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Correspondent Keith Morrison opened Dateline: Unforgettable Season 2 with the murder case of a 16-year-old girl, Micaela Costanzo, who was a resident of Nevada, Los Angeles.
The official synopsis for the episode reads as follows:
A case Keith Morrison can't forget that's about more than rage or someone's hidden dark side. A teen's murder shakes a Nevada community, especially when two unlikely people confess.
Here are 5 shocking details about her murder as shown in Dateline.
Dateline: 5 harrowing details about the Micaela Costanzo murder case
1) How did Micaela Costanzo disappear in 2011?
Micaela was a popular 16-year-old student who was actively involved in playing basketball and track at her school. On March 3, 2011, she got off her track practice just like all other days but never reached her house.
Usually, she was picked up by her sister from practice, but since her sister was out of town, she was to walk home from practice. The surveillance footage from the school shows Micaela leaving at 5:15 p.m., but she did not reach her home, and her phone was also off.
2) Dateline: A volunteer found Micaela's body two days after her disappearance
When their daughter did not come home, Micaela's parents reported her missing, and the police and the members of her community started her search.
On March 5, 2011, a volunteer saw that the ground of a rural road was dug up, five miles outside their town. The police found Micaela's body in a grave, and according to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, she was hit by a shovel, and her throat was slashed.
3) Dateline: Micaela's childhood best friend, Kody Cree Patten, was a prime suspect
On investigation, the police found video footage where Micaela was seen with her childhood best friend Kody, who was dating a girl named Toni Fratto. On asking Micaela's family, they revealed that Toni was jealous of her boyfriend's friendship with Micaela.
The police suspected Kody as their primary suspect, but he did not admit to his crimes in the first interview.
4) Dateline: Kody Patten admitted the murder of Micaela
On the second question, Kody admitted that he took Micaela for a drive in his car, where the two argued. She hit him, and when he shoved her back, she started going into convulsions.
Scared, he hit her head with a shovel, but when she did not stop even after that, he slid her throat and buried her body in a grave.
After her boyfriend's confession, Toni also confessed to having assisted him in murdering Micaela, but it was unclear whether she was actually in the car or was trying to save her boyfriend.
5) The couple changed their confessions multiple times
After their initial confessions, both Toni and Kody offered a different version of Micaela's murder in court, but they were both found guilty in court.
On Dateline, Toni revealed that she had an abusive relationship with Kody and only agreed to the murder because she feared for her life. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole and is being held at Florence McClure Women's Correctional Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Kody was also sentenced to life imprisonment without parole, and he was sent to Ely State Prison in White Pine County, Nevada.
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