According to a civil court settlement, convicted killer Alyssa Bustamante owes $5 million to her victim's mother.
Don't expect the money to exchange hands any time soon. Bustamante's prison account is less than $500 at the Women's Eastern Missouri Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Vandalia. That's where she is serving life in prison for the murder of then 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten. Bustamante has the possibility of parole, but that would be followed by a 30-year sentence for the armed criminal action conviction.
For all practical purposes, the settlement will prevent Bustamante from selling movie/book rights or otherwise gaining more than $25,000 a year in profits from her heinous crime. If that happens, any amount over that goes to Patricia Preiss, Olten's mother.
Of course, no amount of money is just compensation and nothing can bring Olten back.
Her murder was the most disturbing crime we can ever recall in Mid-Missouri. It shocked the community and made news both nationally and internationally.
Bustamante was a deeply disturbed girl even before committing the crime, which she wrote about in her diary: "I just (expletive) killed someone, and it was ahmazing (sic)."
The settlement terms stemming from Preiss' civil suit also shields Bustamante's heirs/estate from future lawsuits relating to Olten's murder.
So who are the winners and losers in the latest legalities?
There are no winners, and nothing can change the fact that Olten lost her life and her family lost a loved one.
All we can hope at this point is that this will add even a small amount of closure for Olten's family, and that Bustamonte gets the treatment she needs in prison and continues to seek forgiveness.
Before being sentenced, Bustamante faced Olten's family, saying: "If I could give my life to get her back I would. I'm sorry."
We don't know whether Olten's family has accepted that apology. It's the right thing to do, but we can't imagine the strength it would take to do so in that situation.