Transcripts For KNTV Dateline NBC 20140831

Jon two down in the ninth inning and two strikes, and casilla tries to wrap this one up for the giants fifth consecutive win. Here we go. Didnt swing. No. The First Base Umpire on the appeal. Mike close. He has not had much of a trigger finger. Two balls, two strikes and two down. Mark reynolds on deck. Mike ones again, buster posey gets dinged. Its been that kind of night. Posey, he will figure out where hes going to put the ice bag first. Jon Michael Morse getting a good view right next to bruce bochy in the dugout. 22. And it hit him and now the possible tying runs are on base. And Dave Righetti is going to go out. Perhaps to calm his righthander. What do you think . Mike yeah, get his focus back. No doubt about that. He will talk about a prepitch plan here. This is where righetti is really good. He knows his personnel. With casilla, its all about pumping him up right here. He will convince him that he is the baddest man on the mountain. By the time he gets back to the dugout, casilla will believe it. And plus, this is a guy here that you get out this way, to get a little bit of an idea. Jon jake peavy had the nohitter going with one out and Mark Reynolds up, and this broke up the nohitter. Now reynolds with much more significant mayhem in mind right here, trying to get those two runners at home. A runner at second and khris davis, the possible tying run at first. Mike he has made a guy that hes made a career out of letting things fly. Jon he hit 21 home runs this year. Mike right to pablo. And the giants have won it it wasnt easy the brewers had their best hitters up there. Casilla had to run the gauntlet, the best the brewers had to offer and he gets through it, and the brewers had the possible tying runs on base when the game finally came to an end. The giants win it 31, and they get the win for jake peavy who pitches a beauty, and his earned run average is 2. 66. Mike he was fantastic and had a good night to pitch. The defense behind him was absolutely spectacular. That was the difference in this game. Jon jake peavy with the win. The giants have won five in a row. It was a night of great starting pitching from jake peavy that flirted with a nohitter into the eighth inning, and timely hitting for the giants and great defense, in particular from brandon crawford. Lets go down to amy g. Jake peavy, lets talk about what you saw from him and what its been like to play behind him. He is such a competitor. We have seen that from day one. He gets fired up out there as much as anybody, and he pitched his butt after that. He recorded his 2,000th strikeout. Its not just jake, but he had a lot of great defense behind him. Tonight two great plays about you. We know about your defensive prowess, but we love to watch it. Take us through the first one. You are deep in the hole and you make that throw. How difficult is that throw . Not many short stops can do it . Its a tough play because you are going away from first base. But i got to it, and, you know, i wanted to give jake all i have got. Hes doing the same for us out there. And you are literally on your belly and you do the glove shovel. Are you thinking or just reacting . To be honest, during the backhand i didnt know it was a nohitter. I was just trying to make a play. That one i was more nervous, and i knew he had the nohitter going into that at bat, and i just wanted to make a play for him. Reporter always fun to watch you. Congratulations on your fifth win in a row. Lets get it back up to you. Congratulations to brandon, who just had a sensational game and, jake peavy, he had the longest losing streak of his career this year, and it was not ending as a giant, and often times their defense was not good, and peavy flirts with a nohitter into the late innings. He is inspired by the race. He came out 6 boston. Their season was over early. Its not over here. If he wants to be a contributor, certainly tonight he was. The defense behind him, peavy is a guy that picks up energy within a game, and when you make energized plays like that, you energize peavy. Mike fiers was difficult to hit tonight. This is a huge win for them. Its a huge series win. It comes on a night when the San Diego Padres in extra innings beat the dodgers. Its two down in the loss column. Tune in to Comcast Sportsnet bay area tomorrow at 12 30 for giants pregame live before the final game of the series. We will be back with you on nbc bay area friday night september 12th for the giants and dodgers. For mike krukow, and duane kuiper, and amy g. , we say good night. It was obvious we had more than just a runaway juvenile, but we just didnt know how far that it had gone. Reporter police started talking to everybody who knew mickie, like her boyfriend javier. Called him down to the station for questioning. Hows she been acting lately . I dont know. Shes been acting pretty fine, like, if something was wrong, shed vent. Shes not one of those girls that hides her feelings like and puts her emotions in her. Reporter could they believe the boyfriend . When they pulled mickies 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 till just after 5 00. Reporter and then they stopped. Abruptly stopped right at the time that she had left the school. Reporter those calls and texts pinging off the local cell phone tower were all from one number. Definitely having communication back and forth. Reporter there was something going on. Something. The last calls were made to a kody patten. Reporter kody patten . Who was he . Certainly not her boyfriend. But as any kid who had been around wendover knew perfectly well kody was a friend. In fact, one of mickies oldest friends. They grew up together. They were friends. Reporter did they ever date, micaela and kody . No. Micaela was not allowed to date till she was 16. But im sure it was probably like puppy love, what i call puppy love. Reporter kody was an 18yearold senior at mickies high school. A big, handsome kid, football player. He once lived in the same apartment complex as the costanzo family. Now he was engaged to another girl and lived with his fiancees parents. Police brought kody in for a talk as well. And the last time you seen her was . About 5 30. And that was where . In front of the school. She was with somebody . Just some i thought it was her boyfriend because it was a short mexican. Her boyfriend being javier . Yeah. Reporter but kody wasnt sure it was javier. But then he seemed, and probably was, exhausted. Hed been out the night before searching for mickie. Do you have any questions for me . Yeah. Find her, please . Reporter search teams combed the desert outside of town. Police, volunteers, mickies sister dj. Out searching i remember dropping to the ground and i said, i really dont think shes alive. Theyre like, you need to think positive. Reporter but where was she . She wasnt at school. She wasnt with a friend. She apparently wasnt in town. And its a very big desert around wendover. So much space to get lost or to hold a person against her will. Or, god knows, to hide a body. Celias last hope, through her sleepless night, had been seeing mickie show up at school in the morning, wondering what the fuss was about. When she didnt go to school on friday morning, i knew i wouldnt see my daughter alive. And i felt like a failure as a parent, not just for micaela but for dj, too, because i couldnt make her better. I went to my moms house, and i told her that i was going to go find my sister. Even though shes not okay, i will bring her home. And for whatever reason, in my mind at that point, i knew that i was going to find her. And i wasnt going to find her the way we wanted to but that i was going to bring her home. Reporter all night kristina roamed the rugged landscape. Alone. I stopped and looked at any little mound of dirt that looked weird, and i went to the gravel pits. Reporter so close. Had mickie called out, her sister would have heard her. But of course, that wasnt possible. Get a 1,000 turbocharged reward card with a new volkswagen turbo. Why are we so obsessed with turbo . Because we like giving you power, but we also like giving you fuel efficiency. Like the sporty jetta. And the turbocharged passat tdi® clean diesel. Okay. And the iconic beetle. And the powerful tiguan. Okay you cant forget the cc. Guys, this is going to take a while. Get a 1,000 reward card on new 2014 turbo models or lease a 2014 jetta se for 159 a month after a 1,000 bonus. Ends soon reporter day three. 