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Elizabeth Olten was born on December 15, 1999 to parents Patty Carwile & Dale Olten Sr in Jefferson City, MIssouri. She was the youngest of five siblings & had a normal & happy childhood. She loved dogs, playing dress-up & baking cookies. She was a huge fan of the TV show Hannah Montana & Taylor Swift’s music. If she wasn’t at school or with her family, she could always be found playing with her friends. She loved baking cookies & doing puzzles with her mom. She was in fourth grade at Pioneer Trails Elementary School in Jefferson City.
9-year-old Elizabeth lived in St. Martins, Missouri & played outside with all the kids in her neighborhood. On Wednesday, October 21, 2009, Elizabeth & her 13-year-old brother Anthony came home from school & shortly thereafter, the doorbell rang. 6-year-old Emma Bustamante, who lived four-houses away, was at the door & asked if Elizabeth could come over to play. Elizabeth asked her mom, who was in the middle of making dinner & Patty initially hesitated though eventually agreed with the stipulation that her daughter be back home by 6 pm. Elizabeth agreed & happily headed out the door. This was the last time her mother saw her alive.
When 6 pm came & went & Elizabeth didn’t come home for dinner, her family’s worry grew & they began to frantically look for her & eventually contacted police to report her missing. Those that were close to her knew that Elizabeth was afraid of the dark & would have never wandered off alone, choosing to stay out after sunset. As nightfall came, her family became increasingly worried. When they got a hold of Emma who had asked Elizabeth to play, Elizabeth was not with her.
When police got involved, they learned that Elizabeth had a cell phone with her when she disappeared so they contacted their provider, AT&T for an emergency ping in hopes of getting an estimated location of the phone. The ping eventually placed the phone deep into the woods near Elizabeth’s neighborhood, but in the meantime, hundreds of community members came together to search for the missing 9-year-old which included dogs, firefighters, police & helicopters. The FBI & highway patrol also became involved which led people to believe that Elizabeth could have been abducted by a local sex offender or a predator who was passing through the area. Check points were established so police could stop drivers while local registered sex offenders were also questioned.
When authorities spoke with Emma, knowing that she was likely the last person to see Elizabeth before she vanished, they learned that while they were playing, Emma’s 15-year-old half-sister Alyssa, who was a sophomore in high school, had joined the girls. She said that they played outside for a while & then Elizabeth headed back home for dinner. When police spoke with Alyssa, something seemed off & they got the feeling that the teen might be hiding something. As they combed the woods, they found a shallow, empty hole near Alyssa’s home that looked eerily like a grave & Alyssa admitted that she had been the one to dig it, elaborating that it was just “for fun.”
Her behavior was continuously suspicious so the FBI went on to obtain a search warrant for the Bustamante home where she & her younger siblings lived with their grandparents. At the time that Emma had come over to invite Elizabeth outside, Elizabeth’s brother Anthony had been playing video games at his house with Alyssa’s two younger twin brothers, Nathaniel & Joseph Bustamante. After his sister didn’t come home in time for dinner, he went out to look for her & saw Alyssa walking Emma up a hill from the woods & he heard her tell Emma, “Don’t tell anyone.” The last reported sighting of Elizabeth was 6:15 pm when she was only a few doors away from home.
The Bustamante children were raised by their grandparents since Alyssa was 7-years-old because their mother, who gave birth to Alyssa when she was just a teenager herself, had long struggled with substance abuse & had been charged with various offenses, including driving while intoxicated. Their violent father was in jail, serving a ten year sentence for assault. She had been under her grandparent’s care since 2002 after they took legal custody of her & her three younger siblings in California, they relocated the family to Missouri. Despite the stable environment that the grandparents provided & the fact that Alyssa had a reputation as a good student, maintaining As & Bs, it became very clear that she was a troubled girl.
Friends described her as an ordinary teen who was sweet, amazing & loved by those who knew her, but inside her mind, as her internet persona revealed, there was a lot lurking beneath the surface. She regularly attended church at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints & participated in several youth activities. While online, she wrote about how she hated authority, one post read, “Bad decisions make great stories.” Her friends were shocked when they learned that Alyssa was a suspect in the murder, saying, “This really isn’t her. This was not the Alyssa that I knew.”
In 2007, two years before Elizabeth vanished, friends did begin to notice changes in Alyssa & she ended up spending ten days in a psychiatric hospital after she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pain medication. She was placed on antidepressants but continued self-harming behaviors, scarring her wrists with a blade. A YouTube video later surfaced that showed Alyssa encouraging her brothers to touch an electric fence when the words, “This is where it gets good.. We get to see my brother get hurt” flashed across the screen.
