Kriti Mehrotra
When high school junior Micaela “Mickey” Costanzo was found dead in a remote area near the Utah-Nevada border after being missing for 2 days in March 2011, it raised more questions than answers. After all, the 16-year-old had no known enemies, so it was bewildering that she had been heinously murdered – beaten and slashed, repeatedly – before being buried in a shallow grave. That’s precisely what NBC’s ‘Dateline: Under the Desert Sky’ explores, right along with how officials eventually brought her two assailants, Kody Cree Patten and Toni Collette Fratto, to justice.
Toni Fratto and Kody Patten Were Once Happily Engaged
Born around 1993 in West Wendover, Nevada, to Cassie Fratto and Claude Fratto as their only child, Toni Collette Fratto reportedly grew up in an affectionate, loving, and supportive household. According to the original production, the Frattos are devout Mormons, so she was raised in a very tight-knit religious environment and taught the significance of right and wrong at an early age. She thus evolved into what many would describe as a good kid by the time 2011 rolled around, always willing to attend church and lend a helping hand while also being a normal teenager.
Toni was admittedly close to both her parents and actually liked sharing the little details of her life with them, resulting in them trusting her to such an extent that they allowed her to date. She was in 9th grade when she began going out with a classmate named Kody Cree Patten, meaning they had been together for over 3 years when he got down on one knee during their senior year. The 18-year-olds were excited to start a new chapter of their lives together upon graduating, with her focus being on encouraging her fiancé to do his best and helping him make it into the Marines.
As per Toni’s parents, Kody was struggling in late 2010/early 2011, so they allowed him to move in with them and then noticed how their daughter’s primary goal seemed to be just supporting him. They were proud of their little girl for her unyielding empathy, but they have since also claimed her relationship with the 6’6″ aspiring marine was toxic because there were elements of control. In fact, they and Toni herself have since come forward to allege that they believe he was abusive, which is how the teenager got entangled in the March 3, 2011, homicide of Micaela Costanzo.
Toni Fratto Was Not Even a Suspect in Micaela Costanzo’s Murder Until She Confessed
When Micaela was reported missing on the evening of March 3, upon not making it home after school and track practice, investigators questioned Kody since they were childhood friends. However, that wasn’t the case for Toni, as she wasn’t really in the orbit of the missing 16-year-old, so no one ever wondered whether she might have any knowledge of the case or a hand in it. This same thinking persisted even after Mickey’s remains were recovered on March 5 and Kody confessed on March 7, especially because he asserted he alone was responsible for the brutal homicide.
Although Kody subsequently faced trial on the charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapons enhancement, Toni kept their relationship going by often visiting him and writing him letters. However, everything changed a couple of months later when she approached his defense attorneys to claim his initial confession was not the entire truth because she was also involved in the crime. She agreed to the conversation being recorded before alleging that her fiancé had texted “I have her” about Mikey on the fateful evening before picking her up and driving them to a deserted area. There, Toni claimed, Kody and Mickey got into an argument, driving him to push her and beat her. She alleged he then ordered her to attack his childhood friend with a shovel and slash her throat. She declared they both were responsible for hurting her and cutting her throat before he buried her.
What the 18-year-old hadn’t realized was that she did not have an attorney-client privilege with the lawyers, so they handed the tape over to local authorities. As a result, she was arrested on the charge of open murder on May 4, 2011. That’s when it came to light that Toni was insecure about Kody’s long, close friendship with Mickey, which had even led to significant tension among the trio. According to one of Mickey’s sisters, Toni often also called the girl she believed was her romantic rival horrible names whenever they passed one another in school. Therefore, with Toni’s diary also containing entries in which she explicitly expressed her worries about potentially losing her love to Mickey, it seemed like she had a motive. Yet, it could not ever be confirmed.
Toni Fratto is Currently Incarcerated in a State Prison
It was in early 2012 when Kody was reportedly offered a plea deal in exchange for the death penalty to be taken off the table and his testimony against Toni. According to court records, he initially agreed and began making a formal statement claiming that he, his fiancée, and Mickey had decided to talk after school on March 3 to clear the air between them. He essentially indicated that their being together in the desert was planned, but then he suddenly changed his mind, left his statement unfinished, and refused the plea deal. A few days later, Toni was offered a similar plea deal in exchange for life with the possibility of parole and her testimony against Kody. She agreed and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a use of a deadly weapon enhancement on January 27, 2012.
Toni also modified her initial confession to allege that Mickey was already zip-tied in the back when Kody picked her up and that she had no hand in slashing her throat. Yet, she did admit to participating in hitting her with a shovel, holding her legs down while Kody used his knife, and then helping her then-partner get rid of the evidence. In the end, on April 16, 2012, Toni was sentenced to life in prison with parole after 10 years for second-degree murder, plus an additional term of 8 to 20 years for the deadly weapon enhancement. She has since maintained that she became involved in Mickey’s homicide and did what she did at the behest of her now ex-fiancé because she was scared of losing her own life if she refused. Nevertheless, she has been refused early release twice – in 2021 and in 2024 – so the 33-year-old remains incarcerated at the Florence McClure Women’s Correctional Center in Clark County, Nevada.
Read More: Micaela Costanzo Murder Details and Investigation Timeline
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