36 hours since Mickie Costanzo left school and vanished. Beyond sight of wendovers neon faint hope. Out here the great empty basin sprawls 180,000 square miles. And then saturday morning one of the searchers noticed 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. He stated that he had seen some sagebrush that seemed to be disturbed and was covering some ground. So he looked underneath the sage brush and saw what he thought appeared to be blood. He decided he needed to call the authorities. Reporter this is the area they call the gravel pits. Police took a camera to record what they might find there. We removed the sagebrush and gently dug into the area and found what we thought was part of a human body. Reporter did you just uncover the body then . No, no. We backed out of the area and contacted washoe crime unit to come in and exhume that area for evidence. Reporter crime scene investigators from reno. Reporter but reno was 400 miles away, nine hours by car. Still nothing more to do till they arrived. So they sealed off the area and waited just as mickies sister kristina, still searching, drove by. I just felt like your heart sink. I saw the Unmarked Police car driving on the gravel pit road that i was on the night before. And i just it just sank. Reporter only one thing that could mean. So she rushed home, picked up her mother, went to see the police chief. And he said, we have found a body so we called off the search. And i guess, out of hope, i says, well, can you see her . And he says, no. I says, well, then you dont know its her. And he says, youre right, kristina. But shes the only one missing. So were pretty sure its her. Reporter but they couldnt know for sure, said the chief, till the Forensics Team arrived next morning. And i said, youre going to leave her out here again all night . And he said, yes, we have to. And i remember saying, then im not leaving. And he told us we had to. And he said, ill have somebody out here all the time. And i said, it shouldnt be strangers. She shouldnt be left with strangers. For them to look at me and tell me, well all be here. She wont be alone, made me feel pretty good. As good as you can feel. Reporter then police made it public. A shallow grave was discovered, the contents of which are unknown. Reporter because the discovery was outside city limits, the case came under the jurisdiction of the Sheriffs Department 110 miles away in elko, nevada. Detective Kevin Mckinney raced down i80. He met the Forensics Team next morning. And then they started sifting and, you know, it didnt take very long once it started. Reporter it was mickie in a shallow grave, beneath a clump of sagebrush, five miles from home. It was very emotional, the age of the victim and the brutality. I guess disturbing would be the word. Reporter mickie had been beaten, cut, stabbed. Repeatedly. Several jagged slashes across her face, neck, head. The blood loss had saturated the ground underneath her. Reporter looked kind of personal. Uhhuh. It was very aggressive. It was not a precision type of injury. Reporter and then those policemen had to go to mickies family and tell them what they found. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach, and i screamed. I dropped, and i just kept screaming. The one thing i will never, ever forget in my entire life is watching my daughter dj scream, the scream i havent 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 couldnt do it because im the mom. I had to keep myself together. I had to be the strong one. Reporter and so she had a News Conference and said what, at this point, everybody in town was thinking. Please, ladies and gentleman, this is not over yet until the person or persons responsible are brought to justice. Reporter but why mickie of all people . Not an enemy in the world. At least as far as anybody knew. And yet here at the crime scene, one clue. One weird, awful clue. There was a zip tie that was bound around her wrist. Reporter what did that say to you . It indicated to me that she was restrained and more than likely taken from that school against her will. Reporter somebody kidnapped Mickie Costanzo 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 mickie just outside the girls locker room. And she wasnt alone. They have packing tape like that over at right twix . Try both. Pick a side. Twix everybodys excited about the back at staples. Avings from the customers, to the staples associates. With guaranteed low prices on comp books. Youll flip out now go tell your friends. Staples, make more happen for less. girl where are all the seats. Excuse me, excuse me. Can i sit here . Ahhh. Sure. sigh im maisy and im six. Hi maisy, im tanner. You nervous . Yeah, a little. Dont be. Reporter now the tv trucks roared in from salt lake and all around northern nevada, poking about in little West Wendover, demanding an answer. Exactly what happened to that perfect daughter, that pretty and popular 16yearold, Mickie Costanzo . Justice demanded an answer. The police chief supplied a nonanswer for the evening news. We dont have a suspect, and we dont have a person of interest. But we are getting leads all the time. Reporter 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. Oh, its true there were no hairs or fibers or fingerprints pointing to any particular 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. Reporter remember what mickies friend kody patten said, that he saw her leaving the school that day with someone he assumed was her boyfriend javier . Now the video showed kody was right. Mickie had indeed been with someone. Just prior to her leaving from the back of the school, we saw kody patten leave the same doorway. Reporter kody patten, thats the someone she was with. Kody the childhood friend who had been calling and texting with mickie just before she disappeared. Kody patten was probably the last person to have seen her, due to the fact shed left through the southwest doors and he was in that area. Reporter now, why didnt kody tell them that . The detectives went to mickies mother celia to find out a little more about kody. Kody is a very interesting young man. Kody could be the sweetest person in the world and then turn right around and just not be okay. Kody has a tough temper. Kody has a hot temper. Reporter kody had been struggling at school and at home with his parents, so much so that kody left and moved in with his fiancee toni fratto and her parents, cassie and claude. Mormon family. Very devout. I wanted to extend a hand to him to help him get through school. We became his second family. And, more importantly, we were really invested in his success. Reporter but you really cared for him, right . Of course. Oh, yes, yes. He was like a son to me. Reporter but when the police asked to talk to kody yet again, it wasnt Claude Fratto but his actual father, kip patten, who brought him to the station. He looked like your average High School Student to me. Tall, lean, clean cut, polite. He was very selfconfident. Did you sleep okay last night . No. Why not . Ive slept horrible since mickie went missing. How come . Its one of my friends. Reporter kody rehashed the story he told the cops a few days earlier, how hed been calling and texting mickie, asking for help to move some car parts. And then he saw her walking toward the front door of the school. And i said, okay, you all right . And she goes yeah, im fine. So i said, okay, well, no worries. Have a good one. And she says, all right, bye. And that was it. 