Krystal Lee Kenney: Kelsey Berreth's killer's secret girlfriend who cleaned murder scene gets out on parole
DENVER, COLORADO: Krystal Lee Kenney, the woman who helped cover up evidence at the scene where Kelsey Berreth was murdered and later testified against Berreth’s killer, has reportedly been paroled and released from prison after being resentenced this week for her role in the crime. Kenney, 34, was released on Tuesday, March 23, from Denver Women’s Correctional Facility.
Kenney, a nurse from Idaho, was in a relationship with Berreth’s fiancé Patrick Frazee when he killed Berreth in her condo on Thanksgiving Day 2018. Kenney then helped Frazee clean up the murder scene. She admitted to this during the trial. Frazee was convicted of the murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. And Kenney’s testimony was the lynchpin.
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During the trial, Kenney told jurors how she had been at home in Idaho when Frazee called to summon her to Woodland Park, Colorado because she had "a mess to clean up." She said that she was both in love with and fearful of Frazee. Consequently, she drove nearly 12 hours, picking up the keys to Berreth's home from Frazee and cleaned the blood and evidence there.
She also said that Frazee came clean to her about what happened. He had gone to Berreth's home concealing a baseball bat on Thanksgiving Day 2018. With their one-year-old daughter Kaylee playing in the next room, he blindfolded Berreth, pretending he was going to light scented candles and play a guessing game with her to see if she could name their fragrances. Instead, he pulled out the bat and struck Berreth an estimated ten to 15 times. She said Frazee told her that as he beat Berreth to death, Berreth had uttered two final words, "Please stop."
Frazee later burned her body at his ranch. Kenney said that she watched Frazee burn Berreth's body before she drove back to Idaho with the victim's cell phone, which she used to send texts aimed at deterring law enforcement. Berreth's body was never found.
Earlier this year, the Colorado Court of Appeals reportedly threw out Kenney’s original three-year sentence for felony tampering with evidence in the case. The court found that Teller County District Court Judge Scott Sells exceeded the maximum sentence allowed by her plea agreement, improperly relying on outside facts to push her prison time into the aggravated range for the crime.
On Tuesday, Judge Sells resentenced Kenney to 18 months in prison with the same start date as her original sentence, which according to Colorado Department of Corrections records, was January 28, 2020. Before her sentencing, Lee told the court, “I am sorry that Kelsey’s friends and family will live the rest of their life without her. I am sorry Kaylee has lost her mother. I am sorry that I did not save Kelsey. My punishment comes every day.”
In a letter from Darrell and Cheryl, Berreth's parents, read in court in January 2021, the couple said they "acknowledge that without Krystal a conviction would have been much more difficult," but she "revealed the truth only to save herself… She was an active participant in the murder. The only thing she didn't do was swing the bat."