Alyssa Bustamante
Dr. John Stone. Credit: Jim Dyke of the Jefferson City News Tribune.
Judge Joyce Pat. Credit: Jim Dyke of the Jefferson City News Tribune.
Alyssa Bustamante. Credit: Jim Dyke of the Jefferson City News Tribune.
JEFFERSON CITY, MO (AP) - A Missouri teenager who pleaded guilty to killing a 9-year-old girl wrote in her journal that it was an "amazing" and "pretty enjoyable" experience.
The words from Alyssa Bustamante's journal were read aloud in court Monday as part of a sentencing hearing to determine whether she should be sentenced to life in prison for the October 2009 murder of her neighbor, Elizabeth Olten, in a small town west of Jefferson City.
Elizabeth's mother, Patty Preiss, tearfully pleaded with the judge to give the maximum sentence possible to Bustamante, whom she repeatedly described as an "evil monster."
Bustamante pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and armed criminal action last month. She is 18 now, but was 15 at the time of the murder. She is being sentenced as an adult.
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Associated Press