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Every person
that worked on this case
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was traumatized at some level.
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If you started out
as a search and rescue,
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you know you have
a certain amount of time
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before it's going to be
a search and recovery.
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We start considering that
there may have been foul play.
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She had been
painted as a monster.
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But sometimes evil is
afoot in the world.
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That's when I realized.
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Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh!
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At the flip of the switch,
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you would get this
bloodthirsty almost animal.
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That's just desperately wicked.
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And she kept repeating,
he's going to kill me.
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And he shoots my daughter.
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That's about
the only time in my career
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that I just wanted
to shoot him.
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You can run,
but you can't hide.
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Cole County is roughly
390 square miles.
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One of the outlying
communities is St. Martins.
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It's a slightly more rural,
smaller community,
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a very solid community,
good people.
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Rarely had calls out there.
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Teenagers may be
driving too fast
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or things of that order,
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but really,
it's a nice community,
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a good place to live.
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On that Wednesday,
actually at 7:00 PM,
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I was at one of
the local churches doing
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a church security workshop.
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I received a phone call
from one of my deputies
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that said they had
a report of a missing child
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in the St. Martins area.
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Elizabeth Olten was
a 9-year-old girl,
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by all accounts,
a very nice person.
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She attended
a local grade school,
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certainly was doing
fine in classes.
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She didn't seem to be
unhappy with her family,
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with her school, with anything
that she was involved in.
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She was just a happy,
intelligent child.
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Elizabeth Olten was our
neighbor at that time, in 2009.
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And she lived four houses,
three or four houses down.
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She is a girl that would
come over to our house
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from time to time,
especially in the summer.
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We have a swimming pool,
and she came over
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and went swimming
a couple times.
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We'd hang out at
the Olten house,
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and sometimes Elizabeth
would be hanging out
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with Emma, my little sister.
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I get a call
from Elizabeth's mother,
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and she's asking
about her daughter.
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And I said, well,
I've not seen her.
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I don't know anything about it.
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And she said, well,
I can't find her.
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And it's dark,
and she's never out at night.
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And we went down there,
and we talked to her parents
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and we talked to the police.
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And that's when
I realized that--
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the seriousness
of what was happening.
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I didn't know if she was
at a friend's house,
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but then, obviously,
we realized
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that she's definitely missing.
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Deputies are talking with
the mother of Elizabeth,
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the missing child, and finding
out where she had been,
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the last time people
knew about her.
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The mother had stated
that her daughter,
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she had been with some
classmates, twin boys,
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down the road.
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They lived with
their grandparents.
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We just went
to the Oltens' house,
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and we were playing
video games.
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The sheriff showed up
and spent more time
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asking questions,
more than anything else,
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for a while.
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And then that's when
we found out that
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Emma did go over there
and knocked on the door
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and asked if Elizabeth
could come out and play.
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And then, you know,
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Elizabeth hadn't
been home yet.
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There's panic between,
you know,
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Mom and brother for sure.
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And, like, you know, what
could have happened to her?
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Why wouldn't she be
home by now?
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The older sibling,
which was Alyssa Bustamante,
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had volunteered
to walk her home.
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And she said rather than
walking on the road--
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and the road has
no sidewalks on it.
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It's a rural, paved road.
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So rather than walk on that
in the approaching darkness,
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they took the back routes
from the back of the homes,
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through some farmland
and some wooded areas.
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And Alyssa said that
she walked her to--
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in sight of Oltens' home
and left her there,
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with Olten walking home.
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So we have that very short
time of being inside
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of the house
and not seeing her again
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and then never making it
to the home.
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So at that point,
we're looking at perhaps
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she got lost in the woods,
or she fell and hurt herself.
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A couple hours later,
about the time
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they really started
searching in earnest,
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it started to rain,
which, of course,
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made their search
more difficult.
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It was a dark night.
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It was not just cloudy,
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but we had torrential rains,
great winds.
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It was an uncomfortable time
to be looking for a lost child
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out in the woods
and farm areas.
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If you started out
as a search and rescue,
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you know you have
a certain amount of time
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before it's going to be
a search and recovery.
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You know, you want to be able
to use things like helicopters
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with forward-looking
infrared radar,
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which normally is
available to us.
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That first night,
the weather was too bad.
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We couldn't use
a great deal of the aircraft.
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And so we're taking
the assumption that
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she could have fallen
and injured herself
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or, in the darkness,
gotten a little lost.
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And it's not a good place
to be lost in.
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The woods are very thick.
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There's a lot of undergrowth,
a lot of brush.
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The creeks are full
of water and running
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at a good rate of speed.
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So in a situation
like that, again,
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you want to start looking at
a search and rescue operation.
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We got local fire departments,
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and we set up a grid search
with teams.
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The way we do that is
we pull up maps of the area
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and we crosshatch it,
covering literally
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every square inch
to every square yard,
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all the way across it,
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from east to west
and north to south.
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There was so much underbrush
that it's hard
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to fight your way through.
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You've got people that
were willing to get down
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on their hands and knees
and crawl through brush.
