FBI investigators search the home of the fiance of missing Colorado mom Kelsey Berreth – Daily Mail

The fiance of a woman who vanished on Thanksgiving Day left his house on Friday with the couple’s child in the back of a sheriff’s SUV as police searched the property.

The Woodland Park Police Department, together with the FBI, executed a search warrant at the farm of Patrick Frazee where he is a rancher.

They hope to find information about the whereabouts of his fiance Kelsey Berreth, 29, who disappeared on November 22 in Denver, Colorado. 

Frazee was the last known person to see Berreth before she went missing and the search of his ranch in Florissant could last three days, according to Woodland Park Police Chief Miles DeYoung.

Teller County Sheriff’s Office were quick to emphasize that Frazee is not under arrest and officials are due to give an update on the case on Friday afternoon.

Footage emerged on Friday morning of an FBI team arriving at Frazee’s property to search for information which could lead to the mother-of-one being found.   

The couple have never lived together despite being engaged and sharing a daughter named Kaylee. She remains in the custody of Frazee who has cared for her since her mother’s disappearance.  

On November 25, three days after she disappeared, police say her cellphone pinged near Gooding, Idaho, nearly 800 miles away. 

On the same day, two text messages were apparently sent from the device. One told her employer she would not be showing up to work the following week. The second message was sent to Frazee. 

KHQ reported that The FBI confirmed Tuesday that it was offering its resources to local and state investigators in whatever capacity needed.

And today law enforcement enforcement agencies were vague in their replies when asked at a press conference why it has taken them over three weeks to act and search Frazee’s property. 

At a press conference today, Wooldand Park police chief Miles De Young said: ‘There are are a number of other things we have done up to this point that have led to us searching the residence today.

‘The search warrant started this morning and will take a number of days to complete, we haven’t had a briefing on what they found so far. 

Asked if Frazee was cooperating he said: ‘We are asking Patrick to sit down with investigators as he is last person to talk with Kelley face to face.

‘There is speculation as to whether Patrick is a suspect or person of interest, at his point we are considering every possibility and i’m not willing to jump to conclusions’.  

Deputies arrived and cut the lock on the gate that leads onto Frazee’s property, according to ABC News Correspondent Clayton Sandell.  

Frazee was present when they arrived and later left the house with his daughter in the back of a sheriff’s vehicle, according to ABC News.  

Several law enforcement vehicles – including a K9 search dog unit and an FBI pick up with a wheelbarrow in the back- were seen driving up the dirt road towards the farm where Frazee keeps cattle and horses. 

Later a convoy of search personal from Teller County Search and Rescue drove up. 

Greg Couch, Sheriff’s Office PIO at the scene, told Daily Mail.com: ‘We’re just giving him a courtesy ride off the property.

‘He just left in one of those two cars. We’re just giving him a ride, I don’t know where he’s en route to but he was on the property when we got here.  

‘When we do a search warrant we remove everyone so he’s gone.’. 

Frazee, a farrier (horse shoer) and cattle rancher, also lives with his mother Sheila police confirmed has also left the farm. 

PIO Couch said: ‘No ones on the property. The baby is with him (Patrick), everybody’s safe.

‘We just basically giving him a courtesy ride to where ever he needs to go. Giving him a ride to his other ride so he can get out of here’. 

Asked if police gave digging equipment on the farm for the search, he added: ‘I’m sure they do, what we’re looking for is any evidence at all, whether it’s above ground or below ground.

‘It’s a county search and rescue team but they are going to be run by the FBI’s evidence recovery team. 

‘Cadaver dogs, item dogs any item laying out there that could be of value’. 

Frazee’s attorney Jeremy Loew said that he is cooperating with law enforcement. 

In addition to the FBI, local police, officials with Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Teller County Sheriff’s Office were also at the scene.

Berreth, 29, vanished on November 22 and was last recorded on surveillance cameras in a grocery store in Woodland Park, Colorado. 

