Eight months after her arrest, accused murder Toni Fratto is still standing by her man Kody Patten and refusing to recant her confession sources close to the case reveal.
[media id=13 width=320 height=240]
Despite appeals from her parents and being confronted with evidence that make her confession improbable, Fratto has consistently stuck to her story that not only was she present at the murder of 16 year old Mickie Costanzo but she dealt the killing blow.
[media id=2 width=320 height=240]
But while Fratto’s defense team has run into a stonewall with their client, sources indicate they have made great strides in subverting the testimony and perhaps the character of the chief witness against Fratto, Kody Patten’s father Kip.
According to his own testimony during Fratto’s preliminary hearing this summer, Kip Patten was the first person his son Kody told that Fratto was in on the murder and it was Kip Patten to whom Toni Fratto originally confessed. It was also Kip Patten who first contacted his son’s lawyers, John Ohlson and Jeffrey Kump about Fratto’s confession and it was Kip patten who actually drove Fratto to their offices to make her formal confession.
The fact that Fratto confessed not to law enforcement but to her boyfriends lawyers was legally significant first and foremost because it effectively prevented her questioning by police.
Once the confession was released in court Fratto had already ‘lawyered up’ and became more or less off limits to police detectives.
According to sources Kip Patten’s account on the witness stand as to just how Fratto’s confession came about has been seriously undermined. In addition to challenging his testimony, Fratto’s attorneys are also investigating Patten’s character.
Described as everything from a bully to a devil worshipper on the High Desert Advocate website Kip Patten apparently made many enemies in the over 20 years he has called Wendover home and investigators working for Fratto are chasing down every lead. The research into the elder Patten’s character could have two motives the first and foremost would be to undermine his credibility in front of any future jury. The second could be to intimidate him before he is even called to the witness stand.
However a full on character assassination could back fire if the claims are so outrageous a juror might begin to ask if the elder Patten was so evil how could he stay in a town for 20 years and never be charged with anything?
Fratto and boyfriend Kody Patten confessed to the murder of Mickey Costanzo but at different times and their statements were at least partially contradictory.
Patten confessed first, three days after the murder and just hours after the Costanzo’s body was found in a gravel pit about three miles west of Wendover.
Patten did not mention Fratto being involved in the crime at all and in fact in a throw away line to detectives interviewing him said he left the crime scene “to go pick up, Toni”. Fratto had been attending a meeting of the West Wendover Recreation District where her mother Cassie is a member of the board.
Patten may have told police that he committed the murder within 30 minutes of abducting Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo.
Patten’s time line of the killing is at least superficially at odds with Fratto. In her confession the 19 year old Wendover girl said Costanzo was alive and with Patten when Patten picked up after the meeting at around 7 pm.
Neither of the two confessed killers admitted that Mickey Costanzo was at any time restrained or bound before they killed her.
Where the two confessions agree is in their portrayal of a panic murder when a verbal argument progressed into a physical shoving match that lead to the actual killing.
In Patten’s confession, the young man instead he dealt the killing blow, shovel blade across the neck after Costanzo went into a seizure after striking her head against a rock. In Fratto’s confession, it is she who kills Costanzo by cutting the unconscious girl’s throat with a folding knife.
The reason for the difference in time lines is quite simple until Fratto’s where abouts are known from 5 pm to 7 pm and she was not with Patten and thus could not have been murdering Costanzo.
From 5 pm to a little before 6 pm Fratto’s alibi is her mother who has insisted on the witness stand that her daughter was with her at their home. According to one of Fratto’s lawyers David Lockie of Elko there may be even more evidence corroborating his clients presence between 5 pm and 6 pm.
According to the minutes of a March 3rd Recreation District meeting Fratto’s whereabouts from 6 pm to 6:53 pm were documented as being in the audience during the meeting.
Fratto explains away the narrow window of opportunity in her confession by claiming that the murder occurred after Patten picked her up around 7 pm after the meeting was adjourned.
She also claimed that Costanzo was in the car with Patten and that the girl was unrestrained. However by 6 pm Mickie Costanzo mother Celia had already begun panicking about her missing daughter. Frighten when her daughter did not answer her cel phone Celia Costanzo began calling Mickie friends and by 6:30 had already notified police. By the time Toni Fratto said her boyfriend was picking her up to commit murder with the victim in the car a full blown search for Mickie Costanzo had already begun by West Wendover Police and dozens of volunteers.
