✨Early Beginnings: July 23, 1968
The vibrant, electric, lively soul that was Kristen Marina Costas was born July 23, 1968, in Oakland, Alameda County, California, to Arthur and Berit Costas. Kristen and her brother, Peter, grew up in the small suburban town of Ordina.
At Miramonte High School, Kristen excelled both academically and athletically. She was an active member of both the varsity swim team and the cheerleading squad.
Kristen was naturally friendly, fun, stylish, and charismatic. She was the central figure in her school’s social circle, making her the “it Girl” at Miramonte High School. Classmates described her as confident and petite, with large dark curls. She had a strong sense of style and skipped the typical “awkward phase” that many teenagers experience.
Kristen’s friends remember her as being highly expressive, outgoing, and possessing a sharp, sarcastic sense of humor. While some peers on the outside perceived her crowd as exclusive, close friends and neighbors recall her as being warm. However, she was also blunt and wouldn’t hesitate to speak her mind or call out behavior that she found strange.
✨Hobbies: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Kristen adored music and would spend time in her room playing loud music in her room, dancing around and filling the family’s home with radiant energy.
She had a keen eye for style and loved keeping up with the 1980s fashion trends. Her friends remember her as someone who always looked effortlessly put together and confident.
She was a proud member of “The Bobbies” Bob- o- Links, a prestigious, sorority-like high school civic and philanthropic club for popular girls.
Above all, Kristen loved being connected to her peers. She’d spend hours chatting away on the phone with her friends, volunteering in the student office, and being the center of all school activities.
Sadly, Kristen Costas’s life would be cut short on the evening of June 23, 1984.
June 23, 1984; Orinda, California:
Before diving into the crime, I will briefly discuss thoughts on Bernadette Protti. High school is one of the longest stretches of education just below college. Four entire years of seeing the same people, following the same routines, and dealing with navigating through school and being accepted by your peers.
I completely understand the feeling. I was once a 15-year-old girl myself, and hell, really, is a teenage girl. In Protti’s situation, if she felt so compelled to fit in, why didn’t she start with herself? That is where all our power lives: within us. Bernadette made a tragic choice on the night of June 23, 1984. Her sentencing was relatively short. After this post, I will explain why I feel like she should have been charged with murder in the first degree.
Since this case does involve minors and a brutal crime, please be advised.
The setup and Lure:
On the evening of the murder, Bernadette Protti called the Costas family home using a fake name. She claimed to be a member of the “Bob- O Links,” a prestigious school club Kristen belonged to, and invited her to a “surprise” dinner at a local church to welcome new members. Protti spoke directly to Berit, Kristen’s very own mother, and lied. If that’s not evil, then I don’t know what is.
The setup was revealed in the car when Bernadette pulled into a local church parking lot. Upon their arrival, Kristen began to feel like something was out of the ordinary when she realized that the church parking lot was empty. Bernadette had confessed to Kristen that there was no dinner and that she had invented the story just to spend time with Kristen and talk to her.
Kristen began to fear she was being kidnapped or harmed, and in a panic, she fled to a nearby home for safety.
The Attack:
Kristen knocked on the door of a man named Alex Arnold. She explained to him that a girl in a station wagon was acting weird and trying to take her somewhere. Arnold agreed to drive Kristen the short distance back to her home. Enraged, Bernadette followed them in her station wagon. As soon as Arnold dropped Kristen off at the edge of her cul-de-sac, Protti ambushed Kristen in a neighbor’s yard, stabbing her five times with an 18-inch Kitchen knife that her sister kept in the car.
After stabbing Kristen, Bernadette fled the scene in her car, while a mortally wounded Kristen managed to drag herself onto a neighbor’s porch. The neighbor immediately called for help, and Kristen was rushed to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after her arrival.
The weapon was found by a passerby in a nearby creek, but because Bernadette initially passed a polygraph test, the murder went unsolved for nearly six months until her confession in December 1994.
Final thoughts & Aftermath:
It is truly astonishing how deeply calculated, malicious, and evil this crime was. It should be common sense that not everyone deserves access to you, your life, or your energy. Bernadette had managed to keep this to herself. Feeling guilty, Bernadette? And she was. Law enforcement was quickly gaining in on Bernadette into a corner which is ironically what she did to Kristen. Holding her captive in a confined space with no escape. In December 1994, an FBI agent confronted Protti, telling her that her arrest was imminent and they now had definitive proof that she murdered Kristen.
The Trial:
During her taped police interrogation and trial, Bernadette’s motive was revealed to be rooted in intense social isolation, severe jealousy, and peer pressure.
Pause. Bernadette, you didn’t even have anyone pressure you into murder. The only pressure she had was her twisted mind.
Since Protti was only 15 at the time of the murder, she was tried as a juvenile in the Contra Costa County Superior Court. Her defense attorney, who is a dumbass, I must say, stated that the extreme academic pressures of her affluent suburban environment filled her with consuming envy that drove her to snap.
The Verdict: In March 1985, Judge Edward L. Merrill oversaw a bench trial (without a jury).
On April 1, 1985, Protti received a maximum sentence of nine years to be served in the custody of the California Youth Authority. Under juvenile law at the time, she could not be held past her 25th birthday.
Parole and release: Protti served seven years of her sentence. She was granted parole and released in June 1992 at the age of 23.
And that is the tragic murder of Kristen Costas. In my opinion, Bernadette should have received a harsher punishment, and been charged for murder in the first degree. I say this because this whole crime was calculated for the following reasons:
- Stalking and weaponizing a trusted group that Kristen was a part of.
- Calling the Costas household, speaking directly to the victim’s mother and lying by using a fake name and a fake event.
- The knife in the car was convenient for Bernadette. In court, her older sister testified, saying the kitchen knife was in the car because she would prepare food in the car.
- Bernadette more than likely planned this out days prior and was obviously prepared if there was rejection.
- At 15, that is old enough to understand that actions have consequences. Especially with the rise of slasher horror films. If you can understand movie murder, you can understand real murder.
There are several, and I do mean several, flaws in Bernadette’s sentencing that I am going to make a singular post about.
Lastly, let’s turn our focus back to Kristen. I have had the great pleasure of knowing Kristen, even if not in a convenient way, as I was not even born yet. Still, I feel like she was honestly probably one of the most interesting, confident, and multi-faceted teenager. I can understand why a lot of people who knew her on an intimate level spoke so highly of her.
To the girl who is now in the sky, floating so high. I bet Kristen has her very own cloud in heaven. My love runs endlessly for her family; what a tremendous loss. We never forget what we love so dearly and fiercely.
Fly high, angel. Thank you for gracing me with your presence. Rest well, Kristen 🤍🕊️
Until Next Time! L.W.
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