Murder With My Husband - 87. Micaela Costanzo - The Wendover Slaying

Episode Date: November 22, 2021

On this episode of MWMH, Payton and Garrett discuss the abduction and murder of 16-year-old Mickie. LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: https://elkodaily.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/fratto-denied-parole-a-decade-after-west-wendover-murder/article_e4019386-f0a1-50b3-a2ab-0e0c67d99c24.html https://murderpedia.org/female.F/f/fratto-toni.htm https://www.deseret.com/utah/2021/4/4/22361536/parole-denied-in-2011-murder-of-west-wendover-teenager-toni-fratto-micaela-mickey-constanzo https://www.facebook.com/In-Memory-of-Micaela-Mickie-Costanzo-140997772633410/ https://www.thoughtco.com/the-murder-of-micaela-costanzo-972248 Dateline episode Links: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Ads: HydroJug: www.thehydrojug.com and use code: HUSBAND Raycon: www.buyraycon.com/husband - 15% off Best Fiends HelloFresh: HelloFresh.com/Husband14 and use code husband14 for up to 14 free meals, plus free shipping! Sarah Flint: www.sarahflint.com/HUSBAND Magic Spoon: magicspoon.com/HUSBAND use code HUSBAND SundanceNow: www.sundancenow.com use code HUSBAND Olive and June: www.oliveandjune.com/husband use code HUSBAND Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer, PXU Energy is back with Ultimate Summer Pat, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on for automatic energy savings! Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days. In this summer's hottest blood flow start guaranteeing to keep you cool. The savings for coming from inside the house! Ultimate Summer Pat, energy savings and results so cool. PXU Energy, energy for everything. Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder with my husband. I'm Peyton

Morelint. And he's the husband. And I'm the husband. We just want to say a big thank you to everyone who supported us by purchasing our merch last week. Honestly, it's insane. like it went better than I could have even expected. I just can't believe that there's that many people that want to wear this with us. I mean, we love it, obviously, but I just can't believe it.

So we just want to say thank you so much for loving us and supporting us and wanting to be a part of this community. With that being said, we do just want to remind everyone that this week there will be a bonus episode on Patreon. They've actually like gotten extra episodes every week this month. So if you want to check that out and support us, it's patreon.com slash murder with my husband. And also all the Patreon content is also ad free. Oh, yeah.

I did want to mention that as well. If you just, I mean, it's really easy to skip over the ads, but if you just hate being a skipper, head over to our Patreon because all of our content is ad free and there's bonus episodes on there. So it's a win-win, honestly. Okay, Garrett, what is your 10 seconds for this week? So I know what my 10 seconds is this week. Do you know what it is? Yes.

You do? Well, I think I do. Of course she knows, she's my wife, she knows everything. So I don't even know where to start, but long story short, do I tell the long story or the short version? Whatever you want. It's your 10 seconds. Okay. Well, long story short, we found out that someone on Twitch,

if you guys don't know what Twitch is, it's typing in Google, you can look it up, but someone on Twitch would stream our podcast, our YouTube videos, and then react to them while other people are watching at the same time. So I'm hoping that's making sense to everybody if they don't know what Twitch is. If you do know what Twitch is and you'll completely understand. Anyway, so Peyton and I found this and it was actually quite a few people that watch it while someone named Boothpack streams it, shout out to Boothpack. So we found him and I went on and like joined the stream and was talking to everybody and

it was freaking awesome. So shout out to BoothPack and everyone else that was also watching at the same time. And if you wanna look it up, you can type in BoothPack it's B-O-O-F-P-A-C-K-K. And also it's every Monday. So it's when our YouTube videos come out, he streams for like four or five hours.

Yeah, and it's actually really just like a fan page for Garrett. So if the reason you're listening to this podcast is for Garrett, which I completely understand you guys, I'm obsessed with him too, then go watch there because they just rally for Garrett over there. It was really fun to watch. All right, let's get into the story.

So our case begins this week in Wendover, Nevada. And Wendover actually borders Utah, Nevada, and it's a small hub of Little Vegas. There are casinos and gambling, the Bonneville salt flats are also there, and then there's also like a little strip, and it's a desert area, right? So there, I mean, there's not a lot out there,

a lot of dirt, though. So Wendover also might be known for its large neon cowboy named Wendover Will, who is this big neon cowboy, and he kind of watches over the small town. I've seen that before. Yeah, so the year is 2011 in Wendover. And despite the small Vegas atmosphere, there is a community in Wendover who live there full time,

like they have normal jobs, normal lives. So it's a Thursday afternoon at the local high school. And school has actually ended for the day. And after school activities and sports practices were also wrapping up. 16-year-old Michaela Costanzo is just finishing track practice and she is helping clean up equipment and she's actually excelling pretty well in track. She's kind of a track star if you will in the area. Michaela actually goes by Mickey, which is what we will call her for the rest of the episode.

