Court: Case of missing Colorado woman with Idaho ties is sealed
“At this moment, this case is not under investigation by the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office or the Twin Falls Police Department,” county Prosecutor Grant Loebs told the Times-News on Thursday. That won’t change, “unless there is a tie to some crime committed in Idaho.”
Meanwhile, discussion groups on Facebook devoted to the Berreth case grow daily. The Facebook group “Prayers for Kelsey Berreth” has more than 14,000 members. YouTube channels such as "Woodland Park Underground" continue to focus on the investigation.
The county will continue to help in the investigation as needed, Loebs said.
“But the last thing we would want is to do something that would interfere with the investigation,” he said. “Any time speculation and rumors that are not factual are released, and re-released on social media, it’s a bad thing for an investigation.”
The Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office and the Twin Falls Police Department confirmed in a Dec. 22 statement that the agencies were contacted by the FBI on Dec. 15. The two agencies, in a joint special investigation unit, assisted the FBI in obtaining the search warrants, served multiple search warrants and “processed some items of evidence” related to Berreth’s disappearance, the statements said.
The Times-News contacted Lee Richards, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office in Colorado Springs recently to clarify some conflicting information reported by various news outlets. Richards told the Times-News the case was sealed.
“I can’t answer any questions,” she said.
Richards posts updates to the case on the district attorney’s Facebook page, called the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
ABC News reported early in January that a 32-year-old nurse from Twin Falls is being investigated for allegedly disposing of the missing woman’s cellphone in Idaho, according to two of the woman’s family members and a law enforcement source.
ABC withheld the woman’s name “because she has not been publicly identified or charged,” the report said. Some media have released the woman’s name, citing a “ family friend.”
CNN corroborated the report, citing “a source with knowledge of the investigation.”
St. Luke’s spokeswoman Michelle Bartlome confirmed that law enforcement contacted the hospital. Bartlome, however, said she “wasn’t in a position to disclose” which agency made contact.
Media who identified themselves as an NBC reporter, an ABC producer and a freelance photographer for the U.K.’s Daily Mail converged Jan. 4 at a home in Twin Falls County expecting to find the FBI serving a search warrant, they said. What they found were “no trespassing” signs and a heavy chain across the entrance to the property.
Since then, the district attorney’s office in Colorado asked the Twin Falls County Sheriff’s Office to not grant any more interviews, sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Stewart said."
More at link.
