The Killing of Elizabeth Olsten

No one can say for sure when Alyssa Bustamante’s mental health began to falter, but all indications suggest it was the day she joined her brothers at their grandparent’s Mississippi farm. After both parents were confined in prison on separate offenses, the Bustamante children were adopted by their grandparents in a 2002 court hearing. While all three children seemed to adjust to the situation with little difficulty, time would reveal that Alyssa wasn’t taking to the situation as well as her grandparents assumed.

The Two Sides of Alyssa Bustamante

While attending high school in St. Martins, Mississippi, Alyssa seemed like any she was just another well adjusted teenager. She got As and Bs in her classes, had a group of friends, and she was an active member at a local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints chapter. There was no indication that anything was wrong.

Even Alyssa’s friends believed the 15-year-old was a happy, well-adjusted girl.

“She was just always so sweet and everybody loved her…she was just amazing,” said one friend.

All of her problems seem to come to a head at once, however. By 2007, she was showing the first signs that something was wrong. It began with a failed suicide attempt that landed her in Pathways Behavioral Healthcare for a 10 day stay. She was released on the condition that she continue to take anti-depressant medication.

Alyssa made no secret of her problems. Even when her friends visited her at home, she would announce when it was time to take her medication. Her closest friends understood that Ms. Bustamante was going through a difficult period, but they couldn’t have guessed what was to come.

Alyssa Had a Darker Side

Those who knew her online persona were privy to a darker personality than the one that greeted Alyssa’s real life friends and loved ones. Online, she revealed that she frequently cut herself and her social media profiles listed “killing people” as one of her hobbies. In one of her most unsettling posts, she uploaded a video to YouTube in which she attempted to get her brothers to climb an electrified fence.

No one knew that Alyssa Bustamante was already plotting her first kill. By the time October 21, 2009 rolled around, Alyssa had chosen her first victim, had developed a plan for the killing, and was eager to carry through with her fantasies.

The Killing of Elizabeth Olten

October 21, 2009 was the day Elizabeth Olten, a 9-year-old girl who lived just three houses away from the Bustamante residence, begged her mother for a play date with Alyssa. The girls were friends and Patricia Preiss, Elizabeth’s mother, had no reason to suspect anything heinous would happen. However, Elizabeth left home at 5:00 p.m. that evening, never to return again.

The following day, Preiss got the police involved and an FBI investigation ensued. The first stop for investigators was the Bustamante residence and, upon taking a look around the property, they found a shallow hole on the property. The official report indicates that the hole had been dug to resemble a grave in width and length.

When asked about the hole, Alyssa simply responded that she liked to dig holes. She implied that it was a hobby and that there was nothing more to it. However, as investigators toured the property, they found another similar hole with one startling exception. The second hole, which had been partially concealed beneath a bed of leaves, contained the body of Elizabeth Olten.

Alyssa Bustamante is Charged with First-Degree Murder

The trial shocked the community of St. Martins. Even Alyssa’s closest friends couldn’t believe she had done something as horrifying as strangling and stabbing the 9-year-old neighborhood girl. Even the grisly details of the murder may not have been as disturbing as Alyssa’s own journal entry. She must have known that the journal entry would be damning, because she tried to scribble the words out with blue ink, but investigators recovered the evidence.

"I just fucking killed someone. I strangled them and slit their throats and stabbed them. Now they're dead. I don't know how to feel ATM. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'Oh My Gawd. I can't do this' feeling it's pretty enjoyable. I'm kinda nervous and shaking though right now. Kay, I got to go to church now LOL."

Alyssa Bustamante pled guilty to the charges against her, accepting a conviction of second-degree murder. The lesser charge confines her to prison for 30 years and eliminated the possibility of a death penalty sentence. Patricia Preiss spoke out against Alyssa Bustamante at her sentencing and demanded a harsher penalty for the killing of her daughter. She described Alyssa as a monster and said she was “not human”. Her pleas were emotional that the judge felt compelled to stop her statement.

In a civil suit, Patricia Preiss sued Alyssa for the wrongful death of Elizabeth Olten. Having won that suit, Alyssa is ordered to pay Preiss $5 million with 9% interest being applied each year until Ms. Bustamante pays off that debt.