tag:,2009:/149 2009-11-20T18:06:30Z Movable Type Enterprise 4.21-en tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.263768 2009-11-20 13:04:29 2009-11-20T18:06:30Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​UPDATE: Alyssa Bustamante stabbed the little girl and then slit her throat. See update after the jump... A Missouri judge ruled that 15-year-old Alyssa Bustamante can be tried as an adult in the murder of 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten. According to police, she killed the little girl just because she "wanted to know what it felt like."Elizabeth was last seen October 21 as she was leaving a friend's home in St. Martins, Missouri around supper time, just down the street from her own home. She promptly vanished. A massive search was launched to look for her body in the rural, wooded area... Police searched three days for Elizabeth before they were led to her grave​Detectives say some sort of written evidence led them to Bustamante, who lives at the home where Elizabeth was playing. Bustamante led detectives into the woods, where two graves had been dug the week before. That's where they found Elizabeth's body. Police aren't saying who was supposed to fill the second grave, but according to Sergeant David Rice of the Missouri Highway Patrol, Bustamante confessed to killing the little girl because she just "wanted to know what it felt like." The graves would imply premeditation, and police are pushing for first-degree murder charges. Though Bustamante attempted suicide two years ago, she was a fairly strong student at Jefferson City High School, hitting A's and B's and rarely missing class. She will make an appearance in adult court this afternoon. Bustamante reportedly stabbed the little girl and slit her throat​UPDATE: After a 2007 suicide attempt, Alyssa Bustamante received intensive help from social services. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to help. In court testimony yesterday, social service workers say the 15-year-old has a history of cutting herself and has been on Prozac since 2007. She also had a 10-day stay at Mid-Missouri Mental Health Center following her suicide attempt and was evaluated after that on a daily basis. But Bustamante, as you can imagine, doesn't come from the best of homes. Her grandma has been taking care of her and her younger siblings since 2002. There's no word on where her parents are, but in most cases where they dump the kids on grandma, you can assume they're not exactly stand-up people. Bustamante's also dabbled in goth stuff. Usually that just means nerdy kids wearing black and trying to find cool in their own social group. But in her case, it seems she took an interest in the darker side a bit too far, like the recent case of horrorcore rapper Richard McCroskey, who killed four people in Virginia over a minor beef with his 16-year-old girlfriend. One of the reasons Bustamante will be tried as an adult is because Missouri's juvenile system is downright pitiful. There are no high-security facilities for girls, and more than 600 kids have escaped from its juvenile institutions in the last 10 years. Staying in the juvenile system would also require her release at age 21. When you murder a young girl by digging her grave a week earlier -- and presumably plan to kill someone else -- you should probably be locked up for a lot longer than six years. UPDATE II: Bustamante apparently killed the little girl by strangling her, stabbing her and slitting her throat. But due to defense objections, prosecutors won't say who the other grave was intended for, or what kind of written evidence led them to Bustamante. A public defender has filed a motion asking that she be placed in a state mental health hospital for immediate treatment. A video she once had on YouTube claimed her hobbies were "killing people" and "cutting." She also posted a video in which she intentionally shocks herself on an electric fence, then pushes her two young brothers to do it. Also see 15-Year-Old-Girl Charged with Elizabeth Olten's Murder9-Year-Old Elizabeth Olten is Missing in Missouri After Walking Home From a Friend's House digg_url = 'http://digg.com/people/Alyssa_Bustamante_15_Charged_With_Slaying_of_9_Year_Old_El?OTC-widget'; tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.263996 2009-11-20 09:00:00 2009-11-20T18:06:54Z

