Alyssa Bustamante, Missouri Teenager, Describes Killing As 'Ahmazing' And 'Pretty Enjoyable'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Missouri teenager who admitted stabbing, strangling and slitting the throat of a young neighbor girl wrote in her journal on the night of the killing that it was an "ahmazing" and "pretty enjoyable" experience - then headed off to church with a laugh.

The words written by Alyssa Bustamante were read aloud in court Monday as part of a sentencing hearing to determine whether she should get life in prison or something less for the October 2009 murder of her neighbor, 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, in a small town west of Jefferson City.

Bustamante, 18, sat silently - occasionally glancing at those testifying about her, often looking down or to the side - as law enforcement officers, attorneys and forensics experts read aloud her inner most thoughts that she had recorded as a 15-year-old high school sophomore.

The most poignant part of Monday's testimony came when a handwriting expert described how he was able to see through the blue ink that Bustamante had used in an attempt to cover up her original journal entry on the night of Elizabeth's murder. He then read the entry aloud in court:

"I just f------ 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."

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This undated 2009 file photo shows Elizabeth Olten, the nine-year-old neighbor of Alyssa Bustamante. Bustamante pleaded guilty Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2011, to second-degree murder in the Oct. 21, 2009, killing of Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins, Missouri.

The journal entry was presented to the judge not long after Elizabeth's mother and other relatives pleaded with Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce to impose the maximum sentence. Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action last month and faces at most a sentence of life in prison with a chance for parole. The least she could get is 10 years.

Elizabeth's mother, Patty Preiss, described her daughter as "happy, little girl," when she left her home about 5 p.m. after begging to go play with Bustamante's younger sister. Preiss said she told Elizabeth to be back for dinner at 6 p.m. but never saw her again.

"So much has been lost at the hands of this evil monster," Preiss tearfully said, with Bustamante sitting several feet away. "Elizabeth was given a death sentence and we were given a life sentence."

With Bustamante looking at her, Preiss said: "I hate her, I hate everything about her." The judge cut off her testimony when she described Bustamante as "not even human."

FBI agents seized the journal from Bustamante's bedroom during a search of her family's home the day after Elizabeth went missing as hundreds of volunteers scoured the rural area around St. Martin's.

Bustamante suggested to FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol officials that the girl had probably been kidnapped and that whoever had done so deserved to be convicted.

At one point, law enforcement officers discovered a hole in the ground in the shape of a shallow grave near Bustamante's home. They testified that Bustamante acknowledged digging it but said she just liked to dig holes. It was only later that Elizabeth's body was found concealed under leaves in another grave in the woods behind the Bustamante home.

At a hearing in 2009, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David Rice testified that the teenager told him "she wanted to know what it felt like" to kill someone.

Defense attorneys Monday highlighted Bustamante's troubled childhood as part of their argument about why she should receive leniency. They referred to numerous references in her journal in the two months before the murder, describing her suicidal feelings and the urge to hurt herself and others.

At one point Bustamante had written that she intended to burn down a house and kill all the occupants, but she never followed through with that. On Oct. 14, one week before Elizabeth's slaying, Bustamante had written that she was unable to use her cell phone because the charger had died, which meant she couldn't talk to anyone about the depression and rage she was feeling.

"If I don't talk about it, I bottle it up, and when I explode someone's going to die," she wrote in a journal that was read to the court by her defense attorney, Charlie Moreland.

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I don't even know what to say. Why?

this is SO creepy

It's horrible when you hear of a child murdering. Just last month we had a 10 year old intentionally kill his 12 year old neighbor. And when they do it so casually.

Is it really that shocking though?

The U.S. was built on murder and murdering is one it's MAIN exports.

Watch TV or an U.S. made movie.....................murder.

Play a video game........................murder.

Watch the news....................murder.

Listen 2 music.....................murder.

[Edited 2/7/12 10:01am]

This world can drive you nuts when you read about things like this.

Graycap23 said:

Is it really that shocking though?

The U.S. was built on murder and murdering is one it's MIAN exports.

Watch TV or an U.S. made movie.....................murder.

Play a video game........................murder.

Watch the news....................murder.

Listen 2 music.....................murder.

And when a murder happens, people are always trying to find SOMETHING to blame it on... like the things you mentioned. It's not shocking when you look at it in the long run.

Timmy84 said:

Graycap23 said:

Is it really that shocking though?

The U.S. was built on murder and murdering is one it's MIAN exports.

Watch TV or an U.S. made movie.....................murder.

Play a video game........................murder.

Watch the news....................murder.

Listen 2 music.....................murder.

And when a murder happens, people are always trying to find SOMETHING to blame it on... like the things you mentioned. It's not shocking when you look at it in the long run.

RIGHT, they always have to look elsewhere for the issues. Shit if this was the 90's we could just blame this on Marilyn Manson like everyone else did.

Gunsnhalen said:

Timmy84 said:

And when a murder happens, people are always trying to find SOMETHING to blame it on... like the things you mentioned. It's not shocking when you look at it in the long run.

RIGHT, they always have to look elsewhere for the issues. Shit if this was the 90's we could just blame this on Marilyn Manson like everyone else did.

