote, had no empathy for life. She claims that his charming tendencies are initially what attracted her to him, explaining, quote, I was attracted to his sharp wit and he had a very explorative mind. He contemplated everything and he was excellent at reading people. And initially these seemed like positive qualities, but they quickly became his downfall when he started playing mind games in hopes of entrapping her further.

Vanessa later described his emotionally abusive, mercurial nature and even claimed that she watched him hit his dogs on various occasions, which is just so upsetting. It really seems like he is very aggressive towards both people and animals when things are not going the way that he wants them to go. When Vanessa cross-referenced Patrick's behavior with the description of a psychopath, she claimed that she was spooked to find that quote, he fit the bill to a tee. So Vanessa was very much able to get away from this situation

and move on in her life, but there was the ghost of a different ex-girlfriend looming in Patrick's relationship with Kelsey, a former flame from over 10 years earlier, Crystal Lee Kenny. Now I wanna mention we have a Kelsey, a Kaylee, and a Crystal. In this episode they all also start with K. Kelsey Barreth, of course, is the victim in this story today.

Crystal is the ex-girlfriend and Kaylee is Kelsey's daughter. So just try to remember all that and not get confused because I am going to start saying their names sometimes in the same sentence. So anyway, Crystal Lee Kenny and Patrick had dated back in 2006, but broke up a short while later and then he went on to date Vanessa. Crystal went on to marry a man named Chad Lee, but openly admitted to still being in love with Patrick when she got married to Chad. Crystal, who hailed from the Twin Falls area of Idaho, was a nurse and a former rodeo queen, and her family was a fixture in the local rodeo community. She and her husband Chad went on to have two children together, but Crystal and Patrick

rekindled their relationship in 2015 while she was still married to Chad. And in 2015, this is the same year that Kelsey and Patrick met and began dating while he is also dating his ex-girlfriend Crystal, who is married. So Crystal and Patrick wound up having an affair, and Crystal traveled down to Colorado from Idaho to meet with and sleep with him multiple times in the coming years. Now according to Crystal, in March of 2016, so two months before Kelsey Barreth moved

to Colorado for Patrick, and of course while Kelsey and Patrick were dating long distance, Crystal found out that she was pregnant with Patrick's baby. Ultimately, she did choose to terminate the pregnancy, but concerned about Patrick's reaction to this, she instead told him that she had a miscarriage. However, according to some sources, Patrick actually told her to terminate the pregnancy. So it's kind of unclear which is true here. Now, despite the termination of the pregnancy, just two months later, right around the time that Kelsey Barreth was getting ready to move to Colorado, Crystal filed for divorce from her husband, Chad.

After doing so, she kept in touch with Patrick as he settled into life with his girlfriend, Kelsey, being nearby. And things are about to get even messier because just five months after Kelsey and Patrick's daughter Kaylee was born in October of 2017, Patrick's ex Crystal traveled down to Colorado to see him and the two continued their sexual relationship. Again, while he is still with Kelsey and they're in their early months

of raising their baby together, he's is still with Kelsey, and they're in their early months of raising their baby together, he's messing around with Crystal. According to Crystal, Patrick was never honest about his daughter, nor his relationship with Kelsey, because Crystal claims that she found out about Kaylee's birth through mutual friends, not from Patrick himself. Piece of shit. Yes, very much a piece of shit. And this doesn't even scratch the surface of his piece of shit level.

Now, meanwhile, Kelsey told friends casually that she was aware of Crystal's existence, and acknowledged that Crystal was still interested, and continued to reach out to Patrick. And let's just acknowledge now the different perspectives that are being given to Kelsey and to Crystal. Kelsey is being made to believe that Crystal is just reaching out to Patrick and she's interested in pursuing him when he is in fact very much willingly having an actual affair with her.

