Case Mirrors a 2000 Murder
Mid-Missouri- The murder of 9-year old Elizabeth Olten shocked the entire Mid-Missouri community this Fall. Even more shocking is the similarities it shares with a murder case back in 2000.
The Elizabeth Olten Murder (2009)
Elizabeth Olten, 9, went missing on October 21. She was last seen walking home from a neighbor's house, but never made it home. After hundreds of volunteers helped in a two-day search, authorities found Olten's body in a wooded area close to her home in St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City. Alyssa Bustamante, 15, was charged with first degree murder and armed criminal action in Olten's death, after she led police to Olten's body. Bustamante lived only a few houses down from Olten, at the house where Olten had visited that day.
Bustamante pleaded not guilty to murdering Olten in October. Both investigators and friends of Bustamante say she told them she wanted to know what it felt like to kill someone. Police say Bustamante strangled, stabbed and cut the throat of Olten. Officials were at a loss over whether she belonged in the juvenile system, where she could get treatment for her mental health problems, or in an adult prison. On November 18, Bustamante was certified to stand trial as an adult.
If Bustamante is convicted of first-degree murder, she would face a sentence of life in prison without parole.
The Sheena McDonald Murder (2000)
Sheena McDonald, 12, went missing on May 14, 2000, after going for a walk in the late afternoon in the Gregory Heights subdivision north of Columbia. She never returned home. Her body was found that same night next to a shed in a wooded area close to her home. McDonald had sustained injury to her face and blunt force trauma to her head. After an autopsy, authorities said she'd died of strangulation.
The suspect, 15-year old David Dewey, lived in the same neighborhood as McDonald. He'd even helped in her search.
Friends of Dewey said they weren't surprised it was him. They said he would always remark about how one day someone was going to push his limits and he would "go over their heads." Friends say they would always blow it off.
According to online case records, Dewey admitted being with Sheena when she died. He had gone down to a shed in a wooded area in the subdivision. Sheena was there, smoking. Dewey stated that he gave Sheena a hug, accidentally touching her inappropriately. Sheena slapped Dewey, and Dewey restrained her. In the resulting struggle, Dewey compressed Sheena's neck, and she suffocated. When he realized she was dead, he left her there and told no one what had happened.
Dewey was certified to stand trial as an adult and was charged with second-degree murder. Dewey's defense was that he suffered from diminished capacity, which negated the required mental state for murder. At trial he presented an expert witness, Dr. Rosalyn Schultz, a licensed psychologist trained in forensic psychology, to testify as to his mental state at the time of Sheena's murder. The jury was given the choice of acquitting Dewey or convicting him of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, or involuntary manslaughter in the first or second degree. The jury found Dewey guilty of second-degree murder.
Dan Knight was the assistant prosecutor in the case.
"He was charged with murder in the second degree, so his range of punishment was between 10 years and 30 years, or life," Knight said.
Dewey was sentenced to twenty-seven years in prison in accordance with the jury's recommendation.
"It's going to be very hard for them. It's like they've lost their son, just like I lost my daughter. At least they can go visit him and look at him, and his heart's still beating," Sheena's mother, Alicia McDonald, said back in 2001.
Coincidentally in that same year, McDonald's step-father, Shawn Bonuchi was serving time in prison for committing a murder back when he was a juvenille. In November 1978, Bonuchi and a Rock Bridge student, Mitchell Osburn devised a plan to steal a car and head to Mexico to buy drugs. That theft turned murder, when Osburn shot a car salesman in his side and in his back. The two teens discarded his body in the weeds next to a bridge near Finger Lakes and fled toward the Mexico border. Bonuchi and Osburn were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, both men were paroled and released for good behavior. Osburn, who was released in 1997, has since been charged with the murders of three men who were picnicking at Valley Park in St. Louis in March 2002.
As for Dewey's parole, Knight said those who are convicted of murder in the second degree are eligible for parole after they serve 85 percent of their sentence. Dewey will not be eligible for parole until he serves almost 23 years, ending in 2024.
KOMU tried contacting Dewey, who's located at the South Central Correctional Center in Licking Missouri, located in Texas County.
Corrections officials said Dewey responded by saying he has learned to live with his past and does not wish to revisit the crime.
But for others, the memory of the case is an ongoing one.
"It's a case I'll never forget," Knight said. "When I hear of other homicides relating to children, I, of course, think back to the David Dewey case."
"She'll forever be in my heart," said a close friend at a memorial for McDonald back in 2000.
Looking Ahead
It's a case that gives insight into what Bustamante could face in the coming months. Her attorney's now asked that Bustamante be put in a psychiatric hospital instead of jail while she awaits her fate. He's also asked to move her trial to another county over fear of her community's bias.
Bustamante's next hearing is February 16.
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