Alyssa Bustamante was 15 when she killed Elizabeth Olten in 2009 . Sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole today . Grandmother of victim shouted in court: 'I think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of the grave' By . Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 13:49 EST, 8 February 2012 . Jailed for life: Alyssa Bustamante, 18, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole today . The Missouri teenager who confessed to strangling, cutting and stabbing a nine-year-old girl because she wanted to know how it felt to kill someone was sentenced today to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Alyssa Bustamante, 18, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the October 2009 slaying of Elizabeth Olten in St Martins, a small rural town west of Jefferson City. Bustamante had been charged with first-degree murder and by pleading guilty to the lesser charges she avoided a trial and the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release. Bustamante was 15 years old when she confessed to strangling Elizabeth, repeatedly stabbing her in the chest and slicing the girl's throat. She led police to the shallow grave where she had concealed Elizabeth's body under a blanket of leaves in the woods behind their neighborhood. Prior to receiving her life sentence, Bustamante said to the family of her victim: 'If I could give my life to bring her back, I would. I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened. I'm so sorry.' Elizabeth's family members wept as Alyssa made her statement prior to the sentence handed down by Cole County Presiding Judge Patricia Joyce. The teenager's defense attorneys had argued for a sentence less than life in prison, saying Bustamante's use of the antidepressant Prozac had made her more prone to violence. They said she had suffered from depression for years and once attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. But prosecutors sought a longer sentence, describing the 18-year-old as a thrill killer who lacked remorse. They noted that Bustamante had dug two graves several days in advance, and that on the evening of the killing had sent her younger sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Alyssa Bustamante (left), then 15, told . authorities she had strangled, stabbed and buried her nine-year-old . neighbor Elizabeth Olten (right) because she wanted to know what it felt . like to kill . Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt . David Rice testified that the teenager told him 'she wanted to know what . it felt like' to kill someone. The trial's conclusion follows days of testimony in a small courtroom in Missouri's capital city. Proceedings . descended into chaos yesterday as prosecutor Mark Richardson made an . impassioned request for a lifelong sentence for Bustamante. - Prosecutor Mark Richardson . Her . grandmother and grandfather stormed out of the courtroom, prompting . Bustamante — who had been staring blankly downward as Richardson . recounted her crime — to begin silently crying for the first time in her . court proceedings that have spanned more than two years. Then . as Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce announced that she would reveal . her sentence on Wednesday, Elizabeth's grandmother interrupted and cried . out from her wheelchair. 'I . think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of . the grave!' declared the grandmother, whom a prosecutor later identified . as Sandy Corn. The . disorder capped an emotional, two-day sentencing hearing highlighted by . repeated references to words Bustamante had written in her diary on the . night she strangled, slit the throat and repeatedly stabbed Elizabeth. Bustamante, . then 15, wrote that it was an 'ahmazing' and 'pretty enjoyable' experience, ending the entry by saying: 'I gotta go to church . now...lol.' 'The motive . has to be the most senseless, reprehensible that could be in humankind, . and that is to take a life for a thrill,' Richardson said. Bustamante's . attorney, Donald Catlett, cited the testimony on Tuesday of mental . health professionals who described Bustamante as a 'psychologically . damaged' and 'severely emotionally disturbed' child. They . recounted her family's history with drug abuse, mental disorders and . suicide attempts, noting her father was in prison and her mother had . abandoned her. Her mother was in the courtroom on Tuesday for the first . time. Various mental . health professionals testified over the course of the two-day hearing . that Bustamante suffers from major depression and displays the features . of a borderline personality disorder. Morbid fascination: Bustamante previously attempted . suicide and was a cutter. Defense attorneys highlighted her troubled childhood as part of their argument about why she . should receive leniency . Some also said she shows early signs of a bipolar disorder. Bustamante . began taking the antidepressant drug Prozac after a