ELIZABETH OLTEN - 9 yo (2009)/ Guilty: Alyssa Bustamante - St. Martin's MO

Only 15, Alyssa Bustamante now is an adult in Missouri's legal system.

By
state law, the only way the courts ever can consider her to be a
juvenile again is if she's found not guilty of the murder and armed
criminal action charges the Cole County grand jury issued against her
Wednesday afternoon.

She could be sentenced to a maximum of life
in prison, without parole, if convicted of killing Elizabeth Olten, 9,
a neighbor who lived only about a quarter-mile away.

Those in
the courtroom Wednesday saw a quiet girl who said nothing - and was not
asked to speak - during the morning hearing to determine if she should
be tried as an adult.

She appeared at times to bite her lower
lip during the morning hearing, but other times she seemed to focus her
attention and concentration in both hearings on what the judges were
doing, looking ahead to the judge through brown hair sweeping over her
eyes.

Bustamante talked only briefly during the afternoon's
arraignment, telling Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce that she
had talked with Public Defender Jan King, and did not have money to
hire her own defense attorney.



She
showed little emotion or reaction during either hearing - even though
much of the morning's evidence focused on her suicide attempt around
Labor Day 2007, followed by a 10-day stay at the Mid-Missouri Mental
Health Center in Columbia, her ongoing treatment for depression and her
various attempts to hurt herself by cutting.

David Cook, Cole
County's chief juvenile officer, said Bustamante had a “higher IQ” and
was “able to do her school work if she put her mind to it,” but who
told family and counselors she was “bored at school.”

Cook also
described the 15-year-old as “articulate and able to communicate
clearly,” but also was “clever in the way she phrased things,”
including leading her grandparents to believe she was going to a
concert at a Jefferson City church when she really was traveling with a
friend to a concert in St. Louis.

Cook said Bustamante's
grandparents - who have been her legal guardians since 2001 - provided
“structure and emotional support” to Alyssa and her three younger
siblings.

He said the teen's thick file of mental health
counselor's notes and treatment information “didn't identify that she
was a risk to others,” but focused instead on trying “to help her with
her coping skills and identifying causes of her depression.”

While
never pinpointing a cause of the teen's ongoing depression, Cook said,
the notes showed counselors wondered if one root cause wasn't
“separation from her mother.”

Born in January 1994, when her mother was just a teenager, Bustamante was 7 when her grandparents became her guardians.

According
to court records found on the state's Casenet Internet site last month,
but unavailable this week, that guardianship again was granted to her
grandmother, Karen Brooke, in a Cole County proceeding in July 2005.

Other
court records show Bustamante's mother, Michelle Bustamante, lived in
Jefferson City public housing in 2005 and 2007, then in Lake Ozark in
2008 and in Crocker earlier this year.

Those records show the
mother had some traffic tickets, legal battles over rent issues and
three criminal convictions in misdemeanor cases - Miller County
convictions in 2008 for driving while intoxicated and operating a
vehicle in a careless and imprudent manner, and a Sept. 29, 2009,
conviction in Dallas County for possessing less than 35 grams of
marijuana.

Unsupervised, two-year probations were ordered in those cases.

There
was no testimony given Wednesday about Bustamante's father or her
relationship with him, although Cook said the teen's family kept her in
contact with “her father's aunt.”

Ceasar T. Bustamante currently
is serving a total of 10 years in prison at the Missouri Eastern
Correctional Center, Pacific, on three Miller County assault
convictions.

A teenager accused of killing a
9-year-old neighbor was sent to a mental hospital after her attorney
said she showed signs of severe depression and anxiety.A
judge ordered 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante to be taken to the Fulton
State Hospital for up to 96 hours, but it was unclear exactly when that
clock started. The order by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce is
dated Thursday but did not have a time stamp; it was released Friday.Bustamante
had been held at the Morgan County jail since being indicted Wednesday
as an adult on charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action
for the Oct. 21 death of Elizabeth Olten.

