Testimony begins in murder case

CRIPPLE CREEK, Colo. — A former nurse who says she tampered with evidence to cover up the killing of her boyfriend’s fiancee has taken the stand at his murder trial in Colorado, the Associated Press reports.

Krystal Lee was testifying Wednesday at the trial of 33-year-old Patrick Frazee, who has denied killing 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth.

Bereth, whose family lives in Laclede, was last seen nearly a year ago with the couple’s daughter near her home in Woodland Park, about two hours south of Denver.

Lee, who was a nurse in Idaho, pleaded guilty to evidence tampering for moving Berreth’s cellphone.

Attorneys focused much of their opening statements last week on Kenney. Prosecutors told jurors Frazee asked her at least three times to kill Berreth. The defense questioned Kenney’s honesty, saying she lied to the FBI.

The Colorado Springs Gazette reported on Wednesday that Lee testified Frazee asked her on three separate occasions to murder Berreth — first with a laced coffee drink and then with a baseball bat and length of metal pipe. Lee, whose former married name was Kenney, testified that she was unable to carry out the killing, which ultimately prompted Frazee to place a blindfold on Berreth under the guise of a conducting a “candle smell test” and bludgeon her to death with a bat as the couple’s child lay in another room.

“Please stop,” Berreth allegedly said as she was attacked by Frazee, who Lee testified admitted to killing Berreth.

Lee was not present for the killing, but admitted to playing a role in the cover-up of the crime, according to the Gazette’s reporting.

Frazee is accused of burying his would-be wife’s body and the murder weapon — neither of which have been found — somewhere on his family’s ranch.

Frazee’s trial resumes today in Teller County court.