Michael Costin

American homicide victim, beaten to death by Thomas Junta over a dispute at the kid's hockey game on 7/05/2000. Reading, MA. The two parents had a loud disagreement about Costin's supervision of their boys' hockey practice. Junta was ordered to leave but allegedly returned and assaulted Costin so violently that Costin lost consciousness. Put on life support, he died two days later. A single father of four kids, Costin's beating was witness by his three boys, Brendan, 13, Michael, 12 and Sean, 10. Costin was a self-employed handyman of average size, 170 lbs. The son of an amateur boxer, he had seen troubled times from age 15, when his older brother, Dennis, a runaway and alcoholic, was fatally stabbed by their dad during an argument in the family kitchen. His dad served six months for manslaughter and Michael started drinking. Between 1983 and 1995, he was in jail five times, for charges ranging from breaking and entering and carrying a weapon to assaulting a police officer. As a result he was separated from his wife and lost custody of his kids. In January Michael had regained custody of his children and appeared a devoted father. He was celebrating his sixth year of sobriety, in recovery with AA. He took the kids to Mass regularly, and his friends testified at the sincerity of his recovery.