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 . Reporter not to mention the Security Camera that showed mickie walking toward the rear exit. No one else around but kody himself. Okay, so what are you getting at . Im getting at that youre not being totally truthful with us. Yes, i am. No, youre not. Reporter but there was no getting around it. Video doesnt lie. The video from the school indicates to us that you were waiting for her, okay . I wasnt. Because that was the time she disappeared. And that was the time she died. And you were involved. I wasnt involved in her death i think you were. I know you were now. I did not kill Micaela Costanzo i dont think you planned on it. I dont think you intended to. I didnt i didnt do anything reporter and then kody asked if he could spend a minute alone with his dad. So the detectives left the room, and kodys father kip went in, closed the door. What happened in there . Couldnt tell exactly through the door, but it didnt sound happy. Not at all. Its bedtime your mattress is a battleground of thwarted desire. Enter the sleep number bed. Right now, all beds are on sale. Hes the softy. His sleep number setting is 35. Youre the rock, at 60. And snoring . Sleep numbers even got an adjustment for that. You can only find sleep number at a sleep number store. Right now save 50 on the labor Day Limited Edition bed, plus 24month special financing. Hurry ends monday know better sleep with sleep number. One tried nasacort, which could take up to a week to feel maximum nasal symptom relief. The other took claritind,which starts to work on allergies in 30 minutes. The moral nothing works faster than claritind to roll out a perfectly flaky crust thats made from scratch. Or mix vegetables with all white meat chicken and homemade gravy. But Marie Callenders does. Just sit down and savor. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. Just sit down and savor. Here i am. Rock you like a hurricane fiber one now makes cookies. Find them in the cookie aisle. Reporter three days after Mickie Costanzos brutalized body was unearthed in the nevada desert, a family tragedy of a different kind was playing out at the Wendover Police department. Mickies childhood friend kody patten had asked for a few minutes alone with his father kip behind a closed door. I didnt hear what was said, but at one point i heard some wailing from the father. I could hear him yell, and it sounded to me like he was crying. Reporter and then a few minutes later the detectives walked back into the interview room. His father told him he needs to tell us what happened. Reporter be a man. Uhhuh. Reporter no telling what a lawyer might have told young kody patten, but this was 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 kody. You got to start fixing this now as much as you can. What you did is heinous, kody. I dont want to abandon you at all, okay . Youve got to do whats right for micaela as well. Reporter and this is what kody told them, that he picked up mickie at the school. And when they started driving, that mickie insisted kody break up with his fiancee toni fratto and date her instead. That when he refused she started yelling at me and said that its because im not leaving toni. She started, like, pounding on my chest and stuff. Reporter by this time, said kody, they were out of the car, out in the desert. She hit him, he said. Then he pushed her. She fell down and hit her head, and she just laid there and was looking at the sky. And like her eyes started to turn black, and i didnt know what to do. I just sat there and she started started to like shake and seize. Reporter kody insisted he tried to check her pulse and got nothing. Then he says she started flopping so he grabbed a shovel from the car. I kind of just tried to hit her on her head right here somewhere, trying to just knock her out. And it hit, like, right here and it like hit, tore her up. Tore her up pretty bad. He was very tearful. We had to stop several times to allow him to gain his composure back. A couple times he told us he was getting physically ill while he was describing details to us. Reporter kody continued, saying he panicked and to stifle the sound he cut her throat. And then she stopped. I didnt know what to do. I was going to call my dad, but i knew he would freak out. So i put her in the little grave thing i dug by the big bush, and i covered her up, and i took the clothes over in the gravel pit area and burned them. He stated he was alone with micaela, and he never implicated anybody else even being present or aware of it. Reporter he did it alone . Did he tell anybody why . No, he did not. Reporter they arrested kody then, cuffed him, charged him with murder. Hed intended to join the marines after high school. Now he could face the Death Penalty. Patten has been enrolled as a student in the West Wendover juniorsenior high school and has been attending up until the time of his arrest. Reporter it was after he confessed, after theyd put him in jail, that kody finally hired an attorney, john ohlson. His specialty is keeping accused killers off death row. But kody, unlike some of ohlsons other clients, didnt seem at all like a crazed killer. Reporter you obviously got to know him reasonably well. What sort of family did kody have . Nice family. They were working people. They seemed to be fairly close. They did a lot of things together. Reporter of course, thats kodys attorney talking. But even mickies family, the very people youd expect would demand the Death Penalty, in fact felt quite a different emotion. I was completely shocked. Its not the person that i knew. And my husband was there. And i said, kody didnt do this. He would never hurt her. And he says, babe, 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. Reporter it was, everybody said, a measure of Mickie Costanzos sunny personality, her sweet goodness, that they had to rent wendovers 1,000seat concert hall to make room for her funeral. She was, people said, everybodys daughter. If this town was her parent. Reporter in fact, perhaps the only friend who didnt attend the public funeral, didnt witness its outpouring of emotion and grief, was one of her oldest playmates, 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 whod snuffed out the life of their princess. And yet, even to mickies family, it was more puzzling than that. It was simply inexplicable. He would never hurt her. I dont understand why he ended up confessing to it. Im still like, theres something more to this story. Reporter more partly because kodys story of what happened just didnt make any sense, especially that bit about how mickie demanded kody dump his fiancee toni and date her instead. Impossible, said celia. Mickie had 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. Reporter anyway, everybody knew about kody and tonis