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Death penalty sought in classmate slaying

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 28, 2011 - 12:59 am
 

ELKO -- Elko County prosecutors have decided to seek the death penalty for two West Wendover teenagers accused of murdering a 16-year-old classmate in March.

The Elko Daily Free Press reported that the district attorney's office filed the paperwork last week to make it a capital case after listening to recorded confessions from the two 18-year-old suspects, Toni Fratto and Kody Patten.

Both pleaded not guilty in the killing of Micaela Costanzo after she left track practice at West Wendover High School.

Investigators said she was beaten with a shovel and her throat cut before she was buried in a grave in the desert.

Fratto's trial is set for February, Patten's in March.

The Free Press said it's the county's first death penalty case in 11 years.

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