In testimony in both Fratto’s and Patten preliminary hearing Celia Costanzo as well as several of Mickie Costanzo’s friends portrayed the victim as a girl who would always answer or return calls from her mother within minutes of receiving them.
The idea that Mickie Costanzo if free to do so would not answer dozens of calls to her phone in two and a half hours is considered impossible.
Both Pattens are monsters, as is Fratto! I hope and pray that some day, the Costanzo family with finally have some peace in their lives! No one will ever know the truth, because both Pattens and Fratto wouldn’t tell the truth for anything in the world! Sick and disgusting wastes of skin is all they are! Kip Patten belongs right next door to his son and and right behind him on death row…as does Fratto. They have screwed up enough lives!!!! Sociopathic Monsters!!!
Lucca I completely agree!!!! And you are right no one will ever know the truth, as much as I think the family deserves at least that much. The Costanzo family will get justice! And Patten and Fratto will get what they deserve just not soon enough. As for Kip, unfortunatly he will go free… in complete agreement they are ” Sociopathic Monsters”…
* JUSTICE FOR MICKEY*
Kip has been charged before. However the system failed just as the School System failed in protecting Mickey. Need I say more? I don’t think so.
Kip charged before? For what was he charged with?
I was Close freinds with kody patten, he did have anger issues but he was also my best friend. He would of had my back even if 10 people were wanting to fight me because I said something wrong. Kody was always there to help anyone. He used to pick on me in grade school, but Kody changed and he was a good friend, If you respected him he respected you. I beleive that he panicked, i dont think it was premeditated. Either way, Jesus him self said “Let he free of sin cast the first stone”. He May have made a mistake, but havnt we all? I lost 3 friends in this whole situation. Kody deserves what he gets, but is it right for people to talk down about him? Has he done something personal to you? You have to think about the people who lot more than one friend. I know i dont like hearing people talk down to him. I hugged him the saterday, the first of march and i could see the pain he was in. So before you talk down about him, Imgaine if it was someone close to you, who made a stupid mistake.
@Kody’s friend…to answer your question…Yes, he has done something to me personally, as have his parents…I have also seen and heard with my own eyes and ears things he and his family have done to others! I am justified in making my truthful comments!
A mistake? Its not like he cheated on a test! HE BRUTALY MURDERED AN INNOCENT GIRL. And you say ” He May have made a mistake, but havnt we all?” What planet do you live on? And as for your question of has he done anything personal to us. Hell yeah, he purposly murdered a member of our community. You of all people should know how close people are in Wendover. AND THEY WILL GET WHAT THEY DESERVE! Because * Justice For Mickey * Will prevail. Mistake, they knew what they were doing!!! THEY ARE MONSTERS!
* JUSTICE FOR MICKEY *
Well said!
Micky was my friend too, I ran track with her. A few of us have lost more than the rest of the community did. Its useless to debate with you guys because you guys are blinded by you feelings. Kody and Toni are going to get what they deserve, whether you guys put them down or not, so why waste your precious words? Were you guys there? so how do you guys now what happened? as said before, only Kody and Toni knows what really happened. Theyre both getting charged arnt they? so just let it be. Kody and Toni arnt hearing you, its people like myself who lost all 3 friends that have to hear you. So your not disrespacting them, your Disrespecting us.
It is simple…if you don’t like it, don’t read it…that is your right, just as it is ours to post!
your obviously immature, im only 18. Youll learn that we dont have rights. We have Privilages. There is no constitutuional article saying you can post. Howard can disable comments at anytime. Its NOT your RIGHT, Its your privilage.
It is our privilage to post comments on here you are right about that. But as Lucca said if what we are discussing is disheartning for you to read. Don’t read it!! We as people cope with our feelings by discussing them amongst others. And we will continue to do so.
I am over twice your age and we all have rights! Hopefully, you will grow up soon and discover there are evil people out there and while it does hurt to be betrayed by someone you say is your friend, I pray you will learn that supporting a so called friend, who is now a confessed murder, is probably not the right path to follow! By the way, study the constitution…it is our right! Freedom of speech!
And…if Howard feels he needs to disable the comments, that is his right…as is it his right to allow our comments!
Well Said!!
