'It was ahmazing' wrote teen after stabbing girl to death

DEFENCE lawyers will today try to persuade a Missouri judge to be lenient when he sentences an 18-year-old girl who stabbed to death a nine-year-old neighbour and then wrote in her diary: "It was ahmazing. As soon as you get over the 'ohmygawd I can't do this' feeling, it's pretty enjoyable."

Alyssa Bustamante, abandoned by her mother and with her father in prison, had attempted suicide and was prescribed Prozac for depression. Two weeks before she killed Elizabeth Olten, she started taking a higher dosage. A Houston psychiatrist testified that this could have increased Bustamante's mood swings and violent tendencies.

Prosecutors gave the other side of the story yesterday when they urged the judge to sentence Bustamante to life imprisonment after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

As the Washington Post reports, prosecutors emphasised the deliberate nature of Bustamante's actions. She did not only stab the girl – she strangled her and sliced her throat first.  

Also, Bastamante had dug a hole for a potential grave in advance, and on the evening of the killing, had sent her younger sister to invite Elizabeth Olten outside to play.

Later, while police were searching for the nine-year-old, Bustamante went off to a dance at her local church.

Her grandmother and legal guardian, Karen Brooke, was asked in court if she noticed anything different about Bustamante as they left the house for the dance. Yes, said Brooke, she appeared a bit happier than usual.

Bustamante tried to hide what she had written in her diary by writing over it in blue ink, the court heard. But a handwriting expert was able to decipher her words, and read them out in court:

"I just fucking 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."

The sentencing hearing resumes today. ·