Mickey, not only exiled in track, but she also excelled in school. She loved poetry and learning. Mickey was the youngest of three girls. Her and her middle sister, DJ, were best friends and inseparable. They played sports together and they also hung out with the same friends. In kind of the gist I was getting through listening to the family talk about her was that her and her two other sisters and her mom were close. Like they were, they all got along very well,

they were very close, they were each other's lives and her and DJ were especially close. And I always think it's super special when siblings are good enough friends that they're able to share friends at school. Like I always thought that was good. So I think that's kind of the situation here. And also, Mickey was very pretty and she was popular at school.

She really just had everything going for her. So after this specific practice, Mickey was planning on walking home. It was only about a mile from the high school to her house. And although she is a runner, Mickey normally would be picked up by her older sister, Christina, and driven home. But this specific day, her sister was out of town, which meant Mickey would then have to take the short trek home after practice alone. Mickey was a junior at school at the time, and her mother, Sylia, describes her as extremely

reliable and mature. She was responsible, consistently checking in with her mom, never really causing problems, so this short walk home really wouldn't be that big of a deal. Sylia actually describes Mickey as the teenager most parents would want. She was born happy, she was always positive, finding the good in life, and extremely responsible they had a great relationship. So this day, March 3rd, 2011, when Sylia did not receive a check-in call or text from Mickey when track practice ended or when she made it Home she was a little alarmed she called her daughter, but the phone just rang and rang even more concerned

She diled back once again, but this time the phone rang once and then went to voicemail Mickey had ignored the call So Sylia's extremely confused. This is not like Mickey. This is not like her daughter. They just they didn't do this. Silly decided to call Christina, the older daughter who would normally pick her up from school. Christina was in Las Vegas at the time, but she needed to know if maybe she had heard from her sister since practice ended. Christina's like, no, but mom, you need to calm down. Like, it's okay. And no, find my friends. So I don't think she had find my friends or find my iPhone because it wasn't brought up in the case.

Got it. So Christina, her sister says no, obviously like I said. And she explains that Mickey might just be missing the calls. Like, maybe they were missing each other. Everything was okay, but Silia, her mom was still worried. So Christina promised to hang up with her mom and try to get a hold of Mickey herself in order to calm her mom was still worried. So Christina promised to hang up with her mom and try to get a hold of Mickey herself in order to calm her mom's nerves. She wasn't really worried but she's like mom's

nervous so I'll try. So she dials the number but once again it rings and rings and rings. Mickey does not answer the phone. So Christina is a little stumped but wonders if you know just maybe Mickey is finally being a normal teenager like hanging out with friends and doing what she wants without having to be responsible until her mom all the time. Despite these excuses, no one really seemed to know where Mickey was though. So Sylia decides to leave work early and rush home. Maybe she would spot Mickey while driving through the town or just arrive home to their apartment to see that, you know, she was too wrapped up in homework to see the calls or maybe it was all misunderstanding

or something. It's kind of scary because I think growing up you think, oh, it's never going to happen to me. You always, I've heard people say that. You're almost into Nile. This stuff doesn't happen, but it does. It really does happen. And it just happens to everybody. You're not exactly everybody.

It can happen to everybody. Correct, yeah. So when Sylia pulls into the house and makes her way inside, only DJ is alone at the house, her other daughter. And she too had no idea where Mickey was. DJ immediately understanding the seriousness of the situation begins calling everyone she knows, her friends friends Mickey's friends Who knew where she was who was the last to see her today?

Yeah, and his words spread from Mickey's family to Mickey's friends to the local high school students and then to their families Panic began to set in when no one had heard or seen from Mickey a group of around 90 people Made their way out to the local high school to look around for the missing teenager before Silia could even make the terrifying decision to call the cops. And I've said it once, but I'll say it again for every victim's family whose loved one goes missing. That gut-wrenching realization that authorities need to be contacted is like a fear we will never be able to understand.

So police ask Silia the basics. Like when was Mickey last seen? Had she reached out at all to any of her friends? Had she checked into the places she would usually be? Cameras, where's the cameras? Come on, gotta be cameras. Jumping ahead. So Silia informs them, like yes,

I have taken all the measures that I possibly could before calling you guys. In fact, over 90 people are already out searching for my daughter. Like really were our last resort. When police hear this, they immediately realize something is definitely wrong. If this many people were already aware of her absence and they still hadn't found her, it doesn't look good. Because normally if it's like a teenage runaway, someone somewhere knows something.

And so it just takes a little bit of digging and then police are like, okay, now we figured out where they are. And so how far was this walk again? Only a mile. A mile, okay. Yeah. And she's a track runner, isn't that like two feet in there?

So in the mile does that include like going through her neighborhood and everything as well? I'm sure, yes. A mile using like sidewalks is what I'm assuming. So it's really not that far. So although the local Wendover Police Department was small, Detective Donald Burnham was placed on the case and insured an immediate investigation. There is no point in waiting, he says, because the longer you wait in a missing person's case, the harder it is to find them.

So at this point, it's now been, the harder it is to find them. So at this point, it's now been hours since Mickey was supposed to be home. It's now dark outside. It's getting colder. And Sylia really feels like something is wrong. DJ keeps calling Mickey's phone, leaving messages, telling her sister that this isn't funny. She needs to come home wherever she is. She needs to come home.

