>> jason harper was 39 when she killed him. and now, julie harper will grow old behind bars, alone. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. natalie morales, thank >> when my mom came in, she said, fix my hair. where is she? because she isn't funny. and the bottom of my heart, i knew something was really, really wrong. >> you look underneath, and saw what he thought appeared to be blood. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> a high school beauty found that in the desert, bound. >> what did that say to you? >> a great deal of rage by someone. >> he was like your average high school student. tall, clean cut, polite. >> a teenager with two sites. >> he would yell at her.

he would be pushing her around. >> a puzzle seemingly solved, then long apart. >> we recorded that conversation, then it was dynamite. >> mckayla was on the ground, and she wasn't really moving. >> to unravel the mystery, investigators would follow a trail through high school hallways, teaming the secrets and schemes. >> the hatred grew more and more and more. >> the whole idea became a horrible idea. a bad idea that went very, very bad. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> he waves at you from miles. the big neon cowboy. wendover whale is what they call him, and it was his job for more than 60 years. and it's here at the nevada utah border. pull him off the road to this

tiny high desert casino casino, and most leave again a little and the wallet. knowing precious little about the stories west winter love loves to tell, about the races who come here, who breaks speed records of flats. about the local airbase, and the gate took up from hiroshima. ♪ ♪ ♪ but there's also the story they whisper to each other, up and down the little strip. the one that shocked them all, the puzzle. about the terrible night of three families when they lost their teenage children. about the dark mysteries spawned on under the green. of wendover well. . it was a thursday afternoon, when the late winter day in the high desert. here at the local high school, star weiner mckayla cleaned up after practice.

as everybody called her, she wasn't far about a mile. her usual ride and her sister christina was out of town. >> before we had left, me and or my husband would always pick mckayla up from school. and so, we were like, are you sure you're gonna have, find your way home? >> this is something you do every day? >> this is something i do every day. and this is the first time i left her. >> mickey was 16, the junior, clockwork reliable, said her mother celia. >> mckayla is not your typical teenager. that girl would check in with me all the time. so we have our routine. i'm changing. i'm gonna be heading out. i'm heading back home. i'm home. >> always kept in touch? >> always. to a fault. >> as the sun began to set, celia was still working at one of the local casinos, expecting

mixes use will check-in call. >> she did not call me to tell me track practice. she was getting ready. she called me to tell me she was walking home. and so, i started calling her phone. and it rang and rang and rang the first time. and then, i called her right back because that was unusual and it was, like you cannot ignore that. this is so not her. >> now, she called christina 400 miles away in las vegas to see if she had heard from mickey. >> and i said, mom, she is probably at practice, and she says, no, practice, they ended. and she's not home. and i said, calm down. she's probably just missing her. >> christine tried to call mickey too. no answer. >> and i'm thinking, maybe for the first time in her life, she's being a normal teenager. >> day mickey was the youngest

of three girls. she was a star student and athlete, but sure beyond her years, she liked to write poetry, short stories, and she was pretty, and very popular. >> she was the one out of all three of us girls that i say was just going down the path you would want any child to go down. she was doing it the right way. stereotypically. >> bright, talented, good-looking. . the trifecta >> yes, she had it all. >> one of those special gets, that celia. born happy. >> she was always positive. she just had a different approach to life. she found the good in everything and everybody. >> a depressive personality, she was not? >> no, oh no, not at all. >> oh, and one more thing, mickey and dj her middle sister where inseparable. >> i consider us twins. everything we did, we had to be

together. we were always at the same place, always had no with the other ones, at all times. >> but now, nobody seems to know where nikki was. it was getting dark in the desert, dark and coal. >> celia voted out of work early and rushed home, hoping to spot mickey on the way, to find her at the apartment. but only dj was there. >> and my mom came in, she said, mickey it's not here. where is she? because this isn't funny. so, i immediately went out and searched for her. called her friends, called my friends. >> word spread fast across west wendover. >> by the time i'd already call the police, there was already over 80 people starting to look. the police asked me to check, and ask all her friends, and i'm like, he has, they're all panicked. and they're all out looking. and everything, so, they

immediately knew something was wrong. >> the tiny west wendover police department jumped on the case right away. donald burnham was the detective in charge. >> there is no point, the longer you wait, the bigger problem you have, and the harder it's gonna be to find. >> now he's making his way home. >> scared, upset, panic, worry, because it was dark now, and it was cold. and she had no jacket. and -- and in the bottom of my heart, i knew something was really, really wrong. >> and you're trying to tell yourself, no, no, no, no, it can't be. >> yes. >> that, the police had an idea. maybe mickey's cell phone, the one she always used to keep in touch would give them a clue. so, they checked her most recent calls, and there it was. one particular number that kept

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>> day two, the desert sun rose and was wendover, about. 16 year old, mickey has been missing for 12 hours. >> it was horrible. i didn't sleep. i had to stay home, in case mckayla came home. >> you watched the door? >> i watched the door. and they kept saying, you have to be home. and i'm like, this doesn't help. >> her sister, dj, was angry and terrified, or both. >> i called her phone and i

said, this isn't funny. can you tell me where you are? what's going on? i just get calling her phone. trying to back, please answer. please be okay. >> her eldest sister, christina, and las vegas attending nascar races for her husband, had been telling people, don't worry, she's just been rebellious, not anymore. >> and i looked at my husband, and i said, you need to take me home right now. he says, well, what changed your mind? and i said, because nothing happens in wendover and something did. and he took his truck and drove me straight home. >> ten hours? >> it's about an eight and a half hour drive. he got me home in about six and a half hours. >> wow! >> that'll to the metal. >> yes. >> by now, in wendover it was a local media event. >> i just hope that little girl is safe. this thing never happened in

wendover. >> it's just unheard of in here. everybody thought like, they're hoping. >> police were hoping too for a break. they had no solid clues, no eyewitnesses, nothing that pointed to mickey's whereabouts. >> i didn't believe she was dead. i was hoping maybe she was somewhere, and we weren't able to find her at the time. >> the chase got off to be with a friend and being a responsible for once? >> we didn't know whether she met with foul play or whether she was restrained or held somewhere against her will. obviously, we had more than just or when we juvenile, which we just didn't know how far it had gone. >> but he started talking to everybody who you mickey, like her boyfriend harvey, called in to the station for questioning. >> i don't know. she's been acting pretty fine lately. like, if something was wrong, she is not one of those girls that puts her emotions in her. >> but they believe the boyfriend? >> when they pulled mickey sent phone cell phone records, something odd stood out at the

very time she disappeared. >> there was a lot of texts and phone calls, transpiring just immediately after school, and up until just after five. >> and then they stopped? >> abruptly stopped right at the time she left the school. >> those calls and texts, being off the local cell phone tower, were all from one number. >> definitely having communications back and forth. >> there was something going on. >> something. the last calls were made to cody patent. >> cody patent? who was he? certainly not another boyfriend. but he was around wendover, in fact, he was one of nikki's oldest friends. >> they grew up together. they were friends. >> did they ever date? >> no. mckayla was not allowed to date until she was 16. but i'm sure it was probably like popular, or what i call puppy love. >> cody was an 18 year old senior at mickey's high school. he was a big handsome football player.

