Frazee trial: Arson analyst, Frazee friend testify
Posted: 11:17 AM, Nov 12, 2019
Updated: 7:06 PM, Nov 12, 2019
By: Stephanie Butzer and Blair Miller | Denver 7 and Sam Kraemer | KOAA
On Tuesday afternoon an arson expert testified about the burn area at Frazee's property and how bodies break down in a fire, and a friend of Frazee's testified what he told her after Berreth went missing. After a final break, three women whom Frazee communicated with in the months and years surrounding Berreth's disappearance testified about his behavior toward Berreth, which they said was abnormal.
[...]
One of Frazee’s “very, very good” friends, Robert Slagle, was brought to the witness stand next. They’ve known each other more than 10 years, he said, and were friends in November and December of 2018.
Slagle said Frazee told him about a package at Berreth’s townhome, and around Dec. 2, he asked Slagle to pick it up for him. Slagle said Frazee told him that the Woodland Park Police Department had reached out to let him know about the package.
[...]
He said he noticed the surveillance camera when he got out of his truck but had also seen it on previous visits to her townhome. He noted that it’s fairly obvious.
He said he didn’t know if Frazee had ever noticed the camera before.
Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May asked if they went to collect alibi evidence after the date of the alleged murder. Slagle confirmed they had but wasn’t sure of the date. He said he just knew it was after Berreth had been reported missing.
They first went to Ent Credit Union, then drove by a Safeway and a gas station. Slagle said he didn’t recall going to any other locations.
[...]
Slagle said the information on the timeline appeared to match what Frazee had recounted to him on “several occasions” about Nov. 22.
[...]
He noted that Frazee and Berreth exchanged Kaylee at Berreth’s home, but didn’t know the details of it.
May asked if Frazee mentioned anything about Berreth eating Thanksgiving dinner with him. Slagle said he recalled something about Berreth preparing a meal, per Frazee, and that Berreth expected him to eat with her. Slagle said Frazee never mentioned anything about going into the home for dinner or anything else that day.
He said he remembered Frazee telling him that he, Berreth and Kaylee went to Nash Ranch the day before Thanksgiving — Nov. 21 — and then returned to Frazee’s ranch. Berreth had indicated that night that she wanted to get an apartment closer to her work in Pueblo, Slagle said.
[...]
In December, Slagle drove to Nash Ranch with Frazee and he mentioned that he and Berreth and broken up, he said.
Frazee never mentioned Kenney, Slagle said, aside from saying that there was a person in Idaho who was helping him sell dogs and whom he was training a horse for.
[...]
Stiegerwald cross-examined Slagle and started off by asking about the surveillance video showing him picking up the package at Berreth’s front door.
[...]
Prosecutors then called CBI crime analyst Tanya Atkinson to the stand, who is a latent print examiner and has been trained in bloodstain pattern analysis.
[...]
She testified that during one of the late December reviews of Berreth’s home, she found wipe marks on various parts of the apartment that made her believe it had been cleaned.
[...]
Atkinson said that there were possible blood stains on the sides of the floorboards, which she said a presumptive test showed was positive for blood. Several of the boards showed possible blood stains that went along nearly the full length of their sides.
[...]
He asked her if any of the spots on which investigators used BlueStar had turned up with presumptive negatives, and she said that they collected from presumptive positive spots. She said presumptive tests from various parts of the apartment did turn up negative – particularly under a few floorboards and near the fireplace floorboard.
[...]
Another CBI crime scene analyst, Eric Bryant, was called to the stand and testified that he took samples of the hay bale, which were shown in court.
[...]
Prosecutors then called Adams County Fire Rescue Investigations Chief Jerry Means to the stand – a fire investigator of nearly 30 years who also worked for CBI before retiring earlier this year, and who was entered as the state’s arson expert in the case.
[...]
He told May when shown a picture of the burn area at the Frazee ranch – in which he was present – that it was fairly obvious that there was black plastic melted into the gravel and soil in the area and that the plastic had fused with portions of the soil.
[...]
Means then discussed what could happen to bodies if they are burned in the matter in which Kenney has testified that Frazee burned Berreth’s.
[...]
He also testified that depending on how long bones are exposed to fire, they are prone to disintegrating too if they burn for long enough.
“You can pick one up with a gloved hand, and just – poof. It turns to nothing. … It turns to dust,” he testified Tuesday.
He said that animal antlers are tougher than human bones but can also be mistaken for human bones because of the marrow they contain inside.
[...]