And as we will very much get into, Crystal has an extremely skewed view of Kelsey and Patrick's situation and what Kelsey is actually like. However, she maintained, Kelsey maintained, that she trusted Patrick and was not concerned that he was cheating even though he very much was. But regardless of his blossoming affair with Crystal, the strain on Kelsey and Patrick's relationship brought on by the distance, the co-parenting, and Patrick's controlling nature just became too much. According to Patrick, ultimately, Kelsey decided that they needed to part ways and told him

this the day before Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 21st, 2018. On that chilly, partly cloudy day, Patrick said that 29-year-old Kelsey proposed splitting custody evenly and separating romantically. Then on Thanksgiving Day, so the next day, he says that they met to exchange their 13-month-old daughter Kaylee and that he also brought along items of exchange their 13-month-old daughter, Kaylee, and that he also brought along items of Kelsey's that he had at his house, including the keys to her car, the keys to her townhouse, a purse, and her gun. However, Cheryl, again Kelsey's mother, who spoke with her daughter Kelsey very frequently, including on Thanksgiving morning, claimed that Kelsey had seemed fine

and didn't mention what would have been a very significant breakup like Patrick claimed had occurred. Cheryl maintains that Kelsey would have brought it up so that she was a little bit confused to hear about this later. Around noon on Thanksgiving, November 22, 2018, Kelsey was spotted at a Safeway grocery store in Woodland Park, which is the area that she lived in, with 13-month-old Kaylee in her car seat perched in the cart, gathering last-minute ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner. After the trip, Kelsey texted Patrick that she had picked up sweet potatoes in case he wanted

sweet potato casserole. Which again, if they officially broke up and came to a mutual agreement about the split and their plans for Kaylee's care just the day before this, why would she be texting him about something that she's cooking for Thanksgiving with him in mind? I mean it's possible that they wanted to keep things cordial and celebrate the holiday as a family, you know, especially if they had just decided to break up and they were okay and it was a cordial split. Or is there a possibility that they had not split, as you just kind of mentioned, like

this is something that Cheryl said her daughter would have mentioned to her, and if she didn't do that, is it possible that there was no split? Well, exactly. Now later they're seen on security footage entering her home, with Kaylee in her carrier and Kelsey holding a poinsettia. And this was the last time that they were spotted together. That afternoon, Patrick can be seen at the front door alone, though with only a snapshot captured, it's unclear if he was entering or exiting the home. This time, neither Kaylee nor Kelsey appear to have accompanied him.

That picture was snapped on security camera sometime between 1. and 3 30 p.m. that day and by the way we will post all available screen grabs on our socials so go check those out yes do that but Patrick then took Kaylee home to fluorescent with him again just a 20-minute drive but claimed that Kelsey did not accompany them that she actually just stayed home however However, strangely, her phone was with them. Her phone continued to ping alongside Patrick's from the road and then from his farm and fluorescent. But again, she was not seen leaving her house on that camera. And though this was the last day that she was seen, her phone made 19 calls to Patrick's phone over the weekend following the Thanksgiving holiday.

Even though her phone was not with her and she wasn't physically seen by anybody. On top of these 19 calls, Kelsey and Patrick's phones were also in frequent text communication over the weekend. Kelsey also apparently texted him that she was going on a run and that she would call him and Kaylee when she arrived home. In fact, there were multiple mundane text exchanges between the two of them that would have otherwise been routine if her phone hadn't been in Florissant, but instead at home with her in Woodland Park.

And to further his concocted story that the couple broke up, he even texted her quote, If this is truly what you want, I'll respect your wishes and give you space. Then on Sunday, November 25th, 2018, Kelsey's phone began pinging in Utah, though Patrick's remained at home in Florissant. And for those not great with US geography, Utah is the state directly to the west of Colorado, but also a state that she didn't have any ties to. Though it was in the direction towards her home state of Washington, and her parent state of Idaho.

Now, that same day, Kelsey, or supposedly Kelsey, texted her boss at DOS Aviation telling them that she wouldn't be at work for the next week, which was a super strange occurrence for Kelsey who was usually very punctual and responsible. Now the last text that Kelsey sent was to Patrick at 5 13 p.m. that evening, again this is Sunday, and it read quote, do you even love me? And that text actually came from Gooding, Idaho, which is near Twin Falls and over 800 miles or over 1200 kilometers away from

where Kelsey was last seen. And after that text, her phone went silent. And let me just remind everyone that yes, Kelsey's parents lived in Idaho, but particularly if we're talking about Twin Falls, Idaho, that is where Patrick's ex-girlfriend and the gal he was having an affair with named Crystal lived. But by the way, there was no plan between Kelsey and her parents to visit.

She didn't say to anybody that she was going to Washington and oh yeah, by the way, her cars were parked outside of her house. So her getting to Idaho doesn't even make any sense. She has no way to travel there, except for this silly theory that came about that she flew there because she is a pilot, but there was no trace of that happening either. So because of this activity on her phone, there was naturally a delay in the reporting of her disappearance.

