client s story of mickey dying after some sort of accident sounded like the cover-up for a cold-blooded murder and therefore that toni s testimony could send kody who was still facing trial, to death row. part of toni fratto s statement and what she said that at some point in time at this killing micaela sat up in the grave and said to kody, am i still here? can i go home? devastating. yeah. which is why, just weeks before the trial kody decided to plead guilty to first-degree 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 that would take the death penalty off the table. at kody s sentencing in front of a packed courtroom he made his case for eventual parole, pleading with the judge for mercy and begging mickey s family for forgiveness. the unimaginable pain.
actually had to walk home. 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 and unwilling accomplice there only out of fear, but listen to this. does it indicate the very planning revealed in kody s 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 what do you mean the designated area. where everything went down. that area was designated? well, just the area where we ended up. 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
i m a person to tell the truth. and deep down, i wanted people to know the truth because i knew i knew kody wasn t going to come forward to tell the complete truth. for the next three and a half hours toni told a whole new story about how kody was upset with mickey. how he hated the sound of her voice. how things were building up and then the one detail of the story that did not change. the afternoon of march 3rd, that text from kody, one of over a hundred the two exchanged that day. police weren t 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. from here, the story changed and blame shifted toward kody. as they drove off into the desert, said toni, she looked back and saw mickey stuffed in the back section of the suv and mickey looked scared, said toni, with her hands up to her face.
talk to you. like, things to think and everything. hold you in my arms or anything. it s just hard. yeah, i know it s hard for me, too. it really is. toni s parents of visited kody sometimes to provide support, but also to ask the particular question. i said, i don t understand this. why did you do this? why did this happen? and he just said, i don t know. i can t tell you anything. i don t know. but by now, kody s lawyer had told him, stop talking. tough case. real tough case. because the chances of his getting that death penalty were quite high. i think they were very high. it was the identity of the victim, it was the brutality of the killing. it was the poignancy of some of the photographs from the kids. we just broke your heart. not to mention, kody s
emotional. us how did that strike? youth odd. . i very odd. mickey s details remembered that after the murder toni seemed to shut down. she refused to look at me. refused. i understand that you re not going to be very social because your significant other doing this, but she wouldn t talk to certain people anymore. but she normally would. new wheels were turning in that young woman spring. and then, early one spring morning in april, a few weeks after mickey s murder, climbed toni fratto into a car with kody s father, kip patten. she didn t tell her parents. she was out of town. toni was we re just her pajamas. nothing with her. as if she assumed she would never be coming back. it was one of mickey costanzo s the favorite places.