suicide attempt on . Labor Day 2007 at the start of her eighth grade year. Her . dosage of the medication had been increased just two weeks before she . murdered Elizabeth. Bustamante's attorneys presented evidence from a . psychiatrist who testified that Prozac could have been a 'major . contributing factor' in the slaying — a theory rejected by a prosecution . psychiatrist who insisted there was no scientific evidence of Prozac . causing homicides, or even increasing aggression. Each . time defense attorneys elicited testimony about Bustamante's troubled . childhood, prosecutors countered by asking the mental health experts to . describe what Bustamante had told them about the murder. Those . mental health officials testified that Bustamante told them she dug a . grave several days in advance of the killing, then used her younger . sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Bustamante . led Elizabeth into the woods by telling her she had a surprise for her. Bustamante . sliced Elizabeth's throat — as the child apparently tried to resist — . with a knife that had been hidden in a backpack. Bustamante also . strangled Elizabeth to the point of unconsciousness, then repeatedly . stabbed Elizabeth in the chest. She was buried in a shallow grave. On Monday, a handwriting expert . described how he was able to see through the blue ink that Bustamante . had used in an attempt to cover up her original journal entry on the . night of Elizabeth's murder. He then read the entry aloud in court: . '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 [at the . moment]. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the "ohmygawd 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.' The . journal entry was presented to the judge not long after Elizabeth's . mother and other relatives pleaded with Cole County Circuit Judge Pat . Joyce to impose the maximum sentence. Elizabeth's . mother, Patty Preiss, described her daughter as 'happy, little girl,' when she left her home about 5pm after begging to go play with . Bustamante's younger sister. Life behind bars: Eighteen-year-old Alyssa Bustamante is escorted out of the Cole County Courthouse today as she is handed down a life sentence . Preiss said she told Elizabeth to be back for dinner at 6pm but never saw her again. 'So much has been lost at the hands of this evil monster,' Preiss tearfully said, with Bustamante sitting several feet away. 'Elizabeth was given a death sentence and we were given a life sentence.' With Bustamante looking at her, Preiss said: 'I hate her, I hate everything about her.' The judge cut off her testimony when she described Bustamante as 'not even human.' FBI agents seized the journal from Bustamante's bedroom during a search of her family's home the day after Elizabeth went missing as hundreds of volunteers scoured the rural area around St. Martin's. 'I hate her, I hate everything about her... [She's] not even human.' -Victim's mother Patty Preiss . Bustamante suggested to FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol officials that the girl had probably been kidnapped and that whoever had done so deserved to be convicted. At one point, law enforcement officers discovered a hole in the ground in the shape of a shallow grave near Bustamante's home. They testified that Bustamante acknowledged digging it but said she just liked to dig holes. It was only later that Elizabeth's body was found concealed under leaves in another grave in the woods behind the Bustamante home. The victim's mother called the teen, seen here in 2009, 'less than human' at the sentencing hearing . At one point Bustamante had written that she intended to burn down a house and kill all the occupants, but she never followed through with that. On October 14, one week before Elizabeth's slaying, Bustamante had written that she was unable to use her cell phone because the charger had died, which meant she couldn't talk to anyone about the depression and rage she was feeling. 'If I don't talk about it, I bottle it up, and when I explode someone's going to die,' she wrote in a journal that was read to the court by her defense attorney, Charlie Moreland. Prosecutors said Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's death, even digging two holes to be used as graves, then attended school for about a week while waiting for the right time to kill. Hundreds of volunteers searched for two days for Elizabeth before her body was found. Juvenile . justice officials testified at an earlier hearing that Bustamante had attempted to commit . suicide in 2007 and had been receiving mental health treatment for . depression and cutting herself. On a now-defunct YouTube page in her name, one of Bustamante's hobbies were listed as 'killing people'. A few weeks before the murder she tweeted: 'This is all I want in life; a reason for all this pain.'
Alyssa Bustamante was 15 when she killed Elizabeth Olten in 2009 .
Sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole today .
