Woman, 19, admits she helped murder Wendover classmate

ELKO, Nev. — Toni Fratto was articulate and attentive in court Friday until she came to the word "guilty."

Then, the 19-year-old started to cry.

"You willfully and unlawfully, with malice and forethought, did kill and murder another human being," Judge Daniel Papez said, summarizing the crime and her guilty plea to second-degree murder, "in concert with Kody Cree Patten."

Fratto admitted that on March 3, she struck Micaela "Mickey" Costanzo, 16, in the back with a shovel and sat on her legs while Kody Patten cut the girl's throat. When Papez asked if Fratto knew then that Micaela had been killed, she replied:

"No. I was in the car when all of that went down."

The judge then outlined the plea agreement that allowed Fratto to plead guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree murder. The plea ensured that she couldn't receive a death sentence or a life prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

When she is sentenced April 16, Fratto faces a minimum of 11 years in prison. Her attorney, John Springgate, estimated an 18-year sentence for the murder charge and an enhancement for the use of a dangerous weapon.

Fratto was visibly emotional both when she was advised of the prison time and when she recounted her part in Micaela's death.

As part of Fratto's plea deal, she will testify against the man she once planned to marry during his trial. The judge on Friday scheduled a two-week trial for Patten to begin July 31, according to Patten's attorney, John Ohlson.

Fratto and Patten are accused of taking Micaela, their fellow classmate at West Wendover High School, to a remote desert area near the Utah-Nevada border after Micaela's track practice on March 3.

In court documents, Patten told investigators he twice pushed Micaela to the ground during a fight, the second time causing her to hit her head on a rock. He claimed she then went into "some sort of seizure," he panicked and struck her in the head with a shovel.

Micaela's body was found in a shallow grave on March 5. Patten was arrested days later. Fratto's only tie to the killing was a recorded confession she gave to Patten's attorney nearly two months later.

At a preliminary hearing last year, however, attorneys for Patten and Fratto pointed to the other's client as the primary instigator in Micaela's death.