he once lived in the same apartment complex as their family. now, he was engaged to another grow, and lived with his fiancée's parents. police brought him in for a top as well. >> [inaudible] [inaudible] >> i thought it was her boyfriend. >> but cody wasn't sure it was half a, and he's seen him exhausted, he was out the night before searching for mickey. >> do you have any questions for me? >> yeah, find her, please. >> search teams calmed the desert outside of town. police volunteers, mickey sister, dj. >> they're now searching, and i said, i really don't think she's alive. they're like, can you think positive? >> but we are watching? she wasn't at school. she wasn't with a friend.

she apparently wasn't in town. and it's a very big desert in here around wendover. so much space to get lost, or to hold a person against their will, for god knows, to hide the body. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> her last hope, through a sleepless night, had been seen mickey showing up at school in the morning. >> when she couldn't go to school on friday morning, i knew i wouldn't see my daughter. alive. i felt like a failure. as a parent. not just for mckayla but for dj too because i couldn't make her better. >> i went to my mom's house. and i told her that i was going to go find my sister. even though she is not okay, i will bring her home. and for whatever reason in my mind, at that point, i knew

that i was gonna find her, and i wasn't gonna find her the way we wanted to, but that i was gonna bring her home. >> all right, christina roamed the rugged landscape, alone. i stopped and looked at any little mound of dirt that looked weird, and i went to the -- >> so close. had mickey called out her sister, would have heard her, but of course, that wasn't possible. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ibroids. enter myfembree, a once-daily pill for women with heavy menstrual bleeding due to uterine fibroids. with myfembree, heavy bleeding went down by 84%. and blood clots. don't take myfembree if you've had any of these,

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36 hours since mickey left school and vanished. search teams piled the desert, beyond wendover's casino. faint hope. out here, the basin spells 180,000 square miles. and then, saturday morning, one of the searches noted something that looked sort of odd out here in the middle of nowhere, fresh tire tracks, veering off the dusty desert road. he followed them. >> did you see some -- and it was covering some ground. so he looked underneath the sage, and saw what he thought

would appear to be blood. and he decided that he needed to call the authorities. >> this is the area they called the gravel pitch. police took a camera to record what they might find their. >> it was a sage brush. and gently ducking into the area. and saw what we saw was part of a human body. >> did you just uncover the body then? >> no, we backed out of the area, and contacted martial crime to come in and exhumed that area for evidence. >> the crime scene investigators from -- >> waco. >> it was 400 miles away, five hours by car. still, nothing more to do until they arrived. so, they sealed off the area to -- just as mickey sister christina still searching, drove by. >> i just felt like, your heart sink. i saw the police car driving on the gravel pit road that i was on the night before, and i just say. >> only one thing that could

mean, so, she rushed home, picked up her mother, went to see the police chief. >> and he said, we found a body. so, he called off the search and i guess out of hope, i said, well, can you see her? and he says, no. i said, well, you don't know what's her. and he says, you are right, christina. which is the only one missing in here. so we're pretty sure it's her. >> but they could no force or the chief. the forensics teams arrived in the morning. >> and i said, you are gonna leave her out here and all night? and he said, yes, we have to. and i remember saying, well, i'm not leaving. >> and he told us we had to, and i said, it shouldn't be strangers. she shouldn't be left with strangers. >> for them to look at me and

tell me, will all be here. you won't be alone. it made me feel pretty good. as good as you can feel. >> then police made it public. >> a shallow grave was discovered, the contents of which were unknown. >> because the discovery was outside city limits, the case came out of the jurisdiction of the sheriff's department, 110 miles away in nevada. then, detective given mckinney raced down i-80, and met the forensic scene. >> they started sifting, and it didn't take very long once they started. >> it was mickey. and in a shallow grave, beneath the clump of sage brush, five miles from home. >> it was very emotional. we engaged the victim, and the brutality that was enacted.

i guess it was disturbing. >> mickey had been beaten, got, stabbed repeatedly. >> several jacket flashes across her face, neck, had, the blood loss had saturated the ground underneath her. what >> kind of person? >> it was very aggressive. it was not a decision type of injury. >> and then, those policeman had to go to mark's family, and tell them what they found. >> my heart sank, it hurt my stomach. and i screamed, i just dropped. i just kept screaming. >> the one thing i will never ever forget in my entire life is watching my daughter dj scream, just scream. i haven't heard from her even as a baby. and fall to the ground. in shock and disbelief, she

physically did what i felt like i wanted to do, but i couldn't do it, because i am the mom, i had to keep myself together. i had to be the strong one. >> and so, she had a news conference, and said what at this point? everybody in town was thinking. >> please, ladies and gentlemen, this is not over yet. until that person or persons responsible are brought to justice. >> but why mickey, of all people? not an enemy in the world. at least, as far as anybody knew. and yet, here are the crime scenes, one clue, one weird awful clue. >> there was something bound around her wrist. >> what's that say to you? >> it indicated to me that she was restrained, and she was taken against a well. >> somebody kidnapped mickey, and then, murdered her with almost unimaginable brutality.

but who and why? and then, another clue. one of the officers going through surveillance video from the school found the grainy image of mickey and just outside the growth locker room. and -- she wasn't alone. she wasn't alone but my body was telling a different story. i felt all people saw were my uncontrolled movements. ingrezza is a prescription medicine to treat adults with td movements in the face and body. it's the only treatment for td that's one pill, once-daily, with or without food. ingrezza 80 mg is proven to reduce td movements in 7 out of 10 people. people taking ingrezza can stay on their current dose of most mental health meds. don't take ingrezza if you're allergic to any of its ingredients. ingrezza may cause serious side effects