engagement, saw them flash their engagement rings. He the 66 soontobe marine. She the wee snip of a thing who made it her business to tame his temper and set him on the road to righteousness. She even persuaded him to convert to the mormon church. She was determined to be kodys savior, as you will. The person that helped him to graduate. She was going to make him happy. The person that helped him be happy. She took that responsibility. She helped him get into the marines. Is that what it was . Uhhuh, uhhuh. She encouraged that. She encouraged him to do his schoolwork. She encouraged him to keep on track to graduate. She encouraged him to try and be a better person. Reporter now the man toni so badly wanted to save was facing the Death Penalty. But she stuck by him, sent him love letters, promised to be faithful and true, 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, its just hard. I know. Its hard for me, too. It really is. Reporter tonis parents visited kody sometimes to provide support, but also to ask a particular question. I said, i dont understand this. Why did you do this . Why did this happen . And he just said, i dont know. I cant tell you anything. I dont know. Reporter but by now kodys lawyer had told him, stop talking. Tough case, real tough case. Reporter because the chances of his getting the Death Penalty were quite high. Reporter 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 in the case. They would just break your heart. Reporter not to mention kodys confession, which made mounting a defense all but impossible. I think he really regretted doing that because the confession early on was the strongest piece of evidence against kody. What kody had in mind when he told them that he was involved in the killing, or that he did the killing, god knows. Reporter but the more he studied kodys confession, the more ohlson came to believe, just like mickies family did, that something about it didnt add up. So ohlson hired a seasoned investigator, a former secret Service Agent named bill savage, asked him to find out what he could about kody, the murder, and that boys confession. Some of the details that mr. Patten reported didnt quite pass the sniff test to me. Reporter mickies wounds, for example. So severe, so brutal. They certainly didnt seem to be the result of an accident, as kody had claimed, or from a shovel of all things. Horrible, slicing disfigurement to mickies face. Reporter what does that say to you . A great deal of rage by someone. Reporter why would kody have done that to a childhood friend . Had to be more to the story. Attorney ohlson wondered if kodys fiancee toni fratto might provide some insight. Toni had already talked to the police during their routine interviews with people who knew mickie. I guess im just kind of curious, like, wheres mickie . Whats going on . Where could she have gone . Reporter so ohlson spoke to toni himself. Did she have any idea why he absolutely not. No idea. Reporter was she as devastated as other people seemed to have been . I would describe her aspect as deadpan. I would describe her as emotionless. Reporter how does that strike you . Odd. Very odd. Reporter mickies sister dj also remembered how after the murder toni just seemed to shut down. She refused to look at me. Refused. I understand that youre not going to be very social because its your, you know, significant other doing this. But she wouldnt talk to certain people anymore that she normally would. Reporter who knew what wheels were turning in that young womans brain. And then early one spring morning in april, a few weeks after mickies murder, toni fratto climbed into a car with kodys father kip patten. She didnt tell her parents. They were out of town. Toni was wearing just her pajamas, brought nothing with her, as if she assumed shed never be coming back. Reporter it was one of Mickie Costanzos favorite places, the High School Track now on a bright spring day in may 2011, two months after her murder, a somber celebration was reporter apparently murdered by a childhood friend, kody patten. Hed confessed, was sitting in jail, the Death Penalty a distinct possibility. Or so everyone thought. But, as they celebrated mickies life, there was something about her death they didnt know. Several days earlier, kodys legal team had a surprise visitor, kodys fiancee toni fratto. She arrived wearing her pajamas and with kodys father at her side, said she was ready to tell the lawyers a story. So are you willing to proceed . I think so, yeah. And we talked. And we recorded the conversation with her permission. And it was dynamite. Reporter youre about to hear a whole new version of mickies murder that would turn the case upside down. Am i to believe that you in fact were present when the girl got killed . Yes. Reporter and here from the lips of this quiet little teen came a horrifying story. Kody wasnt the only killer. It began for her, she said, with a text from kody saying, i have her, meaning mickie was with him in an suv he had borrowed. He wanted toni to join them. Kody picked her up, she said, and the three drove around, ending up at the gravel pits. Then mickie and kody got out of the car, and she started yelling at him and then pushing him. I looked away for just like a split second and then heard like a loud thud 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 wasnt really moving at that point. Reporter she said kody starting digging what appeared to be a grave. And when hed finished, with mickie lying semiconscious on the ground, they both starting kicking and punching her, hit her with a shovel. She wasnt moving and so we moved her to the grave. And then we were kind of standing there deciding what do we do. We didnt know what really we had just done. Okay. I remember like holding down her legs, and we had slit her throat. Who cut her throat . It was both of us. Reporter it was both of us. To kodys defense attorney, five little words that changed everything. Toni fratto freely admitting that she had also murdered mickie. All of a sudden it changed from one crazed killer to two people who committed a homicide. It gave us something to point the case towards other than kodys acts. Reporter two killers sharing the guilt. Maybe with some good lawyering, his client could escape the Death Penalty after all. Why toni said those things was almost beside the point for ohlson anyway. But not for tonis parents. Not when they found out. No one that knows toni would have ever seen this coming. Just isnt possible. Reporter their daughter hadnt even been a suspect, not even a person of interest. Now she had confessed herself into a murder that could send her to death row. My immediate thought was that shes been coerced into saying this. Reporter somebodys made her do it . Yes. Yeah. Reporter what person popped into your head . Kodys dad. Reporter kodys father, kip patten, the man who delivered toni to her meeting with kodys lawyers. Patten declined a request to appear on our program, but he insisted toni told him what happened and it was her idea to come forward and meet with kodys attorneys. He just drove her there because tonis parents were out of town. Do you think sometimes she thought, i cant do this with my parents present . I have to wait till theyre gone before i can actually go and confess to this terrible thing . I dont know. Possibly so. But weve always been very, very open. Reporter or possibly a misguided attempt to save kody . But shed only succeeded in incriminating herself. She doesnt believe that shes confessing to the law enforcement. Shes talking to kodys attorneys, asking them if its