By all accounts Alyssa was a normal 15-year-old who enjoyed attending church and received good grades in school. Her friends said, “She was just always so sweet, and everybody loved her”. Clearly, they had no indicators of what lurked beneath the surface. To gain a better insight into her mind we must go back to her childhood, with her mother and father both serving jail time she was cared for by her grandparents. Her grandparent subsequently took legal custody of her and her three younger siblings. If you have seen the clip on our TikTok you will have seen her grandmother in the interview room with her unable to control her emotions as Alyssa confessed to cutting the throat of Elizabeth.
Alyssa also tried to kill herself multiple times and part took in self harm. Unfortunately, this is becoming increasing common in the younger population. I have placed a link to mind UK here should anyone wish to donate and maybe tragedies such as this one can be prevented in the future. She received psychiatric care for this and was reported to have been taking anti-depressants however this did not seem to work. Alyssa however had fantasies of inflicting harm on other and once stated to her friend she wondered what it would be like to kill someone. She had a YouTube channel with the hobbies listed as ‘cutting’ and ‘killing people’. On this channel she posted a video of her persuading her brothers to touch an electric cattle fence. Alyssa wrote before posting the clip ‘this is where it gets good; this is where my brothers get hurt’.
Unfortunately, these warnings were not noticed and on October 21st 2009, just four days after she dug two graves, Elizabeth came to play with Emma one of Alyssa’s younger siblings and Alyssa decided to strike. Alyssa led Elizabeth to the woods where she beat and strangled Elizabeth before cutting her throat in a vicious sickening attack on such a young life. She then buried Elizabeth in one of the graves of which she dug 4 days prior to the murder.
Meanwhile Elizabeth’s parents were growing increasingly worried as their child didn’t return home eventually calling police and reporting her missing. A frantic search engaged with no results therefore police turned their attention onto Alyssa and what they found was shocking. They obtained a search warrant and seized her diary in which they found one page which was almost scribbled out but was able to be recovered. It read: “I just f****** killed someone. I strangled them and slit their throat and stabbed them now they’re dead. I don’t know how to feel atm. It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the “ohmygawd I can’t do this” feeling, it’s pretty enjoyable. I’m kinda nervous and shaky though right now. Kay, I gotta go to church now… lol.”
This really shows the lack of emotions shown by Alyssa and how she was able to commit such an act in cold blood. Subsequently Alyssa was arrested and then given her age was interviewed accompanied by her grandmother. It was until over an hour had passed before Alyssa admitted to cutting Elizabeth’s throat causing the outburst shown in our TikTok clip. The full interrogation can be watched on YouTube by one of my favourite true crime channels.
Moving forward into the trial in 2012 the judge decided Alyssa would be tried as an adult meaning the death penalty was on the table. Her defence attorneys highlighted her troubled childhood and increase in medication just 2 weeks before the murder as reasons for leniency. In a deal Alyssa accepted the guilty verdict to second degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
Alyssa Bustamante in 2023, currently is still in prison at 28 years old with the possibility of parole still available. In 2017 Elizabeth’s mother raised a lawsuit of unlawful death and blamed the psychiatric hospital as she was technically still an outpatient. The final suit requires the imprisoned killer to pay her more than $5 million.
Overall, this is a sad story of how violent fantasies which were not dealt with led to the loss of such a young and innocent girl at just 9-years-old.
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