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what if i told you... ask your doctor about caplyta, you'll leave here different? are you ready?! - hell no. - no. hello i'm dara brown. here is what toughening. a new report on the police response to the uvalde, school matiko fell systematic failures in decision-making by law enforcement and the school district. so you've all the acting chief police has been placed on leave all this the investigation is launched. the four people are dead, including the suspected shooter after a man open fired minneapolis, two others were injured and hospitalized. they say that the american shot then. now, back to dateline. the american sho then now,

no, the tv trucks roared in from salt lake and nova, nevada. poking about a little west wendover, demanding an answer. exactly what happened to that perfect daughter, that's pretty and popular 16 year old, mickey costanza. justice demanded an answer. the police chief supplied unanswered for the evening news. >> we don't have a suspect, we don't have a person of interest. but, we are getting leads all the time. >> but, we can tell you now there were a couple of things about the murder the chief did not disclose when he spoke to the media. >> it's true there were no hairs, fibers or fingerprints for the suspect. but there was a person of interest. >> we started doing a little digging, we went back to the school. we obtained some video surveillance. >> remember what's mickey's friend cody says, that he saw her leaving the school that they would somebody he assumed was her boyfriend, javier?

now, the video showed cody was right, mickey had indeed been with someone. >> just, prior to her leaving from the back of the school, we saw cody paton leave the same doorway. cody paton. that's the someone she was with. cody, the childhood friend who had been calling and testing with nikki just before she disappeared. >> cody paton was probably the last person to have seams are due to the fact that she left through the southwest doors and he was in that area. >> now, why didn't cody tell them that? the detectives went to mickey's mother to find a little bit more about cody. >> cody is a very interesting young man. cody could be the sweetest person in the world. and then turn right around and just not be okay. cody has a tough temper. cody has a hot tempers. >> cody had been struggling with school, and at home with his parents. so much so that could be left

and moved in with his fiancée, tony -- and her parents cassie and clawed, mormon family. very devout. >> i want to extend a hand between helping them get through school. >> we became his second family and more importantly, we were really invested in his success. but you really cared for him, right? >> of course, he was like a son to me. >> but when the police asked to talk to cody it again it wasn't clawed franco but his actual father who brought him to the station. >> he looked like your average high school student to meet. tall, lean, clean cut, polite. he was very self conscious. >> did you sleep okay last night? >> no. >> why not? >> i've slept horrible since mickey went missing. >> welcome? >> it's one of my friends.

>> cody rehash the study that he told the cops a few days earlier, how he'd been calling him texting mickey asking for help to move some car parts. and, then he saw her walking towards the front door of the school. >> -- i said okay, are you? right she said, yeah, i'm. fine i said okay, well no. worries have a good one. and she said all right, by. >> he had seen her at the front of the school with her boyfriend and everyone else had last seen her exiting out the back of the school. >> not to mention the security camera that showed mickie walking towards the rear exit. no one else around but kody himself. >> okay, so what are you getting? at >> what i'm getting at is, you're not being told the truth. >> yes. sam >> no, you're not. >> but there was no getting around. it video does not lie. >> the video from the school indicates to us that you were waiting for her.

>> i wasn't. >> because that was the time she disappeared. and that was the time she died. and you were involved. >> i wasn't involved in her death. >> i know you were, i know you were now. >> i did not kill mckayla costanza. >> i don't think you planned on, it i don't think you plan to. >> i didn't, i didn't do anything. >> and then, cody asked if he could spend a minute alone with his dad. so, the detectives left the room and kody father went in and closed the door. >> what happened in there,? couldn't tell exactly, through the door. but, it didn't sound happy, not at all. ot to be tide pods and see marvel studios' doctor strange in the multiverse of madness on disney+

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i didid't t kn whahatmy c caswa, so i called the barnes firm. i'm rich barnes. it's hard for people to k how much their accident case is worth.h barnes. >> three days after micaela t ouour juryry aorneneys hehelpou "mickey" costanzo, brutalized body was found in the nevada desert, as dramedy of the different cameras plane out at the window for police department, tony paton and asked for a few minutes alone with his father, he wanted a closed-door. >> i didn't hear all was said, but at one point i heard some whaling from the father, i could hear him yell. sounded to me like he was crying. >> and then a few minutes later, the detective walked back into the interview room.

>> his father told him he needs to tell us what happened. >> be a man. >> yeah. >> no telling when a lawyer would've told cody paton, but this is a father who had just heard the worst news of his life from the lips of his own son. and so here is what he said to cody. >> you've got to start fixing this now, as much as you can. but you did is heinous, kody, i don't abandon you at all, okay? you've got to do what's right, for mckayla as well. >> and this is what cody told him, that he picked up mickey at the school, and then when he started driving, mickey insisted you'd be a cup of his fiancée toni fratto, and be with her, when he refused. >> she started yelling at me, and senators because i'm not

leaving tony, and then she started like pounding on my chest and stuff. >> by this time, said kody, they're out of the car, she hit him, and he pushed her. >> she fell down and hit her head and she just laid bare and was looking at the sky, and like her eyes started to turn black. and i didn't know what to do. i just sat there and she started to, like, shaken sees. >> kody insisted he tried to check her pulse and got nothing. and then he says she started flopping, so grab the shovel from the car. >> i kind of just tried to hit or on her head right here trying to just knock her out. and it hit like right here and it like tore it up pretty bad. >> he was very tearful, we have to stop several times to allow him to get his composure back,

couple of times he told us he was getting physically ill while he was describing details to us. >> kody continued, saying he paddocks and to stifle the sound he cut her throat. >> and then she stopped, i didn't know it to do, i was going to call my dad but i knew that he would freak out. so i put her in the thing by the big bush, and i covered her up and i took the clothes over and gravel pit area and bring them. >> he stated he was alone, without mckayla, he did it alone detailing about why. no he did not. >> they arrested cody then,

custom, treasure with murder, he didn't tend to join the marines after high school. now, he could face the death penalty. >> patent has been enrolled as a student in the west jounior senior high school and has been attending until the time of his arrest. >> what had you found out about him, what it is teachers said about his character and the kind of person he was? >> i think kody what's best described to me as a bully, by teachers with regard to the students at the school. >> a bully? where some people actually afraid of him. >> i believe so. >> some teacher? >> i believe some teachers were afraid of him. >> did you hear some thing

about him being a good person also. >> a lot of people spoke highly of kody, stated that he had help them in a lot of different ways, that was a friendly and outgoing person. >> we heard, ha? >> a person with two personality? >> i think depending on who you were kody treated you in different matters. it was after he can vest, after put him in jail, that kody hired her attorney, john ohlson his specialties keeping accused killers off death row. but for kody, some like his other clients, didn't seem like a crazy killer. >> you obviously got to know him pretty well, what sort of family did cody have. >> nice family, they were working people, they seem to be fairly close, they did a lot of things together. >> of course, that's kody attorney talking, but even mickey family, the very people think would demand the death penalty, felt a very different emotion. >> i was completely shocked,

it's not the person that i knew. and my husband was there, and i said kody didn't do this, he would never hurt her. >> and he said they he did, and i said then somebody made him do it. and i said that every single day since then, somebody made him do it. and i said that every single day since then, somebody made him do it. nce then, somebody mad but i finally found relief with nurtec odt it's the only medication that can treat my migraine right when it strikes and prevent my next attack. treat and prevent all in oion/. with quick dissolving nurtec i can get back to normal fast and prevent my next attack. treat & prevent - all in one. him do it. with the home and auto bundle from progressive, but there's no saving that casserole!" [ both laugh ] i just love that word "bundle." it's so fun. two things coming together like a force of nature, like it was really meant to be, y'know? yes, yes, i do. and i'm so glad you wanna save money.