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This is hours and hours
and hours of work by people
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in horrific conditions,
and yet,
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the rescuers did not give up.
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We just kept looking.
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But we didn't find her
or any indication of her.
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And we had to eventually
call for that night
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because it simply became too
dangerous to be in the woods.
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We were just
totally in the dark
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about what actually happened.
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Her father was in jail.
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A lot of people were
thinking the same thing.
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Perhaps somebody he knows
had kidnapped her.
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By the next morning,
we had also started
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having a dual command post.
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One command post was
search and rescue.
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The other command post
became investigative.
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They had about
300 people were out
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looking, trying to find her.
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People we know,
friends of ours,
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everyone was out
trying to find her
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because we couldn't
really figure out
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what could have happened.
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We were all just flabbergasted.
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We had a good
couple hundred volunteers,
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not counting the fire
department personnel,
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the law enforcement personnel,
ambulance crews.
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Everyone wanted to volunteer.
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We partnered with the Missouri
State Highway Patrol,
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and they set up checkpoints
and literally stopped
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every vehicle
that came through
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and asked what people
had seen.
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We had no visual
sighting of her.
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One of the other aspects
that kept us on task
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in this, certainly, limited--
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big area, but limited--
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was the fact that
she had a cell phone.
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We can't locate the phone,
but yet we have
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a broad area that
it's pinging in.
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We knew that the area
we were searching that
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that phone was in that area.
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We kept tracking,
looking for that,
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until eventually, the battery
on the phone died.
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We had almost gotten
to the point of purely
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search and recovery because
the weather had been so bad,
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the likelihood
of her surviving
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to that point was pretty low.
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So we start considering that
there may have been foul play.
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That's where you start
looking at, well,
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who is the person
that had last contact?
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And the natural
outflow of that is
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where you would start looking
at a person of interest.
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So the last person
to see her had been
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15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante.
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00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,400
Elizabeth Olten's brother
came over and was
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asking where Elizabeth was.
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And we didn't know.
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We had no idea.
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Why are you asking us?
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He said, well, because
she left and was with Alyssa.
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I'm like, I didn't know that.
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So we asked Alyssa,
and Alyssa kind of
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brushed it off and said,
well, yeah, she was.
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But then she left
and went home,
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or she thought she went home.
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Alyssa was going to a church
function at that time.
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So Karen took Alyssa
to the church function,
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and Elizabeth Olten's mother
then got concerned
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00:10:37,600 --> 00:10:40,640
and was asking us, you know,
what happened to Elizabeth?
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The FBI wanted
to talk to Alyssa
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because they had
been called in
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since this was
a missing minor.
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They got her out of school
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and took her in
for questioning,
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00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,640
and she answered all their
questions for quite a while.
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They paid a lot
of attention to her
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00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:02,240
right from the beginning.
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00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:13,520
I was there
when she was born,
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00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:16,600
so I got to cut the cord
when she was delivered.
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Her mother was just 16.
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And she was the teeniest
little baby, so sweet.
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As babies go, she was
very happy and cheerful.
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She seemed like
a pretty good sister.
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Like, she, you know,
tried to show us
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00:11:30,800 --> 00:11:33,680
the way with some things
and help us out.
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And, you know, I never
really, you know,
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00:11:35,680 --> 00:11:37,560
thought anything bad of her.
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Then they moved to Missouri.
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00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:42,720
I guess you'd
call her a tomboy.
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00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:44,880
She liked playing outside.
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She liked climbing trees.
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And we had quite a few
trees around,
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and she climbed them all.
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I definitely remember
as she got older,
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she was more of like
a recluse, almost,
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you know, staying in her room,
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doing her own thing,
more, like,
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depressed and definitely darker.
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And it was definitely hard
because, you know,
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you remember her as, like,
you know, a happy,
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00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:13,800
you know, sister.
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And you can kind of,
you know, also see her
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transitioning into someone
that's not very happy.
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I think it was about
the same time she was going
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00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:23,680
through puberty,
and she had a real hard time
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00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:25,600
with that
because of being a tomboy,
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she wanted to be a boy.
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And all of a sudden,
she's developing,
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00:12:31,600 --> 00:12:33,520
and she didn't really
want to develop.
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So she had a real, what I
would consider a dark period,
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00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:37,920
going through the goth stuff.
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I couldn't get her
to wear anything
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that wasn't black or dark.
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We'd go out, like,
monster hunting, you know.
252
00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:45,800
She made us believe
that there were
253
00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:48,320
actually monsters out there.
254
00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,080
After school,
the kids come--
255
00:13:07,200 --> 00:13:10,040
get home on
the school bus at 4:30.
256
00:13:10,160 --> 00:13:11,640
Alyssa wanted to go
out in the woods,
257
00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,000
so I said, yes, you can
go out in the woods.
258
00:13:15,120 --> 00:13:18,880
That's something
she did real often.
259
00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,920
She went out at
about 5 o'clock.
260
00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,560
She came back at
about 6 o'clock,
261
00:13:25,680 --> 00:13:28,120
and it was just getting dark.