Though no one had seen her publicly or privately, she or someone possessing her phone had been active. So between when she was last spotted publicly and when she was reported missing, Patrick began sowing seeds of doubt that portrayed Kelsey as an unstable and incapable caretaker. In the days following Thanksgiving, he told various people a myriad of different stories, including that the pair had broken up, that they had agreed to 50-50

custody, that Kelsey was not actually Kaylee's primary caregiver, that Kelsey had issues that would result in Patrick receiving full custody should they go to court, that Kelsey had been to rehab, and that Kelsey had run off and abandoned Kaylee and Patrick's care. Kelsey had run off and abandoned Kaylee in Patrick's care. Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent John Gruesings said, quote, He started telling Crystal that Kelsey was an abusive mom, that he had people watching Kelsey and that he was concerned that Kelsey was going to hurt the baby, if not worse. Meanwhile, Cheryl was growing increasingly concerned

when she hadn't heard from her daughter, Kelsey. So she reported Kelsey missing from her home in Idaho on December 2nd, 2018, which was a week and a half after she was last seen, and decided that she needed to head south to Colorado to look for her daughter herself. That same day, shortly before she was reported missing, needed to head south to Colorado to look for her daughter herself. That same day shortly before she was reported missing, Cheryl texted Patrick and asked him

to stop by Kelsey's home to check on her, and Patrick said that he would do so as soon as he could. Well after Kelsey was reported missing, police stopped by her town home for a cursory search, but they found nothing out of the ordinary, nor anything that would indicate foul play. So Cheryl arrived alongside Kelsey's brother Clint to see for themselves. When 32-year-old Patrick was questioned by police, he again attempted to hint at Kelsey's mental instability, musing that she may have taken her own life. But remember, he's telling different stories to different people, and he is a known manipulator.

And what is one thing that is always a red flag in cases like this is when you say something like that, when you're saying, oh, look over there, not at me, she probably took her own life, look over there at that idea. Exactly, it's the diversion. The diversion. And Patrick added that he had been in possession of her gun because he was concerned that she was going to hurt herself and Because she had struggled with intermittent depression, so he's basically saying oh, yeah I did this to protect her and my daughter. Yeah again diversion I'm the good guy not the bad guy right, but her friends and family scoffed at this and basically discredited it

Now initially when Cheryl and Clint stopped by and surveyed the house They found no sign of Kelsey there remember her phone had most recently pinged in Idaho But there were signs of a hasty cleanup that immediately raised red flags of a hasty clean-up that immediately raised red flags. The bath mat in the bathroom was missing, the fridge was streaked and looked as if it had been wiped down poorly, and Clint also noted a small blood stain on the base of the toilet. So at Cheryl's insistence, investigators returned to the house to do a more comprehensive search.

And guess what? Her mom was really on to something horrific with that request because Illuminal testing actually lit up the bathroom, showing large amounts of blood had been present and then cleaned up poorly. And by the way, DNA matched the blood to Kelsey. So as this is being uncovered, police know that they need to search Patrick's home as well. And they did so on December 14th, 2018.

In his home, they uncovered a bottle of bleach and a mop. And although these things being found in somebody's home usually wouldn't be suspicious, that mop tested positive for the presence of blood. You can look forward to free data, big savings on plans, and having your unused data roll over to the following month, every month. At Fizz, you always get more for your money. Terms and conditions for our different programs and policies apply. Details at fizz.ca. At New Balance, we believe if you run, you're a runner, however you choose to do it.

Because when you're not worried about doing things the right way, you're free to discover your way. And that's what running's all about. Run your way at newbalance.com slash running. This episode is brought to you by Canon Canada. From street interviews to vlogging or filmmaking, great content gets even better when you're shooting with great gear. That's what Canon's Level Up sales event is all about. With awesome deals on their range of cameras and lenses, you can grab everything you need

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focused ultrasound waves, zero incisions, and that very same day, two steady hands. From innovation to action, Sunnybrook is special. Learn more at sunnybrook.ca slash special. Before that break, Heath told us that the presence of blood had been found by law enforcement on a mop inside Patrick's home. So this, mixed with the clear crime scene at her house, was not looking good, even though they still didn't have a body. After the discovery of the blood at Kelsey's townhome, investigators began to connect the dots and even obtained

the help of the FBI in order to build their case against Patrick. And as this news is kind of starting to swirl around, somebody who knew Crystal actually tipped off the FBI that she may have been involved, telling them that Crystal once mentioned that she and Patrick had a conversation where he asked Crystal to quote, take care of his baby mama, like as in kill her. When investigators began connecting these dots and uncovered the Patrick and Crystal affair, the FBI contacted her and asked her directly if she had been posing and communicating as Kelsey Barreth and whether she was in possession of Kelsey's phone in Idaho.

