Haywire

Five Miles From Home

The episode 'Haywire' from *Five Miles From Home* explores the 2010 murder of 17-year-old Michaela Costanzo, killed by her former friend Cody Patton and his then-girlfriend Tony Fratto in a remote Nevada desert area. The case unravels the toxic dynamics of jealousy, manipulation, and fractured loyalty between the three young adults, with both Cody and Tony facing life sentences despite conflicting

Key takeaways

• Cody Patton and Tony Fratto’s relationship was marked by intense jealousy and emotional volatility, particularly toward Michaela.
• Tony Fratto claimed she was coerced and afraid, but admitted she made no effort to stop the murder despite multiple opportunities.
• The crime was likely reactive rather than premeditated, stemming from a failed confrontation at a gravel pit.

Transcript preview

It all seemed, was in fact, incomplete somehow. Something was still hidden, something we didn't know. The question was, would we ever? This, for example, and after a simple, why did they do it, this was perhaps the biggest question. Which one of those young people bore the greater responsibility for the attack on Mickey Costanzo? Was punishment for that crime fairly applied? Cody Patton by refusing to blame his girlfriend insured for himself a lifetime in prison. Yes, he avoided the death penalty, but he'll never be free again. He'll die in prison. Tony Fratto, on the other hand, piled the blame on Cody. And more, she claimed she was an abused woman, and though an accomplice a frightened and reluctant one. Tony was imprisoned on the lesser charge of second-degree murder with a built-im possibility. of parole. But was hers a true story or just a strategy? Was the fatal decision hers or Cody's? Well Tony was just along for a ride that went bad. We asked Detective Donald Burnham, he didn't claim to have the answers either. I don't think that Cody or Tony would tell the truth to anybody but each other. It just doesn't appear that anybody has gotten the true answers to this. Reasons or the why's. I don't think the only people to those questions as Tony and Cody. We wondered if their history would talk for them or at least offer clues and so we went digging into the past. Tony told me I just hate her I just hate her. She's just such a bad person and how much she just wished Michael would just go away. I'm Keith Morrison. I'm Keith Morrison. I'm just hate her. She's just hate her. She's such a bad person and how much she just wished Michael would just go away. I'm Keith Morrison. I'm Keith Morrison. Podcast from Dateline. Episode 6, Haywire. There was, you'll recall, some significant history between Cody and Michaela. They'd grown up in the same apartment complex were childhood friends. And at 12 or 13 or thereabouts, they'd played at being boyfriendly girlfriend, though it was. They'd grown up in the same apartment complex for childhood friends. And at 12 or 13 or thereabouts, they'd played at being boyfriend-by-boyfriend, though, it was. all quite innocent and very brief. Said Mickey's sister Christina. They never had the feelings that you would have for a boyfriend girlfriend. More like brother sister. More like brother sister. They were just best friends for a long time. Then in high school Cody met Tony Fratto and that was the real deal. Cody fell hard. In love for life hard. We know from Tony's diary that she feared their love wouldn't last. Her entries revealed deep insecurity and repeatedly intense jealousy directed towards the prettier and more popular Mickey. And though she and Cody were planning a wedding, Tony wrote that she was certain he'd soon want to leave her for Mickey. From the diary, he will be happier and can see her a lot, a lot more than he will ever see me. They hang out every single day, like all day long too. I know anything I do is wrong. And then there was this. To be honest, I don't know why I'm even still living life. It's not worth my time. It's pointless. The source of all that angst seemed to be one incident in the high school. A minor thing really a misunderstanding of the sort of thing that happens at that age. Mickey and Cody remember were lifetime pals had grown up together. And one day, Mickey's sister DJ said it must have been a couple of years before Mickey was killed. I guess they exchanged a kiss between each other from what Tony told me. Then Michaela found out that they were together and she felt horrible. So what my sister did was she walked up to Tony face to face and told her what happened. sorry. I didn't know and believe me won't ever happen again. According to Tony's mother, Cassie, Mickey's apology appeared to ease the tension between the two. At least during the summer of 2010, several months before Mickey was murdered. Tony and Michaela had coincidentally met up at our local swimming pool. And Tony had said, I thought that we had made peace because they talked about how silly they were as young girls and talked about Cody and Michaela had said don't worry about it if you want Cody you go for it girl they patched things up came to a an agreement and Tony felt really comfortable about that she did not have a beef with Michaela at that point things were fine She said things, nasty things, to Mickey. And this was not just a few times, this was a lot. Oh, yeah. Tony really hated her. She'd walk by and say something so rude under her breath, making her feel bad. And Kayla would just pretend it didn't bother when in reality, it hurt her. We're talking about a couple years though. Yeah. The hatred with Tony grew more and more and more. And it went on until pretty much she died. When Tony was mean, she said, Cody got nasty too. I remember getting off work one day and I was sitting there and she ran in and she was bleeding on her arm. She said, Cody had a little box cutter blade and he swiped it across her arm and at first she said, I didn't even know. And then I looked down and I'm bleeding and I look at him and he's laughing. Was that kind of the straw that broke the camels back with her? That was. She said, she said, this is what? what's made me see that he's not worth it and that I really don't want person like that in my life at all and at that point he was just a nobody there anymore. So from then on Mickey avoided Cody, cut her old childhood pal right out of her life, especially during the months before she was murdered. Mickey's mother, Celia. They weren't talking, they weren't being friends. She already ready, minimized any contact. But Mickey's cold shoulder only seemed to fuel Cody's fire. Here's DJ. He grew really angry at her after that. Would do things to try to make her mad just so she'd talked to him. When they didn't talk for very long time, he said, he loved Michaela. He just didn't want her to ever go. And he didn't understand why she went. It was a real shock to him to all the sudden have her there. He was a real shock to him to all the sudden have her there. You're thick and thin and then never have her. An angry and abandoned Cody, a jealous Tony. Maybe that's why Mickey had been so worried, said DJ, about what those two might be up to. Weeks and even months before they killed her. She says, he keeps trying to get me to go with them. Why is he talking to me now? Because he's never tried to reach out and say anything and now all of a sudden here he is. And she just felt really ins. insecure. Did he get her to go out? With him and Tony. With the