262
00:13:28,240 --> 00:13:30,920
She went right
upstairs to her room,
263
00:13:31,040 --> 00:13:34,640
which is a little unusual.
264
00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:36,320
A couple hours later,
about 7:30,
265
00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:39,920
8 o'clock, the sheriff was
here and started looking
266
00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:43,160
around for Elizabeth
and started asking
267
00:13:43,280 --> 00:13:46,280
questions of our family.
268
00:13:46,400 --> 00:13:49,640
My first contact
with Alyssa,
269
00:13:49,760 --> 00:13:51,880
you would think that
this is the person
270
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,680
that would be a good babysitter
for your children.
271
00:13:54,800 --> 00:13:58,040
She was engaging,
good eye contact,
272
00:13:58,160 --> 00:14:02,000
positive body language,
comfortable with adults,
273
00:14:02,120 --> 00:14:03,920
and seemed responsible.
274
00:14:04,040 --> 00:14:06,080
We tried to help
as best we could
275
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:08,000
because we still
were wondering,
276
00:14:08,120 --> 00:14:09,680
what the heck is
going on here?
277
00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:12,160
We never saw Elizabeth.
278
00:14:29,000 --> 00:14:31,640
We used the FBI's
evidence recovery team
279
00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:33,800
to execute the search warrant,
280
00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:37,800
and they went through
with a fine tooth comb.
281
00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:41,520
Goodness,
there must have been 30
282
00:14:41,640 --> 00:14:43,800
law enforcement people
on this property,
283
00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:47,400
including, you know,
local people, FBI people.
284
00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:49,840
And then you get
the search of the bedroom.
285
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:53,360
And you start
finding out that,
286
00:14:53,480 --> 00:14:55,240
well, there's
a lot of darkness.
287
00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:58,200
When you think of a child
288
00:14:58,320 --> 00:14:59,960
writing something on the wall,
289
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:01,680
you think of a little kid
with a crayon
290
00:15:01,800 --> 00:15:04,880
or a paintbrush
or a magic marker.
291
00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:10,160
You don't think of a teenager
immortalizing that which
292
00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:14,360
is aberrant to society, looking
like there's blood on the wall
293
00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:18,200
or writing horrific
statements on the wall.
294
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:25,080
They were focusing
upstairs on Alyssa's room.
295
00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:26,880
And I mean, looking back,
I don't know why
296
00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:30,840
I didn't catch something,
but we really didn't.
297
00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:32,880
I just--I didn't catch a thing.
298
00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:34,440
But they were taking pictures,
299
00:15:34,560 --> 00:15:36,480
and that's when they found
her diary.
300
00:15:39,080 --> 00:15:42,120
It turns out that that was
absolutely crucial to the case.
301
00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:50,240
She hid so much of herself
from even her closest contacts,
302
00:15:50,360 --> 00:15:54,520
but she surely shared
her heart in her journal.
303
00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,880
One of the investigators
with my agency
304
00:16:01,000 --> 00:16:04,840
was looking at the diary,
and as he's going through it,
305
00:16:04,960 --> 00:16:07,280
on the last entry
on the last page
306
00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:10,080
that she'd done anything on
was a large section
307
00:16:10,200 --> 00:16:12,800
that had been
scrawled over with her pen,
308
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:14,600
so it was just
all blacked out.
309
00:16:14,720 --> 00:16:19,160
And honestly, he took a 20,000
candlepower flashlight,
310
00:16:19,280 --> 00:16:21,160
put it under it,
and you could clearly read
311
00:16:21,280 --> 00:16:23,440
what was written on the page.
312
00:16:27,040 --> 00:16:32,080
She's killed someone,
strangled her,
313
00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:36,880
stabbed her,
and cut her throat.
314
00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:46,600
I remember when my detective
shared it with me.
315
00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,520
And...
316
00:16:50,640 --> 00:16:52,280
It's a confession.
317
00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:55,200
It's a written confession.
318
00:16:55,320 --> 00:16:58,640
I would say we were in the 95
percentile that this is it.
319
00:16:58,760 --> 00:16:59,760
We've got her.
320
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,120
When Alyssa was 7,
and right before the boys--
321
00:17:19,240 --> 00:17:21,760
her younger brothers
turned three years old,
322
00:17:21,880 --> 00:17:24,560
her mother came to California
323
00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:28,920
because she split up
with her husband.
324
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,400
We soon discovered that
her mother was a drug addict,
325
00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,200
and what had been going on
in Missouri was not good.
326
00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:39,240
The kids were not
very well cared for.
327
00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:41,120
There was one
particular night
328
00:17:41,240 --> 00:17:46,200
my husband had called me
to tell me that
329
00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:48,880
he went over to see the kids.
330
00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:50,960
We'd gotten them a little
trailer so they could have--
331
00:17:51,080 --> 00:17:52,040
Michelle could have
a little privacy.
332
00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:53,520
We were hoping that would help.
333
00:17:53,640 --> 00:17:55,240
Anyway, it was a disaster.
