Alyssa Bustamente, 15, will face a charge of first-degree murder in the slaying of her 9-year-old neighbor. A Missouri grand jury on Wednesday indicted the 15-year-old girl for strangling her victim, cutting her throat and stabbing her on Oct. 21.
Alyssa Bustamante will also face the charge of armed criminal action for allegedly using a knife in the attack. The indictment came just hours after Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled Bustamante will face trial as an adult. She is being held without bail in Cole County jail.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled that Alysssa Bustamante's slaying of nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten was vicious and that the state had no adequate facilities to handle Bustamante if she were to remain in the juvenile court system.
Alyssa Bustamante has reportedly confessed to the crime. A police officer testified that she told them that she killed Olten because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. When asked by prosecutors, highway patrol Sgt. David Rice replied "ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like."
Alyssa Bustamante also admitted to having dug two graves near her home four days prior to killing Olten. Officers stated this is a sign that juvenile officers said showed the girl's killing was premeditated.
Juvenile defense attorney Kurt Valentine argued that adult prison would be a death sentence for Bustamante. He stated that Alyssa would either kill herself or be killed by others if she were placed with adults in a jail cell, either while awaiting trial or in a prison if convicted.
"We are throwing away the child and we are signing a death sentence for Alyssa. She is not going to survive her time in the Cole County jail."
Some would say this would be justifiable. Some would say that sometimes we have to admit that the act was so horrific that we have to admit Alyssa Bustamante was a mistake of nature. True or not, if convicted of first-degree murder, the teen could be sentenced to up to life in prison.
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