Gripping, sad, and just plain scary, A Friend to Die For premiered in September and was the highest-rated TV movie of 1994 (10 years after the actual murder.) This makes sense since shows like Beverly Hills 90210 were all the rage. In fact, one ofthe stars of that hit show, Tori Spelling, had the lead in the filmas the beautiful and popular cheerleader "Stacey" who is stabbed to death.
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But who among her friends - or should we say frenemies - would do just about anything - even kill - for a taste of Stacey's popularity? The most obviously jealous studentor the quiet good girl no one would ever suspect?
It's Also Known By Another Title
The alternate title for this psychological thriller is Death of a Cheerleader (which is, perhaps, more to the point and more of a draw for those viewers still bitter because they never made the squad). The title was used in the UK and on Lifetime TV after its original NBC premiere.
Regardless of what it's called, the important message is the same: bullying has a profound effect on young people and can cause them to do harm to either themselves or others.
It's A True Story
In 1984, California's Miramonte High School cheerleader and all-around popularteen, Kirsten Costas, was murdered by her classmate Bernadette Protti, who was not only jealous of Kirsten's high-profile life but bitter and resentful that she took did not get picked for cheerleading or the yearbook committee.
Protti lured Costas from her home with a false story about a party, to which the wanna-be would give her pretty friend a ride. Sensing something fishy, Kirsten escaped from the car, but Protti followed her home and attacked her there with a kitchen knife.
But Fictional Names Are Used
The film is not a documentary but a fictional account of what happened, therefore the creators (writer Dan Bronson and director William A. Graham), although keeping the California setting, changed Kirsten Costas's name to Stacy Lockwood, played by Tori Spelling, and changed Bernadette Protti's name to Angela Delvecchio, who was played by Kellie Martin.
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True to the actual events, Angela idolizes Stacy and although she is accomplished academically, she just can't get herself "into the club," aka the cheer squad or yearbook staff. After the death of her rival, Angela seems to blossom.
Lifetime Remade The Film In 2019
Lifetime produced an updated version starring Aubrey Peeples and Sarah Dugdale, with an adult Kellie Martin playing Agent Murray, the police detective who cracks the case. In this iteration, the setting is still California, but Protti's name is Bridget Moretti and Costas is called Kelly Locke.
This version stays true to how Protti confessed, which was by writing a letter to her mother, as opposed to confessing to her priest. The case has also been depicted in the TV documentariesDeadly Delinquentsand Killer Kids.
The Murderer Went To Prison
In real life, it took six months for law enforcement to discover that Costas was the killer. She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to a max of nine years, but onlyserved seven years of her time before she was released on parole, to which theCostas family, who eventually relocated to Hawaii,vehemently objected.
In the film, Angela is convicted of second-degree murder (meaning it was not premeditated - even though it was) and sentenced to confinement in juvenile hall until age 25, but was released and paroled after a few years.
Then She Changed Her Name
Again, in real life, Bernadette Prottie was released from prison in 1992 at the young age 23 withthe rest of herlife ahead of her, unlike her victim, the deceased Kirsten Costas.
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To begin life anew without the stigma of murderer attached to her, the parolee legally changed her name to Jeannette Butler and moved from California to Oklahoma and became a nurse. After she married, her name changed again to Jeanette Tomanka and she and her husband, as well as their child, moved to Oregon.
The Movie's Co-Stars Knew Each Other
It'snot too hard to believe that the "it" actors in young Hollywood - especially those who worked the TV movie-of-the-week circuit - were friendly or had been co-workers previously. Tori Spelling, who garnered $100 thousand for her leading role as Stacy Lockwood was already working with Kellie Martin in 1989 on the film Troop Beverly Hills, starring Shelley Long, who played Diane Chambers on the hit showCheers.
The 90210 star had also worked with Marley Shelton before, who played Jamie Hall in the 1996 movie,Scream.
Angela Should Have Been Caught Sooner
When Angela cleans off the knife with which she stabbed Stacy, she does so by running it under water and wiping it with a towel, leaving both her and Stacy's DNA all over it, the towel and in the drain.
As DNA testing isthego-to for TV cops,Olivia Benson would have had Angela in cuffs by the end of the next school day. In the movie, she's well into her junior year of high school before someone catches on that she did it.
'Death Of A Cheerleader' Is Also A Song
The alternative rock band Marcy Playgroundrecorded a song called "Death of a Cheerleader" for their 2003 album Marcy Playground 3. The tunehas long been mistaken as a tribute to the Protti/Costas murder case.
But, it is actually based on another true story about a cheerleader in the midwest whocommitted suicide, hence the lyrics: "Yellow carnations and roses galore were sent to the mother and placed by the door in the spot where her daughter had taken her life ..."
Religious Symbols Are Portrayed Incorrectly
The characters are Catholic,as evidenced by Stacey's funeral mass, the mention of prior attendance at St. Joseph's Catholic School, and Angela's confession to her priest when the guilt gets to be too much - not to mention Angela's post-murder Christian service as a peer counselor and candy striper.
However, Angela's confirmation is presided over by a priestrather than a bishop, and the priest at Stacy's funeral iswearing green vestments (which are for ordinary days) instead ofwhite, and the casket is draped with a white pall, not purple.
NEXT: Netflix's Cheer: Where the Cheerleaders Are Now