334
00:17:55,360 --> 00:17:57,560
And so beer cans were all over.
335
00:17:57,680 --> 00:18:01,080
And she was not--
336
00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,080
she was there, but she was--
337
00:18:03,200 --> 00:18:04,760
I think she was
passed out on the bed.
338
00:18:11,280 --> 00:18:13,760
And so, um...
339
00:18:16,960 --> 00:18:18,760
I really didn't want to take
these children away
340
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:21,880
from their parents, but we did.
341
00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:23,320
We had to.
342
00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:31,040
One of the things that
the state-appointed counselor
343
00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,000
said from the testing
she had done with Alyssa
344
00:18:33,120 --> 00:18:36,560
is that she wanted me
to be aware that there was
345
00:18:36,680 --> 00:18:39,120
a possibility that her behavior
346
00:18:39,240 --> 00:18:42,080
was going to get
a little bizarre.
347
00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:43,760
And I was really glad
she told me this,
348
00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,280
because it did.
349
00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,920
We would be out,
like, at a store,
350
00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:52,840
and she would just go
down on the ground.
351
00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,320
Now, bear in mind she was
8 years old at this time.
352
00:18:56,440 --> 00:18:59,840
And she would act out things
like a 4-year-old would do,
353
00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:03,240
like she was a giraffe
or a donkey or whatever.
354
00:19:03,360 --> 00:19:07,160
Or she would chase in and out
of the clothes at the store.
355
00:19:07,280 --> 00:19:09,920
And of course, people that
are around at that time
356
00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,040
are looking at me, like,
well, aren't you going
357
00:19:12,160 --> 00:19:13,920
to do something about this?
358
00:19:14,040 --> 00:19:15,920
You know, this behavior
is rather odd.
359
00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:20,480
I don't know that
any of us can understand
360
00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:22,560
what it feels like to have
a parent, not just one,
361
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:24,000
but two parents abandon you,
362
00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:26,360
and not just once,
but over and over.
363
00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,640
She wouldn't trust us
with her feelings.
364
00:19:30,760 --> 00:19:32,040
She thought
she had to hide them.
365
00:19:34,720 --> 00:19:37,240
Because, you know,
her experience
366
00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:40,640
with adults in her
early life was such that
367
00:19:40,760 --> 00:19:42,680
when she did share, it--
368
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:44,640
bad things happened.
369
00:19:50,320 --> 00:19:53,960
We eventually moved
to Missouri.
370
00:19:54,080 --> 00:19:57,000
I only saw her cry once,
one time.
371
00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:00,480
It was after one of the times
her mother had left.
372
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,600
This was a little bit
before Alyssa turned 12.
373
00:20:04,720 --> 00:20:06,280
She was in her bedroom, in bed,
374
00:20:06,400 --> 00:20:08,160
and she had the covers
over her head.
375
00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:10,600
And I could hear her crying.
376
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:12,640
And I went in
and I lowered the covers,
377
00:20:12,760 --> 00:20:15,440
and we cried together.
378
00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:18,600
And--because we were both sad.
379
00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,040
To have--to have a child
that's an addict
380
00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:30,960
is very difficult
for a mother, a parent.
381
00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,840
And for Alyssa, it's her
mother, and she loves her.
382
00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:37,320
And she's left her again.
383
00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:41,000
And I think that in her mind,
it was hopeless,
384
00:20:41,120 --> 00:20:43,000
and wasn't going
to get her life together.
385
00:20:43,120 --> 00:20:44,280
And she finally
had to face that.
386
00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,560
Her mother wasn't coming back.
387
00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:50,520
I guess she decided that it
was more than she could handle,
388
00:20:50,640 --> 00:20:52,840
and that's when
she attempted suicide.
389
00:21:00,560 --> 00:21:04,160
Once we tried
to get help for her,
390
00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:07,600
she was diagnosed
as being bipolar.
391
00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,520
And that's sort of explained
her behavior in a lot of ways,
392
00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:16,720
that she was down
and up and so on.
393
00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,120
And she would self-harm.
394
00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:22,640
You can definitely see
the scars on her arms
395
00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:24,320
and, like, you know,
how fresh they were sometimes
396
00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,080
when she would cut herself.
397
00:21:27,200 --> 00:21:29,200
And she would definitely
get in, like, dark moods
398
00:21:29,320 --> 00:21:31,080
where she wouldn't really
talk, or, you know,
399
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:33,240
you could tell that
something was bothering her.
400
00:21:35,520 --> 00:21:37,880
When I looked at some of
the things she was looking up,
401
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:41,440
she was looking up more ways
of how to kill herself.
402
00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:00,880
But at that point,
she was at school.
403
00:22:01,000 --> 00:22:03,600
We sent deputies
to take her into custody.
404
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,160
As a 15-year-old,
they just wanted us
405
00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:09,680
to bring Alyssa to the FBI
office on Friday morning,
406
00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,320
which is what we did.
407
00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:14,240
Alyssa and I went in,
and we were being questioned
408
00:22:14,360 --> 00:22:16,720
by the sergeant,
as well as they had
409
00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:19,440
a juvenile officer there.