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measure of's sunny personality, they're sweet goodness, that they had to rent wendover's 1000 seat concert hall to rent to have room for her funeral. she was, people said, everybody's daughter. >> this entire town suffered as if this town was her parent. >> it really means a lot that

all of you came here. because we can all see how many people loved her. like we did. >> and one by one they went as they said goodbye. and remembered micaela so cruelly murdered, as the ideal young woman, the pride of west wendover high. >> she was many things too many people. a friend, a fellow student, 18 meat, and an inspiration. >> in fact, perhaps the only friend who didn't attend the public funeral, didn't witness is outpouring of emotion and grief, was one of her illness friends, kody patten. kody, of course, was in a jail cell. awaiting trial for murdering

her. naturally, a lot of people in town had come to see that boy as evil incarnate. the villain who'd snuffed out the life of their princess. and yet, even to mickey's family, it was more puzzling than that. it was simply inexplicable. >> he would never hurt her. i don't understand why he and it up confessing to it. i'm still like -- there's something more to this story. >> more partly because, kody's story of what happened just didn't make any sense. especially that bit about how the mickey penn demanded kody dump his fiancée toni and date for instead. impossible, said cecilia. had mickey her own steady boyfriend, and out of respect for toni, had been going out of her way to avoid getting anywhere near kody. >> micaela never liked confrontation. she did not like drama. she hated drama.

if it was going to cause an issue, she would stay away. >> and we, everybody knew about kody and toni's engagement. saw them flash their engagement rings. he, the six foot six, soon to be marine. she, the wee slip of a thing who made it her business to tame his temper and set him on the road to righteousness. she'd even persuaded him to convert to the mormon church. >> she was determined to be kody's savior, as you will. >> a person that helped him to graduate. >> she was going to make him happy. >> to help him be happy. the person that helped him -- >> she took that responsibility. >> the person that helped him got into the marines. >> she encouraged that. she encouraged him to do his school work. she encouraged him to keep on track to graduate. she encouraged him to try and be a better person. >> now the man toni so badly wanted to save was facing the death penalty. but she stuck by him. send him love letters. promised to be faithful andrew. and often drove the four hours it took to visit him in jail. they talked on the phone sometimes, too. and, this being jail, those calls were recorded. >> not to see you every day and talk to you. like, things to think and everything.

hold you in my arms or anything. it's just hard. >> yeah, i know it's hard for me, too. it really is. >> toni's parents of visited kody sometimes to provide support, but also to ask the particular question. >> i said, i don't understand this. why did you do this? why did this happen? and he just said, i don't know. i can't tell you anything. i don't know. >> but by now, kody's lawyer had told him, stop talking. >> tough case. real tough case. >> because the chances of his getting that death penalty were quite high. >> i think they were very high. it was the identity of the victim, it was the brutality of the killing. it was the poignancy of some of the photographs from the kids. we just broke your heart. >> not to mention, kody's confession, which made a

defense all but impossible. >> i think he really regretted doing that, because he their confession early on was the strongest piece of evidence against kody. what kody had in mind, we told him when he was involved in the killing, or that he did the killing, god knows. >> but the more he studied kody's confession, the more ohlson came to believe, just like mickey's family did, that something about it didn't add up. so, hired ohlson a season investigator. a former secret service agent named bill savage. asked him to find out what he could about kody, the murderer. and that boys confession. >> some of the details that mr. patten reported, didn't quite pack quite passed a sniff test. >> mickey's, swoons, so severe, so brutal. they certainly didn't seem to

be the result of an accident, as kody had claimed. or from a shovel of all things. >> horrible. slicing, disfigurement to mickey's face. >> what did that say to you? >> a great deal of reach by someone. >> why would kody have done that to a childhood friend? >> had to be more to the story. attorney ohlson wondered if kody's fiancée, toni fratto, might provide some insight. had kody already talked to the police during the routine interviews with people who knew mickey. >> kind of curious, where is mickey? what's going on? you know? where could she have gone? >> so, ohlson spoke to toni himself. did she have any idea why? >> absolutely not. no idea. >> was she as devastated as other people seem to have been? >> i would just cry per aspect as deadpan i described her as

emotional. us >> how did that strike? youth >> odd. . >> i very odd. >> mickey's details remembered that after the murder toni seemed to shut down. >> she refused to look at me. refused. i understand that you're not going to be very social because your significant other doing this, but she wouldn't talk to certain people anymore. but she normally would. >> new wheels were turning in that young woman spring. and then, early one spring morning in april, a few weeks after mickey's murder, climbed toni fratto into a car with kody's father, kip patten. she didn't tell her parents. she was out of town. toni was we're just her pajamas. nothing with her. as if she assumed she would never be coming back. it was one of mickey costanzo's the favorite places. the high school track where she won so many races. now on a bright spring day inmate, 2011, two months after her murder, the somber

celebration was underway here. it would have been mickey's 17th birthday. >> i bought a kick balloons, but. took it down to the high school. invited her friends and that was the hardest day, next to finding out she was murdered. >> apparently murdered by a childhood friend, kody patten. he'd confess. was sitting in jail. the death penalty a distinct possibility. or so everyone thought. but as they celebrated mickey's life, there was something about her death they didn't know. several days earlier, kody's legal team had a surprise visitor, kody's fiancée, toni fratto. she arrived with kody's father

at her side. said she was ready to tell the lawyers the story. >> so, are you willing to proceed? >> i think so, yeah. >> we talked and we recorded that conversation with her permission. and it was dynamite. >> you're about to hear the whole new version of mickey's murder that would turn the case upside down. >> am i to believe that you in fact were present when the girl got killed? >> yes. >> and here from the lips of this quite little teen, gave a horrifying story. kody was it the only color. it began for her, she said, with a text from kody saying, i have her. meaning mickey was with him in an suv he had borrowed. he wanted toni to join them. kody picture up, she said. then the three drove around. and it up at the gravel pits. then mickey and kody got out of the car and she started yelling at him. then pushing him.

