Alyssa Bustamante Murders 9 YR Old Elizabeth Olten

Alyssa Bustamante is a killer from Missouri who would plead guilty to the murder of nine year old Elizabeth Olten

According to court documents Alyssa Bustamante wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. The teenage girl would dig two graves inside of a wooded area and attempted to lure the two victims into the woods. However the potential victims refused to follow her

Alyssa Bustamante would then focus on nine year old Elizabeth Olten. Alyssa would lure the little girl into the woods where she would fatally stab the little girl

Alyssa Bustamante would be arrested, pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to life in prison

Alyssa Bustamante Current Information

Alyssa Bustamante Case

A Missouri teenager who told authorities that she strangled, cut and stabbed a 9-year-old neighbor because she wanted to know what it felt like has pleaded guilty in the girl’s death.

Alyssa Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday in the October 2009 killing of Elizabeth Olten in a rural town just west of Jefferson City.

A state Highway Patrol officer testified that Bustamante confessed to strangling Elizabeth, cutting her throat and stabbing her because she wanted to know how it felt. Authorities say Bustamante led them to the girl’s body in the woods near her home.

Bustamante’s guilty plea included a chilling admission in court about how it happened.

Bustamante answered “yes” repeatedly Tuesday when asked if she understood that she was giving up her right to a trial. The judge then asked Bustamante to describe the killing.

Alyssa Bustamante looked at the judge and said she stabbed young Elizabeth Olten in the chest.

The judge asked if Bustamante cut the girl’s throat. Asked if she knew what she was doing, the teen said yes. She said she used a knife and strangled the victim with her hands.

At that, the victim’s mother, sitting in court just a few feet away, took a deep breath and dabbed her eyes with tissues.

Alyssa Bustamante was charged as an adult with first-degree murder and had been scheduled to be tried as an adult later this month.

Reaction from the victim’s family

Olten’s relatives are disappointed by a plea agreement that could allow her confessed killer to be released from prison someday.

An attorney for Olten’s mother says the family does not believe justice was fully served Tuesday when Bustamante pleaded guilty to killing the girl in October 2009.

Bustamante originally had been charged with first-degree murder, which carries a sentence of life in prison without parole. She pleaded guilty to an amended charge of second-degree murder, which is punishable by 10-to-30 years in prison or life with the possibility of parole. A sentencing hearing is set for Feb. 6.

Attorney Matt Diehr says Elizabeth’s mother and other relatives plan to “continue to seek justice” by any legal means available.

Mo. teen pleads guilty to killing 9-year-old girl | STLPR

Alyssa Bustamante News

The brutal 2009 murder of Elizabeth Olten has continued to haunt a Missouri community, partly for the crime itself but also for the motive.

The reason Elizabeth’s teenage killer committed the crime, she said, was that she wanted to know what it felt like to kill.

The shocking case was in the news again earlier this summer when the killer, Alyssa Bustamante, who was 15 at the time of the slaying, was denied a chance at parole.

The murder, and Bustamante’s attempt at getting released, ultimately compelled lawmakers to change Missouri’s state laws regarding underage criminals convicted of murder when Gov. Mike Parson signed legislation for which Elizabeth’s family had advocated.

Here’s what happened:

Elizabeth’s Murder
Patty Preiss called police on Oct. 21, 2009 after her 9-year-old daughter never returned to the family’s St. Martin’s, Mo., home from visiting a friend’s house that evening. Police eventually found the young girl buried in a shallow grave with her throat cut. She had been stabbed and strangled, according to local Fox 2.

The Disturbing Motive
Police were led to Bustamante after finding “written evidence” at the crime scene that implicated the teenager — who was a neighbor of Elizabeth’s — in the murder, according to ABC News’ reporting at the time. After an investigation, authorities also uncovered Bustamante’s social media pages, which included references to wanting to know what it was like to kill someone, as well as a diary in which she confessed to the crime.

“I just f—— killed someone,” the teenager wrote in her diary, according to ABC. “I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re dead. I don’t know how to feel atm [at the moment].”

She added: “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.”

Investigators interrogated Bustamante for more than two hours while she confessed to the crime. The teenager’s grandmother was in the interrogation room the moment her granddaughter admitted to the murder. The grandmother burst into tears and ran out of the room in shock.