Authorities say Bustamante
strangled, stabbed and cut Elizbeth's throat because she wanted to know
what it felt like to kill someone. They say Bustamante confessed and
led them to Elizabeth's body two days later in a wooded area near their
homes in St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City.During
a court hearing Wednesday, a juvenile justice officer testified that
Bustamante had attempted suicide two years ago and had received both
inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment for depression and
cutting herself. Her juvenile defense attorney said Bustamante also had
attempted to cut herself with her own fingernails while being held in
juvenile custody after Elizabeth's death.Public defender Jan
King cited the previous suicide attempt in a court document Thursday
while stating that Bustamante was "demonstrating signs of severe
depression and anxiety" and had been under a suicide watch at the jail.Bustamante
needs "immediate psychological treatment" to "assess her current mental
state and to prevent the possibility that she may harm herself," King
said in the motion requesting her transfer.A not guilty plea was
entered by a judge on Bustamante's behalf during her initial appearance
Wednesday in adult court. If Bustamante is convicted of first-degree
murder, she would face a sentence of life in prison without parole.

In an exclusive interview with CBS News Crimesider, one of
Alyssa Bustamante's closest friends said that the alleged killer of
Missouri 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten had talked about murdering before,
and had a psychologically troubled past that may have been overlooked
by professionals.

Jennifer Meyer, 15, who spoke exclusively with Crimesider, said
that Bustamante had once told her, "I wonder what it would be like to
kill somebody."

According to police, Bustamante had also told them she killed Olten to find out what it would feel like to kill someone.

Authorities say Bustamante strangled, stabbed and cut Elizabeth's throat after she went missing on Oct. 21.
They say Bustamante confessed to the crime and led them to her
neighbor's body two days later in a wooded area near their homes in St.
Martins, Mo., just west of Jefferson City.
But long before Bustamante allegedly committed murder, she had a
long history of hurting herself, according to Meyer, who says she has
known her since middle school.

Meyer said Bustamante, now 15, told her she tried to hang herself
when she was 11. A year later, Bustamante told Meyer that she "was
going to put a gun to her head, but she didn't have one," Meyer told
Crimesider. "She was just thinking about ways to do it, but she didn't
attempt it," Meyer said.

Meyer said that same year Bustamante cut her arms and "one time I guess she cut too far and passed out 'cause of blood loss."





Meyer told Crimesider she was not present at these attempts, but
said Bustamante showed her numerous suicide notes and poems and told
her about the incidents after they occurred.


Bustamante can be seen in a photo, obtained exclusively by Crimesider, in which a series of red cut marks are visible from the top of her wrist to almost halfway down her left arm.



According to the Associated Press, Bustamante listed her hobbies as
"cutting" and "killing people" in her YouTube profile, which has since
been taken down.
The image of Alyssa Bustamante as a deeply troubled teen clearly in
need of help long before the Elizabeth Olten murder is backed up by her
own court-appointed representatives.

At a court hearing Wednesday, Nov. 18, a juvenile justice officer
said Bustamante attempted suicide two years ago and had received both
inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment for depression and
cutting herself.
Meyer told Crimesider that two years ago, Bustamante took "a bunch
of Tylenol and something else, some sort of pain killer" at her
grandparent's home, where she lived.

"She passed out and her grandma found her and called an ambulance," Meyer said. "She had to have her stomach pumped."
"Then she went to the hospital for a while and they sent her to a
psych ward for a while," Meyer said. "I know she was away from school
for like two or three months."

Jennifer Meyer told Crimesider that Bustamante was getting
counseling as recently as last month. It's not yet clear if Bustamante
was under the care of any mental health professionals when 9-year old
Olten was murdered.

Last week, Bustamante's juvenile defense attorney said her client
had attempted to cut herself with her own fingernails while being held
in juvenile custody after her arrest.

Public defender Jan King cited that suicide attempt in a court
document Thursday while stating that Bustamante was "demonstrating
signs of severe depression and anxiety" and had been under a suicide
watch at the jail.
Bustamante needs "immediate psychological treatment" to "assess her
current mental state and to prevent the possibility that she may harm
herself," King said in a motion requesting her transfer.

On Friday, Nov. 20, a judge ordered Bustamante to Fulton State Hospital for up to four full days of psychological evaluation.

If Bustamante is convicted of first-degree murder, she would face a
sentence of life in prison without parole. A judge has entered a plea
of "not guilty" on her behalf.