After following the news, I’ve noticed that the majority of “commenters” on here have had their share of calling Kody and Toni “monsters.” Yet nothing negative has been said about Mickie. It’s defintely a tragedy that she passed away… But no one has questioned what she was doing that day. What was she doing with Kody in the first place when she had a boyfriend at the time? Like her friend testified in their hearings, she was texting Kody all day prior to her disappearance. Why hasn’t any one said anything about that? Sure no one is perfect, yet in any unfortunate death the victim always seems to be made out to be a “perfectly flawless” human being. Everyone has their flaws… Perhaps Mickie had more flaws than any of her close friends and family realize. In the end, by law, a person is innocent until proven guilty.
So instead of jumping into conclusions, we should be mindful of all possibilities and not jump the gun. That happens all too often nowadays.
I feel like everyone is trying to read into things way too much. I was one of Mickie’s best friends, and seeing all of this is just causing a whole lot of mixed feelings for me. I don’t think that this is the place for useless debate. All this is doing is causing a lot of hatred towards each other, which is not something that Mickie would have wanted. It is not our place to decide the fates of Kody and Toni. We will never really know what happened, which is something that I have had to come to realize. @Outsider, Thank you for your input, however the media has not exposed all the information. I would not recommend looking too far into any potential relationship between the two. That was definitely not the case.
Outsider…Are you kidding me…Why in the hell would you say something negative about a 16 year old girl who was MURDERED… You are disgusting for even posting that… Its doesn’t matter if she had flaws she was a 16 year old girl… AND THEY ARE MONSTERS WHETHER ANY OF YOU LIKE TO HEAR IT OR NOT!!!! * JUSTICE FOR MICKEY *… Im so disgusted!!
Former resident” your argument is completely irrelevant to what was posted. As you stated “Why in the hell would you say something negative”…. I did not say anything negative, I brought up a logical point that no one has brought to the table. If you’re saying Kody and Toni are monsters, then what if Mickie really isn’t as innocent as you thought she was? In a situation like this, you can’t rule out other things that could be true, just because you don’t want to believe it, all possibilities need to be considered. In fact, all you’ve made are negative comments. I think you have justice and revenge mixed up.
A person’s age does not justify anything. She was 16, would’ve turned 17 a few months after, Kody just barely turned 18, they are a year apart. How much of a difference does age really make in this situation? What if their ages were the other way around? What difference would that make?
Outsider.. I have made a statement toward the “self confessed killers”. Again they are monsters.And no matter the flaws of her or Patten or Fratto that does not warrant murder. You obvoulsy have only heard the news coverage. I myself have heard things from close sources. Whether she was innocent or not that does not justify Fratto and Patten’s actions. Age does not make a difference. The fact that you take a girls life does.
And revenge no, Im merely stating who they are and what they deserve. And what they deserve is to not breath the air they took from Mickey, they don’t deserve to taste food she can no longer, and they don’t deserve to see their family when she can not!!! THEY ARE MONSTERS!
* JUSTICE FOR MICKEY *
um.. outsider.. just so you know part of this debate happened on mickie’s memorial site, am i not right colton? lord.. the reason no one is questioning what mickie did that day, is she was leaving the school from track practice. it is on video that kody was watching her from a classroom and followed her outside, where there are no cameras. track practice gets over around 5 or so i believe. kody is huge, like 6’6″ mickie very petite. from the times there was a confession that they had her and when track was over, and given that he is on video watching her, wouldnt it be most likely to assume he abducted her or subdued her? Mickie honestly was as innocent as they come. That didnt come often in wendover.. but she was the real deal. Good student, good daughter, good friend, good kid. She was postive, loving and everyone loved her. And Kody had done lots of things to lots of people. The school system has let mick down, it is an ongoing problem there, if you know anything about wendover. And mick would have turned 17 exactly a month to the day she was killed. outsider, you really have this one pegged wrong..honestly that maybe we should take a look at mickie and she might not be so innocent. Ask anyone, anyone ever around her, she was as innocent as they come. I am from wendover, moved to lincoln county.. even our teachers here and athletic directors knew of her and called offering condolences. That is why so many are so affected by this. And you will see nothing brought up in testimony about micks character maybe being flawed, that there was something between her and kody presently, or that she was on drugs or whoring around.. not this young lady. She was special, that is the honest truth of it.
oh.. and outsider, HE was texting her allday. not the other way around. Plus, she was too nice, if she did text back, it was not to be mean. Even her best friend thought it was weird that kody was texting her about a “project”. Mick just tried to keep the peace, she had dated Kody before, and for obvious reasons, didnt want anything to do with him except to be cordial.
wasnt kip charged with something to do with his wife? i do believe so. There was not enough evidence, right?