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Body Identified In Colorado As Missing Mom, While Investigators Continue Search For Kelsey Berreth
Police have identified the remains found along an abandoned truck stop as those of LeBrea Jackson, a mother of two, who disappeared shortly before Christmas.
Authorities have identified the remains of a body found near an abandoned truck stop in Colorado as a missing mother who disappeared two days before Christmas.
When news first broke that a body had been discovered along Interstate 25 Sunday by residents out on a walk, speculation began to spread that the body could be that of Kelsey Berreth, who disappeared Thanksgiving Day. However, the Colorado Bureau of Investigation confirmed the remains weren't Berreth, Fox News reports.
Instead, the discovery will bring some measure of closure for another family. The Aurora Police Department announced in a statement that the remains were that of LeBrea Jackson, a Colorado mom of two, who was reported missing two days before Christmas after she failed to show up for a holiday gathering.
The last time family members heard from Jackson she told them she was planning to pick up her boyfriend on the way to their holiday dinner, according to local station KDVR. Jackson never showed up at the dinner and her boyfriend was arrested Dec. 24 in Texas on an outstanding warrant.
“A big part of us is gone. A big part of us is gone. It’ll never be the same again,” her aunt Ruby Jackson told the news station. “My heart fell. I was hoping for the best, but in a way, I was expecting the worst. You have to.”
She described her niece as “hard-working” and “loving,” saying she was a devoted mother to her two sons. Ruby Jackson said now the family is focused on caring for her children.
She called LeBrea Jackson’s boyfriend a “parasite that leeched onto her.”
Her death is now being investigated as a homicide by the Aurora Police Department.
“This homicide investigation remains very active. Our investigation at this point indicates there is no threat to the public,” it said in the statement.
No cause of death has been announced.
Investigators continue to search for the remains of Kelsey Berreth, who was last seen by surveillance footage shopping at a grocery store on Thanksgiving Day.
Investigators believe she was murdered and arrested her fiancé, Patrick Frazee, in the weeks after she disappeared. He is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder, and three counts of solicitation to commit first-degree murder.
Although her body has yet to be found, authorities have said they believe the 29-year-old flight instructor died in her home and say it could be an “absolute possibility” that others could be arrested in connection with the alleged crime.
Her family filed a wrongful death suit against Frazee on Jan. 4 claiming he had caused them “severe emotional distress.”
[Photo: Aurora Police Department]