going to help. Reporter but toni didnt have an attorneyclient relationship with kodys lawyers. No privilege. No protection. So they turned her statement over to law enforcement. And when detective donald burnum reviewed the tape and transcript of tonis confession i determined that we had probable cause to arrest her just based on her own admission. Reporter toni fratto, just 18, was booked, held without bail, facing perhaps a capital murder charge, same as kody. I, in my heart of hearts, knew toni had something to do with it because they were a couple. It was very hard for me to know she was at School Wearing his engagement ring, acting like nothing had 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 what he is. Now it makes sense. Reporter but little toni fratto hardly seemed like a killer. She was a beauty queen at 13, West Wendover junior miss, in fact. Devoutly religious, too, 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 of bed and go. It was never that way with toni. She had goals in her life. She knew exactly where she wanted to go. Reporter so a truly responsible child. Yes. Yes, absolutely. Reporter outside of her family, toni had very few friends. Except kody, of course. From the moment they started dating in the 9th grade, they were virtually inseparable. She loved him. She thought she loved him. He was very, very possessive, did not like her time taken up by anyone else but him. Reporter now the frattos remember a possessive, controlling kody, so big and strong. And when they thought about it that way they wondered, what was the real story behind their daughters confession . Reporter elko, nevada. Gold rush town. Saloons, casinos, even brothels. Four of them right in the middle of town. Good business citizens, too, according to police. Nearby theres also an historic courthouse, the stage for preliminary hearings for the teenagers accused of that brutal murder that so far not a Single Person could explain, least of all Mickie Costanzos mother celia. Before the hearing she studied every grisly photo and braced herself for what was coming. I had to know exactly what happened to my daughter. Everything. Reporter 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. Reporter there were separate hearings for toni and kody, two occasions for celia to hold up under questioning. Thats him right over there, and hes in a red jump suit. Reporter two occasions to hear emotional and incriminating confessions. I tried to, like, check her pulse and stuff, and i couldnt get anything, and she was just flopping. Reporter kody, no surprise, was bound over for trial, at which everyone knew he could face the Death Penalty. And toni, pale and gaunt in her dark blue jumpsuit, listened to excerpts of her own quite stunning confession. After that, she wasnt really breathing or anything so we kind of just stood there. Were crying because we didnt know what we had just done. It was brutal. It was painful. It was long. It was torturous. And those two could not ever get away with it. They could not walk away free. Reporter but people couldnt help but notice that the two kids told very different stories. Remember, kody said he was alone, while toni insisted she was with him and they murdered mickie together. Reporter tonis parents simply couldnt believe, despite her confession, that their sweet, diminutive daughter was capable of so monstrous an act. Can you imagine her doing those things, striking her with a shovel, perhaps helping with the knife . I dont believe that she had anything to do with the knife. She didnt. She didnt. There were no fingerprints, no dna, anything to indicate that she had no she wasnt involved with that. The striking her with the shovel touched anything. Was an order from kody. Reporter an order from kody. That was the answer to the question, said the frattos. And behind it a terrible secret. Over the years, said the frattos, kody had given toni lots of orders. He was extremely possessive, physically intimidating, more than a foot taller than little toni, was often angry and abusive. He would yell at her. He would be pushing her around. He would be restraining her. Restraining her, throwing her down. Reporter in fact, just two months before mickies murder, the School Surveillance camera caught an agitated kody appearing to get rough with toni right here at her locker. There was an instance that occurred in the hallway of Wendover High School that depicts kody grabbing toni around the neck. And realizing hes 66, shes 51. Reporter but toni declined to file charges. Her explanation was that, if Something Like this happens, he will not be accepted into the marines, and i dont want to stand in the way of that. You have to realize what her goals were and her expectations and her final result of all of this was to get him into the marines. Reporter and perhaps get him out of her life . Now, after the murder and tonis confession, the frattos looked back on their daughters relationship with kody with new eyes. Toni, they decided, was an abused woman. She was living in fear of what she thought the repercussions would be if she brought it out. Reporter so, fearing kody might kill her too, tonis parents insisted their daughter had no choice but to cooperate with kody the murderer. 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. Reporter but she participated in the attack. Participated . Participated under extreme orders. Pf. Orders. She was afraid that she would be the one lying next to micaela if she did not follow his orders that evening. Reporter to which kodys attorney john ohlson responded baloney. Why do you say that . Baloney. Theres nothing in their relationship ever that would indicate that she was ever abused by kody. Reporter even so, toni fratto was bound over for trial, just like kody, and was now sitting in a jail cell facing the daunting prospect of losing her life not to kody patten but to lethal injection. Unless, what if toni told a whole new story about her role in Mickie Costanzos murder, a story that just might eventually set her free. Reporter christmastime in West Wendover, nevada. Mickie constanzo had been dead nine months. Christmas day, it was not fun for me. She was missing. Its not the same. And i dont ever think thats going to go away. I used to enjoy going and buying everybody christmas presents and wrapping them up, and it wasnt the same. And then having to remember not to buy her something. Reporter kody patten and his fiancee toni fratto spent the holidays in jail, awaiting trial. On new years eve kody turned 20. Then, early in 2012, a legal deal emerged. Kody would plead guilty to first degree murder, get life in prison but with the possibility of parole, no Death Penalty. And in exchange hed have to testify against toni. Kody took the deal. And then, just as suddenly, changed his mind. Instead, kody decided to take his chances in court. But just one day later the d. A. Offered toni a deal. Not the same deal. Better. If toni agreed to testify against kody, shed be allowed to plead to Second Degree murder with a chance of parole after just 18 years. By then toni would be just 36. And toni, offered a chance to save her own skin by throwing kody 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 im going to tell it. Reporter so on a chilly january day toni fratto was led from her jail cell to an office at the Sherriffs Department to tell her story and put her hand on the bible and promise to tell the truth. Im a person to tell the truth, and deep down i wanted people to know the truth because i knew kody wasnt going to come forward and tell the complete truth. Reporter