Grandmother of victim shouted in court: 'I think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of the grave'
Alyssa Bustamante was 15 when she killed Elizabeth Olten in 2009 . Sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole today . Grandmother of victim shouted in court: 'I think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of the grave' By . Daily Mail Reporter . UPDATED: . 13:49 EST, 8 February 2012 . Jailed for life: Alyssa Bustamante, 18, was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole today . The Missouri teenager who confessed to strangling, cutting and stabbing a nine-year-old girl because she wanted to know how it felt to kill someone was sentenced today to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Alyssa Bustamante, 18, pleaded guilty in January to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the October 2009 slaying of Elizabeth Olten in St Martins, a small rural town west of Jefferson City. Bustamante had been charged with first-degree murder and by pleading guilty to the lesser charges she avoided a trial and the possibility of spending her life in an adult prison with no chance of release. Bustamante was 15 years old when she confessed to strangling Elizabeth, repeatedly stabbing her in the chest and slicing the girl's throat. She led police to the shallow grave where she had concealed Elizabeth's body under a blanket of leaves in the woods behind their neighborhood. Prior to receiving her life sentence, Bustamante said to the family of her victim: 'If I could give my life to bring her back, I would. I just want to say I'm sorry for what happened. I'm so sorry.' Elizabeth's family members wept as Alyssa made her statement prior to the sentence handed down by Cole County Presiding Judge Patricia Joyce. The teenager's defense attorneys had argued for a sentence less than life in prison, saying Bustamante's use of the antidepressant Prozac had made her more prone to violence. They said she had suffered from depression for years and once attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. But prosecutors sought a longer sentence, describing the 18-year-old as a thrill killer who lacked remorse. They noted that Bustamante had dug two graves several days in advance, and that on the evening of the killing had sent her younger sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Alyssa Bustamante (left), then 15, told . authorities she had strangled, stabbed and buried her nine-year-old . neighbor Elizabeth Olten (right) because she wanted to know what it felt . like to kill . Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt . David Rice testified that the teenager told him 'she wanted to know what . it felt like' to kill someone. The trial's conclusion follows days of testimony in a small courtroom in Missouri's capital city. Proceedings . descended into chaos yesterday as prosecutor Mark Richardson made an . impassioned request for a lifelong sentence for Bustamante. - Prosecutor Mark Richardson . Her . grandmother and grandfather stormed out of the courtroom, prompting . Bustamante — who had been staring blankly downward as Richardson . recounted her crime — to begin silently crying for the first time in her . court proceedings that have spanned more than two years. Then . as Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce announced that she would reveal . her sentence on Wednesday, Elizabeth's grandmother interrupted and cried . out from her wheelchair. 'I . think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of . the grave!' declared the grandmother, whom a prosecutor later identified . as Sandy Corn. The . disorder capped an emotional, two-day sentencing hearing highlighted by . repeated references to words Bustamante had written in her diary on the . night she strangled, slit the throat and repeatedly stabbed Elizabeth. Bustamante, . then 15, wrote that it was an 'ahmazing' and 'pretty enjoyable' experience, ending the entry by saying: 'I gotta go to church . now...lol.' 'The motive . has to be the most senseless, reprehensible that could be in humankind, . and that is to take a life for a thrill,' Richardson said. Bustamante's . attorney, Donald Catlett, cited the testimony on Tuesday of mental . health professionals who described Bustamante as a 'psychologically . damaged' and 'severely emotionally disturbed' child. They . recounted her family's history with drug abuse, mental disorders and . suicide attempts, noting her father was in prison and her mother had . abandoned her. Her mother was in the courtroom on Tuesday for the first . time. Various mental . health professionals testified over the course of the two-day hearing . that Bustamante suffers from major depression and displays the features . of a borderline personality disorder. Morbid fascination: Bustamante previously attempted . suicide and was a cutter. Defense attorneys highlighted her troubled childhood as part of their argument about why she . should receive leniency . Some also said she shows early signs of a bipolar disorder. Bustamante . began taking the antidepressant drug Prozac after a suicide attempt