A teenager who says she killed her nine-year-old neighbor because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone has been sentenced to 60 years in prison.
Judge Patricia Joyce sentenced 18-year-old Alyssa Bustamante to life in prison for the murder of Elizabeth Olten, and 30 years on a charge of armed criminal action.
Despite the life sentence, Bustamante could be out of jail at age 78. In Missouri, a life sentence equates to a maximum of 30 years, and because the Missouri circuit judge ordered Bustamante to serve her sentences consecutively, she will serve a maximum of 60 years in prison with the possibility of parole.
On January 10, 2012, Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the strangling and stabbing death of Olten. At the time of the killing Bustamante was only 15-years-old and she confessed to the brutal killing -- even telling police she killed Olten because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone.
Prosecutors labeled the murder a “thrill kill” and pursued first-degree murder charges against Bustamante, but she took a plea deal that reduced the charge to second degree murder, which meant that she didn’t have to go through a trial.
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