Antone Charles "Tony" Costa (August 2, 1944 – May 12, 1974) was an American serial killer and

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, Shipbuilding, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. ...

who achieved notoriety for committing serial murders in and around the

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

town of

Truro Truro (; kw, Truru) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its ...

in 1969.

Early life and crimes

Antone Charles Costa was born on August 2, 1944, in Cambridge Massachusetts. Costa started committing violent crimes at a relatively early age, when in November 1961, at age 17, he was arrested and charged with burglary and assault after breaking into a house and attacking a teenage girl. He was sentenced to three years of probation and a one-year suspended sentence for the crime. In 1966, Costa picked up two women and promised to take them to Pennsylvania on his way to California. The women, Bonnie Williams and Diane Federoff, disappeared shortly after their encounter with Costa, and he told investigators that he had dropped them off in California. Costa was additionally thought to have murdered his girlfriend Barbara Spaulding in 1967 while he was living in California. However, Federoff, Williams and Spaulding were later found alive.

1969 murders

The case gained international attention when district attorney

Edmund Dinis Edmund Dinis (October 4, 1924 – March 14, 2010) was an American politician from Massachusetts. He was born in the Azores, after his parents were already U.S. citizens. Massachusetts. His father Jacinto F. Diniz served in the Massachusetts Hou ...

, in comments to the media, claimed "The hearts of each girl had been removed from the bodies and were not in the graves…Each body was cut into as many parts as there are joints." Dinis also claimed that there were teeth marks found on the bodies. These claims produced a stream of national and international media outlets into local

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

. The media attention was so great that

Kurt Vonnegut Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (November 11, 1922 – April 11, 2007) was an American writer known for his satirical and darkly humorous novels. In a career spanning over 50 years, he published fourteen novels, three short-story collections, five plays, and ...

(whose daughter Edith had met Costa) compared him to

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer wa ...

in an article in the July 25, 1969 issue of ''

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

'', which was included in his collection of essays ''

Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons ''Wampeters, Foma & Granfalloons (Opinions)'' is a collection of essays, reviews, short travel accounts, and human interest stories written by Kurt Vonnegut from c. 1966–1974. On the title Vonnegut explains the title in the introduction: :De ...

''.Vonnegut, Kurt (1974). ''Wampeters, Foma and Granfaloons''. Dell Publishing, . Vonnegut maintained a correspondence with Costa. The author said, "The message of his letters to me was that a person as intent on being virtuous as he could not possibly have hurt a fly. He believed it."Vonnegut, Kurt (1981). ''

Palm Sunday Palm Sunday is a Christian moveable feast that falls on the Sunday before Easter. The feast commemorates Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, an event mentioned in each of the four canonical Gospels. Palm Sunday marks the first day of Holy ...

''. Delacorte Press, . Costa was suspected of killing eight women: Diane Federoff, Bonnie Williams, Barbara Spaulding, Sydney Monson, Susan Perry, Christine Gallant, Patricia Walsh, and Mary Anne Wysocki but convicted of killing only two: Walsh and Wysocki. Although suspected of killing Federoff, Williams and Spaulding, those women were later found alive. On February 8, 1969, while looking for the bodies of Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki, police discovered Susan Perry. Perry had been missing since the previous Labor Day.Albright, EJ
"The Tony Costa Cape Cod murders"
. ''Cape Cod Confidential''. CapeCodToday.com 9 November 2007. Perry's body had been cut into eight pieces. When Wysocki's body was found about a month later, her torso and head had been buried separately. Not long after, Walsh and the rest of Wysocki's body were found in a forest clearing that Costa had used for growing marijuana. This "garden" of marijuana plants and the greater case inspired the true crime book ''In His Garden'', by Leo Damore.

Costa's account

Costa described the murders of Walsh and Wysocki in his unpublished novel, ''Resurrection'', written while he was in prison. In his account, Costa and a friend named "Cory" were out with the two women consuming

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

and

Dilaudid Hydromorphone, also known as dihydromorphinone, and sold under the brand name Dilaudid among others, is an opioid used to treat moderate to severe pain. Typically, long-term use is only recommended for pain due to cancer. It may be used by mou ...

. Cory then shot Walsh and Wysocki. Costa claimed he was able to subdue his friend and upon realizing that Mary Anne Wysocki was still alive used a knife to end her suffering. According to Costa, he and Cory buried the bodies.Costa, Antone
''The Apocalypse''
. Cape Cod Today. 16 March 2015. The novel also describes the deaths of Susan Perry and Sydney Monzon as due to drug overdoses. Costa claims it was "Carl", his alter-ego, who dismembered and buried their bodies and that he had no knowledge until after their deaths.

Trial and imprisonment

On June 12, 1969, Costa was arraigned on charges of murder for three of the deaths.Coleman, Jack
"Today in Cape history: Tony Costa arraigned in Truro murders”
''Cape Cod Confidential''. CapeCodToday.com 12 June 2008. In May 1970, he was convicted of the murders of Mary Anne Wysocki and Patricia Walsh and sentenced to life in prison at Massachusetts' Walpole Correctional Institution. Four years after his incarceration, Costa committed

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered t ...

himself in his cell.Damore, Leo (1981). ''In His Garden''. Arbor House Publishing, New York. In later years, his suicide was questioned as a possible murder.Rodman and Jordan, "The Babysitter".

In popular culture

The case was covered by the popular true-crime show '' Born to Kill?'' in season six. The episode aired on television in 2014. In 2021, Liza Rodman wrote a book about her encounter with Costa during her childhood. He was her

babysitter Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides auton ...

during

summer break Summer vacation or summer break is a school break in summer between school years and the break in the school academic year. Students are off anywhere between three weeks to three months. Depending on the country and district, staff might be partia ...

before the murders.

References