Denise Grollmus tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264287 2009-11-20 08:09:49 2009-11-19T23:09:11Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​Reader Darwin responds to Charles Avey Strangles Stepson in Wal-Mart Parking Lot to Get Back at His Wife. "Until you are the abused woman don't judge her. You have no frame of reference. I suspect several of the commentors are right, he probably NEVER hit the child. That is one way abusers can control the victim and make her think her beatings are "her fault" - no one else every gets hurt. "I suspect the boy was at school when the mother went to the police station and got home without knowing what was going on and this A****** CAME HOME AND PICKED HIM UP (AS IT SAYS IN THE ARTICLE). The son and the mother probably never imagined such a thing could happen." tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264333 2009-11-20 07:00:54 2009-11-19T23:24:15Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​Twenty-year-old Lashawn Demaro Whitehead had a baby boy in July. This is not a good thing, since Whitehead should not be a father. That much is clear by what happened in August. Whitehead was at home when his 3-month-old puppy jumped on the couch where the baby was resting. As his mom Sally Laws tells it, her son promptly lost it. He severely the beat the dog, then set it on fire before leaving it to die in a Greensboro, North Carolina park.The dog was found by a passerby about two weeks later. It had burns over 60 percent of its body, and its ears were nearly burned off. It also had a broken jaw and teeth... Susie, as it's since been named, has miraculously survived and seems to be in fairly high demand among people willing to adopt. But Whitehead wasn't pinched till this week, when his mom brought him to police to confess.This isn't the first time said scumbag has run afoul of Johnny Law. In April, he appeared in court for breaking and entering, drug dealing, and threatening someone over the phone. He can now add felony animal cruelty to that laundry list. tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.262872 2009-11-20 05:39:22 2009-11-16T20:12:28Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com He's not a very good robber, and he's just run into a very brave -- or very stupid -- clerk. But when all's said and done, the robber is forced to flee the store with nothing. Not even his gun. tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264377 2009-11-19 16:54:33 2009-11-19T21:54:39Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​Earlier this month, we told you about the assassination of Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton, who was shot in a drive-by Halloween night as he sat in his squad. Another officer was wounded.Police believe the senseless murder was the work of criminal justice student Christopher Monfort, who was shot when he pointed a gun at detectives who were trying to interview him at his apartment building. Obviously, it was a stupid and senseless murder. As Seattle Weekly notes, "The city saw the murder of a cop as a good time to remember that peace officers have a very dangerous job and we should be thankful for the work they do." But hardcore metal band Furious Styles saw it as a way to get publicity selling T-shirts that celebrate the officer's slaying... They may look like five poseurs named Skippy, but Furious Styles insists they're like totally principled and defiant​The T-shirts show a picture of Monfort, a Seattle badge, and the band's dainty logo, along with the words "Deliver us from evil." On the back it reads "Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp."The band -- which looks like five guys named Scooter desperate to appear tough -- apparently doesn't like cops, so it doesn't want to appear hypocritical mourning the loss of innocent life when it really should be celebrated. (Don't try to make sense of this, dear reader. These are just poseurs talking out of their ass.) As lead singer Michael Torres wrote on one message board:Over the last week, I saw a lot of support for this dead officer, and a lot people who alledgedly hate the police putting their opinions aside in the wake of this supposed "tragedy". I've heard it all...he had a family...he has kids...etc...so spare me that bullshit. Everyone has families, many adults have children. That doesn't excuse the actions of police in general and I refuse to change my opinion on the subject. When police die, I feel that the streets are just a little bit safer. So with that being said, I'm in no way embarrassed that we made this shirt. A lot of people took a stance on the situation....now I'm taking mine.Oooo, you're so defiant and principled, Skippy! Spoken like a guy who will spend the next 40 years serving $8 coffees and reminding you how good his band used to be -- if only the asshole music execs were smart enough to see it.Also see Assassination: Seattle Cop Timothy Brenton Murdered in Drive-By. tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264312 2009-11-19 15:13:25 2009-11-19T20:14:06Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​There seems to be a new trend afoot among robbers these days. Maybe it's the economy, but the most unlikely people are showing up in stores and banks with guns, moving in on what used to be the province of losers and dope addicts. Take the guy above, who looks so old he's practically skeletal... Police believe he's in his 70s and responsible for knocking off five San Diego County banks since August. His most recent robbery was Monday, when he showed up with a gun at a Bank of America branch demanding money, then fled on foot.We're not sure why