410
00:22:19,560 --> 00:22:20,800
If you don't mind if
I sit here so I can write--
411
00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:22,400
Yeah.
412
00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:23,760
'Cause I'm going to be
taking a lot of notes, so.
413
00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:25,360
OK.
414
00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,440
We really want to know,
did you do it?
415
00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:32,760
Which the diary gave it to us,
but we want to hear her say it.
416
00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:36,240
But we also want to know why.
417
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:22,280
Finally, he started asking
her more pointed questions
418
00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:27,280
and pretty much
putting things--
419
00:24:27,400 --> 00:24:29,400
I remember thinking,
wow, why is he--
420
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,520
why is he saying this stuff?
421
00:24:46,680 --> 00:24:49,800
At that point,
I was still 100% sure that
422
00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:52,360
Alyssa had nothing to do
with anything.
423
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,920
If somebody had asked me,
it was 100% sure
424
00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:57,320
I knew that she was not
involved in that.
425
00:24:57,440 --> 00:25:00,120
But her denial then
was contrary to
426
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:02,360
what the facts were that
she was confronted with.
427
00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:16,600
And they told her
that they had found her diary
428
00:25:16,720 --> 00:25:19,400
in which she mentions
what she had done.
429
00:26:01,680 --> 00:26:04,120
When you're doing an
interview or an interrogation
430
00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,280
with an individual, you're
trying to get to the point
431
00:26:07,400 --> 00:26:11,080
that the situation is set up
where the only thing
432
00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:13,040
where they sense relief
is the truth.
433
00:26:58,440 --> 00:26:59,200
Oh!
434
00:27:10,760 --> 00:27:11,560
That's when I realized.
435
00:27:11,680 --> 00:27:12,640
Oh, my gosh.
436
00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:14,760
Oh, my gosh!
437
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:17,000
And I just had
a breakdown right there
438
00:27:17,120 --> 00:27:19,080
in the middle
of this whole situation.
439
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:20,880
And I turned just to get out.
440
00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:23,000
I just--I couldn't breathe.
441
00:27:25,120 --> 00:27:26,840
You saw how shocking it was
to the grandmother.
442
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,360
Can you imagine finding out
443
00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:31,080
that a person
of your own blood
444
00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:33,960
has acted out this horribly?
445
00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:36,480
It was like something
out of a movie.
446
00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:38,120
And all of a sudden,
you're in it,
447
00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,400
and it's not where
you wanna be.
448
00:29:02,320 --> 00:29:04,480
She confessed.
449
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:07,280
And honestly, it was shocking
to the two investigators
450
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:12,840
that were in there, to hear her
coldly lay out what she did.
451
00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:55,560
This girl didn't care
who she killed.
452
00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:58,000
She cared that she killed.
453
00:29:58,120 --> 00:29:59,200
That's frightening.
454
00:30:04,120 --> 00:30:06,040
So at that point,
she gave directions
455
00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:07,800
to recover the body.
456
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,320
The grave site,
that was under a tree
457
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:16,000
and some brush in the area.
458
00:30:18,480 --> 00:30:21,200
When the body was recovered,
it was in a shallow grave.
459
00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:23,440
It was covered
with some debris.
460
00:30:23,560 --> 00:30:26,080
A lot of leaves were falling
at that time of the year.
461
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:29,120
People had walked right there.
462
00:30:29,240 --> 00:30:32,200
So it's not that
that area wasn't covered.
463
00:30:32,320 --> 00:30:34,560
It was covered.
464
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,440
They, of course,
found the cell phone.
465
00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:40,520
The autopsy report
is sufficient on all
466
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:44,560
of the injuries, the violence,
the anger demonstrated
467
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,800
by the method of death.
468
00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:55,680
It's incredible to me
that a 15-year-old girl,
469
00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,160
as an outflow of her life,
470
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:00,440
was wanting to destroy
other people,
471
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,640
was wanting to do it
brutally.
472
00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,240
And I think that we need
to remember that for most
473
00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:09,480
of us in society,
this is so aberrant
474
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:11,960
that we are not going
to understand it
475
00:31:12,080 --> 00:31:14,200
because we're not that way.
476
00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:17,440
And I thank God that
we're not that way.
477
00:31:32,120 --> 00:31:35,640
On that particular night,
I had a big church activity.
478
00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:37,480
And so I was preparing.
479
00:31:37,600 --> 00:31:39,000
I had to bring the treats,
and we were
480
00:31:39,120 --> 00:31:40,400
going to be teaching dancing.
481
00:31:40,520 --> 00:31:42,120
And Alyssa was going.
482
00:31:42,240 --> 00:31:46,520
And I remember she asked
if they could go over
483
00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,960
and see Elizabeth,
and we said no,
484
00:31:49,080 --> 00:31:52,520
because it was already 4:30,
and we needed to leave.
485
00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:54,680
Then I think she came back
and asked if they could--
486
00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:56,280
her and Emma could just
go out in the forest
487
00:31:56,400 --> 00:31:58,600
for a little bit
and come back.