By then, Kelsey was not texting anybody and Crystal was in Las Vegas, Nevada for a rodeo event with some friends. Of course, Crystal basically just feigned ignorance and actually claimed that she didn't even know Kelsey or Patrick. I mean come on pick a better lie You think they're not gonna find out that you have something to do with Patrick like don't be don't be so stupid Especially to say I don't know either of them like you know No, we know you do everybody knows that you do Investigation, everybody. But what did she do, Heath? Well, she changed her story. Yes, to a very different account of the reality, which is one where she admitted to knowing of Kelsey and having dated Patrick.

So first she's saying, I don't know who Patrick is, and now she's saying that she dated the guy. And she did undermine the seriousness of her relationship with Patrick though in recent years, but she did admit that she made the 12 hour drive to Patrick's ranch in Florissant on Thanksgiving in order to discuss the fate of a horse that they jointly owned. And that's such a weird day to admit doing that on a holiday. You're making a 12 hour drive just to have a conversation.

Especially because she then says that while she was there, they basically mutually decided that it was not the right time to sell the horse. And then she returned all the way back to Idaho. So you could have just maybe determined this over a fucking phone call? Exactly. Why drive 12 hours? Well that's the thing, is police did not believe that that actually happened.

So they're believing, the police are believing that she fabricated this story and that she may be the key to determining what actually happened to Kelsey on that fateful Thanksgiving day. Thus, investigators traveled to Idaho to speak with her further. But to their frustration, she obtained a lawyer and declined an interview. Well then shortly afterwards, Crystal seemed to have a change of heart. Coming to the police with contrition and saying that she had information that they needed to hear, Crystal implicated her ex-boyfriend Patrick in Kelsey's disappearance and said that he had murdered her the day that she disappeared.

She admitted that they had been speaking, and her phone records proved as much, and there had been many calls back and forth in the weeks since Kelsey had vanished. This time she admitted to a less flattering timeline. She and Patrick had been seeing each other on and off for years despite both being in relationships and having children with other partners. In the months leading up to Kelsey's disappearance, Crystal had traveled to Colorado multiple times for various reasons. To see Patrick, but also to murder Patrick's fiance. Crystal admitted sheepishly that Patrick had posed the idea to her months before the murder actually took place.

And then, Crystal described the terrifying conversation, in which Patrick told her that he wanted her help to quote, take care of his baby mama. Crystal claimed that she was rattled and scared by this, but that it didn't stop her from seeing Patrick, or eventually attempting to act on his request. And Patrick apparently said that Kelsey was getting ready to file for full custody of Kaylee so obviously this was bothering him and was part of the motive here. As with others he spoke to in the aftermath of Kelsey's disappearance, Patrick lied and told Crystal that he was worried that Kelsey was an unsafe and unfit parent and that she

was going to hurt their baby, which is complete bullshit, obviously. Crystal's best friend Michelle later claimed that she tried to encourage her to report it, but that Crystal declined, either out of protection for Patrick or for fear of implicating herself. So, on December 21, 2018, almost a month to the day after Kelsey's disappearance, police announced that they had arrested 32-year-old Patrick Frazee for the murder of his fiance and the mother of his only child, 29-year-old Kelsey Barreth. However, law enforcement was sadly confident

that he had killed her by then, because in a press conference to announce Patrick's arrest, Woodland Park police noted that they did not believe that Kelsey was still alive. Patrick maintained his innocence despite the arrest and was charged with one count of first degree murder, and one count of solicitation for first degree murder, believing that he sought help in his horrific actions. Now, while they were trying to figure out Crystal's potential involvement, at first, police thought that maybe Patrick

staged a robbery gone wrong, and if it wasn't a plot involving someone that he retained for the murder, it was a conscious and premeditated plot carried out against her. So the next time Crystal spoke with the FBI was different than the first. She admitted to having lied about not knowing the couple and also about claiming not to have any details to share, but this time she wanted something before she would talk.