The phone's still ringing. Yes. Are the calls being ignored still? No, needs to come home. The phone's still ringing. Yes Are the calls being ignored still? No, that only happened once now. It's just ringing interesting Christina her older sister in Las Vegas has decided that it's time to cut her trip with her husband short and head home She originally thought maybe Mickey was just rebelling but not anymore It's been 12 hours since Mickey went missing and they have nothing to show for it other than the searches that are happening. It's morning time now and over 135 people are out searching for Mickey. Holy crap. And the media has gotten a hold of this story.

The morning news is all about Mickey, the missing like local high school students. Knowing they need more, please begin working on Mickey's cell phone records. It's newer technology, but it might be the best way to track the 16 year old girl, or at least hint to her last known activity or whereabouts or who she was talking to. And meanwhile, they also begin bringing in anybody involved heavily in Mickey's life to be interviewed, including her boyfriend, Javier. Now Javier tells police that Mickey had been acting normal lately, and he also tells them that Mickey was just not the type of girl to run away. That anytime something had ever bothered her, she faced things head on.

She never tried to hide or run from problems that just wasn't her, so this really didn't make sense. The first thing police discover after accessing Mickey's phone records is that all activity calls and texts from her phone had been basically rapid fire until 5 p.m. the day before when all of it just abruptly stopped. So what do you mean, rapid fire? Like, she was sending lots of messages.

Yes, it was very active. She was texting people, calling people. And just stopped. I think like normal teenage cell phone usage. 5 pm the day before. Like, no, the day that she went missing. But now we are in the next day. So yes, the day before.

And what time did she get out of track again? Around five. Like, oh, yeah, the school ended around three then she had track practice. So around five, five, 30, somewhere around there. Okay, which I mean, that makes sense though, right? She was at track. She's probably not using her phone.

Yes. So she wasn't gonna be using her phone. Yeah, but then all of a sudden it stops. Okay. So they checked the call logs first on Mickey's phone and on Mickey's phone records. They don't have Mickey's phone. This is they're going through like Verizon or whoever.

And they noticed something strange. Besides all the calls her friends and family had been attempting to make to her phone in an effort to find her. There had been one specific number that called Mickey several times just before all of the stuff stopped. And the phone number belonged to a boy named Cody Patton. Now Cody Patton is not her boyfriend, remember. But he is one of Mickey's oldest friends. They grew up together. They had never actually dated, considering that Mickey

wasn't allowed to date until she was 16. But they might have had crushes on each other growing up puppy love type thing. Cody was 18 currently. So he was one grade higher than her in school. He was a senior, a senior at Mickey school. He was a football player and had once lived in the same apartment complex as Mickey, which was how they had met when they were really young. But Cody was engaged now and living in his fiance's parents' house.

Wait, he's engaged as as senior in high school? Yes, can you imagine being engaged in high school? I know it really works for some people, but couldn't have been me. So when police discovered that Cody and Mickey had been in heavy contact right before she went missing, they bring him in for questioning as well. He tells police that he had last seen Mickey the day before around 530 in front of the school after her track practice. He tells them that Mickey was standing in front of the school with somebody. Somebody who at the time, he assumed to be her boyfriend, Javier,

but now he wasn't sure. And police are annoyed that he's not sure, but they also understand that Cody? They're annoyed. Yeah, but they understand that Cody had been awake all night searching for Mickey. Like he had, he hadn't slept because she had gone missing the day before and he had been part of those 90 to 135 people. So they're like, maybe his memory's cloudy. He seems tired. He can't stop yawning like, you know, maybe it's just not

the best time to be interviewing him. Have they still not looked at the school cameras So and you're holding out on me. I know you're holding out on me. It's okay. All right. Keep going. Look at there. Look I'm back You know I lay out these timelines really well In case when you jump ahead it just make my So as police are trying their best to investigate Mickey's life, Mickey's friends and family are still out searching for her. And despite their efforts to remain positive, DJ Christina and Sylia truly feel on day two that something really bad had happened. And they come to the understanding, the agreement between the three of them that they probably wouldn't see Mickey again in the way that they wanted to.

And people tried to tell them to shake off those fillings and remain hopeful like we're all out searching, but they just had that feeling in their gut. They're her family. They're the people who are closest to her. They just devastatingly knew. Celia, Christina, DJ and Mickey were close. They loved each other. They had that bond and you can't argue with that.

And with all of this, minutes turned to hours and turned to days and day three quickly approached. 36 hours since 16 year old Mickey had disappeared after school. Search teams had now moved from Wendover, the small city into Wendover, the vast Nevada desert. That's the crazy thing is, Wendover is not this ginormous place. No, it's small.

So, for her just to go missing and nobody knows anything. And basically the whole town, I mean not, but a lot of people are searching for her. Yeah. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what, there's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence. And that's therapy.

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of desert. Yes. Like, think about Nevada. You are in miles and miles of places to hide a body where it will never be found. There's just not enough manpower to search the ground. So this shift over from searching in places people might see her to the empty basin of desert that extends over 180,000 square miles was another big blow to Mickey's family. But Saturday morning, a search out in the middle of nowhere produces a possible clue.

