The film is based on a Rolling Stone magazine article concerning the real-life murder of a 15-year-old Kirsten Costas, a cheerleader at Miramonte High School located in Orinda, California, who was murdered by 15-year-old, less popular classmate Bernadette Protti in 1984. Despite all of the character names and the location changes, the movie, certain dates, and most of the events, including the climatic courtroom scene, is very accurate to the real story.
In the real story: Kirsten Costas was the daughter of well-to-do parents, Arthur and Berit Costas, she and her younger brother Peter grew up in the small suburban town of Orinda, California. Kirsten went to Miramonte High School, and was a member of the school's varsity swim team and the cheerleader squad.
On June 23, 1984, Kirsten's mother received an annoymous phone call from a girl who claimed to be one of the "Bobbies" (i.e. Bob-o-links, a sorority-like group at school) telling Berit Costas that Kirsten was invited to a dinner for the new group members that evening. According to Protti's later testimony, she had planned to take Costas to a party to befriend her, but Kirsten got angry when she was told that there was no dinner for the new "Bobbies". The girls quarrelled, and Kirsten fled to the home of Alex and Mary Jane Arnold, living nearby, telling them that her friend had gone "weird". When Kirsten could not reach her parents by telephone (they were out for the evening), Alex Arnold drove her home, noticing that a Pinto (the Protti's family car) was following them. At the Costas home, Mr. Arnold, sitting in his car, saw Protti run up to the front porch and attack Kirsten. He thought that he was seeing a fist-fight but, in fact, Protti stabbed Kirsten five times in the back with a kitchen knife and fled. One of the Costas' neighbors called an ambulance when Kirsten stumbled to the front door of their house, but Kirsten was pronounced dead-on-arrival at nearby hospital.
It took the police almost six months to find Kirsten's killer. Protti had passed a lie detector test, but her alibi went unverified. After attempting to confirm Protti's alibi and rereading her lie detector test, the police knew that the girl had lied. After speaking with an FBI officer, Protti wrote her mother a letter in which she made a full confession.
At her trial, Protti claimed to have found the kitchen knife by chance in the Pinto, and her elder sister, Gina, testified in court that she used to have that knife in her car to cut vegetables. The Costas did not believe Protti's story... they claimed that nobody would use an 18-inch-long (460 mm) knife to slice tomatoes and that Protti, casually dressed on that evening, never intended to take Kirsten to a party, but had planned to murder her intentionally, not on the spur of the moment.
After the court hearing, Protti was sentenced to a maximum of seven years in a juvenial hall.
The Costas family left Orinda and moved to Hawaii shortly thereafter.
Bernadette Protti was released from prison on parole in 1992 at the age of 23, whereupon she immediately changed her name and left California for good and her current whereabouts are unknown. Kirsten's parents vehemently opposed Protti's release and unsucessfully filed a citizens complaint in 1993 to have Bernadette Protti re-tried as an adult in order to have a life sentence or even the death penalty imposed upon her, but their request was denied.
Kirsten's parents also citicized the made-for-TV-movie about the character description of Stacy Lockwood (modeled after Kirsten Costas) as being shallow and cynical and not showing more of her relationship with her parents, despite the fact that Kirsten's former classmates describe contradictive stories about Kirsten being warm, friendly and compassionate around her parents, but cold, intimindating, shallow and cynical around her classmates and others. Kirsten's parents have denied reports of Kirsten ever being mean and cynical.
In the real story: Kirsten Costas was the daughter of well-to-do parents, Arthur and Berit Costas, she and her younger brother Peter grew up in the small suburban town of Orinda, California. Kirsten went to Miramonte High School, and was a member of the school's varsity swim team and the cheerleader squad.
On June 23, 1984, Kirsten's mother received an annoymous phone call from a girl who claimed to be one of the "Bobbies" (i.e. Bob-o-links, a sorority-like group at school) telling Berit Costas that Kirsten was invited to a dinner for the new group members that evening. According to Protti's later testimony, she had planned to take Costas to a party to befriend her, but Kirsten got angry when she was told that there was no dinner for the new "Bobbies". The girls quarrelled, and Kirsten fled to the home of Alex and Mary Jane Arnold, living nearby, telling them that her friend had gone "weird". When Kirsten could not reach her parents by telephone (they were out for the evening), Alex Arnold drove her home, noticing that a Pinto (the Protti's family car) was following them. At the Costas home, Mr. Arnold, sitting in his car, saw Protti run up to the front porch and attack Kirsten. He thought that he was seeing a fist-fight but, in fact, Protti stabbed Kirsten five times in the back with a kitchen knife and fled. One of the Costas' neighbors called an ambulance when Kirsten stumbled to the front door of their house, but Kirsten was pronounced dead-on-arrival at nearby hospital.
It took the police almost six months to find Kirsten's killer. Protti had passed a lie detector test, but her alibi went unverified. After attempting to confirm Protti's alibi and rereading her lie detector test, the police knew that the girl had lied. After speaking with an FBI officer, Protti wrote her mother a letter in which she made a full confession.
At her trial, Protti claimed to have found the kitchen knife by chance in the Pinto, and her elder sister, Gina, testified in court that she used to have that knife in her car to cut vegetables. The Costas did not believe Protti's story... they claimed that nobody would use an 18-inch-long (460 mm) knife to slice tomatoes and that Protti, casually dressed on that evening, never intended to take Kirsten to a party, but had planned to murder her intentionally, not on the spur of the moment.
After the court hearing, Protti was sentenced to a maximum of seven years in a juvenial hall.
The Costas family left Orinda and moved to Hawaii shortly thereafter.
Bernadette Protti was released from prison on parole in 1992 at the age of 23, whereupon she immediately changed her name and left California for good and her current whereabouts are unknown. Kirsten's parents vehemently opposed Protti's release and unsucessfully filed a citizens complaint in 1993 to have Bernadette Protti re-tried as an adult in order to have a life sentence or even the death penalty imposed upon her, but their request was denied.
Kirsten's parents also citicized the made-for-TV-movie about the character description of Stacy Lockwood (modeled after Kirsten Costas) as being shallow and cynical and not showing more of her relationship with her parents, despite the fact that Kirsten's former classmates describe contradictive stories about Kirsten being warm, friendly and compassionate around her parents, but cold, intimindating, shallow and cynical around her classmates and others. Kirsten's parents have denied reports of Kirsten ever being mean and cynical.
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