488
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:00,640
So they went.
489
00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:02,240
And we agreed that
they could do that,
490
00:32:02,360 --> 00:32:06,000
and that's where we thought
they were that night.
491
00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:08,040
Later, it was obviously
discovered that
492
00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:09,800
Emma went over
and got Elizabeth,
493
00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:12,120
and then they went
out into the woods.
494
00:32:12,240 --> 00:32:15,600
And then I guess they
ditched Emma and kept going,
495
00:32:15,720 --> 00:32:18,400
you know, out in the woods.
496
00:32:18,520 --> 00:32:23,480
While Alyssa was walking
Elizabeth home, at one point,
497
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:28,160
out of view of anyone else,
she started to strangle her,
498
00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,440
and she found that
the girl was too strong.
499
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,480
And when she was resisting
being strangled is when Alyssa
500
00:32:34,600 --> 00:32:37,240
had said that
she pulled the knife out,
501
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,240
the kitchen knife out
and began stabbing her.
502
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:44,320
She stabbed her repeatedly
and cut her throat.
503
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,680
The brutality of it is just--
is shocking to the conscience.
504
00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:51,000
And of course,
the question there is,
505
00:32:51,120 --> 00:32:52,920
where does the 15-year-old
get this anger?
506
00:32:53,040 --> 00:32:55,920
I don't know.
507
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:58,600
So at that point, for her,
508
00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:00,040
she'd done
what she wanted to do.
509
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,920
She'd seen the light
of life go out--
510
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:06,680
go out of a person's eyes
by her hand.
511
00:33:06,800 --> 00:33:09,240
That's just desperately wicked.
512
00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,840
She was in the vicinity of
the grave that she had dug.
513
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:19,280
She drug her to that grave,
placed her in it, buried her,
514
00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,920
spread some debris over it,
walked back home,
515
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:24,640
threw the knife
in the dishwasher
516
00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:26,400
and turned the dishwasher on,
517
00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:29,680
and went to her room
like nothing else had happened,
518
00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:32,240
wrote some information
down in a diary,
519
00:33:32,360 --> 00:33:35,440
and then thought better
and scratched it out.
520
00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,560
I distinctly remember
the front door slamming open
521
00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:40,520
and Alyssa running
up the stairs
522
00:33:40,640 --> 00:33:43,680
like a herd of elephants,
which she didn't normally do.
523
00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:46,960
I had met her briefly
that first night.
524
00:33:47,080 --> 00:33:50,560
She appeared to be
concerned that
525
00:33:50,680 --> 00:33:53,760
Elizabeth did not
make it to her home.
526
00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:57,520
In retrospect,
you look at her and you go,
527
00:33:57,640 --> 00:34:00,520
wow, she's thinking
she pulled this off.
528
00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,880
She's thinking that
she's gonna walk on this.
529
00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:06,480
She's thinking that
we'll never figure it out.
530
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,840
And it seemed with her that
it's like flipping a switch.
531
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,800
She would be this nice,
normal person
532
00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:14,680
that people were dealing with.
533
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,120
And then at the flip
of the switch,
534
00:34:17,240 --> 00:34:22,120
you would get this
bloodthirsty almost animal.
535
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:36,720
She's detained
as a juvenile,
536
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,960
and then the application is
537
00:34:39,080 --> 00:34:41,080
made to try her as an adult.
538
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:43,040
And when that goes through,
then she's charged
539
00:34:43,160 --> 00:34:44,640
as an adult
with first-degree murder,
540
00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:46,400
premeditated murder.
541
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,640
We have to remember that
regardless of your age,
542
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,080
there's got to be
accountability.
543
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:54,360
We had a 15-year-old
that demonstrated
544
00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,160
all facets of evil.
545
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,120
And she's accountable
for her actions.
546
00:35:00,240 --> 00:35:05,080
If you act like adult, you
can be charged like an adult.
547
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:07,480
And that's what
happened in her case.
548
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:10,040
The lawyer for a teenager
accused of killing
549
00:35:10,160 --> 00:35:12,320
a 9-year-old neighbor
says his client
550
00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:14,320
shows signs of
depression and tried
551
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:16,400
to kill herself two years ago.
552
00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:19,640
It wasn't
the Alyssa that I know.
553
00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,760
She was on some
kind of a high drug,
554
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:25,040
as far as I could tell,
from the medications
555
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:26,760
that we were giving her, that
the doctors were giving her,
556
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:28,320
and that I allowed them
to give her.
557
00:35:28,440 --> 00:35:30,640
She should have been
institutionalized so that
558
00:35:30,760 --> 00:35:34,360
we could protect her
and anyone else while
559
00:35:34,480 --> 00:35:36,600
we went ahead and messed around
with what's going on
560
00:35:36,720 --> 00:35:39,400
in her brain as a 15-year-old.
561
00:35:39,520 --> 00:35:41,040
I think that maybe
it was the medicine
562
00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:43,440
that kind of drove her,
you know,
563
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:45,240
crazy, I guess you would say.
