All Blog Posts from Crimesider

NEW YORK (CBS/AP) In an exclusive interview with CBS News Crimesider, one of Alyssa Bustamante's closest friends said that the alleged killer of Missouri 9-year-old Elizabeth Olten had talked about murdering before, and had a psychologically troubled past that may have been overlooked by professionals.

Jennifer Meyer, 15, who spoke exclusively with Crimesider, said that Bustamante had once told her, "I wonder what it would be like to kill somebody."

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BOSTON - Convicted killer Michelle Kosilek has hairy legs and wants you to pay for the electrolysis treatments needed to make them as smooth as a baby's behind.

Born as Robert Kosilek, Michelle Kosilek has been waiting for years for a judge in Boston to rule on a request for a taxpayer-funded sex-change operation in order to complete the prisoner's transformation into a woman.

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NEW YORK - Ann Summers, grandmother of murdered 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, is strongly defending her daughter, who is accused of selling Shaniya as a sex slave to the man that, police, say, eventually killed her.

"She did not harm her kids. I was there, I should know," Summers said of her daughter Antoinette Davis.

Summers had more choice words for Mario Andrette McNeill, the man accused of raping and killing Shaniya on the same day her mother reported her missing.

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NEW YORK - Crimesider has obtained exclusive photos of Alyssa Bustamante, the 15-year-old alleged killer of Elizabeth Olten, 9.

The collection of Facebook and MySpace photos reveals a multi-faceted teenage girl who appears troubled and typical at the same time — smiling, seemingly carefree in one photo, holding her hand as a gun to her head in the next.

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FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - More than 2000 people joined Shaniya Davis' father, Bradley Lockhart, Sunday, at an emotional funeral for the North Carolina 5-year-old, who, police say, was raped, murdered, then thrown in a pile of trash bags and deer carcasses like she was someone's garbage.

"Don't let God's words and don't let his actions get you down," Lockhart told the packed congregation. "He did this for a reason."

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NEW YORK - Police in Southern California say an attack Friday on a redheaded middle school student may have been inspired by an episode of "South Park."

Authorities say a 12-year-old boy was assaulted by a group of middle school classmates in Calabasas who may have targeted him after an Internet posting urged students to beat up redheads.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. Richard Erickson says the boy, who has red hair and freckles, was kicked and hit in two incidents Friday at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas. As many as 14 students participated in the attacks.

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NEW YORK - They call him Friar Nip-and-Tuck.

And now a New York pastor has been ordered to serve five years probation for dipping into his church's coffers to pay for his for plastic surgery bills.

But boy does his face look great!

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When Shaniya Davis, 5, was reported missing in North Carolina on November 10, 2009, suspicion turned to a man described as her mother's boyfriend. But he was let go, and police targeted another man spotted on hotel surveillance footage holding the child. Then, authorities arrested the girl's mother and accused her of offering her daughter for prostitution, hoping Shaniya was still alive, but fearing the worst.

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NEW YORK - "Killing people" and "cutting" -- two hobbies listed by Alyssa Bustamante, the Missouri 15-year-old alleged killer of Elizabeth Olten, 9, in an online profile.

She wasn't exaggerating, police say.

Authorities say the teenager strangled, cut the throat, and stabbed Olten, her young next door neighbor, killing her.

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Alyssa Bustamante, the 15-year-old accused of killing her 9-year-old neighbor Elizabeth Olten, was sent to a mental hospital after her lawyer said she showed signs of severe depression and anxiety.

A judge ordered Bustamante to be taken to the Fulton State Hospital for up to 96 hours, but it was unclear exactly when that clock started. The order by Cole County Circuit Judge Patricia Joyce is dated Thursday but did not have a time stamp; it was released Friday.

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