15-year-old Missouri girl to be tried as adult in slaying of 9-year-old neighbor

Mo. teen to be tried as adult in death of girl, 9

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A police officer testified Wednesday that a 15-year-old girl told investigators she killed a 9-year-old neighbor because she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone, and a judge ruled the teen should stand trial as an adult.

Authorities have not publicly identified the suspect, but her attorney referred to her in court Wednesday as Alyssa.

Police testified that Elizabeth Olten did nothing to provoke the attack against her, and that the teenage suspect led authorities to the girl’s body after they questioned her.

Asked by juvenile justice attorney Samantha Green whether Alyssa gave a reason for killing the girl, highway patrol Sgt. David Rice replied “ultimately, she stated she wanted to know what it felt like.”

Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem ruled that the slaying was vicious and that the state had no adequate facilities or services to treat the suspect if she stayed in the juvenile court system.

The teen, who sat silently through the proceedings in an orange prison jumpsuit and handcuffs, was arrested on an adult charge of first-degree murder. She was scheduled to be arraigned later Wednesday.

Hundreds of people searched for Elizabeth when she did not return home on Oct. 21 from a neighbor’s house in St. Martin’s, west of Jefferson City. Authorities have not released details about how Elizabeth was killed or why she was chosen, and those details did not come out during the hearing.

Juvenile officers testified Wednesday that Alyssa previously considered committing suicide and had been receiving treatment for depression for a few years before Elizabeth’s death.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol officer testified that Alyssa admitted to digging two holes on Oct. 16 with the intention of burying Elizabeth — a sign that juvenile officers said showed the girl’s killing was premeditated.

Throughout the hearing, it was assumed that Alyssa committed the killing, which is a legal requirement under state law for conducting adult certification hearings. However, Alyssa’s attorney objected repeatedly when attorneys tried to introduce into evidence specific details about the killing.

Juvenile defense attorney Kurt Valentine argued that Alyssa would either kill herself or be assaulted and killed by others if she were placed with adults in a jail cell while awaiting trial or in a prison if convicted.

“We are throwing away the child and we are signing a death sentence for Alyssa,” Valentine said. “She is not going to survive her time in the Cole County jail.”

Alyssa appeared in court with straight, shoulder-length brown hair, with bangs frequently covering her eyes. Her mother and grandmother sat on one side of the courtroom. The grandmother has been Alyssa’s legal guardian for about half of her life.

On the other side of the courtroom sat Elizabeth’s mother, other family members and friends, some of whom wore pink shirts, which was Elizabeth’s favorite color.

State juvenile officials said Missouri has no secure facilities to house female juvenile offenders and would have had to renovate a facility and create a specific supervision plan had Alyssa been kept in juvenile custody.

If convicted of first-degree murder, the teen could be sentenced to up to life in prison.