DUE TO SPACE CONSIDERATION SERVICES FOR MICAELA “MICKIE” COSTANZO ARE NOW SCHEDULED FOR 10 AM TUESDAY, MARCH 15 AT THE PEPPERMILL CONCERT HALL, RECEPTION WILL STILL TAKE PLACE AT THE NUGGET COVENTION CENTER IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING. FLOWERS MAY BE SENT TO THE PEPPERMILL CONCERT HALL 300 WEST WENDOVER BOULEVARD. Mickey Memorial fund setup at Nevada State bank.
With one terrible exception Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo lead an almost idyllic life in Wendover or about as idyllic as being a 16 year old girl in a small town can be.
Treasured by family and friends Mickey was by all accounts a good student a good athlete and well liked if not loved by all who knew her.
“This student wasn’t just a sweet kid, popular with the students and faculty. She was one of the brightest, most sincere students I have ever had. She was an excellent athlete who had an amazing presence about her, and I will miss her dearly. I have known her for three years, and she has been one of my favorite students from day one. For those of you who are teachers, she was the kind of kid you would volunteer to write letters for and would look forward to hearing from/about in the future.” blogged on teacher as a tribute to the young woman.
If there was a dark cloud in Mickey’s otherwise bright life it was 18 year old senior Kody Patten. According to confidential sources Patten was harassing Costanzo for several months and earlier this year may have disciplined for assaulting another girl at the school.
A well placed source confirmed that Pattern was just one infraction away from being expelled at the time of his arrest for Mickey’s murder.
“You do a lot of second guessing and you wonder if we gave this kid too many second chances,” he said.
Patten was more than a fellow student, he was also Mickey’s neighbor and the young woman was forced in an almost cheek to jowl relationship with the troubled young man.
“They went to the same school, lived in the same apartment complex, she couldn’t avoid him even if she wanted to,” said one school source.
But Patten was far from a loner the like of Columbine school shooter Dillon Klebold.
With a total enrollment of well less than 300 students West Wendover has always prided itself on its inclusiveness. Students who would be lost, ignored or bullied in larger schools have always found a place in West Wendover. The is an unwritten “no cut” policy in almost every extracurricular activity from sports to academics.
From football to the Academic Olympics the only qualifications to make the team are to show up and keep up the grades. At West Wendover a kid may never get a question right on Quiz Bowl may never start a game but if he are she wants, they will make the team. There will always be a place for them regardless of ability or talent.
And Patten did make the team in his sophomore and junior years he was on the roster of the West Wendover Wolverines football team.
“He wasn’t the most popular kid in school,” said WWHS Vice Principal Craig Kylonen. “But he wasn’t a loner. He did have friends.”
“The school is really too small to have any real outcasts,” said one former student. “You are one of about 40 or 50 kids were grew up together starting with kindergarten. Kind of difficult to be anonymous or a stranger.”
But there is only some much a welcoming all inclusive high school could do for Patten. Things reportedly began to sour for the young man in his senior year perhaps when he began to realize that in less than a year he would leave the so comfortable nest of WWHS and have to make his way in the adult world.
While the school refused any comment on Patten and refused to release any records regarding the young man sources confirm that Kody Patten was having difficulties in dealing with everyday life.
Unlike his three previous years Patten was not listed on the football team roster either because of bad grades or because he simply did not show up. While he talked about joining the US military once he graduated sources suggest that graduation was looking less and less likely for the young man and he may have been rejected by the Armed Forces.
According to confidential sources Patten was harassing Costanzo for several months and earlier this year may have disciplined for assaulting another girl at the school.
The suspect’s face book page reveals a depressed young man with a predilection for guns and the military.
Instead of a personal photo, Patten’s profile picture is a silhouette of three soldiers with assault rifles.
His last two posts were equally dark:
Kody Patten
i cant freakin believe this shit! i try my freakin hardest and you blow it out the f***in window like it dont mean s***!
January 17 at 8:35pm via Social Beat
Kody Patten
I sit here the rain hitting my hand, as if god were showing e every tar i have cried and the lightning showing my pain, i shault not tremble in the fear of danger… KCP
January 9 at 5:35 pm.
There are no public posts after January 17th more than a month before the murder. But Patten was still actively seeking facebook friends well into February. Mickey Costanzo was not one of them. Since his arrest and confession those friends have been diminishing. as of Tuesday there were 90 people in his friends’ list by Wednesday night the number had fallen to less than 70.
Charged on one count of “open murder” Patten could be facing the death penalty, he made his first appearance in court Tuesday where he was formally charged by Elko Justice of the Peace Al Kacin. Apart from petitioning the court for a public defender Patten made no other comment.