and for the next 3 1 2 hours toni told a whole new story. About how kody was upset with mickie. How he hated the sound of her voice. How things were building up. Then the one detail of her story that did not change, the afternoon of march 3rd, that text from kody, one of over 100 the two exchanged that day. Police were not able to recover any of them, but this one, said toni, was burned in her memory. What was the content of it . All it said was i have her. Reporter but from here the story changed and blame shifted toward kody. As they drove off into the desert, said toni, she looked back and saw mickie stuffed in the back section of the suv. Mickie looked scared, said toni, with her hands up toward her face. Kody looked determined, angry, she said, but wouldnt talk to her. Then, as they approached the gravel pits, said toni, kody, right beside her in the drivers seat, sent her a text. And it said, we have to kill her. I just kind of looked at him and kind of lipped, well, why . Reporter kody pulled over, said toni, and ordered her to stand guard as he dug a hole. Then he took mickie from the car, pushed her to the ground and demanded that toni hit her. All i remember is him pulling her hair back. And i had went up, and hed kneed her in the face. Reporter but in this new and entirely different version of her story, toni claimed she was an unwilling participant and insisted she backed off while kody started punching and kicking mickie. And then he issued an order. I remember looking up at kody and him telling me, hit her with the shovel. Hit her with the shovel. And so i hit her in the back of the shoulder with the shovel. Reporter she said kody took the shovel back and whacked mickie in the head. And then, in that hole he dug, kody got on top of her. And then i remember going up and holding her legs down so she would stop kicking. And then all of sudden her legs went completely still, and she wasnt moving. And that freaked me out so i backed off and jumped up and walked off a little bit. Reporter remember, in her first confession, toni claimed she helped cut mickies throat. Not anymore. Her new story . Kody used the knife alone while she, horrified, then backed off but kept watching and listening. She had looked up at kody and asked, am i still here . Am i still alive . Reporter and then kody ordered her to get in the car, she said. And sitting by herself, toni said she heard the last sounds of Mickie Costanzos life. And then, she said, it was over. Kody buried mickie by himself. Once in the car, according to toni, they drove back into town, went to mcdonalds for a cold drink, and then later they cruised across the state line into utah, pulled off into the desert and burned mickies clothes and belongings. You cant tell me to this day why this happened . No. He never told you that . No. Reporter and with that, toni fratto had her deal. The sworn statement she provided would now comprise much of the d. A. s case against her fiance kody patten. In this new version of her story, kody was the killer, orchestrated the whole thing, and she, terrified of kodys murderous rage, was forced to go along for the awful ride. Not at all like her original confession. But was there more to tonis story . Well, maybe. Because just before she was arrested, toni left something behind, something in her very own words that just might reveal the real motive for Mickie Costanzos murder. Whos more excited about back to School Savings at staples . The moms . Or the dads . With guaranteed low prices on colored pencils, its definitely the dads. Staples. Make more happen for less. Safeway understands you got to make every dollar count these days. Thats why they have lots of ways for you to save. Real big club card deals, the safeway app and gas rewards. Time for a holiday get together. Fresh sweet corn is 5 for just 1. 00. Grill up ranchers reserve ribeye steaks for only 7. 99 a pound. And nabisco snack crackers are just 1. 89. Theres more savings to love. At safeway. Ingredients for life. Reporter theres a fine old technique in law enforcement. Got two defendants . Get one to take a deal and testify against the other. Looked like that was about to work in the case of the West Wendover murder of Mickie Costanzo. Toni fratto appeared all set to tell the world that her fiance, kody patten, after abusing her for years, forced her to witness and even in a minor way assist in the killing. Apparently, like everybody else, she didnt know why kody did it, only that she, toni, feared hed kill her, too, if she didnt go along. But, of course, why was the question on the lips of just about every living and breathing soul within sight of wendover will here. The idea that kody would brutally murder his own Good Childhood friend just didnt make any sense, any more than did the idea that toni would go to such trouble to visit kody in jail and whisper Sweet Nothings to him on the phone and send him love notes if, in fact, she was deathly afraid of him as she claimed. No, people around here had pretty much given up on the idea of getting any kind of an answer, when suddenly out of the blue a little gift appeared. Toni, it turned out, had been keeping a diary. Before she confessed, toni gave it to kodys parents, who turned everything over to defense investigator bill savage. In my opinion, there was some valuable information in there with regard to tonis personality, her feelings. Reporter in this little book, toni poured out her fears, her hopes, her deep insecurities, and what kodys attorney thought was just perhaps a motive for murder. This, for example. She worried that kody will leave me for someone else, cheat on me, that kody and i wont last forever. We wont get married. In here, she wrote of her own terror, that her relationship with kody wouldnt work out and, if so, that there was no point in living. Im very angry today. So angry that i am trying to overdose. After i got off the phone with kody, i went and took four aspirins. In my opinion, a very troubled young lady. Reporter a troubled young lady who, in many ways, did not feel worthy, i gather. Thats correct. Reporter and who loved this guy but at the same time was terrified of losing him. Yes. Reporter afraid of losing him to the girl he had grown up with, the attractive and popular Mickie Costanzo. 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. Toni was jealous of mickie. And if she were out of the picture, then kody and toni would be together. Reporter she was everything toni wasnt. Yes, absolutely. They would be so happy together if i didnt steal him away. I know in my heart he really doesnt love me. The diaries disclosed a real animosity that toni had for micaela. Reporter right. No ones ever shown me any reason that kody had to hurt micaela. None. Reporter but toni . Toni had reasons. Reporter was it possible she was the one who wanted mickie dead . That her big strong boyfriend was just doing what she wanted . Mickies sisters remembered. Toni used to get so upset if micaela was seen talking to kody, and she would just yell and holler and say horrible things to micaela, you know, dont talk to him, and call her every name imaginable. Reporter an intensely jealous young woman, said dj. He couldnt be around girls, especially my sister, but he couldnt go do certain things. She couldnt go do certain things. And if one did it that the other didnt like, it was world war iii. Reporter and kody was, said kristina, on a very tight leash. I must have been doing laundry or something, and here toni came walking. And he was like, got to go. And i was like, you cant even talk to me . He was