A plea deal. In order to avoid criminal penalties for perjury, tampering with and disposing of evidence, and perhaps even second-degree murder, Crystal said that she wouldn't share what she knew about the crime unless she was offered some type of immunity. So in what investigators described as a deal with the devil, they agreed because they just felt like this may be their only chance to really learn the truth. They knew that Crystal knew way more than they did about what happened to Kelsey. So in exchange for charges of evidence tampering only, Kelsey. So in exchange for charges of evidence tampering only,

Crystal was brought to Kelsey's townhouse to share what she saw and did in the days following Kelsey's disappearance. 32 year old Crystal spoke to the FBI for four and a half hours and revealed that Patrick attempted to seek her help with the murder no fewer than three times. Their first idea was to poison Kelsey, which is something that would actually be easy for Crystal, who again was a nurse that had constant access to prescription only medication.

So she suggested a lethal combination of Ambien and Valium. Thus Patrick decided that Kelsey's favorite coffee drink, a caramel macchiato from Starbucks, would be the perfect conduit for the deadly dose of medication. And get this, two months before Kelsey disappeared, Crystal drove the 12 hours from Idaho to Colorado to the Starbucks nearest to Kelsey's home, and picked her up a coffee. She then drove to Kelsey's home and knocked on her door, telling her that she was Kelsey's new neighbor, and that her dogs had gotten out, and that she had heard that Kelsey had been the one to wrangle them and put them back into her yard. She said that she wanted to bring Kelsey something

as a thank you. This is a wild way to do it. Like what a ploy. Yeah, that's the thing too. This wasn't even true. So Kelsey thanked her, but admitted that she hadn't even seen her new neighbor's dogs

and didn't know what she was talking about. Despite this, Crystal insisted on leaving the coffee with her anyway as a thank you. However, she claims her conscience got the better of her and she couldn't go through with spiking it. So she was just giving her a regular coffee that day and still going through with this entire ruse. She also recalls Patrick being furious at her

for not holding up her end of the bargain. Like she just came down from Idaho 12 hours to stop at a Starbucks, come up with this wild lie to Kelsey just to give her a coffee that didn't actually have any poison or medication in it. Yeah, and Patrick is mad about this because she's not doing his dirty work. And Patrick even guilted her by telling her that Kaylee was unsafe in Kelsey's custody, and that Crystal was risking his one-year-old daughter's life by not following through with this plan. God, such a manipulator.

He's such a dickhead. Crystal also recalled him saying ominously, quote, It's not about me or you. It's about my baby girl and you are failing her. Okay buddy. Well Patrick's next idea was to leave a metal pipe at Kelsey's home and for Crystal to wait there until Kelsey arrived with plans to attack her with this metal pipe. Again Crystal drove to Colorado from Idaho and waited near Kelsey's home. But when she heard a dog barking, she became spooked and she drove all the way back

to fucking Idaho. I mean, again, what manipulation for this weird little man to convince you to, A, risk your nursing license by getting pills from work at first, and continue to drive the 12 hours two states away to kill a woman that you don't even know and then also manipulate her into agreeing to make that drive again and beat Kelsey to death with a metal pipe like and then you agree and you keep agreeing and you're trying to please him this is

insanity it is truly truly crazy but that would not be the last time because literally she kept going back because there was a third attempt where Patrick left an aluminum baseball bat near Kelsey's home and told Crystal to retrieve the bat, track Kelsey down, and beat her to death with this bat. And he's not once saying, I'll do it or we'll do it together. Like he's making her do it. And again, she is agreeing over and over and over to doing this and then failing to do it. It's like, imagine he's like a puppeteer.

Yeah, he is. And you know what? I'm not trying to put all the blame on Patrick. We know that he's a piece of shit, but this is also... This is also very much Crystal's fault as well. She is so in love with this guy, so obsessed with this guy, that she will do anything that he tells her to do. Anything. Even if it means killing a person. He's just a random, weird man. Like, what?