>> i looked away just for, like, a split second, and then i heard a loud that on the car or whatever. so, i had got out to see what happened. >> what did you see when you got out? >> micaela was on the ground and she wasn't really moving at that point. >> she said, kody started digging what appeared to be a grief. and when he'd finished, with mickey lying semiconscious on the ground, they both started kicking her, punching her. hit her with a shovel. >> she wasn't moving. and, so, we had moved her to the grave. and then, we were kind of standing there, deciding what do we do? we didn't know what we had just

done. >> okay. >> i remember holding down her legs and we had slit her throat. >> who cut her throat? >> it was both of us. >> it was both of us. two kody's defense attorneys, five little words that changed everything. 0oh... uh... figure their stuff out. i didn't win the lawsuit, but everybody knows i wrote that song. flo? gosh, it's been forever. hamm, from the blind date we went on years ago. ah, the struggling actor who didn't believe he could save with snapshot based on how and how much he drives. i'd love to talk about it over dinner sometime. well, i usually don't talk on the phone during dinner, but for potential customer tom hamm, i will make an exception. oh, boy.

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she wanted to execute a pre-set trade strategy in seconds. cody paton confessed to killing so we gave 'em thinkorswim® web. because platforms this innovative aren't just made for traders -they're made by them. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade his childhood friend, nikki costanza. leaving nikki's family stunned, they've known cody for years. now, the case was taking another surprising turn. cody's girlfriend, tony fragile dropped a bombshell, freely admitting to cody's lawyers that she had also murdered mickey by slitting her throat. >> all of a sudden, he changed from one crazed killer to two people who committed a

homicide. it gave us something to point the case towards, other than cody's actions. >> two colors, sharing the guilt. maybe with some good learning, his client could escape the death penalty, after. all like -- was almost besides the point for olson anyway. but not for tony's parents. not when they found out. >> no one that no stone would have ever seen this coming. it just is impossible. >> their daughter had been even been a suspect, not even a person of interest. now, she confessed herself into a murder that could send her to death row. >> my immediate thought was that she's been coursed into saying this. >> somebody's meter? >> yes. >> what person popped into? >> police that. >> cody's father, the man who

delivered cody to the meeting. they had requested to appear on our program, but he insisted, tony told him what happened. and it was her idea to come forward and to meet with tony's attorney. he just drove are there because tony's parents were out of town. >> do you think, sometimes, that she thought i can do this with my parent? i have to wait until they're gone before i can actually go and confess to this terrible thing? >> i don't know, possibly so. but, we've always been very, very open. >> or, possibly a misguided attempt to save quality? but, she'd only succeeded in incriminating herself. >> she doesn't believe that she's confessing to the law enforcement. she's talking to cody's attorney, is asking them if it's going to help. >> but, tony didn't have an attorney client relationship with codes lawyers. no privilege, no protection. so, they turned her statement

over to law enforcement. and, when detective donald reviewed the tape, the transcripts of tony's confessions. >> and i determined that we have probable cause to arrest or just based on her own admission. >> tony, just 18, was booked and held without bail facing, perhaps a capital murder charge. same as cody. >> i, in my heart of hearts near tony had something to do with it. because, they were a couple. it was very hard for me to know that she was at school wearing his engagement ring, acting like nothing that happened. and, she knew nothing about it. when i knew she knew. >> i said, i am so glad that she is now sitting and facing where he is, now it makes sense. >> but, little tony rattle honestly didn't seem like a killer. she was a beauty queen at 13, devoutly religious to. , and extremely close to her parents. >> she always went to church

with us, you know a lot of kids you have to force them to get out and go. it was never that we were tony. >> she had goals in her life. she knew exactly where she wanted to go. >> so, a truly responsible child? >> yes, absolutely. >> outside of our family, tony had very few friends except for cody, of course. and the moment that they started dating in the night great, they were virtually inseparable. >> she loved him. she thought she loved him. >> he was very, very process of. did not like her talking to anybody else but him. >> now, the parents remembered a possessive, controlling cody so big and strong and when they thought about it that way, they wondered what was the real story behind their daughters confession?

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called rush town. solutions, casinos. even brothels! four of them right in the middle of town. good businesses to, according to police. >> nearby, there's also an historic courthouse. a stage for preliminary hearings for teenagers accused of the brutal murder. but so, far not a single person could explain. least of all, nikki costanza's mother, cecilia, before the hearing she studied every grisly photo embraced herself what was coming. >> i had to know exactly what happened to my daughter. everything. >> no matter how bad? >> everything, every autopsy photo that was taken of my daughter, i saw. i saw it all. because i did not want to go into a courtroom and see my daughter like that for the very first time. >> there were separate hearings

for tony and cody. two occasions for cecilia to hold up under question. >> it's right over there, and he's wearing a red jumpsuit. >> two occasions to hear a motion and incriminating confessions. >> i tried to, like, check her pulse on stuff. and i couldn't get anything and she was just flopping. >> cody, no surprise, was bound over for trial which everybody knew he could face the death penalty. >> and tony, pale and gaunt in her black jumpsuit, she listen to her own excerpts of her stunning confession. >> after that, she wasn't really breathing or anything. and so we -- we kind of just stood there. we're crying because we didn't know what we had just done. >> it was brutal, it was painful. it was long, it was tortures. and those two could not ever get away with it. they could not walk away free.

>> but, people couldn't help but notice that the two kids toll very different stories. remember, cody said he was alone. well, tony insisted that he was with him and they murdered mckee together. >> tony's parents simply could not believe, despite the confession that they're cui dominican daughter was capable of so monstrous back. >> can you imagine her doing those things? striking her with the shovel, perhaps helping with the night? >> i don't believe that she had anything to do with the knife. >> she did, she did. >> there were no fingerprints, no dna -- >> striking her with a shovel was an order from codi. >> an order from codi. that was the answer to the questions and behind, it a terrible secret, over the years had the photos, tony had given cody lots of orders. he was extremely possessive.

physically intimidating. more than a foot taller than little tony was often angry and abusive. >> he would delight, or he would be pushing her, around he with b restraining her, throwing her down. >> in fact, just two months before the murder, the school surveillance camera caught an educated cody appearing to get rough with tony right here at the locker. >> there was an instance that occurred in the hallway at the high school that depicts cody grabbing tony around the neck. and, realizing that he's six foot six, he's five foot one. >> but, tony declined to file charges. >> her explanation was that if something like this happens, you will not be accepted into the marines then i don't want to stand in the way of that. >> you have to realize what her goals were and what her expectations and her final result of all of this was to get her into the marines.

