The teenage girl who confessed in her diary to "enjoying" the murder of her nine-year-old neighbour has been sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Alyssa Busatamante had pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Elizabeth Olten in the small town of St Martins, Missouri, when she was 15-years-old. She strangled and stabbed the little girl before burying her under a pile of leaves.
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| Alyssa Bustamante (left) was 15 years old when she repeatedly stabbed Elizabeth Olten (right) to death |
The plea on lesser charges spared her a first-degree murder trial, which would have left her liable to a life sentence without the chance of release.
At a sentencing hearing, her lawyers had argued that the fact that she was taking high doses of Prozac at the time of the 2009 crime meant that she was more prone to violence and so should serve only 10 years in jail.
However, following tearful testimony by Elizabeth's mother Patty Preiss, who called Bustamante a "monster," a judge at Cook County Circuit Court ruled she should serve a life sentence plus 30 years for armed criminal action.
Before sentencing, the teen, now 18, apologised to her victim's family. "If I could give my life to bring her back I would – I'm sorry," she said.
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