It might be nothing, it might be something. Tire tracks that veer off the dirt road and into the desert mirror an area that they refer to as the gravel pits. Thoughts are who would need to drive out here unless they were looking to do something that they didn't want anyone else to see. That's what the local people use this place for. So they thought okay, it's definitely worth checking out. So the search crews follow the tire tracks and they notice So the search crews follow the tire tracks and they notice disturbed sagebrush as they go, but it's not until they notice what appears to be blood near some of the sagebrush,

but they freeze in their tracks. They're like, okay, and they decide to call the police to let them finish the search. I mean, who willingly wants to keep going once you've seen blood, right? It's hard because at that point, you're thinking instantly it's a body, it's human blood, but there's also a really good chance it could have been from an animal. Kiochi blood or something. Anything. So police arrive to the specific area and they bring

a camera to video record as they check out the bloody ground that the searchers had like warned them about. And I mean, this is really great prep for a crime scene and trial because the first time they're coming across this blood, they're videoing it. And I actually saw the footage on the date line episode that was covering this case called under the desert sky, but essentially in the footage police begin lightly digging around the area of the blood and then they kind of abruptly stop. And you can't really see anything, but you do figure out that they conclude that they have uncovered what they believe to be like a human body.

It's not a full human body. What? It's just like human body parts that they're like, okay, we're gonna stop digging. There's obviously something here. That fast. Oh my god. You can see in the footage, they're barely brushing.

Like when I say digging, they're not with like shovels. It's kind of like, like think of someone digging for fossils. That's what it's like. And so they leave the area and they call in a crime unit to like professionally exume the area. The problem is the closest crime unit is in Reno, which is nine hours away.

Holy crap. Yeah, so police still off the area with crime scene tape and they just began waiting. Meanwhile, Christina, her oldest sister, was still out driving around from the night before and had made her way out to this search area. I mean, there's different searches going on. And she noticed the unmarked police cars.

She noticed the attention, the specific search area was getting versus the others. And so scared, she rushes home, picks up her mom and drives to the police station. They had to know what was going on out of that area. The chief tells them that they believe they found a body. And so they are calling off all the rest of the searches. And Christina is like, well, why are you calling off the rest of the searches?

You don't even like do you know that the body is Mickey? Like, why would you stop? And he says, well, we don't know. So we're going to be bringing in the professionals just to be safe. And so she's like, so it might not be her. That's what Christina asks for a little bit of hope. And the sheriff looks at her and says,

well, Mickey is the only one missing. Yeah. So it is most likely her. And this is so much to fathom here, but after being told that the Reno forensics wouldn't be there until the next morning, Mickey's family felt betrayed that their loved one would be out in the dark alone for another night.

Yeah, that's hard. That's rough. It's rough. And so I just want to point out that this is something as we, as the public, don't think about when we hear these cases, like not purposely, but just for lack of an experience, we don't realize that every decision hurts, every aspect matters for the victim's families. And this is not just a body that they've possibly found in the ground.

This is a loved one, right? So police assure the family that they will sit out there all night for as long as it takes. Wow. So that she's not sitting out there alone. And so that's what they do. They sit out there all night with a body. And this is what you have to do for victims

and their families. This is how every victim should be treated. I really hope it's not her. Oh, well, she is the only one missing here. Yeah know, be treated. I really hope it's not her. Well, she is the only one missing. Yeah, I'm just saying I really hope it's not her. So back in town, the information is being broke to the media about the possible body and searches are being shut down. The next morning, the Sheriff's Station and forensic team began processing the crime scene and they conclude everyone's worst fears. Dang it.

That laying inside the shallow grave under some sagebrush was 16 year old Mickey Costanzo. Are you kidding me? Like why? So she had been stabbed, slashed, and beaten all to her head and neck. There was extensive blood loss and the wounds portrayed aggression and rage. This really felt like off the bat a personal attack and a zip tie was actually found around Mickey's wrist She had been abducted and taken against her will from the school that day

That's what police believe when they find this zip tie. Okay. Sylia remembers DJ's brutal Physical reaction as the sheriff's department broke the news to the family. That DJ, her best friend, her sister, had screamed and fell to the floor, a scream that her mom, Silia, will never forget, a scream and agony for her lost sister and best friend. And as news spread now, reaching further than just Nevada, and Mickey's family holds a press conference demanding justice, the public is also chasing answers, who had done this and why. I mean, she was 16 years old.

Mickey seemed to have no enemies. No one could pinpoint a reason, and police had no suspects or even someone of interest. There were no hairs or fibers or fingerprints found at the scene. But as the Sheriff's Department dug deeper in Mickey's life and evidence, they obtained Garrett's favorite. Security camera footage from the school cameras the day Mickey was taking. Finally, you scared me. I was kind of zoning out and you said, Garrett, and I was like, wait, what? Why am I in this? Why am I in this? So to their shock, Cody Mickey's friend who she had been in contact with, the one who was older, who's engaged.

