Kirsten Marina Costas was born on July 23, 1968, and was only fifteen when the horrific event occurred.
Some blame Kirsten Costas for her own death, while others understand that murder is never a viable solution to life’s problems.
In the era when bullying and mental degradation of classmates were seen not as a potential life-altering problem but as a passing feature of high school fun, it’s hard to know what’s okay and what’s not okay.
Budding friendship went wrong
Ranked as the second friendliest city, Orinda was home to academic excellence and high graduation rates.
It is home to some of the most prosperous professionals in all of Contra Costa County and the educators within its facility.
In general, Orinda has little lag or lack of academic prowess, as is Miramonte High School, known for its alma mater, which ranges from NFL players to business executives.
Kirsten Costa was no different and was eager to run the race to success as a high school sophomore in 1984.
She was a straight-A swimmer and cheerleader, best known for being a member of the Bob-O-Links, whose members called themselves the Bobbies.
Kirsten was rich with short dark locks and was a favorite in school. Although many claims she has a bad streak of being sarcastic and condescending, her friends portray her as witty and confident.
On the other side of the flashes of adolescence was Bernadette Protti, Kirsten Costas killer, a young woman from a mediocre Catholic family with a retired father with six little mouths to feed and a stay-at-home mother.
All she dreamed of every minute was to lead a life like her pretty classmate. She couldn’t afford the clothes, accessories, or lifestyle that the Costas flaunted, and she had decided that she could never be as beautiful as the sole Costa heiress.
With an unquenchable desire to succeed and be loved as much as the cheerleader was, she didn’t settle for her friends. Then, she began blowing herself up and imitating Kirsten Costa with every waking breath.
Kirsten Costas killer applied for the cheerleading position, and the committee was created to organize the yearbook, but something else worked.
Her stress started to get to her until she ended up working with Kirsten in the student office.
According to some sources, the cheerleader who observed Bernadette’s obsession with her began to take advantage of her.
She forced her to do her dirty work so that she and her friends could point the finger at the weird girl when she was caught.
She also became a Bobbies, a local sorority, along with the cheerleader. But none of her efforts proved effective enough against Kirsten, who ignored Bernadette’s existence and often insulted her poverty and impoverished lifestyle.
Under falsification
It was mid-June 1984, and the brutal summer was upon her, but Bernadette Protti’s fixation held firm.
She strategized to spend some alone time with the popular cheerleader and called Costa House under the guise of a celebration for the newest Bobbies the following Saturday.
She informed Berit Costas, Kirsten’s mother, offered to pick up her daughter at 8:30 p.m. on the scheduled date. She swore to her parents that she was not babysitting.
When the day came, Kirsten got into Bernadette’s Pinto. She was disappointed to see that it was her, but she complied even though she found something suspicious seeing her classmate in casual clothes.
When they got to Moraga, she asked her to smoke weed, and, according to the defendant, this is where the conflict began, with Bernadette refusing the cheerleader’s offer to smoke.
After a 40-minute delay, when the girls were back in the car, Kirsten raised concerns about the credibility of this event.
Bernadette admitted to lying. She stormed out of the Pinto and walked over to the home of Mary Jane and her husband, Alexander Arnold, to whom she complained about her weird friend of hers.
When she called home, there was no answer, and, by mutual agreement, Alexander took Kirsten to her residence.
When he saw Bernadette obsessively following Kirsten Costa, he confronted her on her neighbor’s lawn, but Bernadette pulled out an 18-inch knife, stabbed Kirsten five times, and fled from her, leaving the bleeding teen to crawl for help.
The conviction
Alexander, a suspect in Pinto’s unsolicited escape, followed him, unaware of the heinous crime committed as Arthur Hillman heard a knock on his door.
To verify the trouble, the man opened it only to find a fatally wounded Kirsten Costa pleading for her help.
Man called his son to take Kirsten to the hospital and dialed 911. On the morning of June 23, 1984, Costa’s parents were told to stay strong because their daughter was in critical condition.
She had been cut, but at 11 p.m., it was announced that Kirsten Costa had died.
The investigation of the cold-blooded killer was launched, and Bernadette Protti was one of the suspects, but she lied through a lie detector, offering an unverified alibi.
In a bizarre twist, a non-resident goth named Nancy Kane was resumed as the killer, as she too was bullied by Kirsten and her gang and blatantly because the people of Orinda were in no position to understand that one of their own committed—the murderer.
Where is Kirsten Costas killer, Bernadette Protti now?
According to some reports, Bernadette was sent to the Youth Authority’s Ventura School, and according to the California Youth Authority, she earned her high school diploma with a 4.0 average.
She also took enough courses through a local community college to graduate with an associate in arts degree.
Due to Bernadette’s name change, she has seemingly disappeared from the public eye.
However, internet sleuths have long been fixated on uncovering Bernadette’s latest location and identity.
‘Death of a Cheerleader’ Depicted the brutal murder
“Death Of A Cheerleader,” released on February 2, 2019, was a tragic movie remade from the original released in 1994, “A Friend To Die For.”
The story centered on a snobbish cheerleader named Stacy Lockwood in the imaginary town called Santa Mira, played by the famous 90s teen actress named Tori Spelling, who falls victim to the admiration of a worldly girl named Angela Delvecchio until the consequences of that unsolicited friendship.
The film was based on the real-life incident of a cheerleader from Orinda. It was stressful and scared people that the story’s events were so plausible that they happened.
This psychological thriller begins with the murder of a young woman and then flashes back to 10 months before reflecting on the events that led up to it.
While watching the movies, it’s easy to criticize the characters for their bad decisions, but it’s not always so black and white when faced with situations.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7t7XZmpqaZpOkunC3yKuqrZ2eYrCwv9OaqmajmaG5pr6O