A local news station has identified the Idaho nurse believed to be under investigation for a possible role in the disappearance and presumed murder of Colorado mom and pilot Kelsey Berreth. Patrick Frazee, the father of Berreth’s 1-year-old daughter, has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
KMVT, based in Twin Falls, reports that a “family friend” has identified the woman previously reported as having a possible role in the disappearance as Krystal (Kenney) Lee, a registered nurse.
A spokesperson for St. Luke’s Health System, Lee’s reported employer, confirmed to the news station that the nurse is on a leave of absence.
The report appears to corroborate an earlier ABC News report this week citing multiple sources who said an Idaho nurse is a focus of the investigation, and that she may have disposed of Berreth’s cell phone. However, the report also quoted a high school friend of Lee’s, who told a Colorado news station that she did not confirm Lee’s role in the investigation. A KOAA reporter said on Twitter that he spoke to the high school friend and that she is not the same “family friend” identified in the story as confirming Lee’s possible role.
A lot of folks have asked about a report out of Idaho saying a family friend confirmed the FBI are investigating a local woman. I just spoke on the phone with that friend, Kallie Carney. She said she *did not* confirm that information. @KOAA #PatrickFrazee #KelseyBerreth
— Sam Kraemer (@SamKraemerTV) January 5, 2019
To clarify: @KelseySouto confirms her station’s source for the FBI investigation of an Idaho woman is separate from Carney. #PatrickFrazee #KelseyBerreth @KOAA
— Sam Kraemer (@SamKraemerTV) January 5, 2019
The high school friend, who did not wish to be identified, told KMTV that Lee “comes from an amazing family and it’s 100 percent hard for me to believe that she did anything wrong…I’m super sad for everybody.”
The woman identified in the article shares the same name as a woman widely rumored on social media to have been involved with Frazee in some capacity. Her Facebook page has been taken down in recent days.
Authorities have not identified any further persons of interest in the investigation, and have not publicly confirmed reports of the nurse’s possible role. At a press conference announcing Frazee’s arrest on December 21, Colorado authorities said further arrests were a strong possibility.
On Friday, prosecutors in the murder case against Frazee agreed to share his arrest affidavit with the defendant and his legal team, but it remains sealed to the public.
Frazee is facing five felony counts: Two charges of first-degree murder, each based on separate theories of the alleged crime, and three counts of solicitation of first-degree murder, which are not based on separate theories.
Berreth’s body has not been found, and she has not been seen since Thanksgiving Day. Authorities reportedly believe that a crime took place in her home in Woodland Park, Colorado. Three days after she disappeared, Berreth’s cell phone pinged outside of Gooding, Idaho, which is about 40 miles from Twin Falls.
CrimeOnline will continue to update the news as more information becomes available.