He's just some fucking...cow cowboy that lives on a farm in Colorado like what is so special about this guy I do not know and I it's also upsetting knowing that Crystal had those very long 12-hour drives you know what it's like to drive 12 hours it feels like a freaking lifetime in that car of course and you have all that time sitting by yourself driving and you're consciously going mile by mile by mile knowing what you're driving towards and you're not turning around. Yeah, I mean that's the weirdest thing to me is that you have this entire time you could have turned around at any point and said you know what this is insane I'm not going to do

this but you actually make the entire drive to Colorado and then you don't follow through with what you told Patrick you were gonna do. Yep but for the third time she agreed she agreed to do this baseball bat ploy you know and track Kelsey down and beat her to death with a baseball bat she agreed she made that 12 hour drive sitting by herself didn't turn around so did, she returned to Kelsey's home and awaited her arrival. But this time, she spotted a police car cruising by and lost her nerve. So she drove home again, all the way back to Idaho,

unsuccessful. Yeah, this was basically around 36 hours of driving for Crystal. Well, there's more hours being tacked on because then on Thanksgiving Day 2018, Patrick

called her around 4.30pm and said, you need to get out here now. You got a mess to clean up literally fuck off dude what oh my god I just I can't stand this guy I mean if that is really this is what she is claiming he said you got a mess to clean up imagine a man telling you that well you're you're a man but no no I get women out there I'm so sorry imagine a man telling you that Imagine a man telling you that. Imagine a murderer telling you that.

It's just disgusting. So Crystal claimed that she couldn't step away from her family holiday celebrations in Idaho, but agreed to drive down a couple of days later. So on Saturday, November 24th, 2018, she loaded up her car with medical grade cleaning supplies, including booties, latex gloves, and even what resembled a hazmat suit to avoid getting blood or remains on

her clothing, and drove to Colorado to clean up a murder scene that Patrick caused. She picked up the keys for Kelsey's townhouse from him at his place, and for some reason actually went through with going there to cover up his tracks. Patrick left the house as is after Kelsey's murder, taking only her body with him when he fled, which he was able to do without being captured on camera, by the way. So what was left was a three-day-old supply of an amount of blood that no one could survive losing. For four hours, Crystal scrubbed down the townhouse in an effort to completely cleanse

it of the remnants of blood. When she returned to the home with investigators to describe the scene that she walked into, Crystal recalled seeing blood on the floor in the kitchen and in the bathroom, as well as splattered on the wall behind the couch. She said the kitchen was covered. There were stains on the stove, the fridge, and the dishwasher.

There was also blood on the kitchen table and the chairs, as well as a plastic bag from Hobby Lobby that had been left inside the kitchen. There had been so much blood that it had actually seeped into the floorboards. I mean, Crystal even recovered a tooth. Like this was an incredibly brutal murder. Now after diligently cleaning the crime scene, Crystal collected anything of Kelsey's that

had gotten blood on it. Six trash bags worth, including curtains, pillows, Kelsey's beloved Bible, and even a few of Kaylee's stuffed animals. When asked why she was willing to go to such extreme lengths for Patrick, which is something we're all wondering, Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent John Gruesing theorized, quote, She was madly in love with Patrick and that overruled all of her common sense and her judgment. According to Crystal, she had actually left a few small spots of blood behind to indicate that Kelsey had been murdered.

I mean then if only she had called police before the murder with proof of what Patrick was trying to have her do or have done. I mean the fact that she walked in there saw all the blood found a tooth was bagging up bloodied stuffed animals of Kelsey's daughter and this was not enough to say what am I doing here 9-1-1 hello? And the funny thing here is that she spent all this time, she spent four hours in Kelsey's townhouse cleaning up blood and when Clint and Cheryl got to Kelsey's townhouse, they noticed that it was poorly cleaned up, like they noticed that there were still smears on the fridge and stuff like that. mirrors on the fridge and stuff like that. So I highly doubt that Crystal was leaving behind evidence so that Kelsey's case could get solved.

I think she just did a bad job and she missed some spots. And then you think she tried to use that to her advantage to say I did that on purpose? Exactly, yeah, like taking the blame off of herself. See, like I'm not a bad person. I left behind evidence that you guys are now able to find and She did say this in hindsight after declining to report the murder So she may have been fabricating the story to make herself appear, you know more sympathetic to the court

Crystal remembered quote. I knew when I walked into that house. It was trouble. I didn't know what was going to happen to me I left little spots so that somebody would see it and it would raise suspicions about what had happened again Just should have not done it right She added that she also cleaned up in an effort to protect Kelsey's mom and daughter From what they would find in her home saying quote Her mom and that little girl never needed to see what Patrick did to her. And I didn't know he was capable of that. I didn't think he was capable of what happened.