>> and, perhaps get him out of her life? >> now, after the murder, and to news confession the photos look back on their relationship with quality with new eyes. tony, they decided was an abused woman. >> she was a living in fear of what she thought the repercussions would be if she brought it out. >> so, van cody might kill her to, tony's parents insisted her daughter had no choice but to cooperate with cody, the murder. >> so, her participation as people say, in what happened that night was strictly out of fear, controlling, manipulation and orders by the one that she had already been suffering abuse from for two years, three years. >>, but she participated in the attack. >> participated, participated under extreme --

>> orders. >> orders. she was afraid that she would be the one lying next to mckayla if she did not follow his orders that evening. >> to which, cody's attorney, john eastman, responded -- >> baloney. >> why do you say that? >> baloney. there is nothing in the relationship, ever, that would indicate that she was ever abused by cody. >> and when her parents support the idea that she was abused, why would parents do such a thing? >> i don't know. i don't think you abuse someone into committing murder. i've never heard of someone being abused ending up committing murder. >> tony was founded over for trial, just like cody. analysts now sitting in a jail cell, facing the daunting prospect of losing her life,, not to kody patton but to lethal injection, unless what if tony told a whole new story about her role in mickey costanza's murder? a story that just might

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here's what's happening, four people have been killed, including the suspected shooter after a man opened fire in a mall stuff in indianapolis. two others were injured and hospitalized, police say good samaritan shot the people with a handgun. and a federal judge in tennessee, temporarily blocked the biden administration's directed for the last transgender worker institute to use the bathroom and locker rooms as well as joint sports teams, just correspond with their gender identity. now, back to dateline. their gender identity. now, christmas time in west wendover, nevada, christy costanza had been dead for nine months. >> christmas day, it was not fun for me. she was missing. it's not the same.

and i don't ever think that's going to go away. i used to enjoy going to buy everybody christmas presents, wrapping them up. and it was in the saying. and then having to remember not to buy her something -- >> cody paton, and her fiancée, tony, spent their days in jail awaiting trial. on new year's eve, cody turned 20. >> that early in 2012, illegal deal the merged. cody would plead guilty to first degree murder, get life in prison but with the possibility of parole, no death penalty. and, in exchange, he would have to testify against tony. cody took the deal. and, just as suddenly changed his mind. >> instead, cody decided to take's chances in court. but just one day later, the da

offered tony a deal. not the same deal. better. i've tony agreed to testify against codi, she'd be allowed to plead to second degree murder, with a chance of parole after just 18 years. by then, tony would be just 36. and, tony offered a chance to save her own skin by throwing cody under the bus said, yes. she signed the plea papers, right away. >> she said, you know what, enough is enough. the truth needs to be told and i am going to tell. >> so, on a chilly january day, tony was led from her jail cell to an office at the tourist apartment to tell her story. , and put her hand on the bible and promised to tell the truth. >> i am a person to tell the truth, and deep down i want people to know the truth because i knew cody wasn't

going to come forward. >>, and for the next three and a half hours, tony told a whole new story about how cody was upset with nikki, how he hated the sound of her voice, that things were building up. then, the tell of the story that did not change, the afternoon of march 3rd with that texan cody. that over 100 to exchange that day. they fully recovered -- but, this one said tony would burn in her memory. >> what was the content of it? >> -- >> look from here, the story changed and blame shifted towards cody. as they drove off into the, deserts are cody, they drove back and was stuff back into the -- mickey look scared, said tony with their hands up to her face. cody look determined, angry she said. but, wouldn't talk to her. then, as they approach the gravel pit, said tony, right

beside in the driver seat, center text. >> and it said, we have to kill her. just kind of looked at him and kind of lit, why? >> tony pulled over, said tony. an ordered her to stand guard as he dug a hole. then he took mickey from the car, pushed her to the ground, demanded that tony hit her. >> all i remember is him pulling your hair back and i went up and had neater in the face. >> but, in this new an entirely different version of her story, tony claimed she was an unwilling participant. and, insisted she backed off wall cody started punching and kicking mickey. and then, he issued an order. >> i remember looking up by cody and him telling me, hitter with a shovel, hidden with the shovel. and, so i hitter in the back of the shoulder with the shovel. >> said cody took the shovel

back and what to make in the head. and then, in the whole he dug, cody got on top of her. >> and then, i remember going up and holding her legs down so that she could stop kicking. and then, all of a sudden her legs went completely still. and she was moving. and that freaked me. out so i backed off and i jumped up and walked off a little bit. >> remember, in her first confession, tony claimed she helped cut nikki's throat. not anymore. her new story, cody used the knife alone. while she, horrified, then backed off but kept watching and listening. >> she had looked up by cody unasked, am i still here? am i still alive? >> and, then cody ordered her to get in the car, she said, and shooting by herself, tony said she heard the last sound of mickey costanza's life.

and, then she said it was over. cody very muggy by himself. -- they drove back into town, went to mcdonald's for a coal drink. and, then later they cruised across the state line into utah, pulled off into the desert and burned mixed clothes and belongings. >> you can't tell me, to this day, why this happened? >> no. >> he never told you that? >> no. >> and, with that, tony had her deal. this one statement she provided would now comprise much of the da's case against her fiancée, tony paton. >> in this new version of her story, cody was the killer, orchestrated the whole thing and she, terrified of cody's murderous rage was forced to go along for the awful ride. not at all like her original confession. but was there more to tony story? well, maybe. because just before she was

arrested, tony left something behind, something in her very own words that just might reveal the real motive for mickey constand was murder. mickey that there is progressive's homequote explorer website, where i compared home insurance rates. we don't need to print the internet. some are beyond help. i will give you $100 if you can tell me what this is. -scotch egg. -it's a meatball. progressive can't help you from becoming your parents, but we can help you compare rates on home insurance with homequote explorer. we've got a lot of work to do.

there's a final technique in law enforcement. two defendants? get want to take a deal and testify against the other. it looked like that was about to work in the case of a murder of mickey costanza. tony fragile apparent also to tell the world that her fiancé, cody paton, after abusing her four years, forced her to witness an even, in the minor, way assist in the killing. apparently, like everybody else, she did not know why cody did. it only that she, tony feared she killed her two if she didn't go along. >> but, of course, why was the question of the lips of every

breathing sole inside of window where we'll hear. the idea that cody was brutally murdering his own childhood friend just did not make any sense. any more than that the idea that tony would go to such trouble to visit cody and jill and whisper sweet nothing to him on the phone and send him love notes and then factual deathly afraid of him, as she claimed. no, people around here have much given up on the fact of getting any kind of an answer. when suddenly, out of the blue, a little gift appeared. tony had turned out had been keeping a diary. >> before she confessed, tony gave it to kobe's parents, who turned everything over to defense investigators, bill savage. >> in my opinion, there were some valuable information in there in regard to tony's personality, her feelings -- >> in this little book, tony poured out her fears, her hopes, her deep insecurities and what