on . Labor Day 2007 at the start of her eighth grade year. Her . dosage of the medication had been increased just two weeks before she . murdered Elizabeth. Bustamante's attorneys presented evidence from a . psychiatrist who testified that Prozac could have been a 'major . contributing factor' in the slaying — a theory rejected by a prosecution . psychiatrist who insisted there was no scientific evidence of Prozac . causing homicides, or even increasing aggression. Each . time defense attorneys elicited testimony about Bustamante's troubled . childhood, prosecutors countered by asking the mental health experts to . describe what Bustamante had told them about the murder. Those . mental health officials testified that Bustamante told them she dug a . grave several days in advance of the killing, then used her younger . sister to lure Elizabeth outside with an invitation to play. Bustamante . led Elizabeth into the woods by telling her she had a surprise for her. Bustamante . sliced Elizabeth's throat — as the child apparently tried to resist — . with a knife that had been hidden in a backpack. Bustamante also . strangled Elizabeth to the point of unconsciousness, then repeatedly . stabbed Elizabeth in the chest. She was buried in a shallow grave. On Monday, a handwriting expert . described how he was able to see through the blue ink that Bustamante . had used in an attempt to cover up her original journal entry on the . night of Elizabeth's murder. He then read the entry aloud in court: . '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 [at the . moment]. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the "ohmygawd 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.' The . journal entry was presented to the judge not long after Elizabeth's . mother and other relatives pleaded with Cole County Circuit Judge Pat . Joyce to impose the maximum sentence. Elizabeth's . mother, Patty Preiss, described her daughter as 'happy, little girl,' when she left her home about 5pm after begging to go play with . Bustamante's younger sister. Life behind bars: Eighteen-year-old Alyssa Bustamante is escorted out of the Cole County Courthouse today as she is handed down a life sentence . Preiss said she told Elizabeth to be back for dinner at 6pm but never saw her again. 'So much has been lost at the hands of this evil monster,' Preiss tearfully said, with Bustamante sitting several feet away. 'Elizabeth was given a death sentence and we were given a life sentence.' With Bustamante looking at her, Preiss said: 'I hate her, I hate everything about her.' The judge cut off her testimony when she described Bustamante as 'not even human.' FBI agents seized the journal from Bustamante's bedroom during a search of her family's home the day after Elizabeth went missing as hundreds of volunteers scoured the rural area around St. Martin's. 'I hate her, I hate everything about her... [She's] not even human.' -Victim's mother Patty Preiss . Bustamante suggested to FBI and the Missouri State Highway Patrol officials that the girl had probably been kidnapped and that whoever had done so deserved to be convicted. At one point, law enforcement officers discovered a hole in the ground in the shape of a shallow grave near Bustamante's home. They testified that Bustamante acknowledged digging it but said she just liked to dig holes. It was only later that Elizabeth's body was found concealed under leaves in another grave in the woods behind the Bustamante home. The victim's mother called the teen, seen here in 2009, 'less than human' at the sentencing hearing . At one point Bustamante had written that she intended to burn down a house and kill all the occupants, but she never followed through with that. On October 14, one week before Elizabeth's slaying, Bustamante had written that she was unable to use her cell phone because the charger had died, which meant she couldn't talk to anyone about the depression and rage she was feeling. 'If I don't talk about it, I bottle it up, and when I explode someone's going to die,' she wrote in a journal that was read to the court by her defense attorney, Charlie Moreland. Prosecutors said Bustamante plotted Elizabeth's death, even digging two holes to be used as graves, then attended school for about a week while waiting for the right time to kill. Hundreds of volunteers searched for two days for Elizabeth before her body was found. Juvenile . justice officials testified at an earlier hearing that Bustamante had attempted to commit . suicide in 2007 and had been receiving mental health treatment for . depression and cutting herself. On a now-defunct YouTube page in her name, one of Bustamante's hobbies were listed as 'killing people'. A few weeks before the murder she tweeted: 'This is all I want in life; a reason for all this pain.'
Alyssa Bustamante was 15 when she killed Elizabeth Olten in 2009 . Sentenced to life in prison with possibility of parole today . Grandmother of victim shouted in court: 'I think Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out Alyssa should get out of jail the same day Elizabeth gets out of . the grave!' declared the