Tag: Alyssa Bustamante

Alyssa Bustamante was a fifteen year old girl from Missouri when she would murder a nine year old girl

According to court documents Alyssa Bustamante had planned to kill two people and had even gone so far as digging two graves. However when she attempted to draw the two people into the woods they would refuse her.

Alyssa Bustamante would then focus on nine year old Elizabeth Olten. Elizabeth would go into the woods with Alyssa where she would be fatally stabbed.

Alyssa Bustamante would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison

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DOC ID	1234604
Offender Name	Alyssa D Bustamante
Race	White
Sex	Female
Date of Birth	01/28/1994
Height/Weight	5’5″ / 151
Hair/Eyes	Black / Blue
Assigned Location	Chillicothe Correctional Center

Alyssa Bustamante Lawsuit

A Missouri woman whose 9-year-old daughter was killed by a teenage neighbor in 2009 has agreed to settle a wrongful death lawsuit that requires the imprisoned killer to pay her more than $5 million.

Patricia Preiss signed a deal Monday to settle the lawsuit she filed against Bustamante, who was 15 when she killed Preiss’ daughter, Elizabeth. Prosecutors alleged Bustamante committed the crime to see how it felt to kill someone.

Bustamante, who is now 23, confessed to the killing. She was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.

It’s unclear if Bustamante has the means to pay the settlement. Attorneys for her and Priess did not immediately return phone calls seeking details Tuesday from The Associated Press.

Bustamante signed the settlement agreement in March, but documents show Preiss didn’t agree to the deal until Monday, The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported. A trial was scheduled to begin on Aug. 7. Bustamante is serving her sentence at the Women’s Eastern Missouri Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia.

Bustamante pleaded guilty in 2012 to luring Elizabeth to the woods in the small town of St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City. She slit the girl’s throat and strangled her before burying her in a grave she had dug several days in advance, according to investigators.

Under the lawsuit settlement, Preiss agreed to dismiss any remaining counts. Bustamante also is required to notify Preiss if she receives any compensation arising from publicity about the case.

Jefferson City woman reaches $5M settlement with inmate in killing of 9-year-old daughter

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On October 21, 2009, fifteen-year-old Alyssa Bustamante strangled and stabbed nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten to death and then buried her body in a shallow grave.   Upon questioning by law enforcement officers, Bustamante admitted that she had killed the child, and she led the officers to the grave.1

In November 2009, the Cole County Juvenile Officer filed a petition asking the juvenile court to relinquish its jurisdiction over Bustamante to allow the State to prosecute her as an adult in circuit court.   The juvenile court held a “certification” hearing (at which Bustamante was represented by counsel) and ultimately granted the Juvenile Officer’s petition.   The State then charged Bustamante as an adult with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.   Attorneys Donald Catlett and Charles Moreland from the Capital Division of the Public Defender’s Office entered an appearance on Bustamante’s behalf.   The matter was set for trial on January 26, 2012.

On January 10, 2012, Bustamante appeared before the circuit court, accompanied by her attorneys, to plead guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action, pursuant to an agreement with the State.   Plea counsel informed the court that he and co-counsel had reviewed the substitute information with Bustamante and that she was “prepared today to take responsibility for these offenses.”   Bustamante confirmed that she wanted to withdraw her not-guilty plea and to plead guilty to the charges in the substitute information.

The court informed Bustamante of the range of punishment for the offenses and explained that there would be a sentencing hearing at which evidence would be taken and the court would then decide what the sentence would be.   Bustamante acknowledged that she understood that she was entering a “blind plea,” meaning that the judge was not bound by any agreed upon sentence, and that she could not withdraw her guilty plea after the plea hearing.   The circuit court accepted Bustamante’s guilty plea after finding that she had entered the plea “knowingly, willingly, voluntarily, and intelligently,” with a full understanding of the charges and the consequences of the plea, and that a factual basis had been established for the plea.

At the sentencing hearing, numerous witnesses, including several expert witnesses, testified for both sides.   The circuit court heard evidence about Bustamante’s history of mental health issues and about the circumstances surrounding the murder.   On February 8, 2012, the court sentenced Bustamante to consecutive terms of life for the murder and thirty years for ACA.

While Bustamante’s case was being adjudicated in circuit court, a case contesting the constitutionality of a mandatory life-without-parole sentence for a juvenile convicted of first-degree murder, Miller v. Alabama, –––U.S. ––––, 132 S.Ct. 2455, 183 L.Ed.2d 407 (2012), was pending in the United States Supreme Court.   In June 2012, the Court held in Miller that a statute providing for a mandatory sentence of life without parole for a juvenile convicted of a homicide offense violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.  Id. at 2469.

Bustamante filed a timely pro se motion for post-conviction relief.   Her retained post-conviction counsel entered his appearance and thereafter filed an amended motion pursuant to Rule 24.035.   The amended motion alleged, inter alia, that Bustamante was denied effective assistance of counsel and that Missouri’s first-degree murder statute (§ 565.020, RSMo 2000) is unconstitutional as applied to juveniles, pursuant to Miller.

Following an evidentiary hearing, at which Bustamante and both plea attorneys testified, the circuit court denied Bustamante’s motion for post-conviction relief.   Bustamante appeals.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/mo-court-of-appeals/1714396.html