As officials searched Alyssa’s room, they found disturbing drawings & writings & her MySpace & YouTube channel chilled investigators when she included “killing people” & “cutting” in her list of hobbies. She’d also posted a photo of herself on social media with deep black eye makeup, smeared red lipstick & her two fingers to the side of her head, pretending to shoot herself.
When investigators discovered her diary, things got a lot more sinister. She wrote about her desire to burn her grandparent’s house down. The final journal entry which was written on the day of Elizabeth’s disappearance, chilled investigators to the core. The writings weren’t immediately apparent as Alyssa had almost completely scribbled her words away. Experts utilized technology to light up the original writings beneath the scribbles & what they found beneath the inky mess read:
I just f**king killed someone. I strangled them & slit their throat & 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 & shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now.. Lol.
Interrogators sat down with Alyssa & it didn’t take long for her to confess to committing the crime. During her interrogation, she was described as “lucid” & “not standoffish at all.” Two days after Elizabeth went missing, Alyssa led police to her grave in the woods. She admitted that she’d seen Elizabeth at about 5:30 pm that evening & it was at that point that she knew she was going to kill her. She told them that she lured Elizabeth into the woods, telling her that she had a “surprise” for her. Initially, Emma had been with them, but Alyssa told her sister to leave, having no idea what her older sister had planned. Once alone, hidden away from the surrounding homes, Alyssa strangled the young girl, slit her throat & stabbed her in the chest eight times. She then covered her with dirt & leaves after she placed her body in the hole that she had previously dug five days earlier on October 16. She admitted that she worked alone & said that she hadn’t told anyone what she had done since it “wasn’t the kind of thing you told people.” She said she also hadn’t told anyone despite the fact that she’d wanted to because she didn’t want to get in trouble.
Elizabeth’s body was found in a shallow grave near Alyssa’s home. After the horrific murder, the 15-year-old headed home & washed the kitchen knife in the sink; she then wrote about what she’d done in her journal. From there, she left to attend a church dance. When asked why she had done what she did, she simply replied, that “she wanted to know what it felt like” to kill. She hadn’t sought out to target Elizabeth, she just happened to be in Alyssa’s path that evening.
Before Alyssa led investigators to Elizabeth’s grave, they searched vigilantly for her, including the area where they ultimately found her body, but had found no trace of her. The cell phone ping also did not lead them to Elizabeth nor her phone. Alyssa had dug two holes in the woods on the Friday before when she was off school & it was theorized that she may have planned to kill her two younger brothers before she impulsively targeted Elizabeth. They felt that the YouTube video of her encouraging her brothers to touch the electric fence proved that she took joy in seeing her brothers in pain.
On October 28, Elizabeth was laid to rest in a pink casket; her body was carried by a horse-drawn carriage to the cemetery.
Alyssa was arrested & charged with first-degree murder in the death of Elizabeth Olten. She remained in police custody while awaiting trial. When she appeared in court on November 17, 2009, the judge ruled that she should be tried as an adult despite Alyssa’s lawyers pleas to leave the case in a juvenile court, arguing that federal prison would be a death sentence for their client. Once she learned she would be tried as an adult, she became distraught & was relocated to Hawthorn Children’s Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation. She expressed suicidal thoughts & her nails were cut short to stop her from cutting herself which she had tried to do. Despite the fact that she confessed to the crime & led the police to Elizabeth’s body, she entered a plea of not guilty.
Court proceedings were set to begin on January 30, 2012, but instead, on January 10, 2012, Alyssa pleaded guilty to the charge of second-degree murder & armed criminal action & because of this, she avoided a trial & the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release. When the now 18-year-old admitted to bringing the knife to Elizabeth’s throat & slitting it, there was an audible gasp heard in the courtroom. She then admitted to strangling the young girl with her bare hands.
During the trial, the prosecution presented the slew of evidence against Alyssa, including her own confession. It was clear that the murder was premeditated & planned, while her defense team focused on her mental health struggles & sought to portray her as a disturbed individual who did not have full control of her actions. The case received widespread media coverage which brought attention to the complexities of dealing with juveniles who have a history of mental health struggles & sparked debates about the correct balance between accountability for criminal actions & rehabilitation for those struggling with mental health challenges. It also shed light on the importance of juveniles dealing with mental health issues being recognized & the implementation of early intervention.
