The brutal 2009 homicide of Elizabeth Olten has continued to hang-out a Missouri group, partly for the crime itself but additionally for the motive.
The explanation Elizabeth’s teenage killer dedicated the crime, she mentioned, was that she wished to know what it felt wish to kill.
The stunning case was within the information once more earlier this summer time when the killer, Alyssa Bustamante, who was 15 on the time of the slaying, was denied an opportunity at parole.
The homicide, and Bustamante’s try at getting launched, finally compelled lawmakers to vary Missouri’s state legal guidelines relating to underage criminals convicted of homicide when Gov. Mike Parson signed laws for which Elizabeth’s household had advocated.
Right here’s what occurred:
Cole County Sheriffs Division
Elizabeth’s Homicide
Patty Preiss referred to as police on Oct. 21, 2009 after her 9-year-old daughter by no means returned to the household’s St. Martin’s, Mo., house from visiting a buddy’s home that night. Police ultimately discovered the younger lady buried in a shallow grave along with her throat reduce. She had been stabbed and strangled, in response to native Fox 2.
The Disturbing Motive
Police had been led to Bustamante after discovering “written proof” on the crime scene that implicated {the teenager} — who was a neighbor of Elizabeth’s — within the homicide, in response to ABC News‘ reporting on the time. After an investigation, authorities additionally uncovered Bustamante’s social media pages, which included references to eager to know what it was wish to kill somebody, in addition to a diary by which she confessed to the crime.
“I simply f—— killed somebody,” {the teenager} wrote in her diary, in response to ABC. “I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re useless. I don’t know learn how to really feel atm [at the moment].”
She added: “It was ahmazing. As quickly as you recover from the ‘ohmygawd I can’t do that’ feeling, it’s fairly satisfying. I’m kinda nervous and shaky although proper now. Kay, I gotta go to church now…lol.”
Cole County Sheriffs Division
Investigators interrogated Bustamante for greater than two hours whereas she confessed to the crime. {The teenager}’s grandmother was within the interrogation room the moment her granddaughter admitted to the homicide. The grandmother burst into tears and ran out of the room in shock.
Bustamante was sentenced to life in jail in 2012 after pleading responsible to second-degree homicide, in response to native KOMU.
“The world misplaced an harmless little lady who hoped to be a trainer and a veterinarian,” her household mentioned in a press release, in response to the outlet, including that Bustamante’s sentencing was “extraordinarily troublesome” for them to take a seat via.
How the Case Modified Missouri Regulation
New laws signed in the summertime of 2024 would seem to cement Bustamante’s life sentence for good.
As a result of Bustamante was a juvenile on the time of the killing, she was eligible for parole because of a 2014 U.S. Supreme Courtroom ruling. In accordance with CNN, the courtroom dominated 5-4 that no juvenile could possibly be sentenced to life in jail with out the possibility at parole – even for homicide. Nonetheless, state lawmakers in Missouri handed a invoice in 2021 that mentioned that ruling doesn’t apply to juveniles who dedicated first-degree homicide.
In 2024. Pason signed laws increasing on that regulation to incorporate juveniles convicted of second-degree murderers, in response to native ABC 13. Elizabeth’s household had advocated for that laws.