cody's attorney thought was just perhaps a motive for murder. >> this, for example, she worried that tony would leave me for someone else, cheat on. me that cody and i won't last forever we won't get marrying. in here, she wrote of her own terror. that her relationship with cody wouldn't work out. and if so, that there was no point in living. i'm very angry today, so angry that i'm trying to overdose. after i got off the phone with cody, i went into four aspirants. >> in my opinion, a very troubled young lady. >> a troubled young lady, who, in many ways, did not feel worthy. >> that's correct. >> and, who loved this guy. but at the same time was terrified of losing him. >> yes. >> afraid of losing him to the girl she had grown up with, the attractive and popular mickey costanza. we might as well break up, so he can get back together with her. he will be happier and can see

her a lot, a lot more than he will ever see me. they are perfect for each other. >> tony was jealous of nikki. and, if she were out of the picture then cody and tony would be together. >> so she was everything tony wasn't. >> yes, absolutely. >> they would be so happy together if i didn't steal him away. i know, in my heart, he really doesn't love me. >> the diary disclosed had real animosity that tony had for mckayla. >> right. >> no one's ever shown me any reason that tony had to hurt mckayla. none. >> but tony? >> tony had reason. >> was it possible she was the one who wanted mickey dead? that her big strong boyfriend was just doing what she wanted? vicky sisters remembered. >> tony used to get so upset if mccullough was seen talking to cody.

she would just yell and holler and say horrible things to make a lot, you know. don't talk to him and caller every name imaginable. >> and intentionally -- intensely jealous girl. >> he couldn't be around girls. especially my sister. but, he couldn't do certain things. she couldn't go do certain things. and if they, did it was -- >> and cody, was, said christina, on a very tight leash. >> i must have been doing laundry or something and i could hear tony coming walking and saying, gotta go. and i was, like you can't even talk to me? >> he's like, no, i gotta go. i can't be seen, she's going to get mad. >> who is the driving force in that relationship? >> she was. >> but having heard told the sworn statement, tony sawyer knew that his client story about mickey dying after some sort of accident, now sounded like a cover-up of a cold blooded murder.

and, therefore, tony's testimony who -- >> part of tony fried a statement, in which she said that, at some point in time in this killing, mckayla is set up in the grave and said, am i still here? can i go home? >> devastating. >> yeah. >> which is why, just weeks before the trial, he decided to plead guilty to first degree murder. >> that was the safest way to go. that was the way that would presented least a possibility that cody would see daylight again. and, it would take the death penalty off the table. >> with cody sentencing, in front of the packed courtroom, he made his case for a vengeful parole, pleading with the judge for mercy and begging mickey's family for forgiveness. >> -- >> and, then for the first, time cody spoke about his fiancée an apparent partner of

the murder, the woman he protected in his conviction never revealing that she was there at the white -- crime scene. >> listen to what he said. now >> to the court, i just want to state that my codefendant is not entirely all to blame. >> did you hear that? tony was not all to blame. was cody implying that she played a role in at least some or even most of those horrific stab wounds to mickey's pretty face? >> there is no reason to know why. just the case and fourth. >> again, sorry is not enough. but i -- i apologize for everything.

. >> norman's later, his sentence, a chance of parole at maybe 25 years. >> i sent into you to jail for life, there will be no possibility of parole. >> it was justice, said nikki's family. but, an odd feeling lingered. >> you have to sit there and go, oh my gosh. this person that i knew so well we'll never, never have a chance of anything. now >> they're conflicted. >> i see the good in him, i see what he did, i want him to be punished for what he did, but i see that good side of him. >> both kody and the prison where he spend his, life turned down a request for an interview. but, tony friday, a different story.

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queen was in a prison suit when they brought her to see us. >> we arranged our meeting in a small courtroom not too far from herself. the sheriff's people agreed to let her mother watch from an adjoining room. separated by a thick, plate glass window. she could hear us. we could not hear her. so, two lines of communication. our sweet tone, hers silently with her mother. >> we begin starting by talking about kody the fiancée that she seemed so afraid to losing too

mickie costanzo. there are people who say that you were very jealous and that you manipulated him into committing murder. >> i was not jealous of micaela. yes, that one thing that i had wrote in my diary but that was way long early in our relationship. it never was brought up again. nothing of a recent. >> did you ever say to him, get rid of her? >> no i -- >> get rid of her, orioles was me. >> didn't say to her or me? >> no. >> didn't give him that choice? >> absolutely not. >> and then, we talked about the night of march 3rd, 2011. when she and cody took mickie to the desert and ended her life. >> when you put yourself back there, in your memory, what does that feel like inside? >> my heart just sings and, you

know, to be honest it's like it takes my breath away. i feel like it's hard to breathe and everything. it's not something, you know, you want to sit there and think about. >> there are different stories. that's why have to ask these questions. >> right. >> and you hit her with a shovel? >> yes. >> why? >> because i was told to. i did not want to do anything to her or anything. he kept telling me over, and over again. just do it. it's okay, just do it. and, i just remember him putting her down and him standing over her. >> she was struggling, trying to get free. >> and then he backed off? >> yes. i don't know what he was doing up towards the top of her body. i could not see because he was standing in the way.

>> and, she insisted, contradiction to that first confession of her. she did not help koji with the slashing and stabbing. >> and, you didn't hold the knife. you didn't qatar. >> correct. >> so, it reduced your culpability. >> my sentence, yes. i'm not trying to diminish my actions or anything of what i did. but i won't take responsibility for something i did not do. >> frequently, as tony distanced herself from the crime, she looked through the glass to her mother. especially when the question turned to why. >> i was too much and fear. i was scared, terrified. >> only reason she was there, she insisted. she was an abused woman. and, she was afraid he'd kill her too. >> when you're going through a

type of abusive relationship, you don't always fight back with your abuser. to be honest, i, after finding everything out that i know now. i believed that i was next. >> why would you kill you? >> it's because i was a witness. and i was there with mcgill. >> so, why is mickie costanzo that? >> you would have to ask kody said toni fratto. i don't know his motive. i don't know. if i knew, i'd be more than willing to, you know come out and say why so it would make sense. >> is he just a lunatic or what? >> i don't know. i don't have an answer for that. >> and when he says he doesn't know why. do you believe him? >> no. he's got to know why.

there's a reason why he did this. >> was this version of her story finally the truth? perhaps. and, in any event, mickie family had to be satisfied with whatever consolation toni fratto offered. >> i know sorry is not enough. if i could go back, i would and protect her and make sure that this wouldn't happen and everything. that you know, she would still be here today. >> can you see her face now in your mind? >> bits and pieces, yeah. >> you will probably be seeing there for a long time. >> for the rest of my life. >> and, with that, our interview ended. fratto never wavering from her story. the one she told when she cut that deal with the district

attorney. the deal that could set her free but the year 2030. but, of course, toni couldn't know leaving here, nor could we that one more little surprise was waiting. toni had said something very interesting just before toni tucker deal. something very deep in the court files. but now, about to be revealed. w, about to be revealed.

