Alyssa Bustamante in court. Kelley McCall / AP
Alyssa Bustamante, a Missouri teen charged with the 2009 stabbing and strangling of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten was tried as an adult and has pleaded guilty to one account of murder in the second degree and has been sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole. She was also sentenced to an additional 30 years in an armed criminal action charge. The girl told police upon the time of her arrest that she simply “wanted to see how it felt to kill someone.”
Bustamante, who was just 15 at the time of the attack, dug two graves in the woods near her house before attending school for a full week, apparently waiting for the perfect time to strike her young neighbor, Elizabeth Olten. While no one can say who the second grave was dug for, authorities speculate that the original intended victims may have been Bustamante’s younger twin brothers, with whom she would shoot videos in the “Jackass” style, including one that depicted her being shocked by an electric fence before convincing the young boys to do the same.
Bustamante convinced her younger sister to ask Olten to come over and play on Oct. 21, luring her victim directly to her doorstep. Upon leaving the house, Olten made a phone call to her mother, Patty Preiss, letting her know that she would be home soon; the two residences were no more than 1,000 feet from one another. Bustamante then called Olten on her cellphone before she was even a block away, asking her to return to their house. Olten, who considered Bustamante a friend, obliged and allowed herself to be lured to the woods behind Bustamante’s home.
Bustamante regaled the killing to the jury, saying that she “strangled and stabbed her in the chest,” but not before slitting the child’s throat. Within 45 minutes, Olten’s mother had called the police to report her daughter missing, and a full-fledged search began in the small town with a population of only 1,000. Two days later, the authorities appeared at Bustamante’s home, Olten’s last known location. Bustamante then led the authorities to a shallow grave that had been concealed with leaves and a blanket in the woods behind their St. Martin’s neighborhood.
The teen didn’t bother trying to hide her exhilaration after the kill, and confided in her diary: “I just f***ing killed someone. I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re dead. I don’t know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the ‘ohmygawd I can’t do this’ feeling, it’s pretty enjoyable. I’m kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now…lol.”
Bustamante, who earned mostly A’s and B’s in school, is also a member of the Mormon Church, which she would attend regularly with her grandparents, whom she lived with. She is the product of a teenage mother with several drug charges against her and a father who was, at the time of the murder, serving a 10 year prison sentence for assault. While her grandparents provided a stable, nurturing home for her and her siblings, Bustamante was chronically depressed, and went on Prozac in 2007 after a failed suicidal drug overdose. Her mental health only continued to decline; she developed a habit of cutting herself and fell deep into the Goth scene. She would post dramatic pictures of herself on Facebook and MySpace with lipstick smeared across her face like blood, eyes rimmed with black makeup. Her hobbies on her YouTube account included “cutting” and “killing people.”
Bustamante wore a seemingly remorseful face to court, saying that “If I could give my life to get her back, I would. I’m sorry.” Patty Preiss, the mourning mother of a murdered child had nothing but venom to offer Bustamante. “So much has been lost at the hands of this evil monster,” she sobbed in court. “Elizabeth was given a death sentence and we were given a life sentence. I hate her. I hate everything about her…she’s not even human.”
Her victim, Elizabeth Olten, on the other hand, was the polar opposite of the teen who killed her. According to Peggy Florence, the spokeswoman for Olten’s family, pink was the girl’s favorite color, and she had a love of all animals, especially cats. “I’ve been with the family since this started,” Florence said in a 2009 interview with CNN’s Nancy Grace. “And they have shared so many wonderful things with me about Elizabeth. Her smile…she always was happy. She loved her little nieces and nephews. What she aspired to be when she grew up…she wanted to be a mother. She wanted to love others and take care of others. She was just a lovely child. She never met an animal she didn’t love and that she didn’t dress up and play with. She dressed in fancy little dresses and would go run in the snow and play in the mud. She was just a beautiful little girly-girl that had everyone’s heart.”
Sarah Venezio
Features Editor
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WHAT??? because she is a dang looney we have to support her with room and board out of our( we the people) pockets?? Perhaps she will be joined with her mother now. Like I have been saying to others: “why is it ok for dogs (or any other animals) to be put down for violent behaviour, but people get room and board for the same behaviour?” Am I being harsh? Nope, just realistic.
I am a christian and i truly belive that this young girl Alyssa was being confused and corrupted by the lies of Santan, making her bel;ive what she thought she wanted. She felt no remourse. Santan goes after the mind of the weak and innocent, exspecially when one is driven to God. He wants to stop them and he will do anything for us not to reach the kingdom of heaven. We have to teach our children about the lies of Santan and when to recognize when he is there to try and persuade us to do things and make us belive that it’s ok. To loose a child is something i cannot even fathom in my mind. My son is a year and he is why i breathe. What i have to say to that young girls mother is to mourn yes but to know her daughter is in a far better place then here, she is in a place where there is nothing but peace and she is happier then shes ever been. She loved animals and she is sitting up there with them everyday. If you are not a godly woman I don’t mean to offend in any way but this is my faith and i hope in some way it helps with your loss.
This girl needs to be evaluated. Most of the time people who are sent to prison, need basic care, from a team of Psychologist and Psychiatrists. By doing this on can correct the behaviours. Why must tax payers money be used to keep this girl in a cell? She will learn to become a criminal.