TELLER COUNTY, Colo. — In partnership with other agencies, the Woodland Park Police Department executed a search warrant at the home of Kelsey Berreth’s fiance in Florissant Friday morning, and said at an afternoon news conference that they were not ruling him out as a suspect in Berreth's disappearance.
Authorities arrived at the house around 8:30 a.m. and cut the lock on the front gate to Patrick Frazee's Teller County home on Wildhorn Road, according to ABC News. In addition to the local police department, officials with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Colorado Bureau of Investigation and Teller County Sheriff’s Office were also at the scene.
Investigators are continuing to conduct interviews and explore leads.
In a statement released Friday, the law office of Jeremy Loew said that Frazee is continuing to cooperate with law enforcement during the investigation.
"We understand that a search warrant was executed on Mr. Frazee's property," it reads. "Mr. Frazee was never asked to voluntarily participate in this search. We encourage law enforcement to take whatever steps it deems necessary to find Kelsey Berreth and to be able to exclude Patrick Frazee as a possible suspect in this missing person investigation."
Woodland Park Police Chief Miles De Young said at an afternoon news conference that Berreth's disapperance was "more suspicious" than authorities originally believed and said that they now believe she is not "intentionally avoiding efforts to find her."
De Young said there was no details available Friday about what led to a judge signing off on the warrant at Frazee's home, nor what they are seeking at the home, because the warrant is sealed.
He said investigators are now hoping Frazee will sit down and talk with investigators. He has thus far only communicated with them through his attorney, De Young said.
But Frazee is now not being ruled out as a suspect in Berreth's disappearance, De Young said. Asked if Frazee was considered a suspect or person of interest, De Young said investigators were "considering every possibility" and were "not willing to jump to conclusions."
Frazee and the couple's 1-year-old daughter left the home in the back of a sheriff's SUV just before 11 a.m.
Patrick Frazee and his one-year-old daughter just left his property in the back of this sheriff SUV. Officials plan to update us at a news conference today at 4:30 PM ET. #KelseyBerreth pic.twitter.com/baCIGWL1W6
— Clayton Sandell (@Clayton_Sandell) December 14, 2018
De Young said Friday afternoon that there were "a number of other things" done up through Thursday night that led to a judge signing off on the warrant. He praised the agencies working on the case, which he called a "rough case to investigate."
Berreth, 29, has not been seen since Thanksgiving. She was spotted on surveillance video at a Safeway in Woodland Park that day. Her cell phone pinged about 800 miles away in Idaho on Nov. 25.
Her brother told Good Morning America that she did not seem to have packed to take any trips.
De Young said Friday afternoon that it was investigators' "hope" that Berreth was still alive and said that was "absolutely a possibility."
Deputies arrived and just cut the lock on the gate that leads onto Patrick Frazee’s property in Florissant Colorado. Now executing a search warrant related to the #KelseyBerreth disappearance. @ABC pic.twitter.com/pHJ2bhrT11
— Clayton Sandell (@Clayton_Sandell) December 14, 2018
Berreth is described as a white female standing 5 feet, 3 inches tall and weighing 110 pounds. She has brown hair and green eyes.
De Young said a reward has been set up for information on this case, though the amount was not disclosed. A donation fund has been set up in Berreth's name at Wells Fargo bank branches, he added.
Anybody with information on her disappearance is encouraged to contact the Woodland Park Police Department at 719-687-9262 or email Kelsey@city-woodlandpark.org.
