Alyssa Bustamante Biography

Alyssa Bustamante was born on January 28, 1994 in Cole, Missouri, to drug-addict parents. Both of her parents were teenagers when Alyssa was born. Several police cases, related to theft and drug possession, were registered against her mother. Her father was lodged in prison at the time of Alyssa's birth. Alyssa was raised by her grandparents and they provided a stable home where Alyssa’s parents failed. 

Alyssa was like a normal kid in appearance and her friends said she would write poems and also joke around. Alyssa also regularly attended the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and participated in several youth activities at the church. In 2007, she attempted to kill herself. As a result of this, she was sent to a psychiatric hospital in St. Martins, where she spent 10 days. She was then kept on anti-depressants. Her medications contunued, but Alyssa tried to cut her wrist several times. She frequently showed her friends the scars on her wrists.

Alyssa's online persona was, however, entirely different. On YouTube and MySpace, she listed her hobbies as 'cutting' and 'killing people.' In a video posted on YouTube, she is seen touching an electric fence and also seen persuading her two younger brothers to do the same.

Elizabeth Olten lived a few houses away from the Bustamante family. She would often come to Alyssa's house and play with her and her siblings. On October 21, 2009, Alyssa convinced her younger sister to get Elizabeth to the nearby forest. When Elizabeth reached the spot, Alyssa strangled her, slit her throat and stabbed her several times. Bustamante then buried Elizabeth's body in a grave that she had dug a few days ago in the forest behind her house.' 

After killing Elizabeth Olsen, Bustamante wrote in her diary:

I just f---ing killed someone. I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re dead. I don’t know how to feel atm. It was amazing. As soon as you get over the “oh my god, I can’t do this” feeling, it’s pretty enjoyable. I’m kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now lol.

After the murder, Alyssa attended a church dance while the police was trying to find Olsen. 

Elizabeth’s mother saw her daughter alive for the last time at 5 p.m. When Elizabeth did not return by 6 p.m., her mother got anxious and informed the police. The next day FBI agents questioned Alyssa and took possession of her diary. The investigating officials also found a shallow hole behind Alyssa’s house that looked like a grave. When they confronted Alyssa on this, the teenager told the agents she just liked to dig holes.

As the investigation moved ahead, FBI agents found another shallow grave behind the Bustamante house. It was covered with leaves, and when it was dug, Elizabeth’s body was found inside. The prosecution charged Alyssa with first-degree murder and she was arrested for the murder of Elizabeth Olsen.

Everyone was shocked to know that it was Alyssa who had murdered the nine-year-old Elizabeth Olsen. Even her friends could not believe this. One of friends said, “Before this, before all of this, she was a normal 15-year-old girl. This really isn’t her. This was not the Alyssa that I knew.”

Although she was a minor at the time of committing the crime, the court decided to treat Alyssa Bustamante as an adult owing to the gruesome act she had committed. She initially pleaded not guilty and was indicted on first-degree murder and armed criminal action. In 2012, she accepted a plea deal to the lesser charge of second-degree murder.

A few weeks after accepting the plea deal, Alyssa was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of conditional release, and a consecutive sentence of 30 years. She later made an appeal against the sentence, but it was denied in March 2014.

Elizabeth Olten’s mother, Patricia Preiss, called Alyssa a monster and said that she hated everything about her. She declared Alyssa “not human” during the sentencing. Preiss sued Alyssa for damages in a wrongful death suit in October 2015, and agreed to settle the lawsuit for $5 million two years later.