What are we to make of the latest development of the Mickie Costanzo case?
The supposed confession of Toni Fratto to Patten’s attorneys just doesn’t happen in real life and probably would be even rejected as a viable plot twist in most TV dramas.
Yet there it is now in the hands of the Elko District Attorney’s office.
We have no doubt that John Ohlson and Jeff Kump were completely honest in their presentation to the court.
So the question is was Toni Fratto being honest to them.
Was she the young girl racked with guilt who had to confess or is she a young girl blinded and made stupid by love to confess to a crime she did not commit to save her lover from the death penalty?
We don’t know.
Frankly its not our job to know.
It is the job of the police and what is disturbing to us is that from the moment Patten confessed to this horrible evil crime two months ago the investigation stopped as well.
We asked ourselves why did Miss Fratto go to Patten’s attorneys and not to the West Wendover Police or the Elko County Detectives first?
She knew them.
Her parents moved in the same circle as Police Chief Ron Supp as well as some of his department’s higher ups.
And then a chill ran down our spines.
We made an assumption that might not be correct.
In the two months between her entry into the offices of Jeff Kump she might very well have tried to tell police her story.
We have no information one way or the other and it is a question that not only should be asked but must be asked and not just by us.
And that question leads to others.
If Miss Fratto’s last name had been Snyder or Bangerter or Copelan or even Costanzo would there have been more than just one interview with police especially after she was caught lying in the first?
If she was not Toni Fratto but say Tony Sanchez would officers have not searched her house, grilled her parents, and subpoenaed her cel phone records long before?
We remember laughing at Ohlson request that a private investigator be hired for the case.
We were wrong.
Even if it turns out that Miss Fratto was lying to Patten’s lawyers there must be some official investigation of the West Wendover Police Department.
The most damning evidence of all was the news of Fratto’s confession came as a complete surprise.
Anyway we looked at the story one thing is clear.
They should have known.