like, no, i cant. I got to go. I cant be seen. Shell get mad. Reporter who was the driving force in that relationship . She was. Reporter but, having heard tonis sworn statement, kodys lawyer knew that his clients story about mickie dying after some sort of accident, now sounded like the coverup for a coldblooded murder and, therefore, that tonis testimony could send kody, who was still facing trial, to death row. Part of toni frattos statement, in which she said that at some point in time in this killing micaela sat up in the grave and said to kody, am i still here . Can i go home . Reporter devastating. Yeah. Reporter which is why, just weeks before the trial, kody decided to plead guilty to firstdegree murder. That was the safest way to go. That was the way that would present at least a possibility that kody would see daylight again, and it would take the Death Penalty off the table. Reporter at kodys sentencing, in front of a packed courtroom, he made his case for eventual parole, pleading with the judge for mercy and begging mickies family for forgiveness. Im sorry for the unimaginable pain this has caused you. Reporter and then, for the first time, kody spoke publically about his fiancee and apparent partner in the murder. The woman hed protected in his confession, never revealing that she was with him at the crime scene. Listen to what he said now. To the court, i just want to state that my codefendant toni fratto is not all to blame. Reporter did you hear that . Toni was not all to blame. Was kody implying that she played a role in at least some or even most of those horrific stab wounds to mickies pretty face . Theres no reason. Theres no why. Theres no justification for it. Its just sorry is not enough, right . But i apologize for everything. Reporter moments later came his sentence. Would he have a chance at parole after maybe 25 years . I sentence you to a term of life in the Nevada Department of corrections, and there shall be no possibility of parole. Reporter it was justice, said mickies family, but an odd feeling lingered. You have to sit there and go, oh my god, this person that i knew so well will never, ever have a chance of anything. Reporter youre 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. Reporter both kody and the prison where hell spend his life turned down our request for an interview. But toni fratto . Different story. Toni had a lot to say about that dark night in the nevada desert and just what really happened to her romantic rival, Mickie Costanzo. Reporter toni fratto, the exjunior miss beauty queen, was a tiny wisp of a girl in a prison suit when they brought her to see us. Wed arranged our meeting in a small courtroom not too far from her cell. The sheriffs 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, ours with toni, hers silently with her mother. We began by talking about kody, the fiance she seemed so afraid of losing to 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 ever recent. Reporter did you ever say to him, get rid of her . No, i did not. Reporter get rid of her, or you lose me . No. Reporter didnt say its her or me . No. Reporter didnt give him that choice . Absolutely not. Reporter and then we talked about the night of march 3, 2011, when she and kody 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 sinks. And, you know, to be honest, its like it takes my breath away. Like, its hard to breathe and everything. Its not something, you know, you want to sit there and think about. Reporter there are differing stories so thats why i have to ask these questions. Right. Reporter and you hit her with a shovel. Yes. Reporter why . Because i was told to. I did not want to do anything to her and everything. He kept telling me over and over again, just do it. Its okay. Just do it. And then i just remember him putting her down and him standing over her. Reporter she was struggling, trying to get free . Right. Reporter then you backed off . Yes. I dont know what he was doing up towards the top of her body. I could not see because he was standing in the way. Reporter and she insisted, in contradiction to that first confession of hers, that she did not help kody with that slashing and stabbing. And that you didnt hold the knife, that you didnt cut her . Correct. Reporter so it reduced your culpability. You could say, yes. Im not trying to diminish my actions or anything of what i did, but i wont take responsibility for something i did not do. Reporter frequently, as toni distanced herself from the crime, she looked through the glass to her mother, especially when the question turned to why. I was too much in fear. I was scared, terrified. Reporter only reason she was there, she insisted, she was an abused woman, and she was afraid hed kill her, too. When youre going through a tough and abusive relationship, you dont always fight back with your abuser. To be honest, i, after finding everything out that i know now, believe i was next. Reporter why would he kill you . Because i was a witness and i was there with micaela. Reporter so why is Mickie Costanzo dead . Youd have to ask kody, said toni fratto. I dont know his motive. I dont know. If i knew, id be more than willing to, you know, come out and say why so it would make sense. Reporter was he just a lunatic or what . I dont know. I dont have an answer for that. Reporter and when he says he doesnt know why, do you believe him . No. Hes got to know why. Theres a reason why he did this. Reporter was this version of her story finally the truth . Perhaps. And, in any event, mickies family would have to be satisfied with what small consolations toni fratto offered. I know sorry is not enough. If i could go back, i would. And protect her and make sure that this wouldnt happen and everything, that, you know, she would still be here today. Reporter can you see her face now in your minds eye . Bits and pieces, yeah. Reporter probably be seeing her for a long time. The rest of my life. Reporter and with that, our interview ended. Toni 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 by the year 2030. But, of course, toni couldnt know, leaving here, nor could we, that one more little surprise was waiting. Kody had said something very interesting just before toni took her deal. Something buried deep in the court file but now about to be revealed. [ male announcer ] Marie Callenders knows you may not have time to roll out a perfectly flaky crust thats made from scratch. Or mix vegetables with all white meat chicken and homemade gravy. But Marie Callenders does. Just sit down and savor. Marie callenders. Its time to savor. To slow down for sensitive skin. Thats why the number one trusted brand for sensitive skin created all fresh and sensitive. Its free of dyes, gentle on skin and has a light fresh scent. Bringing scent and sensitivity together. So im going pro. [ male announcer ] new crest tartar protection rinse. The only rinse that helps prevent tartar buildup and cavities. A little swishing. Less scraping. Yes [ male announcer ] new crest prohealth tartar protection rinse. It helps you escape the scrape. Tartar protection rinse. door knock love it. Say bounty paper towels are the best . Theyre a must. Yes, i did. This is viva® vantage, and its different because of the stretch. Wow, thats awesome. That stretch means scrubbing power. I never knew paper towels could do that. Viva® vantage. The towel more people prefer. Reporter they are in separate prisons now, kody patten at one end of the state, toni fratto the other. Different stories about the murder. Different sentences, too. Toni fratto is 20 now. Shell have a