A special-needs 15-year-old student allegedly killed by her boyfriend in Arizona just wanted to “be normal,” her father said.
The body of Leah Costa was found in the desert last week with a bullet in her head, authorities say. Her boyfriend, 17-year-old Robert Duffell, has been charged with first-degree murder. Duffell, also a special-needs student, has confessed to the slaying, 12 News reported.
The teens met at the Buckeye Learning Center, where Leah Costa was thriving, her father told The Arizona Republic. They ran away together on Christmas Eve.
“You could see the joy she was experiencing,” John Costa Jr. told the newspaper. “It brought a lot of warmth to my heart to see her experience love.”
Leah battled bipolar disorder, paranoia and ADHD and desperately wanted to fit in, her dad told the paper.
“That young lady never held a grudge,” John Costa Jr. said. “She never sought vengeance. It would do no one any good to hold harshness against that young man because (Leah) was a forgiving individual.”
Duffell, who will appear in court later this week, told cops he thought about hurting himself after the alleged murder, according to the Republic. He had run away four times before, court documents obtained by the newspaper show.
“Their family knows we don’t blame them and (that) we are grieving for them the same way they are grieving for us,” John Costa Jr. told the newspaper.