The accused murderer of 9 year-old Elizabeth Olten is still in
a county jail as her public defender tries to get her admitted to a
mental hospital.Court documents show that 15 year-old Alyssa Bustamante is on 24 hour suicide watch at the Morgan County jail.Her
attorney tells the judge that she is demonstrating signs of severe
depression and anxiety. He wants her admitted for psychological
treatment immediately.Before being arrested for murder,
Bustamante was undergoing intense treatment for suicidal tendencies,
but today, one of her friends told national media that Bustamante
talked about killing others as well.“In one conversation that we
had back in January, she pulled me aside and basically told me ‘I
wonder what it would be like to kill somebody.’” Bustamante’s friend
said. “I thought it was kind of strange but I just dismissed. I guess,
I wouldn't really think that my best friend would do that."Meanwhile,
new photos obtained appear to show a teenager troubled and typical at
the same time. One shows Bustamante with cuts on her wrist and fake
blood around her mouth. While another one shows Bustamante with a
stuffed animal on her head.If convicted, Bustamante, who will be tried as an adult, could spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Alyssa Bustamante, the teenager who allegedly killed Missouri
9-year-old Elizabeth Olten, grew up in a turbulent household, say
friends, and may not be the only Bustamante disposed to violence.
Records show her father is a convicted felon.




Police say Alyssa Bustamante strangled, stabbed and cut her next
door neighbor Elizabeth Olten's throat in October, then, two days
later, led police to the wooded grave where she allegedly buried her.


But long before the alleged murder, Alyssa Bustamante's home life
was full of emotional torment, according to court records and friends,
who say that Bustamante, 15, was mostly raised by her grandparents
while her mother struggled with substance abuse and her father was in
jail.


Alyssa Bustamante's grandmother, Karen Brooke, became the girl's
legal guardian when she was 7-years-old, according to court records
obtained by the Jefferson City News Tribune. She also took on
responsibility for Alyssa's two younger brothers, the paper said.


Meanwhile, Alyssa Bustamante's mother, Michelle Bustamante,
struggled to pay rent and racked up three misdemeanor criminal
convictions, including one for drunken driving and another for
marijuana possession, according to court records obtained by the paper.





Her father, 34-year-old Ceaser Bustamante, whose identity was
confirmed by the Cole County Sheriff's Dept., is serving three
concurrent prison terms for three counts of felony assault in Missouri
Eastern Correctional Facility, according to a spokesperson for the
Missouri Dept. of Corrections.


Jennifer Meyer, a friend of Alyssa Bustamante's since middle school, told reporters, that Alyssa's father had been
arrested for "stabbing someone." Local police have not yet confirmed
that.

Alyssa Bustamante also seemed to have a dangerous penchant for knives and cutting.


According to the Associated Press, Bustamante listed her hobbies as
"cutting" and "killing people" in her YouTube profile, which has since
been taken down.

Alyssa Bustamante's friend Jennifer Meyer has said that
Bustamante tried to kill herself several times since she was 11, and
that one attempt involved cutting.


That seems to jibe with Alyssa Bustamante's court appointed
juvenile justice officer, who, on Nov. 18, said Bustamante attempted
suicide two years ago and had received both inpatient and outpatient
mental health treatment for depression and cutting herself.

On Friday, Nov. 20, a judge ordered Bustamante to Fulton State Hospital for up to four full days of psychological evaluation.

If Bustamante is convicted of first-degree murder, she would face a
sentence of life in prison without parole. A judge has entered a plea
of "not guilty" on her behalf.

The case of 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante, who last week was charged as an adult with the brutal and premediated murder of a 9-year-old neighboring girl, has made national headlines. (Watch a report about Alyssa Bustamante.)
The Cole County, Missouri teen allegedly dug two graves in advance,
then strangled and stabbed her young victim simply to "know what it
felt like" to kill. (It's unclear whether Bustamante had chosen a
second victim.) As possible explanations surface, media observers and members of the community
remain shocked that a young girl would commit such senseless violence.
But the Bustamante incident is hardly unprecedented. Here are 8 more
cases of young female thrill killers:
The "Heavenly Creatures" Killers (1954)
One
summer morning, 16-year-old Pauline Parker and her best friend Juliet
Hulme, 15, lured Parker’s mother into a wooded park in Christchurch,
New Zealand, then bashed the woman in the head with a half-a-brick
stuffed into an stocking. The girls claimed their victim had fallen and
hit her head, but their story disintegrated after the murder weapon was
found. Following a “sensationalist” trial in which the girls were
alleged to be lovers, both were sentenced to five years in prison. The
story inspired the 1994 film, “Heavenly Creatures,” starring Kate
Winslet. Today, Hulme is a successful crime novelist who writes under
the name Anne Perry.