Bustamante was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder, according to local KOMU.

“The world lost an innocent little girl who hoped to be a teacher and a veterinarian,” her family said in a statement, according to the outlet, adding that Bustamante’s sentencing was “extremely difficult” for them to sit through.

How the Case Changed Missouri Law
New legislation signed in the summer of 2024 would appear to cement Bustamante’s life sentence for good.

Because Bustamante was a juvenile at the time of the killing, she was eligible for parole due to a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. According to CNN, the court ruled 5-4 that no juvenile could be sentenced to life in prison without the chance at parole – even for murder. However, state lawmakers in Missouri passed a bill in 2021 that said that ruling does not apply to juveniles who committed first-degree murder.

In 2024. Pason signed legislation expanding on that law to include juveniles convicted of second-degree murderers, according to local ABC 13. Elizabeth’s family had advocated for that legislation.

Elizabeth Olten Was Murdered by Alyssa Bustamante, Diary Revealed Confession

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Alyssa Bustamante: Missouri “Thrill Kill” That Shocked America

On October 21, 2009, in the quiet town of St. Martins, Missouri, a 15-year-old girl lured her 9-year-old neighbor into the woods behind their homes. Hours later, Elizabeth Olten was dead, and Alyssa Bustamante had written in her diary that killing was “ahmazing” and “pretty enjoyable.”

The case became a national flashpoint for juvenile crime, mental illness, and whether a child who kills for thrills can ever be rehabilitated. More than 16 years later, Bustamante remains in prison, and her name still trends every time a parole hearing approaches.

This is the complete, factual timeline.

Who Is Alyssa Bustamante?

Alyssa Dailene Bustamante was born January 28, 1994, in Missouri. Her early life was marked by instability that court records would later cite extensively.

In 2002, her grandparents, Gary and Karen Brooke, took legal custody of Alyssa and her three younger siblings. Her mother, Michelle, struggled with addiction, and her father, Caesar, was serving time in prison for assault. The move provided stability, but the trauma was already present. 

Friends noticed a sharp change around 2007. At 13, Bustamante was hospitalized after a suicide attempt. She began self-harming and building an online persona fascinated with death. On her YouTube profile, under “hobbies,” she listed “cutting and killing people.” She posted a photo with fake blood around her mouth, holding two fingers to her head like a gun. 

She was active in her local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ward, a good student on paper, and described by teachers as intelligent and artistic. That duality — the church-going teen and the girl writing about homicide — would define the trial.

Who Was Elizabeth Olten?

Elizabeth Kay Olten was born December 15, 1999. She lived four houses down from Bustamante in St. Martins, a community of about 1,100 people outside Jefferson City. Described by family as bubbly and trusting, Elizabeth was in fourth grade and often played with Bustamante’s younger sister, Emma.

That proximity made her an easy target.

October 21, 2009: The Murder

The plan was not spontaneous. Investigators later learned Bustamante had dug a shallow grave in the woods behind her house a week before the murder. It was poorly concealed with leaves and branches. 

On the evening of October 21, Bustamante convinced her sister Emma to invite Elizabeth to “hang out” in the forest. Once Elizabeth arrived, Bustamante sent Emma away, then led the 9-year-old deeper into the trees.

There, she strangled Elizabeth, slit her throat, and stabbed her eight times in the chest with a knife. She then placed the body in the pre-dug grave and covered it. 

Bustamante then went home, cleaned up, and attended a church dance while hundreds of volunteers and law enforcement searched for the missing girl. 

Elizabeth Olten was reported missing at 6:30 p.m. Her body was found two days later, on October 23, after Bustamante led police to the grave.

Elizabeth Olten was murdered by her 15-year-old neighbor in St. Martins, Missouri, on that date, a fact that remains the core of the case. 

The Diary Confession

The most damning evidence was not forensic, it was written. Police found a journal in Bustamante’s bedroom. The entry was dated October 21, 2009, and though she had tried to scribble it out, investigators recovered it:

“I just fucking 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.” 