564
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:47,160
Was she mentally ill?
565
00:35:47,280 --> 00:35:48,800
I don't think so.
566
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,240
I'm not a psychologist
or a psychiatrist.
567
00:35:51,360 --> 00:35:53,000
But it doesn't seem so
because she functioned
568
00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:55,040
in everyday society well.
569
00:35:55,160 --> 00:35:56,840
But yet there was
that side that when
570
00:35:56,960 --> 00:36:01,520
the switch was thrown, she was
willing to do what she did.
571
00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:04,360
On her Twitter page,
15-year-old accused killer
572
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:07,440
Alyssa Bustamante lists
her location as
573
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:09,800
"somewhere I don't wanna be."
574
00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:11,920
That somewhere is now
a jail cell,
575
00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:13,840
as a Missouri teen
awaits trial
576
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:15,120
for her role in the death
577
00:36:15,240 --> 00:36:17,080
of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten,
578
00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:19,240
who prosecutors say
Bustamante strangled
579
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,000
and stabbed in
a premeditated murder.
580
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:25,240
She had premeditated
murder as a charge
581
00:36:25,360 --> 00:36:28,480
because she planned it
by digging the grave.
582
00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:31,120
She planned it
by taking the knife,
583
00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:34,440
and she planned it by waiting
for the opportunity
584
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:38,240
to get this little girl alone
and brutally kill her.
585
00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:41,560
That defines
premeditated homicide.
586
00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,640
Bustamante has
pleaded not guilty,
587
00:36:43,760 --> 00:36:46,840
but a dark picture of
the teen has emerged online.
588
00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:49,000
In this video,
Bustamante shown touching
589
00:36:49,120 --> 00:36:51,280
an electric fence while
encouraging her younger
590
00:36:51,400 --> 00:36:53,080
brothers to do the same.
591
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:55,120
I knew about
the electric fence video,
592
00:36:55,240 --> 00:36:57,320
but I guess, as a kid,
we didn't really think--
593
00:36:57,440 --> 00:37:01,040
we didn't know anything about,
like, YouTube or much then.
594
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:02,920
I guess it's not really
595
00:37:03,040 --> 00:37:04,720
even a big deal for us
596
00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:06,160
because, I mean, people
could see that and be like,
597
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:08,000
oh, wow, like, she's forcing
them to touch this
598
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:09,560
electric fence
when, in reality, like,
599
00:37:09,680 --> 00:37:11,480
we're growing up,
you know, around horses
600
00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:13,160
and around, you know,
that type of stuff.
601
00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:14,880
Like, you know how many
times we accidentally
602
00:37:15,000 --> 00:37:16,520
touched an electric fence?
603
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:18,320
And it's, like--
it's just a little shock.
604
00:37:18,440 --> 00:37:21,520
It's not, like, oh, wow,
like, that really hurt.
605
00:37:21,640 --> 00:37:23,000
Joining us now
from St. Louis is
606
00:37:23,120 --> 00:37:24,760
Jennifer Meyer,
who is best friends
607
00:37:24,880 --> 00:37:27,120
with Alyssa Bustamante.
608
00:37:27,240 --> 00:37:30,160
Did she ever, in any
conversation with you,
609
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:33,280
talk about wanting
to hurt somebody else?
610
00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:35,240
Yes.
611
00:37:35,360 --> 00:37:38,920
In one conversation
we had back in January,
612
00:37:39,040 --> 00:37:40,840
she just pulled me
off to the side
613
00:37:40,960 --> 00:37:42,240
and basically
told me, you know--
614
00:37:42,360 --> 00:37:43,760
she said, I wonder
what it would be like
615
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,040
to kill somebody.
616
00:37:46,920 --> 00:37:48,400
I thought it was
kind of strange,
617
00:37:48,520 --> 00:37:50,400
but I just dismissed it,
I guess.
618
00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,480
I wouldn't really think that
my best friend would do that.
619
00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:56,320
She had been painted
as a monster.
620
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,360
Awaiting trial,
she was in jail.
621
00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,080
And because she was a minor
622
00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,640
and because there was
ill feeling against her,
623
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,360
they thought she was
in danger in jail,
624
00:38:24,480 --> 00:38:26,240
so they kept her
in solitary confinement
625
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:28,960
for a year and a half.
626
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:31,720
And by this time,
she was ready to do anything
627
00:38:31,840 --> 00:38:34,160
to get out of solitary.
628
00:38:34,280 --> 00:38:38,120
So when her attorney suggested
that they offer a guilty plea,
629
00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:39,640
she went along with it,
just because
630
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:41,000
she knew that
she'd get out of it.
631
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:47,440
At that point, she elected
to enter a plea of guilty.
632
00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:01,880
In Alyssa's final statement,
I think that
633
00:39:02,000 --> 00:39:05,840
as best she could, that
she truly did feel remorse.
634
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:07,560
Granted, she was
under the influence
635
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:08,880
of extra medication,
636
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:10,840
but I think that
as best she could,
637
00:39:10,960 --> 00:39:12,680
she really did feel
the remorse.
