The fate of two confessed teen murderers could rest on a minute amount of blood and skin found under the fingernail of their victim, 16-year-old Micaela Costanzo.
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Two weeks ago Elko District Attorney Marc Torvinen asked District Judge Dan Papez for permission for permission to submit a tiny piece of blood and/or skin found beneath one finger nail of Micaela Costanzo for DNA testing.
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The sample is so small Torvinen cautioned the court that it would have to be destroyed without any left over for retesting.
According to court records neither of the defense teams representing kody Patten or Toni Fratto raised any objection to the test provided their own DNA experts be allowed to be present when the testing is done.
“Its a one off thing,” said a source close to the case. “And a lot could be resting on the results.”
The tests are expected to be completed with the month.
Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo was murdered on March 3rd.
Toni Fratto and boyfriend Kody Patten confessed to the murder of 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 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. However police recovered plastic restraints often used instead of handcuffs in the grave with Costanzo’s body.
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.
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.”
“She was a 16 year old girl, she got out of the shower from track practice,” said a source close to the investigation. “She was in the car for any where from 20 minutes to two hours. It should have been full of her DNA.”
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.
Patten’s paper has since been seized as evidence by the Elko DA.
Working on a tip that there could be a third person involved in the crime Elko County Detectives were in Wendover earlier this month interviewing potential witnesses about the events on the night of the murder.
Those interviews have since been transcribed and submitted in a report to the Elko DA.
Like the DNA test of the material underneath Mickey Costanzo’s fingernail that report must be shared with both sets of defense attorneys before the trial begins in February.