He was right. Mickey is seen on footage walking out of the girl's locker room and making her way through the halls, leaving school through the rear entrance with somebody. Somebody who, like Cody had said, was not her boyfriend, Javier. But somebody who, unlike Cody, had said, was him. Mickey had left school through the back door and Cody had followed her. Oh, here we go. He's a liar. He is a liar. When detectives figured this out, they take the information to Silly of her mom and ask her for some more information about Cody and what she knows about him.

And she tells him what we already knew. Cody had been really sweet. They had been friends since forever. She did know that he kind of had an anger issue and that the anger had kind of been the reason he'd moved out of his home and into his fiance's home. Cody, man, I already know. Yeah, and his fiance's name is Tony Frado and he lived with her and her parents.

Now, Tony's parents had really taken Cody under their wings and loved him. They had supported him as their own son. They were invested in his life and his choices. So after learning more about Cody, the Sheriff's Department decided to bring him in once again to confront him with the footage they discovered. Cody once again told them that he had been texting with Mickey that day about getting her help to move like some car parts. He then tells them once again that he saw her at the end of practice that day at the front of the school by the front doors standing there with somebody. But as police know, Mickey never went to the front doors.

The camera clearly shows that she went out the back doors and he followed her. And do people not think about this? Like did he not go, oh, there's probably cameras, but I can lie and get away with that. Right. So the interrogators decide to tell him the truth at this point. They say, hey, you know what? We got the security footage. We saw you on video by the back doors right around the time that make you disappeared. They tell him that they believe he has something to do with the murder. And when confronted with this allegation, Cody tells him he had nothing to do with it.

He did not kill her. And despite his pleas, police don't budge. After some back and forth, Cody eventually asks if he can speak with his biological father, who despite not being a big part of Cody's life at this point, actually had been the person who brought him to the station that day. And remember, he was living with Tony, his girlfriend, his fiancee's parents. That's kind of weird. Yeah.

So, police do not have the audio or video recording in that room, or they just haven't released it to the public. While Cody and his father were speaking behind the closed doors, but they were standing right outside. And it was while listening into their conversation that they heard whaling coming from the other side of the door, but it was not Cody sobbing. It was Cody's father making those noises midway through their conversation together. So detectives decide to enter back into the room with Cody and his father and figure out what was going on. Exactly what? Cody had told his dad

that he had made him react in such a vocal way. Cody's father urges Cody to tell the cops the truth in the interrogation room. He says he needs to be honest about the heinous thing he had done, if not for himself, for Mickey. You guys just started fixing this man. As much as you can. How did you do? It was pain, it was sconey. I don't want to ban you at all. Okay. We got to do it through.

We're getting this well. And like this part's really sad because it's recorded and you can hear him barely being able to get the words out through sobs Like his dad can barely talk. Oh my gosh. So knowing they basically have the perfect scenario now And that not much effort is needed for something to happen. Detective just sit back and let Cody talk and this is what he tells them Cody confesses that he actually did pick Mickey up from school that day to give her a ride. He tells them that it was during the car ride that Mickey demanded that he, Cody, break up with his fiance Tony and date her instead.

Now Cody tells them that he refused. He wasn't going to do that and that made Mickey mad. He says she started yelling at him and hitting him. And he says by this point, they had driven all the way out into the desert. And the fight had actually escalated to outside of the vehicle. Yes.

This is a complete BS. So through sniffles, he tells police that Mickey hit him again so he pushed her. And she fell down as a result of the shove and hit her head. He says that she laid there on the ground. Her eyes looking up at the sky. He remembers her eyes turning black and he confesses that he didn't know what to do, make he started seizing, so he grabbed his shovel from his car, which who just randomly has a shovel. I mean, we actually do have those like gardens,

she was there. Okay, never mind. We're not murders. So he grabbed his shovel from his car to try and knock her out by hitting her in the head. And then he says that the hit tore up her head pretty bad and he panicked. This she wouldn't stop making noises. So he eventually cut her throat. And he tells them that once he realized what he had done, he just dug a shallow grave perterine, covered her up and burned her clothes end of story.

This contradicts everything though, right? Because she was zip tied. She was stabbed in multiple places. And he said, I just cut her clothes end of story. This contradicts everything though, right? Because she was zip tied. She was stabbed in multiple places. And he said, I just cut her throat. Her head, well, she was, her throat was cut. And he did say hit her head. But the damage to her face and her head

was a lot more extensive than one shove hit on the back of the head and it cut to the throat. And that was it. Cody, I guess, had snapped after Mickey had snapped. There was no real solid reason, no motive. But either way, Cody, a local high school student and longtime friend of Mickey, was arrested and charged with her murder. His dreams of entering the Marines after high school had now turned into facing the death penalty. But as I'm sure as most of you are feeling to Mickey's family, Cody's lawyer, and even the police, this all just felt weird.

Yes. It didn't feel like an answer. It didn't really make sense. Christina couldn't believe that Cody, that they knew and loved had just randomly killed her sister. But what could they do? He had confessed. So as they tried to face reality, a 1000 seat concert hall in town was rented for Mickey's funeral. As she was so dearly loved, the whole town was mourning the loss of Mickey.

Also, he blamed it on her. Right? Like he, he victim, he blamed it on her, which is so messed up. Right? He basically said it was self-defense, but it wasn't self-defense, but she was freaking out first. She told me to break it with my fiancee. Yeah.

