Missing Colorado Mom Update: Patrick Frazee In Court Amid Child-Custody Dismissal Motion

Search warrants in the disappearance and murder case of Kelsey Berreth will be made public soon, a judge ruled Monday. The fiancé of the missing Colorado mom, who appeared in court Monday, filed a motion just two days ago in court to dismiss her parents’ plea for custody of their daughter.

Patrick Frazee, 32, was accused of beating Berreth to death with a baseball bat and then burning her remains on his ranch. Local media reports said the prosecutors asked the judge to reveal details of evidence and also make the warrants public. However, the defense raised objection and were reportedly concerned because there’s a lot of discovery in the case.

The decision was made during a motions hearing in Teller County on Monday. Frazee appeared in the courtroom, clad in a green and white striped jumpsuit and the now-customary ballistic vest. His mother also attended the hearing.

In January, Frazee sought to dismiss a federal wrongful death lawsuit filed against him by the Berreths. In Frazee's motion, details of which came Friday, his legal team said Colorado’s wrongful death statute clearly states that the Berreths have no standing to make a legal claim based on the alleged wrongful death of the 29-year old flight instructor.

“Only her living and surviving child, KF (Kaylee Frazee), has standing to bring a wrongful death claim,” it said. “In the original complaint, plaintiffs pled that the outrageous conduct of Mr. Frazee was the alleged killing and death of their daughter at his hands … But plaintiff’s attempt to save the claim fail and it must be dismissed.”

Everything the Berreths claim was based “on the assumed murder of Kelsey Berreth” and therefore could only be a wrongful death claim, the motion said.

“Patrick Frazee is entitled to dismissal because Kelsey Berreth has a daughter, which, in fact, precludes Kelsey Berreth’s parents from bringing a wrongful death claim against him. And Colorado law does not permit more than one civil suit for the death of one person,” the motion says.

Berreth was last seen shopping on Thanksgiving Day and three days later her cell phone pinged near Gooding, Idaho, just 40 miles from Twin Falls. While her body or remains have not been found yet, police believe Berreth was murdered at her Woodland Park home. Frazee was the last person to see the 29-year old flight instructor before she disappeared.

In the wrongful death lawsuit, the Berreths claimed Frazee "enacted physical, mental, and emotional acts of violence upon Kelsey Berreth prior to her death." It also stated that "when Frazee acted as either the perpetrator or accessory to the murder of Kelsey Berreth, Frazee breached the duty of care with which a reasonable person should conduct himself toward another human being."

Frazee faces five counts of murder, including two counts of first-degree and three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.

Police, who are yet to find Berreth's body or her remains, recently extended their search for evidence in the case to a landfill in the city of Fountain. The Midway landfill is a roughly 40-mile drive from Woodland Park, where Berreth was last seen.