Mary Bell (1968)
At
only 11 years old, Mary Bell strangled two local boys—aged 3 and 4—in
her hometown of Newcastle, England. After killing the second child, she
carved the letter "M" into his body with a razor. Her stated motive was
the "pleasure and excitement"
of killing (though Bell said later that, as the child of a prostitute,
she had been sexually abused from a young age). She was released from
prison in 1980 and today lives under a new identity.

Brenda Spencer (1979)
"I
just don't like Mondays," 16-year old Brenda Spencer notoriously
replied when asked why she attacked an elementary school near her San
Diego home. Shooting sniper-style with a semi-automatic rifle her
father had given her for Christmas, she wounded eight children and a
police officer and killed two adults. Her stated dislike of Mondays inspired a hit song penned by Bob Geldof for his band, The Boomtown Rats.

Diana Zamora (1995)
As
a first-year student at the prestigious Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD,
Diana Zamora was arrested for killing 16-year old Adrienne Jones, a
romantic rival, during her senior year of highschool. With help from
her then-boyfriend, Zamora had lured Jones into a car and brutally attacked her with a metal weight to "appease" Zomora's jealousy. Zamora is now serving a life sentence.

Wendy Gardner (1994)
When
she was 13, Wendy Gardner and her 15-year old boyfriend plotted to
murder Gardner’s grandmother by strangling her with a yo-yo string.
After perpetrating the unlikely crime, the couple celebrated with "a three-day orgy
of sex and junk food." Both were later convicted for the murder, and
Gardner — who lived in Ulster county, NY, at the time of the crime —
received a sentence of seven years to life.
The "Vampire Clan" killings (1996)
A Eustice,
Florida couple were the unlucky victims of teen vampire enthusiasts.
Chastity Keesee, 17, and Dana Cooper, 20 — led by their “Vampire Clan”
cult “sire,” 17-year-old Rod Ferrell — participated in the murder of
the couple, the parents of another cult devotee’s parents. In keeping
with the vampire cult's rituals (which also required members to drink
each other's blood), the victims were beaten to death with a crowbar.
Ferrell was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death
(later commuted to life without parole). Keesee and Cooper were both
found guilty of third-degree murder.

“Collie Killers” (2006)
Australians was shocked by the case of two 16-year-old girls who decided they “felt like”
brutally murdering one of their friends by stuffing her mouth with a
chemical-soaked cloth and strangling her with a wire in the remote
coal-mining town of Collie, Western Australia. While testifying, the
girls — whose names have never been publicly released — recalled that
their struggling victim called them "freaks" as she died, but neither
expressed remorse. In 2007, both girls were sentenced to life in prison.

A 15-year-old Missouri
girl pleaded not guilty Tuesday to killing a 9-year-old neighbor girl,
who authorities say was murdered because the teen wanted to know what
it felt like to kill someone.
Alyssa Bustamante sat silently as an attorney entered a not guilty plea on her
behalf to first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the Oct. 21
death of Elizabeth Olten.
Bustamante often gazed down — her long bangs covering her eyes, her hands and feet
shackled — during a Cole County court hearing that lasted less than a
minute.