Like, no way. So Mickey's happiness and kind spirit was celebrated that day and remembered as I hope all of us can do today for her. And it was after the funeral that police knew they needed to solidify their investigation. If they had probably felt good about the confession from Cody, they might not have put so much more energy into investigating Mickey's death, but they couldn't deny everyone else's feelings

about it as well. So the part that was stumping most people in Mickey's life was her demand that Cody break up with Tony and date her. It just didn't make sense. Mickey was dating Javier. And also, she had kind of backed off her friendship with Cody after he got engaged, because I mean, he's engaged.

They weren't really as close of friends as they once had been. Mickey didn't want to get in the middle of such a serious high school couple. The drama just wasn't for her. Plus, everyone knows how serious Tony and Cody were. I mean, they were engaged in high school couple that drama just wasn't for her. Plus, everyone knows how serious Tony and Cody were. I mean, they were engaged in high school. Cody, who was six foot six and heading to the Marines, had proposed to Tony who was way shorter than him

before his plans of leaving, which is why I think they got engaged so early. Tony actually prided herself in taming Cody's rough temper and setting him on the right path. I mean, her family had taken him in and she had convinced him to be baptized in her church. Tony encouraged Cody to graduate, to get into the Marines, and to live a good life. And it seemed even after Cody was arrested for Mickey's murder, it didn't change Tony's feelings for him. She wrote him every day while he was in prison and consistently made the four hour drive away to go visit him.

They talked on the phone during the times that she couldn't drive to see him in person, so his cruel acts of killing Mickey didn't really seem to turn her away from their relationship. Oh, my light bulbs are going off. As the case was being prepared for trial, Cody's attorney admitted that the death penalty was going to be hard to avoid. He did his best to prepare Cody's case to avoid it. And it was during this investigation that he had a surprise visitor show up at his office. So this is Cody's lawyer. Tony and Cody's biological father were at his door. Tony asking to speak to her fiance's lawyer.

His attorney recorded the conversation with Tony's permission and what came out of it for me at least confused me even more. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock, and then we used rocket money and realized how dumb we are and our so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions,

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Imagine what you could do with that extra cash in your pocket. Stop throwing your money away. Cancel on one of the subscriptions and manage your expenses the easy way by going to rocket money dot com slash husband. That's rocket money dot com slash husband. Rocket money dot com slash husband. So out of Tony's mouth herself, she says that the day that Mickey was murdered around 5.30 pm, she received a text from her fiance, Cody, that said, I have her. Because of their conversations before that day, Tony knew that that meant that Cody had picked Mickey up in the car and was asking her to come join them.

So, Cody picked Tony up. So now we have Cody, Tony and Mickey in the car. The three of them drive around finally ending up at the gravel pits. And this is all what Tony is telling Cody's lawyer. According to Tony, when Cody stopped the car, he and Mickey climbed out and began arguing. And it was during this argument that Tony still in the car heard a loud thud. She claims that she got out of the car and saw Mickey on the ground not moving. She said Cody began digging a shallow grave and when he was done together they began beating her, killing her. Oh my gosh. She says when Mickey stopped

moving, they moved her body over to the grave and buried her. Now Cody's attorney probably didn't care to know why Tony had showed up and told him this today, why she had shown up with Cody's dad of all people and said this, but everyone else including all of you guys probably care to know why all of the sudden she's doing this.

Had Cody's father convinced her to do this so Cody would get a lesser charge, had Tony decided to do this to help Cody get a lesser charge or had Tony actually done this. But still, we really don't have any more answers to a motive or why with this new information. What was the real story here? Cody's attorney obviously betrayed Tony Frado immediately after she came and visited him and turned the tape over to police who then arrested her because she just admitted to helping in the crime. And now it was time for police to answer the question we all have. What actually happened and why?

As they studied Tony and Cody's relationship a little bit more, they were puzzled to discover that Tony was not like a problematic child or student. She was close with her parents devout in her religion and a good student. She had goals seemed responsible, but outside of her family, she really didn't have any friends besides Cody. Cody and Tony had begun dating in the ninth grade, and she was immediately obsessed with him as he was with her. But Cody could be controlling which eventually led to abuse. Two months before the murder, school security cameras caught footage of Cody fighting with Tony at her locker. And in this footage, you can see Cody grabbing Tony by the neck, forcibly throwing her head around

and talking in her face. He shoves her against the locker, he throws his arms around violently. It's obvious that things are not good, but Tony refused to press charges for fear that Cody would not get into the Marines if she pressed charges against him. This makes it more confusing though, because I thought, well, maybe it was her idea. Right. But now that you're hearing this. Yeah, now that I'm hearing this, I'm just confused.