Ayssa’s defense presented multiple excuses for what she had done, including the use of her antidepressant, Prozac which she began taking in 2007 after her suicide attempt. The dose had only just been increased two weeks before she murdered Elizabeth. However, many psychologists & mental health experts have indicated that the link between SSRI medications like Prozac & violent crime are doubtful. One study indicated that in most age groups the likelihood of criminal violence was not significantly different when people were taking SSRIs & when they were not, but in those between 15-24, there was a distinct increase, to 43% in their risk of committing violent crime while on the medication.
Ceasar Bustamante, Alyssa’s father, who had been escorted from prison, wearing chains & handcuffs, was called by the defense as a witness. He detailed his ex-wife, Michelle Bustamante’s history of drug use as well as their extensive family history of mental illness. Karen Brooke, Alyssa’s grandmother, was also called to the stand. She said that Alyssa had an overprotective demeanor toward her siblings. She also spoke about the girl’s attempted suicide & her frequent self-mutilation by cutting. Alyssa had over 300 self-inflicted cuts on her body as well as self-inflicted cigarette burn marks. Karen also said that Michelle Bustamante’s recurrent disappearances put a strain on the family. Through the testimonies, Alyssa sat in a lime green jumpsuit & handcuffs, looking somber yet expressionless.
When Patty Preiss, Elizabeth’s mother spoke, she said, “Eight times she stabbed my child. In her own words: “it was amazing & enjoyable.” She threw her in a hole & covered her in dirt like she was nothing. But she was something to me.” She referred to Alyssa as an evil monster & said that she hated everything about her.
Psychologists for the defense described Alyssa as “psychologically damaged” & “severely emotionally disturbed.” She had previously been diagnosed with major depression & also displayed signs of borderline personality disorder, characterized by feelings of emptiness, unstable moods, inappropriate displays of anger & poor impulse control.
After days of emotional testimonies, the prosecution made a plea that the judge give her a life sentence. Up until this point, Alyssa had just stared blankly at the floor while the prosecution recounted the murder. At this point, she finally broke down & began crying while her grandparents got up & stormed from the courtroom. Meanwhile, Elizabeth’s grandmother yelled out, “I think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day that Elizabeth gets out of the grave!”
On February 8, 2012, Alyssa gave a final statement before the judge handed down her sentence while Elizabeth’s family members wept, “If I could give my life to bring her back, I would. I just want to say I’m sorry for what happened. I’m so sorry.” She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after serving 35 years for the murder charge. She was sentenced to an additional thirty years for the other charge. She made an appeal which was denied in March 2014.
In 2021 Senate Bill 26 was passed by Missouri legislature which allows for a convicted murderer who was under age 18 at the time of the crime to be paroled after only fifteen years of incarceration. Based on how the law is currently written, she could be eligible for parole on the murder charge as early as July 2024. But even if she does get parole this year, she will still need to serve the additional thirty years for the armed criminal action charge, making her earliest possible release date in 2055 when she is 60-years-old.
In October 2012, Patty Preiss filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Pathways Behavioral Healthcare, alleging that the clinic should have prevented the violent tendencies of the teen, claiming that the psychiatrist ignored her well-documented violent proof; this was dismissed in 2015. In 2017, Patty signed a deal to settle the lawsuit that she filed against Alyssa who was ordered to pay Elizabeth’s family $5 million plus 9% interest until the debt is paid.
Alyssa is serving her sentence at Chillicothe Correctional Center in Missouri.
References:
- Komu.com: Bustamante sentencing hearing begins
- Fox 2 Now: Journal helps police find 2009 Missouri teen thrill killer
- YouTube: Ted Bundy’s successor: Bizarre interrogation of killer girl – Alyssa Bustamante
- Ati: The brutal murder of Elizabeth Olten, the 9-year-old killed in cold blood by her teenage neighbor
- Springfield News-Leader: Woman reaches $5 settlement in daughter’s death
- News Tribune: Wrongful death lawsuit dismissed in Bustamante case
- Murderpedia: Alyssa Dailen Bustamante
- Ati: The story of Alyssa Bustamante, the 15-year-old who slaughtered her 9-year-old neighbor just for the thrill of it
- The Crime Wire: How teenager Alyssa Bustamante brutally murdered Elizabeth Olten
- Criminal: A haunting crime: The murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten
- International Business Times: Elizabeth Olten timeline: Retracing Alyssa Bustamante murder case
- Legacy.com: Elizabeth Kay Olten
- Reuters: Study finds young people on antidepressants more prone to violence