638
00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,480
And if she could have
switched places,
639
00:39:15,600 --> 00:39:16,400
she would have.
640
00:39:22,560 --> 00:39:24,480
Since she was pleading
guilty, there was a sentence.
641
00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,360
And the judge
basically gave her
642
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:28,840
the maximum sentence she could.
643
00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:31,960
It was like two 30-year terms
644
00:39:32,080 --> 00:39:33,840
to be run consecutively.
645
00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,080
I look at all the cases
that I've been involved in,
646
00:39:52,200 --> 00:39:54,280
in 34 years
of law enforcement.
647
00:39:54,400 --> 00:39:57,840
This was one of the two
most difficult cases
648
00:39:57,960 --> 00:40:00,400
that I was ever involved in.
649
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:02,520
Every person that
worked on this case
650
00:40:02,640 --> 00:40:04,360
was traumatized at some level.
651
00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:09,640
But I can tell you that
the technician for the FBI
652
00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:13,920
that brushed the soil
from Elizabeth's face was,
653
00:40:14,040 --> 00:40:15,360
at that same moment,
recognizing
654
00:40:15,480 --> 00:40:17,640
she had a 9-year-old
daughter at home.
655
00:40:20,760 --> 00:40:24,600
I just never, ever,
in my wildest dreams,
656
00:40:24,720 --> 00:40:29,240
imagined that Alyssa
would have the capability
657
00:40:29,360 --> 00:40:30,800
to do what she did that night.
658
00:40:30,920 --> 00:40:33,080
Never, never
in my wildest dreams.
659
00:40:35,960 --> 00:40:38,880
Sometimes it's not
that anyone failed her.
660
00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:40,520
She was getting counseling.
661
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:42,760
She was involved
in a local church.
662
00:40:42,880 --> 00:40:44,840
She had grandparents
that cared deeply
663
00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:48,800
for her and her brothers.
664
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,120
But sometimes evil is
afoot in the world.
665
00:40:51,240 --> 00:40:53,120
And in this particular case
with her,
666
00:40:53,240 --> 00:40:56,400
that's what I think was there.
667
00:40:56,520 --> 00:40:58,320
So I know that, you know,
on the outside,
668
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,440
people definitely see her
as, you know, a villain.
669
00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:03,360
And, like, you kind of, like,
see her like that a little bit
670
00:41:03,480 --> 00:41:05,600
on the inside of the family,
but she's still family.
671
00:41:05,720 --> 00:41:09,160
And, you know, with the things
that happened to her and stuff,
672
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:10,720
it's hard to put, you know,
all the blame on her
673
00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:13,680
and not, you know,
other circumstances.
674
00:41:13,800 --> 00:41:15,360
She didn't have remorse
at that time.
675
00:41:15,480 --> 00:41:18,440
She has remorse now
because now she has matured
676
00:41:18,560 --> 00:41:20,040
and finally understands
677
00:41:20,160 --> 00:41:21,880
what it was she has done.
678
00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:36,120
She is much better now.
679
00:41:36,240 --> 00:41:37,680
She doesn't have to take drugs.
680
00:41:37,800 --> 00:41:40,440
And where she is in prison,
681
00:41:40,560 --> 00:41:42,280
she still needed
rehabilitation,
682
00:41:42,400 --> 00:41:44,600
and she's gotten it.
683
00:41:51,840 --> 00:41:54,440
If her life
changed dramatically
684
00:41:54,560 --> 00:41:58,480
and they could document that
it changed dramatically,
685
00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:00,760
I would say you might have
686
00:42:00,880 --> 00:42:03,600
a more sympathetic
parole board.
687
00:42:03,720 --> 00:42:07,680
In this case, I don't know
that she can change.
688
00:42:07,800 --> 00:42:11,120
You have hopes,
but I don't think she can.
689
00:42:11,240 --> 00:42:14,480
It's so aberrant
to the average person
690
00:42:14,600 --> 00:42:17,240
that you can't
make sense of it.
691
00:42:19,280 --> 00:42:22,280
I'm not so naive
to think that there's
692
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:25,640
no evil afoot in the world,
because there is,
693
00:42:25,760 --> 00:42:28,720
and I know it
because of people
694
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:31,280
like Alyssa Bustamante.
695
00:42:38,880 --> 00:42:43,640
To shoot two people
six times each?
696
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,600
I can't even climb
into that darkness.
697
00:42:46,720 --> 00:42:50,520
The creepy dude was
most likely right there.
698
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:52,560
They assume that
699
00:42:52,680 --> 00:42:54,600
the murderer knows
the victims.
700
00:42:54,720 --> 00:42:56,800
Everyone is a suspect.
701
00:42:56,920 --> 00:42:59,200
Gabby Petito
never goes outside.
702
00:42:59,320 --> 00:43:01,840
Did Brian Laundrie
have something to do
703
00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:04,280
with the disappearance
of these two girls?
704
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:06,480
This blew my world apart.
704
00:43:07,305 --> 00:44:07,744
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