Tony Costa was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 2, 1944. His early life took a dark turn when, at the age of 17, he committed his first violent crime. In November 1961, he broke into a house and attacked a teenage girl. This led to charges of burglary and assault, resulting in three years of probation and a one-year suspended sentence.

In 1963, Costa got married and started a family, having three children. However, his marriage couldn't survive his drug problems, and by 1966, he left his family behind and moved to California.

In the summer of 1968, Costa returned to Massachusetts. His criminal activities escalated when he stole thousands of dollars worth of medical equipment.

On February 8, 1969, police organized a search for two missing women, Patricia Walsh and Mary Anne Wysocki. Their search began in a wooded area where Walsh's Volkswagen van had been abandoned. During the search, officers found the remains of Susan Perry, who had been missing since the previous Labor Day in September 1968. Her body had been cut into eight pieces. About a month later, parts of Wysocki's body were discovered, followed by the bodies of Walsh and the rest of Wysocki in a forest clearing. These women had been mutilated with a knife and died from gunshot wounds to the head. Beneath these remains, police also found the dismembered body of Sydney Monzon. The bodies showed signs of necrophilia.

The police quickly identified Tony Costa as the main suspect. The clearing where the bodies were found was used by Costa to grow marijuana. Costa knew all four women, and they had disappeared after his return to Truro. Additionally, his fingerprints were found on the torn cover of the Volkswagen's owner's manual in the woods.

The case drew international attention when district attorney Edmund Dinis made shocking statements to the media. He claimed that the hearts of Walsh and Wysocki had been removed and that their bodies had been cut into numerous parts. He also alleged that there were tooth marks on the bodies. These claims were untrue but attracted national and international media outlets to Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Author Kurt Vonnegut, whose daughter Edith had met Costa, compared Costa to Jack the Ripper in an article for Life Magazine. Vonnegut corresponded with Costa, who insisted that he was too virtuous to have hurt anyone.

Costa was also considered a potential suspect in the deaths of 16 women on the West Coast of the United States, including hitchhikers Bonnie Williams and Diane Federoff, and his girlfriend in San Francisco, Barbara Spaulding.

On June 12, 1969, Costa was arraigned on charges of murder for three of the deaths. In May 1970, he was convicted of the murders of Wysocki and Walsh and sentenced to life in prison at Massachusetts' Walpole Correctional Institution. On May 12, 1974, Costa died from an apparent suicide by hanging in his cell, though some later questioned if it was a possible murder.

While in prison, Costa wrote an unpublished novel called Resurrection, where he described the murders of Walsh and Wysocki. He claimed that he and a friend named "Carl" were taking drugs with the two women when Carl shot them. Costa said he subdued Carl and ended Wysocki's suffering with a knife. He also claimed that Susan Perry and Sydney Monzon died from drug overdoses and that Carl dismembered their bodies without his knowledge.