Authorities say Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's slaying — digging two holes several
days in advance — then strangled her without provocation, cut the
girl's throat and stabbed her.
They say Bustamante led officers to Elizabeth's body in a wooded area near
the girls' homes after hundreds of volunteers helped in a two-day
search for the missing fourth-grader.
The girls lived several houses apart in St. Martins, a small town just west of Jefferson City.
During a court hearing last month, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. David
Rice testified that Bustamante had confessed to the killing to
investigators. "Ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt
like," Rice said.
Bustamante was certified last month to stand trial as an adult. Her arraignment
Tuesday was necessary because Bustamante did not have an attorney
during her initial Nov. 18 hearing, when Cole County Circuit Judge
Patricia Joyce entered a not guilty plea on her behalf.
The hearing Tuesday also marked the first time that cameras and recorders
were allowed in the courtroom for proceedings in the case.
Juvenile justice officials testified last month that Bustamante had been
receiving mental health treatment because of a history of depression
and had tried to kill herself about two years ago. Her public defender, Jan King,
asked the court to transfer her from jail to a state psychiatric
hospital for a four-day evaluation because of depression. But the judge
has not ruled on the request, and King said he did not want to take it
up for consideration during Tuesday's court appearance.
The judge scheduled a Feb. 16 hearing for an update on Bustamante's case.

A Missouri teenager charged with killing a 9-year-old neighbor
cannot get a fair trial in her home county because residents are biased
against her, the teen's attorney said.Alyssa Bustamante, 15, is
to be tried in Cole County on charges of first-degree murder and armed
criminal action in the Oct. 21 slaying of Elizabeth Olten. But her
attorney wants the trial to be moved.

"The inhabitants of this
county are so prejudiced against the defendant that a fair trial cannot
be had in this county," public defender Jan King wrote in a change of
venue motion dated Tuesday.The Cole County prosecutor's office
did not immediately return a phone call Wednesday. But Prosecutor Mark
Richardson said last month that he would like Bustamante to be tried in
the county seat of Jefferson City, which also is the state capital.Bustamante
has pleaded not guilty to Elizabeth's killing. But authorities say
Bustamante confessed in a police interview to slaying Elizabeth because
she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. They contend
Bustamante strangled Elizabeth without provocation, stabbed her and cut
her throat.Hundreds of volunteers participated in a two-day
search after Elizabeth disappeared before authorities say Bustamante
led them to the fourth-grader's body in a wooded area near St. Martins,
where both girls lived. The small town is just west of Jefferson City.King
cited the publicity generated both at the time of the crime and at
Bustamante's indictment last month while asking Cole County Circuit
Judge Patricia Joyce to transfer the case. He attached copies of online
public comments made in response to news stories posted by the
Jefferson City News Tribune and the New York Daily News.Some of
those comments refer to Bustamante as a "monster" and "inherently evil"
and suggest she should be locked up for life. But it is not clear
whether the people posting those comments live in Cole County, from
where the jury pool normally would be drawn.Besides allowing a
case to be transferred to another county, Missouri law also allows a
case to be tried in the county where the crime occurred with jurors who
are brought in from other counties."Our belief is that the judge
will make a decision that hopefully takes into account the demands upon
the witnesses and victim's family," Richardson said last month.

WHO WAS THE SECOND GRAVE FOR??????????

t.dalton09 wrote:WHO WAS THE SECOND GRAVE FOR??????????

---That's an interesting question T. I suspect it will come out at trial. Given this suspects unusual behavior I wouldn't even venture a guess. Since she did purportedly say that she wanted to know what it felt like, she might have been prepared to do it again if she liked the feeling.

JEFFERSON CITY, MO. -- The 15-year-old girl accused of killing
9-year-old Elizabeth Olten has been assigned new public defenders. When she was last at court, Alyssa Bustamante was represented by public defender Jan King.Now, Columbia-based public defenders Donald Catlett and Charles Moreland will represent Bustamante.The
attorneys wasted little time filing a motion to see the prosecution's
evidence including the state's witness list, 911 records and police
emails.Bustamante is accused of murdering Olten in the woods behind her St. Martins home back in October.Police
said she strangled, stabbed and cut Elizabeth’s throat and then hid her
body in a shallow grave she dug five days before the murder.

A post from the Nancy Grace thread.... Its a hard battle we are fighting....


Kathryn Painter said on Update: Teen girl murder suspect
December 9, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Nancy Grace:
I Personaly knew alysaa, she mas a happy upbeat child who hard a hard life. Still her hard life is no excuse for the crime she commited. I just ask that you all keep in mind that she is still a little girl. Not only did we lose Elizebeth but Alyssa as well.
See all comments on this post here.