Yeah and gangsta rappers.

I'm not sure WTF is wrong with kids. I know what's wrong with that kid.

I just threw up in my mouth.

Graycap23 said:

Is it really that shocking though?

The U.S. was built on murder and murdering is one it's MAIN exports.

Watch TV or an U.S. made movie.....................murder.

Play a video game........................murder.

Watch the news....................murder.

Listen 2 music.....................murder.

[Edited 2/7/12 10:01am]

OH COME ON! Please tell me that this wasn't meant seriously.

I'm off playing some violent videogames or watching a splatter movie from my huge collection.

Oh did I mention that I never killed anyone?

No amount of psychoanalysis or pondering the state of a nation and it's underlying cultural malaise, will ever stop this from happening. Tragic events like this have happend since the dawn of time.

And they'll keep on happening. This child is amongst thousands of abberations who populate this planet. She will be tried, convicted and released on parole in around 20 years probably.

Then what? More will have taken her place.

Be glad it's not millions.

So disturbing and sad.

I was watching a documentary about prisons and one of the older inmates serving a life sentence said something very disturbing, he said, "The young folks coming into the prison system scare the hell out of me, and I'm scary. It took me a long time to learn what respect for others is all about, this generation has absolutely no respect for anyone, including themselves. They frighten me."

If you could see the dispairing look in his eyes when he said that. That stuck with me for some reason.

Is "amazing" spelled incorrectly??

G3000 said:

I was watching a documentary about prisons and one of the older inmates serving a life sentence said something very disturbing, he said, "The young folks coming into the prison system scare the hell out of me, and I'm scary. It took me a long time to learn what respect for others is all about, this generation has absolutely no respect for anyone, including themselves. They frighten me."

If you could see the dispairing look in his eyes when he said that. That stuck with me for some reason.

It speaks volumes sometimes.

G3000 said:

I was watching a documentary about prisons and one of the older inmates serving a life sentence said something very disturbing, he said, "The young folks coming into the prison system scare the hell out of me, and I'm scary. It took me a long time to learn what respect for others is all about, this generation has absolutely no respect for anyone, including themselves. They frighten me."

If you could see the dispairing look in his eyes when he said that. That stuck with me for some reason.

It stuck because it's true.

While there has ALWAYS been issues with violent/twisted children...I think that nowadays kids are so desensitized and lacking empathy that stories like this will be more common.

my God, this is so scary!

PurpleJedi said:

While there has ALWAYS been issues with violent/twisted children...I think that nowadays kids are so desensitized and lacking empathy that stories like this will be more common.

Kids don't give a damn what they do no matter if it's outside the home or on online. That's what is scary about it.

G3000 said:

Is "amazing" spelled incorrectly??

That's how she spelled it in her diary. It's really frightening to me because society is spitting out kids who have no empathy, common decency, or respect for anything, as you said. I'm not sure what the cause is. But I can see it. I used to ride the bus and the subway in Chicago all the time and I was never afraid. I had two little boys and we would take the CTA everywhere. NOW? I wouldn't dare. Kids are hijacking buses and robbing people. Knocking out bus drivers. Stabbing old ladies on the train for fun.

I realize murders and all sorts of crime have been occurring since the dawn of time, but just to see what it feels like? That's what scares me.

PurpleJedi said:

While there has ALWAYS been issues with violent/twisted children...I think that nowadays kids are so desensitized and lacking empathy that stories like this will be more common.

I think that's it.

PurpleJedi said:

While there has ALWAYS been issues with violent/twisted children...I think that nowadays kids are so desensitized and lacking empathy that stories like this will be more common.

Bingo.

That's a sick little thing. I wonder if Bill Cosby will slam the white community for bad values now.

2freaky4church1 said:

That's a sick little thing. I wonder if Bill Cosby will slam the white community for bad values now.

freaky... Don't you know all white people are 'different' and one person's crime doesn't mean you judge the whole race? What's wrong with you?

It's only "ahmazing" when you're inherently evil, which I think this girl is.

2freaky4church1 said:

That's a sick little thing. I wonder if Bill Cosby will slam the white community for bad values now.

Did you really have to go there?

Timmy84 said:

2freaky4church1 said:

That's a sick little thing. I wonder if Bill Cosby will slam the white community for bad values now.

Did you really have to go there?

For real...

2freaky4church1 said:

That's a sick little thing. I wonder if Bill Cosby will slam the white community for bad values now.

Are you kidding me? What does one really have to do with the other. Please don't go with the tired ass line of thinking, well when white folks do something nobody says yada yada yada. What if Mr. Cosby did what you wanted? What would it prove? Ooo, white people are like everybody else. Well yeah, they are human beings and human beings are capable of evil. I would think most black people know this already unless one still believes white people story about themselves, they've always been civilized and God fearing. Nobody has a monopoly on evil just as nobody has a monopoly on being virtuous. Nobody.

===========================

[Edited 2/7/12 17:21pm]

Well, we have a budding psychopath on our hands...

But because she's under 18, she'd more than likely diagnosed with "conduct disorder", a precursor to psychopathy.

I wonder what made her do such a thing? Was she not loved enough as a child? Man...I really fear for the future of today's children.