kody patten and toni fratto are in prison now. different stories about the murder. different sentences to. toni fratto we'll have a chance to win parole. but kody patten will most likely die in prison. by the way, this is an academic question. but there's one more version of

the story of the murder of mickie costanzo which we found buried in the court false. and, it just might provide an answer. >> remember that plea deal cody for us except it and then decided to pass up? here's the story behind that very dramatic moment. kody i just started making a sworn statement to the da, it was going to be a full and frank account of what really happened and why. here is how it began, he said. there was an incident, the afternoon of the murder, just down there by the school. tony confronted mickie in the school hallway. >> toni tony saw mickie in the hallways said kody and called her a slot. look at there, there is that slot! the girls argued, said kody. he intervened, he told, or not get. off before anybody heard about this kody statement.

mickie sister told us this. >> she needed her there, he said that she had walked by and said something so rude under breath. >> we're talking about a couple of years. bill >> yeah, the hatred between them grow more and more. i can't tell you why. it just escalated. >> as cody told the da, it escalated to a fever that day. and, suddenly he suggested, why don't you guys just talk it out? and, tony agreed and said, she just wanted to duke it out with micaela so i relayed the message to mickie. and said, while she wants to fight it. out and mickey came to the resolution and she's like, okay. >> so, said anne kody mickey did get into the car with him, voluntarily. they drove around for a while said kody. then they picked up tony. they all headed to the gravel pits. and, what did kody tell the da but would have been there? well, it turned out, nothing. because, just the --

fact the two met, confirmed briefly and kody stop talking. he had changed his mind, rejected the plea deal and never told the story again. and, his statement was filed away. but, olson, who was never disputed that cody was involved a safer than opinion about what probably happened at the gravel pit. >> my guess would be that there was an opportunity for toni to confront micaela. >> and they went out to have the confrontation in the desert away from. i >> -- >> a bad idea that became a screw up. >> a bad idea that became a horrible idea. a bad idea that went very, very bad. >> was it a high de hatched on the spur of the moment? who knows, at least not according to deede. who said she witnessed the hostility escalate for months. she heard tony bad-mouth mickie time in. again, and she saw tony play one nasty prank after another.

including one that seemed like more than just a prank. >> he had a little box cutter bleed. and he swiped it across her arm. , and effort she said i didn't even know. and then i looked down and i'm bleeding and i look at him and he's laughing. >> was that kind of the straw that broke the camel's back? >> that was. he said, she's not worth it. and then i really don't want a person like that in my life, at all. >> then from then, on mickey avoided cody. never spoke to him. cut him out of her life. >> he grew really angry at her after that. would do things to try and make her mad. just so she talked to him. it was a real shocked him to, all of a sudden havre there, put the gun and then never have. >> but angry and abandon tony, i jealous tony? maybe that's why mickey had been so worried, said the day about what those two might be up to. >> she says, he keeps trying to

get me to go with them. just constantly, that's what he wanted, just trying to get it to. go >> to go out with him and tony. >> and she was fully aware that she was public enemy number one as far as tony was concerned. >> she just said, i don't understand -- i don't get it, it's not right. something is just wrong. >> because the costanza family said mickey would never have gone with cody and tony voluntarily. and, there is evidence of that. this zip tie found around mickey's arm. something else, mick's family is convinced that kody toni near a few days around the murder were the only days that they would find mickey alone after school. >> the timing was to perfect. it was the one time, the one time that deede was a college. christina and donald where nascar. i was at work. it's the one time and all of

this time that mckayla would've actually had to walk home. >> which, when we heard that, made us wonder, in our interview did tony slip and reveal hidden truth? >> remember, she claimed she wasn't abused women and an unwilling accomplice, they're only out of fear. but, listen to this. does it indicate the very planning revealed in cody statement to the da? planning that included picking a place for the showdown? >> all, well when i finally got out to the designated area and everything. >> what do you mean by designated area? >> where everything went down. >> that area was designated? >> well, just the area where we ended up. >> no plan to go there, insisted tony. so, designated area? maybe, maybe not. but, also a festering jealousy. scores of text messages, as a tie and one more explosive ingredient, an affair.

>> police revealed that kody have been seeing an older woman. a woman from who he borrowed the suv used the night of the murder. >> tony knows that now, of course. that the other woman wasn't mickey. but did she know it then? the night they killed her? >> a woman knows. whether you are that age or my age. you know some things maybe not right, who that person might be, i don't think she would've ever in 1 million years thought it was an adult. so, the next person she, in her mind would think would be my daughter. even though it's completely wrong. >> does that sound like tony wasn't abused women or being an angry boyfriend? or, a scorned woman did turn to rig or self of a perceived rival? anne an unanswered question, which is probably the best will get, set a turning. alston >> outside of the

participants who were in line, nobody knows. nobody knows. and nobody's going to. no >> they'll never get a -- >> no. >> but then, would any answer ever be good enough? >> i want the truth. well i ever get it? no. they'll never tell me. and there's nothing they can say or do that will make it better. they cannot fix this. >> three families broken in west and over, kody patten will never come home. toni fratto might someday, but too late for them. >> i don't think that she will be alive when she gets out. i don't think that there will be a time when will be together like that again. >> west wendover high school has retired mickie costanzo

that jersey. it hangs now in a place of honor. an outside, the students got together to paint and sign a huge rock, a memorial in her favor color. >> how do you honor your sister? and go on and do what you need to do with your life? >> when she died, i was in the middle of a semester. and i was lost for a long time. but i thought about when she would want to do. she would want me to finish. she would want me to be all like i could be. so, i keep a picture of her with me all the time. and, i'd sit there and i would just think, well, what would mckayla want me to do? and that's what pushes me forward. >> up in the high desert mountains, outside of wendover, is a ranch with a small family

sanctuary. it's a peaceful, sacred place where mckayla koch -- costanza, mickey, now russ. >> the ranch's home. she's exactly where she would want to have been. she's laying right next to my father. and she is in the most beautiful spot in the world to him. and she's like, sitting on top of the world. >> we all knew that my mom, myself, we'd all eventually be there. just not in the order that it seems to have happened. >> and here, on the little strip on i-80, when dover will still raises his granting welcome. but he points to a place a

little older now. as if the neon lights turn up along the desert casinos had picked up a layer of grief. welcome to a special two-hour edition ahead, systemic failures and egregious decision making we have the breaking details of a new preliminary report into the uvalde school massacre. plus, conservative supreme court justices are erasing the line that separates church and state in america. then, bernie sanders on the attack. who he's accusing of sabotaging the president's agenda. i'm ayman mohyeldin. let's get started. breaking news tonight. the most