In a case that has already seen more than its share of twists and turns the High Desert Advocate has learned of two more involving the murder of Micaela Costanzo one could lead to the exoneration of Toni Fratto at least of the actual murder while the second could lead to the arrest of another unknown accomplice in the crime.
Wendover teens Kody Patten and Toni Fratto will stand trial next year for the March 3 murder of Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo. In two separate and sometimes contradicting confessions both admitted to killing 16 year old Costanzo after abducting her from West Wendover High School around 5 pm the afternoon of March 3.
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One of the most glaring differences in the two confessions is the actual time of the killing, according to Patten’s account he killed Costanzo within a half an hour of her disappearance from West Wendover High School in a self described state of panic after first to shoving the girl who then fell hitting her head on the cars bumper. Patten then told police he pushed Costanzo again, and again she fell down and hit her head on a rock. Patten then said he panicked when Costanzo went into convulsion and struck her with a shovel that happened to be in his hand. The shovel sliced through the young woman’s neck.
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Fratto parrots Patten’s confession in most details except to say that it was she not her boyfriend who struck the killing blow and the fact that the murder occurred well after 7 pm after Patten picked her up from a meeting of the West Wendover Recreation District she attended with her mother Cassie Fratto. In deed according to sources familiar with the case up until her meeting with Patten after 7 pm Fratto’s alibi has been described as rock solid.
There is however a curious mention in Fratto’s confession where she mentions a train passing by. The gravel pit where the murder occurred is less than 500 yards north of the Central Pacific rail road tracks and any locomotive passing by would be easily scene. However according to rail road logs there was no train on the tracks when Fratto claims to have been killing Micaela Costanzo.
According to the log of Central Pacific there was no train anywhere near Wendover at the time Fratto claim to have seen it reported a Central Pacific engineer in a subpoena to Fratto’s attorneys:
“In response to your subpoena, I pulled what is called a CTC log. It’s a report of trains that go by designated control points on our system in CST.
The data in the attached file called NV v Fratto CTC Log shows the time that trains went by control points F806 and F808. You can see these control points on the map that I’ve attached in the file called NV v Fratto System Map. In the CTC log I highlighted the activity on control points F806 and F008 between 18:04:02 and 18:33:11 in CST. This corresponds to 5:00 and 5:30 pm MST on 03/03/2011. Based on the information in the log, there was no activity at the control points between 18:33:11 and 21:46:43 which corresponds to 5:30 pm and 8:30 pm MST. 
From the highlighted data, what it looks like is that a train with the ID OSTIS 01 entered control point F806 at 18:26:16. It cleared F806 at 18:27:24. Then the OSTIS 01 entered control point F808 at 18:28:55. It cleared F808 at 18:29:59. Since F806 is west of F808, the train was moving from west to east.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.”
As the report indicates the log not only shows that there was not a train passing when Fratto claims she saw one it also shows one was passing when Patten said he was at the gravel pit killing Micaela Costanzo between 5:00 and 5:30 pm.
The train reports beg the question why would Toni Fratto add an inconsequential detail about the train in her confession when she could not have seen one?
Fratto’s attorneys have contended that her confession is not only false but was drilled into her by Kip Patten, Kody’s father.
Both in motions to the court and in the line of questioning of Kip Patten during Fratto’s preliminary hearing Fratto’s attorneys have strongly implied that for the six weeks he drove Toni Fratto to visit his son at the Elko County Jail, Kip Patten pressured the girl to confess to the murder.
The reason she mentioned the train that could not have been there at 7 pm was because Kody Patten saw it at 5:30 pm and she was repeating his account too perfectly.
In addition to the train logs, the Advocate has learned that investigators are looking into rumors that Fratto and Patten had help in cleaning up the crime scene after the killing took place by an unidentified third party.
Police, prosecution and both defense teams have already commented on the tremendous lake of forensic evidence linking either Patten or Fratto to the crime scene or even the SUV.
“You don’t expect that from a so called panic murder by one or two teenagers,” said a source close to the case. “But the car was almost spotless. There was no trace of Fratto at the scene not even a footprint and very slight DNA evidence putting Patten there either. It just doesn’t fit the knocked drag out fight account in their confessions.”
According to as yet substantiated reports the reason for the lack of evidence is that the killers may have had help after the murder but before Patten’s confession to clean up by an adult who may or may not have known about the killing three days before Micaela Costanzo’s body was found.
If true, and that is a big if, that helper could find him or herself facing murder charges. According to Nevada law there is no lesser charge of aiding and/or abetting after the fact.
“If one is a principal before during or after the fact in a murder one is a principal in the murder,” said Fratto’s attorney John Springgate.
However, despite their ages Kody Patten and Toni Fratto may have had enough knowledge on how to clean a crime scene without adult supervision. According to teachers at west Wendover High School Kody patten’s senior English report was on modern American serial killers.
Just my personal opinion but whoever stole the cross is the 3rd person involved. I have thought for quite some time that there was a 3rd person and when the cross disappeared that raised my suspicions more.
I feel that the third person is already pictured