That entry established motive. Bustamante later told psychiatrists she murdered Elizabeth simply due to homicidal ideation and to experience what killing felt like. There was no prior conflict, no abuse by the victim, no financial gain. It was a thrill kill. 

Arrest and Interrogation

Bustamante was arrested on October 23, 2009. Initially, she denied involvement, but after hours of questioning, she confessed and drew a map to the body. She was charged as an adult with first-degree murder and armed criminal action, facing a mandatory sentence of life without parole under Missouri law at the time.

She first appeared in Cole County Circuit Court on November 17, 2009, and pleaded not guilty. 

The Legal Battle: Why She Was Tried as an Adult

Missouri prosecutors argued the premeditation — digging the grave a week early, using her sister as bait, the detailed diary — outweighed her age. The defense pointed to her mental health history.

Several mental health professionals evaluated her and all testified she had major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder. She had been on Prozac, had a history of self-harm, and came from a chaotic home. 

The case coincided with evolving U.S. Supreme Court rulings on juvenile sentencing. In 2012, the Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama that mandatory life without parole for juveniles was unconstitutional. That legal shift opened the door for a plea deal.

The 2012 Plea Deal and Sentencing

In January 2012, days before trial, Bustamante accepted a deal. Prosecutors dropped first-degree murder in exchange for a guilty plea to second-degree murder and armed criminal action. 

On February 6, 2012, Judge Pat Joyce sentenced her to:

• Life imprisonment with the possibility of parole for second-degree murder
• A consecutive 30-year sentence for armed criminal action

Under Missouri guidelines at the time, this meant she would have to serve approximately 35 years and 5 months before becoming parole-eligible. She apologized in court to Patricia Preiss, Elizabeth’s mother, saying she knew words were meaningless.

Her appeal against the sentence was denied in March 2014. 

The Wrongful Death Lawsuit

Separate from the criminal case, Patricia Preiss filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Bustamante and the state-contracted mental health provider that had treated her.

In 2012, a Cole County judge entered a $5 million default judgment against Bustamante. In 2017, the court approved a settlement requiring Bustamante to disclose any future compensation from case coverage — including book deals, interviews, or film rights — to Preiss. Because Bustamante earns only pennies an hour in prison, the family has received almost nothing, but the judgment prevents her from profiting. 

Life Inside: Where Is Alyssa Bustamante Now?

As of 2026, Bustamante, now 32, is incarcerated at the Chillicothe Correctional Center in Chillicothe, Missouri, a women’s maximum-security prison. 

Prison records describe her as a model inmate who has completed her GED, takes college courses, and works in the facility library. She has had no major disciplinary infractions since 2018. Supporters point to this as rehabilitation. Critics argue it is irrelevant given the nature of the crime.

The Parole Controversy: SB26, SB754, and 2024

This is where the case re-entered national headlines. Bustamante was originally not eligible for parole until the 2040s. But Missouri Senate Bill 26, signed in 2021 as part of juvenile justice reform, allowed offenders who were under 18 at the time of their crime to seek parole after 15 years.

Because Bustamante pleaded to second-degree murder, not first-degree, she qualified. SB26 initially blocked only first-degree murderers, a loophole that outraged Elizabeth’s family.

Lawmakers scrambled to pass Senate Bill 754 to close the loophole, but Governor Mike Parson did not sign it in time to stop her 2024 hearing. 

In July 2024, Bustamante appeared before the Missouri Parole Board via video. Patricia Preiss testified against her release. The board denied parole, citing the heinous nature of the offense and lack of insight. Her next hearing is scheduled for 2029. 

Even if she were granted parole on the life sentence, she must still serve the consecutive 30-year term. Because of her juvenile status, she would serve 15 years of that term with good time credit, making her earliest possible release year 2059, when she will be 65

In Popular Culture

The murder has been covered extensively on true crime platforms: ABC’s 20/20, Investigation Discovery’s “Deadly Women,” and dozens of podcasts. On October 19, 2012, a thriller film loosely based on the case, My Name Is ‘A’ by Anonymous, was released. 

On TikTok and YouTube, the diary entry is frequently quoted, often without context about Elizabeth Olten as a person. This has frustrated the Olten family, who maintain a memorial Facebook page focused on Elizabeth’s life, not her killer’s notoriety.