Alyssa Bustamante is a teen killer who would be convicted of the murder of nine year old Elizabeth Olson in 2009
According to court documents Alyssa Bustamante would lure Elizabeth Olson into the woods in St. Martins Missouri where she would stab the little girl to death before burying her body in a shallow grave. Bustamante was fifteen years old at the time of the murder
Alyssa Bustamante would be arrested, convicted and sentenced to life in prison. However the laws surround sentencing juveniles to life in prison would change since she has been incarcerated and now the teen killer is eligible for parole after serving fifteen years in prison
On Monday, July 8 2024, Alyssa Bustamante will go in front of the Missouri parole board and beg to be released. Due to the nature of the murder and Elizabeth Olson family strongly opposing her release chances are Bustamante will stay just where she is. Unfortunately for the Olson family they are going to have to keep facing this teen killer at every foreseeable parole date
Alyssa Bustamante Parole News
A Cole County woman who killed a 9-year-old when she was a teenager will get a chance at a release from prison on Monday.
The Missouri Parole Board at a hearing will consider releasing Alyssa Bustamante from prison or continuing the life sentence she received when she was a teenager. She is serving the sentence at Chillicothe Correctional Center in northern Missouri.
Bustamante pleaded guilty in 2012 to a reduced charge of second-degree murder and armed criminal action for killing 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten in 2009. Investigators say Bustamante wrote that stabbing Olten excited her. Searchers found Olten’s body buried in a shallow grave in St. Martins, where the two lived.
The plea deal at the time would have made Bustamante eligible for parole in 2044, but state lawmakers in 2021 made some juvenile offenders eligible for parole after serving 15 years in prison for any sentence lasting 15 years or longer. Only juvenile offenders in prison for first-degree murder do not receive the earlier parole eligibility. One of the sponsors of the legislation told ABC 17 News in 2021 that the changes were not made to help cases like Bustamante’s.
The six-person board will hold the hearing to decide whether Bustamante is eligible for release. The board’s website says that the panel discusses and reviews how she has fared in prison, her conduct and programs completed while there and “any other issues the Board thinks is relevant.” Victims and their families can attend the hearing and give a statement.
Olten’s mother, Patty Preiss, told ABC 17 News in a written statement that she and her husband would attend the parole hearing to “beg the parole board not to vote to let her out.” Preiss said she received an automated message from the state about the parole date setting on Mother’s Day.
“I will relive my pain for them if it means it could make any difference at all,” Preiss said. “There is very little I can do for my daughter now but show up.”
Lawmakers have tried to exclude juvenile offenders convicted of second-degree murder, like Bustamante, from receiving the earlier parole eligibility. The chambers passed the measure in SB 754 this year, which Gov. Mike Parson has not yet acted upon. Preiss said she hoped the governor might still act on the bill before the hearing, which she said would nullify Bustamante’s eligibility.
“I still hope maybe the governor can find time to sign the bill before Monday,” Preiss wrote. “After all, this was a bill that they told me they wanted to call ‘Elizabeth’s Law.'”
Anji Gandhi, Cole County’s current senior assistant prosecuting attorney, worked on the Bustamante case as it proceeded to the eventual plea. She said the family believed when the plea was worked out that Bustamante would not be eligible for parole for decades.
“It is frustrating that the family will have to face Alyssa Bustamante on Monday and re-open the gruesome facts of this case simply because the bill wasn’t signed in time to make the hearing a nullity,” Gandhi said.
The panel takes “approximately 8-12 weeks” to make a decision on parole eligibility. The panel may decide to grant an early release at a future date or be rescheduled for another hearing in one to five years.
Alyssa Bustamante Parole Denied
The Missouri Board of Parole denied convicted Cole County killer Alyssa Bustamante an early release from prison.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann told ABC 17 News that Bustamante’s next hearing is expected to take place in 2029. Some advocates for keeping Bustamante in prison longer say a new state law should push that parole eligibility even further back.
Bustamante became eligible for an early release from her second-degree murder conviction when state lawmakers changed the rules for people convicted of crimes when they were teenagers. Bustamante pleaded guilty in 2012 to killing 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten in St. Martins. Bustamante was 15 years old when she killed Olten in 2009. The board held the parole hearing on July 8.
Olten’s stepfather, Gary Bemboom, was notified of the parole board’s decision last week
Bemboom said he’s hopeful Bustamante’s parole schedule will return to what it was before the 2021 change state lawmakers made for juvenile offenders. Senate Bill 754, signed on July 9 by Gov. Mike Parson, precludes those convicted of first- and second-degree murder from receiving parole eligibility after serving 15 years of their sentence. That would make Bustamante eligible for parole in 2044.
Bemboom said the parole hearing was “another day of grieving” for the family.
“All of the hurt and pain was thrown back in the family’s face,” Bemboom said in an email. “Bustamante described how and why she killed Elizabeth with details that weren’t allowed at her trial. It was a devastating day for all that were there.”
Cole County prosecutor Locke Thompson told ABC 17 News in a text message that he was glad to learn that the parole board denied her an early release. He said SB 754 may nullify the 2029 parole hearing when the law takes effect Aug. 28.
“I hope that the implementation of Senate Bill 754 next month pushes [any] future parole hearing far beyond 2029,” Thompson said.
Bustamante, now 30 years old, has been in custody since 2009.