And then you walk in and you see this horrific scene that he caused and you run. And you call the police. What the hell is wrong with you? So hard to wrap our heads around. But when Crystal arrived back in Florissant, Patrick finally described his murderous afternoon to Crystal, saying that he told Kelsey that he wanted to play a guessing game with her. This part is just so beyond to me. Reading this was so upsetting because here Patrick is telling Kelsey allegedly that he wanted to play a game. So he blindfolded her with one of her sweaters and lit multiple candles asking her to name their scents.

And Heath, you brought this up to me earlier privately that if they had broken up, you know, she was planning to make sweet potato casserole for him on Thanksgiving. Here they are having their second ever Thanksgiving as a family and this is what he chooses to do to her. He placed Kaylee down in another room while she is still in the home and Kelsey is you know kind of lulled into this false sense of security. Her head is wrapped in a sweater and Patrick swung the bat at her head and hit her until she died. Like this is beyond horrific.

She thinks that they're playing a game. She is trusting him enough to allow him to put this sweater over her head, and he beats her to death when she can't see. Yeah, he took this opportunity where she was the most vulnerable to attack her. He also even relayed to Crystal that her final words were, Please stop.

He then boxed Kelsey up in a black plastic bin that he placed in the back of his truck and drove home to his ranch. After Crystal arrived at his ranch, he doused the black plastic bin in gasoline and burned it while she watched. They also burned the items of evidence that she removed from Kelsey's home. Remember Heath said it was six bags. Crystal then disposed of Kelsey's gun, tossed Kelsey's keys in the canyon, and drove her phone back to Idaho with her. After sending the last text to Patrick, which again read, do you even love me? Crystal destroyed Kelsey's phone. Vanessa Curie, who remember I talked about earlier, I think it's Curie, it might be Curie, I'm gonna say Curie, she is one of Patrick's ex-girlfriends, the one who said that he's manipulative and controlling.

She said that she was not surprised to hear that Patrick had committed a murder, nor was she surprised to find out that he had convinced another woman to cover his tracks for him. She said, sadly, quote, he's a very, very complicated individual and he's very, very smart. And like I said, he can read people really well, and he knew how to press people's buttons. Others, however, came to Patrick's defense. One of his co-workers and friends, Clinton Klein, god that's a hard name, Clinton Klein, Clinton Klein, maintained that Patrick was incapable of murder, saying, quote, We're supposed to be in a country where you're innocent until proven guilty.

I'm not going to speculate. I'm going to wait and see what kind of evidence is presented. If the evidence comes out, OK. And I'm going to be shocked and amazed, shocked and amazed. But if it comes out the other way, there's a lot of people that are going to have to eat a lot of crow. But also not all of his friends defended him because one of them actually took the stand in his trial and said that a year and a half before Kelsey's murder, so while she was pregnant

with Kaylee, Patrick had told this friend, Joseph Moore, quote, I figured out a way to kill her. No body, no crime, right? So this seemed like it really was a plan for a very long time that he told other people about. And something that's even more damning, obviously earlier we brought up the surveillance footage outside of Kelsey's home. This wasn't her camera, it was actually her neighbors. And so her neighbor received 27 notifications that day regarding activity happening outside of Kelsey's house on Thanksgiving Day.

Usually there was apparently about three, and this is because this is Patrick coming in and out of the house after murdering her. And then at the very end, he is leaving just with Kaylee as we mentioned earlier And of course with Kelsey's cell phone in his possession on May 24th 2019 Patrick to nobody's surprise entered a plea of not guilty His trial began on November 1st 2019 just shy of a year after Kelsey's murder 1st 2019, just shy of a year after Kelsey's murder. According to his defense team, the prosecution's star witness, Crystal Lee Kenny, discredited herself when she lied multiple times to investigators.

From their perspective on behalf of Patrick, there was no motive, no murder weapon, and no proof that he was ever at the scene, except for Crystal's account of events. But the prosecution obviously knew better, because they had surveillance footage of Patrick concealing her body inside a plastic tote in a hay barn on the night that she was murdered, and they had found it because a cadaver dog later indicated to that spot, which is where he stored her overnight. The next day, he stopped at a gas station to fill a plastic tank up with gasoline, which

he later used to set her remains on fire. Crystal told the courtroom, quote, He just said that he swung away and that it was really hard. She claimed that he added that the next time he murdered someone, the next time he murdered someone, he would stick to normal weapons. So he's saying that it was hard to kill her that way, like it was physically taxing for him. Yeah. And so next time I do that, I'm going to take the easier route. Right. Jeez. So as for Crystal's reasoning behind her actions, she claimed that she felt she had to comply with Patrick's demands

out of fear for the safety of herself and her children. But the prosecution believed that the act was selfish, that she was in love with Patrick, and would have done anything to keep him happy and involved in her life. Another key witness for the prosecution came forward from the jail where Patrick was awaiting trial, and Patrick and this particular inmate allegedly passed 16 notes back and forth on paper towels, plotting about all the people who needed to be killed in order to keep Patrick out of prison.

