Sunday, November 17, 2019

The Murder Of Kelsey Berreth: Patrick Frazee Trial: Day 8: Experts Testify On The Blood Found In Kelsey's Home.

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Kelsey's coworkers described her as private, kind and very loving toward her 1-year-old daughter. One of the coworkers testified that Kelsey told her Frazee wasn't treating her well at one point.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation forensic scientist testified that the blood found inside Kelsey's town home was most likely hers and that a possible tooth fragment tested positive for female human DNA.

One of Frazee's friends testified that Frazee said Kelsey had given him custody of their daughter.

Stephanie Howerton office manager for Teller County Waste, said she had records for trash pickup at Kelsey’s home.  According to the schedule, trash hadn’t been put out Thanksgiving week of 2018 or the following week. In fact, trash wasn’t picked up from her residence until December 21st, 2018.

The state then called Jennifer Barks, who worked as a human resources director at Doss Aviation. She testified that she told police that Frazee was Kelsey’s emergency contact. On December 3rd, Barks called Frazee to ensure he knew she was missing. Frazee claimed that the Woodland Park Police Department kept calling him, so he put Barks on hold multiple times. When they were able to talk, Frazee said he and Kelsey had broken up because she wanted space.

Frazee also told her that Kelsey went to rehab. Barks challenged him on this comment because pilots at Doss Aviation work in close quarters and a coworker would have spoken up. Frazee didn’t answer her question and that she was never notified that Kelsey had a problem with alcohol.

Anissa Smith, who used to rodeo with Frazee and has known him since she was 8 years old, testified that Frazee custody have Kaylee since the day she was born. He told Smith that Kelsey had signed over her rights when Kaylee was born. He told her that Kelsey wouldn’t reach out for weeks or months at a time to check on Kaylee.

Woodland Park Police Department Commander Christopher Adams was recalled to the stand. He testified that according to Kenney’s testimony, Frazee had discussed putting Kelsey’s remains in a river or a landfill. This is what had led investigators to search the Midway Landfill, where they didn't' find anything substantial. He also said that throughout the investigation, he never found information to suggest that Kelsey was alive.

Stephanie Courtney, an investigator with the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, was also recalled to the stand. She was also tasked with getting buccal swabs from Kaylee on December 21st. She said that it was a difficult task and that she never had to get a swab from someone so young before.

Robert Hill, a flight instructor at L3 Harris, which acquired Doss Aviation, was called to the stand next. He said that he and Kelsey were fairly close, but not romantically. He said he thought Frazee was Kelsey’s husband and that she had talked about him at work. He knew Frazee was Kaylee’s father.

Kelsey had mentioned to Hill that she didn’t get along well with Frazee’s mother, Sheila Frazee.


Hill said that one day Kelsey came into work up set and told him that Frazee was acting “acting like a dick”. 

Hill said that Kelsey never mentioned giving up custody of Kaylee. He met Kaylee a few times when Kelsey would bring her into work. He said that he never see any indication that she was being abused.

Hill testified that Kelsey came into work one time and said that some random woman had come to her house with a coffee. 

Hill said he had no indication that Kelsey ever usesd drugs or alcohol.

Carolyn Sharp, a flight instructor at Doss, was called to the stand. She said when Kelsey first took the job, she stayed with her during the week. She'd go home on weekends. Sharp said when Berreth was staying with Sharp, she’d call Frazee almost every night. Sharp said that after these calls, that she could tell that Kelsey was not ok. Kelsey briefly mentioned Frazee wasn’t treating her well at one point, Sharp said.

Sharp She didn’t notice any signs of abuse with Kaylee and that Kelsey loved being a mom. She described Kelsey as a woman of strength.

Sharp also testified that Kelsey never would have left Kaylee.

Peter Sergejev, a flight instructor at Doss Aviation, testified that he met Kaylee two times and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary about the child.

Mark Maryak, the chief pilot for initial training at Doss Aviation, testified that he never had any concerns that Berreth was abusing alcohol or drugs. Doss instructors specifically look for those type of issues. 

On December 2nd, Maryak tried calling Berreth three times and she didn't answer he said.

CBI forensic serologist, Lindsay Roup, testified that the toilet in the home tested positive for blood, along with other areas of the bathroom: Swabs from the wall, under the towel rack, the sink, the side of the tub and the door.

The previous owner of Kelsey's house, Sue Gorney, testified that she bled several times in that house. She said that her skin cuts easily if she knocks into things around the house. Gorney also said that skin was too thin for band-aids, so she let her cuts air dry and blood would sometimes drip in the house.

Forensic anthropologist and professor at Colorado State University, says she's confident that the tooth fragment that was found in Kelsey's town home was human and from a female. 

CBI forensic scientist, Caitlin Rogers, used Kelsey's toothbrush and mouth guard to build a DNA profile for Kelsey. She also used buccal swabs to obtain a DNA profile from everyone else that had been known to have been in Kelsey's town home. 

In the analysis of the blood found on the side of Kelsey's bath tub, Rogers said her final conclusion showed that it was a mixture of two people's DNA. She said that it was most likely to be Kelsey's and Gorney's. She said that Kelsey was the man contributor of the DNA.

The blood sample from the bathroom toilet was likely to be from Kelsey and that all of the genetic material in the single-source sample was consistent with Kelsey's.


High likelihood was applied to the blood sample found on the front fireplace and on the baby gate in the home.

Rogers did a presumptive test for blood in the grout on the fireplace tile, which came back as most likely being Kelsey's.

Rogers said she also tested red-brown stains on the hardwood floor. The presumptive test came back positive that the profile was a two-person mixture. It was most likely to come from Kelsey and Gorney.

In another testing of a separate area of the hardwood floor, Rogers said she found a mixture of three contributors, including at least one male. She said it most likely originated from Kelsey, Frazee, and Gorney. With Kelsey and Gorney being the two main contributors.

Prosecutors then asked her about one of the two possible tooth fragments, both of which appeared to have come from where Frazee had allegedly burned Kelsey's body. Rogers said a DNA test detected female human DNA. She tried to develop a DNA profile from the fragment, but there wasn't enough DNA available. The remainder of the tooth was sent to the FBI.

Rogers explained that she tested a chair to the right of the TV stand and one to the left. The right chair had a DNA mix of three people, including at least one male. The left chair had a mix of two people. She said it was most likely to originate form Kelsey. 

A possible blood mark from the front of the couch was most likely Kelsey's.

In another sample of the hardwood floor, Rogers said she found moderate support of Frazee's DNA. It was mixed with two other people's.

Overall, she said these results showed that the blood samples in the town home overwhelmingly matched Kelsey's DNA.

She also testified that bleach can destroy DNA to the point where it cannot be detected.

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