The Teen Thrill Killer
This story is about Alyssa Bustamante, a 15 year old girl with a history of mental health issues and suicide attempts. Unfortunately, her dark thoughts turned to actions, leading to a horrible murder that shocked the people in that town and country.
Alyssa (left and middle) Elizabeth Olton (extreme right)
Beginning:
It was October 21st 2009 and 9 year old Elizabeth Olton asked her parents for permission to play at a neighbor's house. Her mother agreed, not knowing that this would be the last time she would even see her daughter again.
Born on January 28th 1994, Alyssa Bustamante was the daughter of hardcore drug addicts and alcoholics who were often in jail. Due to this her and her siblings were mostly raised by their grandparents in St Martens, Missouri. Despite her traumatic childhood, she was like every other normal child. She liked writing poems, joking with friends and also attended church.
But once she hit her teen years, it became clear to everyone that there was something deeply wrong with her.
Odd tendencies:
In 2007, she was forced to spend 10 days in a psychiatric hospital after a failed suicide attempt. When she was finally released, doctors recommended anti-depressants, which did not work because she kept hurting herself and cutting her wrists.
Alyssa's erratic behavior continued online where she listed her hobbies as killing and cutting people on her YouTube and Myspace accounts. She also posted a video that showed her touching an electric fence and encouraging her younger brothers to do the same. Around this time she also tweeted 'Bad decisions make great stories' and 'All I want in life is to find a reason for this pain'.
While her grandparents tried to get her the help she badly needed, others labeled this as a teenage phase. But unfortunately, this wasn't just a phase because Alyssa got much worse.
No one knew what made her snap in October 2009, when she finally decided to make one of her darkest dreams true.
The Incident:
One morning, Alyssa dug two shallow graves in the ground and went off to hang out with her friends. All while thinking about whose body she would place in the graves. After considering several options, she chose her and her sibling's regular playmate, 9 year old Elizabeth Olton who lived just down the road.
Elizabeth had went over to play with Alyssa's brothers around 5pm when she was convinced by Alyssa to follow her into the forest. Once they got there, Alyssa strangled 9 year old Elizabeth, before slitting her throat and stabbing her multiple times. She then buried her body in the grave that she had dug a few days earlier.
Aftermath:
The murder left Alyssa feeling thrilled and afterwards she wrote in her diary 'I just killed someone, I strangled them, slit their throat and stabbed them, now they're dead. I don't know how I feel at the moment, it was amazing. As soon as you get over the Oh my god I can't do this feeling, its pretty enjoyable. I'm kind of nervous and shaky though. Okay. I got to go to church now. LOL'
While Alyssa was at church, Elizabeth's parents were frantically looking for her. Around 7pm, they called the police, who combed through the nearby forest, looking for her. The following morning, FBI agents arrived to help and one of the first people they interrogated was Alyssa.
At first, she denied knowing where Elizabeth was and even used blue ink to cover up the diary she had previously written in after the murder. When the police saw her diary, they brought in a handwriting expert. Alyssa knew the game was up, she led them to the forest behind her house where she had covered the shallow grave with leaves. When the authorities dug it up, they found Elizabeth's dead body underneath.
Arrests:
Alyssa was immediately taken into custody and charged with the first degree murder of Elizabeth Olton. This sent shockwaves throughout the neighborhood.
Even though she was only 15, Alyssa was tried by the court as an adult where she took the Not Guilty plea, despite her confession and the fact that she had led the police to Elizabeth's body. While in custody, Alyssa regularly tried to harm herself and was put on suicide watch. Due to this court granted her lawyer's motion and moved her to a psychiatric hospital while she awaited trial.
Conviction:
On January 30th 2021, 18 year old Alyssa was finally tried in the court where she pleaded guilty to second degree murder. Her defense team argued that she had a troubled childhood, family drug abuse history and multiple suicide attempts. Psychologists testified that Alyssa was emotionally disturbed and displayed symptoms of borderline personality disorder.
In her final statement to the court, Alyssa said 'If I could give my life to her, I would. I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened, I'm really sorry.'
On February 8th 2012, Alyssa was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Elizabeth.
She remains incarcerated at the Women's Eastern Missouri Reception of Diagnostic and Correctional Centre in Missouri. She may have been convicted of murder, but for the Olton's no amount of punishment or money would ever bring their little girl back.
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