He wrote in one of them, quote, they all need to disappear. The defense called no witnesses and Patrick declined to be questioned. So with that, the jury was now convinced. And on November 18th, 2019, Patrick was sentenced to first degree murder without the possibility of parole plus 156 years. Judge Scott Sells didn't hold back when sentencing him on eight different charges, including tampering with a body and solicitation for involving Crystal. Judge Sells also told him frankly, quote, Your actions were vicious and senseless.

Kelsey spent her last night caring for you. You repay her by viciously beating her to death. Then you burned her body. Kelsey's mother Cheryl wrote a letter to read at Crystal Sentencing saying that, of course, she held fault in her daughter's death as well. Cheryl wrote that, quote, The only thing she didn't do is swing the bat. Judge Sells agreed with this assessment telling Crystal that she too was quote,

cold, calculating and cruel. Simply saying I'm sorry is not enough. You made an ongoing multi-day effort to tamper with evidence that spanned hours and hours and hundreds of miles. He also bemoaned the fact that she was the only person in the world who had prior knowledge of the crime and could have stopped it, saying, quote, You could have warned her. You could have called law enforcement.

You could have prevented the murder and done the right thing, that a person with honor or a sense of right or wrong would do. But you did nothing." Scott also pointed out that she admitted to involvement only when faced with criminal charges and in exchange for amnesty, but her attorney Drew Nielsen maintained, quote, "...Crystal Kenny had the courage and the principle to tell the truth, telling the truth regardless of the expense to herself, her life, her family, and she did it not for a deal, but because it was the right thing to do.

No, she didn't. She absolutely didn't. I agree. I agree with you. Um, Crystal was sentenced to three years in prison, but after 18 months appealed the verdict, citing that three years was an unfairly long sentence on a tampering charge. Drew alleges that many hateful and hurtful statements have been hurled online about her clients and that most are untrue and unfair.

At Crystal's appeal, Drew addressed the court saying, quote, Miss Kenny is not going to speak today. She gave a heartfelt apology at her original sentencing hearing. She knows it wasn't and will never be enough, but she had the courage and morality and the humanity to offer it anyway. She added, quote, she shouldn't be in prison anymore. Well, in March of 2021, Crystal actually was released from custody. And because of what was done to Kelsey and the fact that Patrick refuses to take accountability, no part of Kelsey's body has ever been found. In 2019, Kelsey's parents filed a wrongful death suit against Patrick Frazee, citing that her brutal murder was only committed to avoid a custody dispute.

To honor her, her employer, DOS Aviation, named a flight tower after Kelsey, and Kelsey's parents took custody of her young daughter, Kaylee. In 2020, they filed for full custody, a hearing which Patrick's parents attended, actually, hoping to object to the decision and maintain contact with Kaylee. But this final decision between the court and the families has not been made public. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening. What a wild story with so many twists, so many things I really didn't see coming. And just the fact that there was all of this travel between Idaho and Colorado, there was

all this communication between Crystal and Kelsey and Patrick. I mean, what a whirlwind. I know it's and it was so unbelievably senseless. Again, just relaying the details of what Patrick did. That's why in the beginning I just said I can't I can't imagine what her family felt when they had to listen to that and knowing that he wasn't taking accountability that he was continuing to be a manipulative, manipulative, manipulative, sorry, my brain is like fried after this story,

manipulative, horrible piece of shit, not telling them what he did, but telling Crystal and Crystal having to relay that. I will say I am at least glad that Crystal did come forward because she didn't have to do that Although of course we do not at all agree with any of her other actions overall Completely devastating story. Thank you so much again to Nathan and Mariah for suggesting it and for everybody for tuning in And if you want to see photos from this case and all the other cases that we've covered as I always say Go and give us a follow over on our socials we're on Instagram at going West podcast we would really love if you guys gave a follow to us over there and we're also on Facebook so if you want to join we have a discussion group on Facebook where we

talk about all these cases yes check it out and we will see you on Tuesday all right guys so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. Thanks for watching!