After remaining silent in front of reporters and failing to appear at a police news conference earlier this week, Frazee has faced intense public scrutiny.   

When asked why Frazee was not participating in an emotional press conference set up to help find her on Monday, the police chief heading up the investigation said frostily: ‘You’d have to ask him.’

On Thursday he released a statement via his attorney saying he is actively cooperating with authorities.

‘Mr Frazee’s cooperation included interviews with law enforcement, voluntarily releasing his phone to be searched by law enforcement, buccal swabs, and photographs,’ his attorney Jeremy Loew said in a statement to People. 

Loew also cleared the air on why Frazee failed to appear at a police press conference on Monday, even though he was invited.  

He explained Frazee was ‘first notified of the press conference approximately an hour prior to its commencement’ and ‘had he been given more advance notice, he would have participated.’ 

Frazee’s lawyer said he would not be giving any interviews. He claimed that speculation about Frazee was fueled by his absence at the conference on Monday.

Authorities said explicitly that Frazee had been invited but implied he had chosen not to attend.

‘Much has been said over the news and social media about Mr. Frazee’s absence at the local news conference,’ Loew said.

‘Mr. Frazee hopes and prays for Ms. Berreth’s return. Mr. Frazee will continue to cooperate with law enforcement and continue to parent the child he shares with Ms. Berreth’.

According to investigators, Frazee said he last saw Berreth on Thanksgiving when he picked up their daughter.  

Police say Berreth was seen with their child on video at a local grocery store at about 12.27 pm that day. 

On Wednesday, authorities released grocery store surveillance footage that showed Berreth shopping with her baby just before she disappeared.

The video of Berreth entering a Safeway in Woodland Park with her baby at 12.27 pm local time on November 22 is the last visual confirmation police currently have of her.

On November 25, co-workers got a text message from Berreth’s phone saying she would not be coming to work the following week. Frazee told police he received a similar message.  

That same day, Berreth’s cellphone signal was recorded in Gooding, Idaho, some 700 miles from where she vanished.  

It was not until December 2, however, that police searched Berreth’s home after her mother reported her missing. Frazee had never contacted police.

It remains unclear when Berreth, who is a flight instructor, was meant to collect her daughter from Frazee’s home or what the text he received from her said.

Police are yet to officially rule her disappearance suspicious and said they have no evidence to indicate anything other than she is a missing person.

When they searched Kelsey’s home, they found cold cinnamon rolls which had been left out, presumably to cool. The only thing missing was her purse. 

‘She’s not the kind that runs off. This is completely out of character. She’s reliable, considerate and honest,’ Cheryl, Kelsey’s mother, said at the press conference on Monday. 

‘She doesn’t run off and someone knows where she’s at. Kelsey we just want you home. Call us if you can and we won’t quit looking.’

Cheryl confirmed that she lives in Idaho – the same state where Kelsey’s phone was last tracked to, but her home is more than 500 miles away from Gooding. 

Cherly said she spoke with Kelsey twice on the phone on the day of her disappearance.

Asked what they talked about she told Today: ‘it was just small things, initially she needed a recipe.

‘Her voice was fine, it was a normal day for her’. Cheryl said while the couple did not live together, their bond was strong.

She added: ‘The relationship has been good, they are loving’. 

Kelsey’s brother Clint Berreth had earlier revealed he went to her home shortly after realizing she was missing and is adamant she didn’t pack to go anywhere. 

Her luggage and makeup remained untouched, and her two vehicles were still at her home.

A candlelit vigil was held for Berreth in Woodland Park, Colorado, on Thursday nearly three weeks after she inexplicably vanished, but Frazee was noticeably not there.

Cheryl confirmed that she lives in Idaho – the same state where Kelsey’s phone was last tracked to, but her home is more than 500 miles away from Gooding. 

Kelsey’s brother Clint Berreth had earlier revealed he went to her home shortly after realizing she was missing and is adamant she didn’t pack to go anywhere.