And you have to keep in mind, Cody is six foot six. Whoa, whoa. And Tony is like five foot, probably under five five. Okay. So the difference, like as he's throwing her against the locker is a little like, it's a little uncomfortable to watch. And it is, it is very violent. More like it's definitely domestic violence

as you're watching the footage. But she refuses to press charges. They obviously stay engaged. You know, we have that whole situation. But even after discovering this, it doesn't really lead them to more clues about what had happened. And these two now, Cody and Tony, would not turn on each other. Both claiming that their stories were accurate. And that's two different

stories. If he's saying, no, I acted alone. And she's saying, no, I helped. That's going to be hard for the state to come forward and prosecute both of them. Yeah, it's true. So finally, the state decides to throw Cody a deal. He would get life in prison with the possibility of parole, no death penalty, if he would testify against Tony and tell the truth about what happened at trial. He initially says yes and begins his final confession with police. So now we're on his third story of what happened. And how do you know what the truth is? You know what I mean? Everything's so skewed now that it's... He's signed this deal through his lawyer, but I mean people lie even doing that, right?

All the time. So he starts off explaining that at school that day, Tony ran into Mickey in the hall and confronted her calling her a slut. Now, you're probably listening to this just as confused as police are because we really still don't have any backstory about what's going on between the three of them that has caused any angst at all. He says that Cody finally convinced Mickey and Tony to talk. So Mickey got into his car willingly that day and they picked Tony up after this like

confrontation at school earlier that day. He begins talking about how they made their way out to the gravel pits together when all of a sudden Cody's lawyer showed up and stopped the interview. No way. After talking for a minute alone, they walk back in and Cody tells police that he's changed his mind and is not taking the deal. Cody tells police? Yes. Well, the lawyer and Cody together acting as a team. Tell police. Refusing to turn on his lover and fiance, he decides that he will take his chances in court.

I'm so confused. None of this is like, there was something off. We were right there. Something really big that's off. We were two seconds away from figuring out another story that might actually give us some sense to this crime. Some clarity. And it got shut down.

So obviously the state still wants answers, so they turn around and attempt to offer Tony a deal instead. Her deal is second degree murder with a chance of parole after only 18 years. But she would, you know, have to testify against Cody. Tony agreed. She signed the papers right away. Tony swore on the Bible that this next version was the true story. Which, that's a pretty good deal. It's a great deal. It's a great deal, considering that he's going to be up for the death penalty if he takes his chances in court. Yep. So she claimed that Cody hated Mickey,

that she annoyed him and it had been bubbling up for a while. So that day, Cody texted Tony claiming that he had Mickey and was coming to pick her up. The three of them drove off into the desert and Mickey was stuffed into the back of the vehicle. So now this version of the story were at least getting her handcuffed, right? But why, like, why did what did Mickey do? Still no why.

When they approached the gravel pits, Cody sent Tony a text, even though she was sitting right next to him. So he texted from the front seat and says, we have to kill her. Cody then got out of the car according to Tony's, like testimony, and he dug the grave. And then he took Mickey out and he hit her. Tony claims that she stayed in the car the whole time until Cody demanded that she hit Mickey with the shovel, and so that was all she did. She hit Mickey in the head with the shovel.

Despite in her confession, admitting to using the knife to cut Mickey's throat the first time to the lawyer, now she says, nope, I didn't touch the knife, I only picked up the shovel and hit her with the head. Oh, I hate that everyone's just lying. And the stories are just everywhere. Yeah, sucks. She says afterwards they got into her car and went to McDonald's, which why you gotta

do McDonald's like that, you know? And then they burned Mickey's clothes. She confirms that she's still to this day has no idea why Cody really did it or even hated Mickey. She doesn't really know the motive. He was just an abusive boyfriend and he was angry. And if it wasn't Mickey, it was gonna be her. So that's why she went along with it.

That's the testimony that she gives after cutting the deal. Okay. But shortly after this deal was cut, like paper signed we're doing this. Something came out missing puzzle piece that no one had until now. Tony had been keeping a diary at the time of the murder and the defense had somehow now got a hold of it,

the defense for Cody. And in the diary, we see a very different side of Tony. One where she expresses her concerns that Cody won't actually marry her, that he hates her, which unbeknownst to her at the time was probably true because Cody was actually seeing an older woman. He was cheating on Tony, but she didn't know. So her feelings were probably valid that he was like pulling away, being distant. She also wrote that she hates herself

and she has a lot of anger that she had some suicidal tendencies. She was also absolutely terrified of losing Cody to his good childhood friend. Mickey. She despised Mickey in her journal. Which is interesting because you said that they didn't really have a relationship anymore.

No, they had stopped talking. So why did she? How was she so? I guess scared. She hated her and she considered her to retto her relationship with Cody. And this is all in her own words in her diary. Tony was jealous of Mickey and not afraid to admit it. Tony hated the friendship that Cody and Mickey shared

at the beginning of her and Cody's relationship, and she eventually demanded that Cody can never talk to Mickey again, which this was why Mickey had backed off of the friendship with Cody because Cody wasn't allowed to talk to her either. She knew how Tony felt, because Tony had had actually confronted Mickey before in the hallway calling, you know, saying like, mean things to her. So Mickey was kind of under the conclusion that like, Tony didn't like her and that Tony

and Cody were engaged and Tony didn't want her and Cody to have a friendship and Cody was trying to hide the friendship so she just eventually like cut the friendship off. Oh, and in the, like through all of this, we also learned that Cody wasn't even allowed to talk to Mickey's family towards Anne. So, Tony had completely like cut off, not just Mickey, but everyone, everything that had to do with Mickey had to be out of Cody's life, according to Tony.

