A Missouri judge ruled that 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante can be tried as an adult in the murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten. According to police, she killed the little girl just because she "wanted to know what it felt like."

Elizabeth was last seen October 21 as she was leaving a friend's home in St. Martins, Missouri around supper time, just down the street from her own home. She promptly vanished. A massive search was launched to look for her body in the rural, wooded area...

Police searched three days for Elizabeth before they were led to her grave
​Detectives say some sort of written evidence led them to Bustamante, who lives at the home where Elizabeth was playing. Bustamante led detectives into the woods, where two graves had been dug the week before. That's where they found Elizabeth's body.

Police aren't saying who was supposed to fill the second grave, but according to Sergeant David Rice of the Missouri Highway Patrol, Bustamante confessed to killing the little girl because she just "wanted to know what it felt like." The graves would imply premeditation, and police are pushing for first-degree murder charges.

Though Bustamante attempted suicide two years ago, she was a fairly strong student at Jefferson City High School, hitting A's and B's and rarely
missing class.

She will make an appearance in adult court this afternoon.


[Edited 11/20/09 20:46pm]

Good this girl needs to be tried as an adult. Wow, her parents failed her big time!

This friggin girl needs to meet that man who shot his son for nothing.....She deserves the worst she can get....if she wants to see what it felt like, it should be done to her.....damn psycho. And in a few years she will be free.....

StillGotIt said:

And she's about to know how the punishment feels

hmmmmm....so who thinks she should be tried as an adult

StillGotIt said:

I do...this happened by where I live and if you know the details youd agree as well....

why don't they tell us more about people like her?
did she kill or harm small animals as a child? does she have social problems? She was doing OK at school.

I really don't think her parents could have done much (if indeed she had a normal upbringing). On the other hand if it turns out she has a horrific life at home, then I'm sure that would have played a part.

I'm thinking sociopath, get her out of society.

This is one of the articles from our paper early last week...




Teenager faces trial as adult
Youth services could not handle her, officials testify.
By T.J. Greaney

Published November 18, 2009 at 9:54 a.m.
Updated November 18, 2009 at 2:04 p.m.

JEFFERSON CITY Alyssa Bustamante, the 15-year-old charged in the murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten nearly a month ago in St. Martins, was certified as an adult today in a Cole County hearing.




Alyssa Bustamante:
15-year-old defendant



Elizabeth Olten:
St. Martins girl found slain last month
She was set to be arraigned at 1 p.m. today in circuit court.

A series of youth professionals testified this morning that the Division of Youth Services in Missouri is not equipped to handle the girl’s treatment and detention, given the severity and sophistication of the crime.

If Bustamante remained in the juvenile system, she would have been required to be released at age 21. There are no secure care high-security facilities in the state for girls, an official testified, and more than 600 juveniles have escaped from youth services facilities over the past 10 years.

“To say that I’m disappointed with the status of the Division of Youth Services is an understatement, Judge Jon Beetem said before making his ruling.

During testimony, Bustamante with pale skin and brown bangs that hung over her eyes sat shackled in a prison jumpsuit. She was described as an excellent student. It also was revealed she attempted suicide in 2007 and had a history of cutting herself.

She has been on the anti-depressant Prozac since 2007, and after a 10-day stay at Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center after the suicide attempt, she was evaluated nearly daily on an outpatient basis.

Bustamante and her younger siblings are under the guardianship of their maternal grandmother and have been since 2002. David Cook, chief juvenile officer and director of court services staff for Cole County, testified that Bustamante received extensive supervision from her grandparents and other family members and intensive treatment for her depression.

Division of Youth Services legal counsel Samantha Green, in her closing statement, painted Bustamante as a cold, calculating killer unfit for the juvenile system.

“She did a premeditated murder, and she had all the services in place, Green said. Her grandmother did everything she could for her, and she chose to do this.

Earlier, Sgt. David Rice of the Missouri State Highway Patrol testified that Bustamante admitted to digging two graves near her home four days before Olten’s death. When Rice asked Bustamante why she had committed the murder, she stated that she wanted to know what it felt like, Rice said.

Bustamante’s court-appointed defense attorney, Kurt Valentine, said the decision to send his client to an adult prison is a death sentence.

“We don’t throw away the child, Valentine said. And that’s what we’re going to do if we certify her as an adult today and send her to the Department of Corrections. We’re throwing away the child, and we’re signing a death sentence for Alyssa.

Valentine said there are no girls in DOC custody ages 13 to 15 anywhere in the state. He argued that this unusual situation would force prison wardens to keep her in a solitary cell 24 hours a day for her own protection. This, he said, would heighten her depression and suicidal tendencies. We can’t pretend that a 15-year-old is magically transformed into an adult just so we can punish her, Valentine said.

Members of the Olten family sat in the front row of the tiny juvenile courtroom wearing pink T-shirts bearing Elizabeth’s name. After Beetem made his ruling, several dabbed at tears.

dammit

Sometimes I wonder how defense counsel can sleep at night. Yeah yeah...I know that fols feel that everybody deserves a fair shake but some people should just have to friggin stand alone. I dont feel bad for her....an isolated cell is a hotel compared to being with the general population.