Aug 21, 2026 · 39 min · 19 segments
An interview with an unlikely suspect takes a surprising turn, leading to an arrest. This episode originally published on June 15, 2026. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See…
Keith MorrisonHost
You'll remember, I'm sure, the old adage taken from Shakespeare, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Hmm.
The phrase itself borrowed all the time and everywhere, like so much of the great playwright's work.
But the question of borrowing was about to matter in the West Wendover murder investigation.
It had to do with a car, an SUV actually, a Chevy Trailblazer, a borrowed Trailblazer.
And why would a borrowed car matter to the investigation into the murder of that much-loved teenager, Mickey Costanzo? Curious little story, that.
The SUV belonged to a local woman, an older woman, you could say, at least compared with young Cody.
There had been talk, rumors, that Cody may have been spending time with the woman, but talk is cheap, isn't it? And no evidence of a relationship ever surfaced, and after all, Cody was at that very same time planning his marriage to Toni Fratto.
So perhaps that woman was simply offering the SUV as a favor to a friend to be used by Cody to pick up those car parts he left at the school shop.
And so naturally, Detective Burnham thought it prudent to talk to that woman, the owner of the car.
And sure enough, she confirmed Cody's story, confirmed also the reason he asked to use it: because it was big enough to accommodate all that car stuff, parts and things.
Was very dirty when he returned it.
Not just teenager messy, but especially dirty and dusty on the outside, as if he'd driven it off road.
They swabbed it from bumper to bumper for samples of dust and dirt, and compared those samples with soil samples from the crime scene, and they sure looked the same, which by itself could simply have been a coincidence, of course.
They took impressions of the tread on the tires, and then they lined them up with the tire tracks at that place in the desert where they found Mickey's body.
They were consistent with the tire brand and model that was on that vehicle.
Which, again, could have been a coincidence, though it was seeming less likely now.
You'll remember, I'm sure, the old adage taken from Shakespeare, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." Hmm.
The phrase itself borrowed all the time and everywhere, like so much of the great playwright's work.
But the question of borrowing was about to matter in the West Wendover murder investigation.
It had to do with a car, an SUV actually, a Chevy Trailblazer, a borrowed Trailblazer.
And why would a borrowed car matter to the investigation into the murder of that much-loved teenager, Mickey Costanzo? Curious little story, that.
The SUV belonged to a local woman, an older woman, you could say, at least compared with young Cody.
There had been talk, rumors, that Cody may have been spending time with the woman, but talk is cheap, isn't it? And no evidence of a relationship ever surfaced, and after all, Cody was at that very same time planning his marriage to Toni Fratto.
So perhaps that woman was simply offering the SUV as a favor to a friend to be used by Cody to pick up those car parts he left at the school shop.
And so naturally, Detective Burnham thought it prudent to talk to that woman, the owner of the car.
And sure enough, she confirmed Cody's story, confirmed also the reason he asked to use it: because it was big enough to accommodate all that car stuff, parts and things.
Was very dirty when he returned it.
Not just teenager messy, but especially dirty and dusty on the outside, as if he'd driven it off road.
They swabbed it from bumper to bumper for samples of dust and dirt, and compared those samples with soil samples from the crime scene, and they sure looked the same, which by itself could simply have been a coincidence, of course.
They took impressions of the tread on the tires, and then they lined them up with the tire tracks at that place in the desert where they found Mickey's body.
They were consistent with the tire brand and model that was on that vehicle.
Which, again, could have been a coincidence, though it was seeming less likely now.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.