employees were incapable of following a 70-year-old man on foot. Then again, this is Bank of America, which seems incapable of doing anything these days besides losing money.But it does seem a new brand of criminal has taken to robbery lately. First we had the broke guy who decided to stop and pray for 10-minutes while robbing a check cashing joint. Then we had Roxxane Pennock, a broke mother of five who's accused of knocking off four banks near San Diego.What's next, priests robbing 7-Elevens to fund their pre-schools? tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264271 2009-11-19 14:17:14 2009-11-19T19:19:20Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​When Lazette Cherry learned that her 15-year-old son may have improperly touched his 3-year-old sister, she called ex-husband Jamar Pinkney Sr. to let him know. But dad went ballistic.He arrived at Lazette's Highland Park, Michigan home and forced 15-year-old Jamar Jr. to strip naked. Then he marched the boy to a vacant lot and forced him to kneel. Mom and Jr. pleaded for him not to shoot. "He got on his knees and begged, `No, Daddy, No,' and he pulled the trigger," Lazette says. Jamar Jr. was dead, shot in the head.Lazette apparently didn't know her ex would react so violently when she called to let him know about the apparent molestation. Though there's no details on what Jamar Jr. was accused of doing, Lazette seems to imply that it was improper touching, not rape. But she felt a duty to let dad know. "This isn't something you sweep under the rug," she says... She's now distraught over the incident. "There wasn't nothing that my son wouldn't do for his father. He loved his father so much. There's no justification for what he did, you know, downright shoot your child. He didn't rape her or anything. So why did you have to come and take matters into your hands? We said we were going to get him help." tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.263826 2009-11-19 13:32:17 2009-11-19T20:55:42Z

Pete Kotz http://www.truecrimereport.com ​UPDATE: Officer Dustin Bradshaw has been suspended for seven days, but not for the reason you'd think. See update after the jump... Earlier this week, we told you about the 73-year-old grandma who was caught on tape being tasered twice during a traffic stop. Now it seems an Arkansas officer has tasered a 10-year-old girl. Our question: Where the hell are they getting these cops?Police in Ozark, Arkansas say officer Dustin Bradshaw was called to a home by a mother who couldn't get her 10-year-old daughter to shower before going to bed. He found the girl on the floor screaming and crying. Why police were called to diffuse a little girl's fit, we don't know. But something tells us we're not dealing with All-American Mom here.What we do know is that the girl refused to follow her mom's orders, which little girls tend to do when throwing fits. So mom told Bradshaw to taser her ass... The cop carried the girl into the living room, where she was "kicking violently," according to the police report. How "violently" can a 10-year-old girl can kick? Not very, we can tell you from vast experience. But we suspect officer Bradshaw also thinks chess is a dangerous activity to be played in only bicycle helmets and medieval armor.The girl reportedly kicked Bradshaw in the balls. So Bradshaw blasted her in the back with his taser, then handcuffed her and carried her to his squad, where she was squired off to the Western Arkansas Youth Shelter.Now it might just be us, but aren't the nation's peace officers becoming a little effete when they're incapable of subduing grandmas and kids who still play with dolls? It's doubtful Bradshaw will be punished, since Ozark Police Chief Jim Noggle has no rules about tasering little kids and old people. But experts believe Bradshaw's actions make him automatically eligible for an officer's commission in the French Army. UPDATE: Officer Dustin Bradshaw is given a paid vacation for zapping the little girl. Mayor Vernon McDaniel says the cop has been suspended for seven days -- with pay -- not for using a stun gun on the little girl, but for failing the have the camera attached to it. As you can see from this video where a cop blasts a grandma over a traffic stop, Tasers now come equipped with cameras to back up the officer's accounting of an incident. But in this case, it's probably good Bradshaw failed to use his camera. Imagine the views this video would get on YouTube. Meanwhile, police chief Jim Noggle is still defending his officer. "We didn't use the Taser to punish the child -- just to bring the child under control so she wouldn't hurt herself or somebody else," he told the Associated Press. If Bradshaw tried to forcibly handcuff the girl, he could have broken her arm or leg, Noggle said. digg_url = 'http://digg.com/world_news/Cop_Tasers_10_year_old_Girl_Who_Wouldn_t_Take_a_Shower?OTC-widget'; tag:www.truecrimereport.com,2009://149.264060 2009-11-19 11:01:48 2009-11-19T16:02:07Z

Gary C. King http://www.garycking.com