And after this diary came to light, it really felt like the only clear motive anyone could find for the murder of Mickey. No one could ever find a motive for why Cody would have wanted to kill Mickey. He never said he had a problem with her. He never. But we now have a motive for why Tony would want to kill Mickey written in her own words. So just weeks before the trial, Cody decided to plead guilty for a chance at Pearl.

So after his fiance takes the deal that he was offered first He just is like never mind. I'll plead guilty. I'm still just confused why when he was talking they he just stopped Like that is the big missing puzzle piece in my eyes. And to me personally, that story is the truest story we were getting. The story, because her and Mickey had been fighting that day, Tony had called her a slut. There was obviously that's the only story we've really gotten that has any tension. And then they just stopped. I don't understand. Yep. So after he pled guilty, he spoke publicly in court and he was kind of speaking to Mickey's

family, who he was really good friends with too before this. And he says this, I'm not all to blame for her murder, but there's no justification for what I did. So he kind of points the finger at Tony, even though in his original statement, he never mentioned, Tony. But then why not say that? Why not tell the story? I don't know. I have no idea. So he was sentenced to a life term with no possibility of parole, which with his deal, he would have given it, been given a life term with the possibility of parole. Now, Tony obviously had her deal and she was eligible for parole this last January,

but she was denied. Mickey's family really does not want Tony to be paroled because they truly feel like she had a bigger part in the murder than she's been willing to admit or take responsibility for. So Tony Frado has never wavered from her final story and I guess we will never know the real truth for sure. That is horrible.

We will most likely never know exactly why Tony and Cody murdered Mickey that day or how it all went down. And Dateline actually did an interview with Tony, which I'm not, I don't want to touch, I don't want wanna give her a voice to speak when she's obviously done something wrong. But one thing I did find interesting in the interview is that she's retelling the story, the same story she told in court. And as she's talking, she kinda slips up, I think, personally. She says, and then yeah, we're in the car, and then we drove up to the designated spot.

Oh no way. She says that on the date line interview. And they're like, wait, the designated spot and she gets a wide eye and she goes, well, the spot where it happened. And they're like, well, why would it have been designated? Exactly. And she goes, I'm just saying it's the spot,

like it's just where it the dead, like it's just wearing a circle. Yes, she just completely freezes up. And to me, that makes me feel like Tony, at least when she got in that car knew what was happening. Yeah, because in her story, she says she doesn't know until they get up there and he texts her, saying like she has to die or whatever. No, if she's calling it the dead, like they had agreed on this or something, you know what I mean? Or she had it made it up in her head. I can't believe that he...

Steel to this day hasn't come forward. And especially because she took the deal and routed him out. And he just said, okay. Especially because she was up for parole, it got denied, but it'll come up again. So confusing. So Mickey actually rests on a family ranch

now next to her grandpa. And Mickey's mother, Silya, feels like, you know, Mickey sits on the top of the world there now in the most beautiful spot. And the whole family will eventually be there with her too, which kind of brings her peace. No one expected something this tragic could happen in Wendover that a beautiful happy loving teenager could be tragically taken way too soon. But it did. Like it does everywhere. So today we will think of the happy Mickey that we learned about and keep her family in our thoughts and prayers. And that is Mickey's story. Can he, first of all, horrible second of all, can he still come out?

And if he comes out and says something, is there any deals that can be made or is it just over with? Do you know? Okay. I mean, I'm not gonna say I'm an expert here, but I'm pretty sure no. If you were to come out and tell the real story,

I don't think his sentence would be changed. They couldn't try to appeal it to do a new case. His lawyer might be able to appeal and try to get a new trial. A new trial, but then they would have to prove that something in the first trial went wrong. And also then it would have to go through people like through the process to try to get it. And that's such a hard process anyways.

I'm not saying that he shouldn't try because I do think that there's more to the story than we are hearing. And maybe the family doesn't, maybe they don't even want to know when you were in there trying to move on from it. Yeah. But maybe they want closure. Maybe they want to actually know what has happened. And I think they feel like they know, I mean, they talked about it pretty openly in their

interviews. They do believe that like Tony was the reason that all of this happened. But that's obviously not proven in court, but that is just how they feel. So messed up that whole story is both of them Cody and Tony. Yeah, what either way, so messed up either way, it's absolutely just and it just seems so uncalled so sickning. Yeah, even if it was just that like Tony had confronted Mickey and you know, she was obviously obviously in a bad state. She was obviously being abused. Right. She obviously felt like according to her diary that he didn't love her, which he didn't, because he was having an affair.

Still, no reason to just kill Mickey. Never ever a reason to... Never a reason. To hurt somebody. Right. Anyways, you guys, that is our case for this week. Once again, thank you so much for supporting us this week with merch. It has been unbelievable. I can't even, I'm just excited to see everyone's pictures and for everyone to get their stuff and we really hope that you all love it. Thank you for always supporting us. Thank you for loving us

and we will see you guys next week with another episode. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye. you