chance to win parole when shes in her late 30s. But kody patten will die in prison. So, in a way, this is an academic question. But theres one more version of the murder of mickie constanzo, which we found buried in the court file. And it just might provide an answer. Remember that plea deal kody first accepted and then decided to pass on . Heres the story behind that very dramatic moment. Kody had just started making a sworn statement to the d. A. It was going to be finally a full and frank account of what really happened and why. Heres how it began, he said. There was an incident the afternoon of the murder, just down there at the school. Toni confronted mickie in a school hallway. Toni saw mickie in the hallway, said kody, and called her a slut, said, look, theres that slut. The girls argued, said kody. He intervened, told toni knock it off. Possible . Maybe. Before anybody heard about kodys statement, mickies sister dj told us this. Toni really hated her. Shed walk by and toni would Say Something so rude under her breath. Reporter were talking about a couple years, though. Yeah. The hatred with toni grew more and more and more. I dont even know why to tell you, but it just escalated. Reporter as kody told the d. A. , it escalated to a fever that day. And so he suggested, why dont you guys just talk it out. And toni agreed, said she just wanted to duke it out with micaela. So i relayed the message to mickie. I said, well, she wants to fight it out. And mickie came to the resolution. Shes like, okay. So, said kody, mickie did get into a car with him voluntarily. They drove around for a while, said kody. Then they picked up toni. They all headed to the gravel pits. And what did kody tell the d. A. About what happened there . Well, it turned out, nothing because just then kodys attorney john ohlson arrived at the hearing. The two met, conferred briefly, and kody stopped talking. He had changed his mind, rejected the plea deal, never told his story again. And his statement was filed away. Reporter but ohlson, who has never disputed that kody was involved, does have his own opinion about what probably happened at the gravel pits. My guess would be that there was an opportunity for toni to confront micaela. Reporter and they went out to the desert to have the confrontation, away from prying eyes . Uhhuh. I think something bad happened. Reporter a bad idea that became a screwup. A bad idea that became a horrible idea. A bad idea that went very, very bad. Reporter but was it an idea hatched on the spur of the moment . Oh, no, at least not according to dj, who said she witnessed the hostility escalate for months. She heard toni badmouth mickie time and again, and she saw kody play one nasty prank after another, including one that seemed like more than just a prank. He had a little box cutter blade, and he swiped it across her arm. And at first she said, i didnt even know. And then i looked down, and im bleeding. And i look at him, and hes laughing. Reporter was that kind of the straw that broke the camels back with her . That was. She said, hes not worth it. And that i really dont want a person like that in my life at all. Reporter and from then on, mickie avoided kody, never spoke to him, cut him out of her life. He grew really angry at her after that, would do things to try to make her mad just so shed talk to him. It was a real shock to him to all of a sudden have her there through thick and thin and then never have her. Reporter an angry and abandoned kody . A jealous toni . Maybe thats why mickie had been so worried, said dj, about what those two might be up to. She says, he keeps trying to get me to go with them. Hes constantly thats what he wanted, is to try to get her. Reporter to get her to go out. With him and toni. Reporter and she was fully aware that she was public enemy number one, as far as toni was concerned . She just said, i dont understand. Dont get it. Its not right. Somethings just wrong. Reporter the costanzo family says mickie would never have gone with kody and toni voluntarily. And there is evidence of that, the zip tie found around mickies arm. Something else. Mickies family is convinced that kody and toni knew that the few days around the time of the murder were the only days theyd find mickie alone after school. The timing was too perfect. It was the one time, the one time, that dj was at college. Kristina and donald were at nascar. I was at work. Its the one time in all of this time that micaela wouldve actually had to walk home. Reporter which, when we heard that, made us wonder. In our interview, did toni slip and reveal a hidden truth . Remember, she claimed she was an abused woman, an unwilling accomplice, there only out of fear. But listen to this. Does it indicate the very planning revealed in kodys statement to the d. A. , planning that included picking a place for the showdown . When we finally got out to the designated area and everything reporter what do you mean the designated area . Where everything went down. Reporter that area was designated . Well, just the area where we ended up. Reporter no plan to go there, insisted toni. So designated area . Maybe, maybe not. But also a festering jealousy, scores of text messages, a zip tie, and one more explosive ingredient. An affair. Police revealed that kody had been seeing an older woman, the very woman from whom he borrowed the suv used the night of the murder. Toni knows that now, of course, that the other woman wasnt mickie, but did she know it then, the night they killed her . A woman knows. Whether youre that age or my age, you know somethings maybe not right. Who that person might be, i dont think she wouldve ever in a million years thought it was an adult. So the next person she in her mind would think would be my daughter. Even though its completely wrong. Reporter does that sound like toni was an abused woman obeying an angry boyfriend . Or a scorned woman determined to rid herself of a perceived rival . An unanswered question, which is probably the best well get, said attorney ohlson. Outside of the participants who are alive, nobody knows. Nobody knows. And nobodys going to know. Reporter theyre never going to reveal it . No. Reporter but then, would any answer ever be good enough . I want the truth. Will i ever get it . No. Theyll never tell me. And there is nothing they can say or do that will make it better. They cannot fix this. Reporter three families broken in West Wendover. Kody patten will never come home. Toni fratto might some day but too late for them. I dont think i will still be alive when she gets out. I dont think that there will be a time that well be together like that again. Reporter West Wendover high school has retired Mickie Costanzos basketball jersey. It hangs now in a place of honor. And outside the students got together to paint and sign a huge rock, a memorial in her favorite color. Up in the high Desert Mountains outside wendover is a ranch with a small family cemetery. Its a peaceful, sacred place where micalea costanzo, where mickie, now rests. The ranch is home. Shes exactly where she would want to have been. Shes laying right next to my father. And she is in the most beautiful spot in the world to me. And shes like sitting on top of the world. We all knew that my mom, myself, wed all eventually be there. Just not in the order that it seems to have happened. Reporter and here on the little strip on i80, wendover will still waves his grinning welcome. But he points to a place a little older now and sadder, as if the neon lights strung up among the desert casinos had nbc bay area news starts now