Elizabeth Olten, AMBER Alert, October 21, 2009 MO.
October 22, 2009 1:09 PM Elizabeth Olten Missing - 9-Year-Old Disappears in Cole County, Missouri (Handout)Handout Photo: Elizabeth Olten. NEW YORK(CBS/AP) Cole County Sheriff's deputies are still searching for Elizabeth Olten, a 9-year-old girl who was reported missing late Wednesday night after she didn’t return home from a friend's house. Olten is from St. Martin's, Mo., a small town two and half hours drive West of St. Louis. According to authorities, Olten was supposed to have returned home after visiting a friend who lived about a quarter mile from her home. She was last see at around 6:15 p.m. when she left her friend's house to walk the short distance down Route D west of Jefferson City. (Handout)Handout Photo: Elizabeth Olten. Her family called police when she did not arrive home by 7 p.m. Search teams were assembled at the Extreme Body and Paint shop by 7:30 p.m. and combed the wooded area using flashlights. They were still searching at around 10:20 p.m. last night. They are expected to resume the search early this morning. Olten was last seen wearing a pink sweater over a T-shirt with butterflies when she disappeared. She was also wearing blue jeans and white sneakers. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Cole County Sheriff's Department at 573-634-9100. http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/22/crimesider/entry5409548.shtml

Search under way for 9-year-old mid-Missouri girl The Associated Press ST. MARTINS, Mo. | Dozen of people were searching a rural, wooded area in central Missouri today for a 9-year-old girl who did not return home a night earlier after visiting a friend. Cole County Sheriff Greg White said Elizabeth Olten left the friend’s house about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday and was supposed to walk a quarter mile to her home in St. Martins, just west of Jefferson City. She was reported missing around 7 p.m. Elizabeth was listed as an “endangered missing person” and the FBI had joined the case, White said. The sheriff said it did not appear that the girl had run away from home, but no Amber Alert had been issued because there was no evidence of an abduction or foul play. The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported that Elizabeth’s family members said she is afraid of the woods and the dark, so she wouldn’t normally be out at night. Elizabeth, who has long brown hair and brown eyes, is about 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighs 102 pounds. She was last seen wearing a pink scarf, sweater and T-shirt with butterflies, blue jeans and white shoes. The search focused on a section of woods several hundred yards in diameter, which police had narrowed by triangulating the girl’s cell phone location, White said. But the battery had died by this morning. An uneven terrain, high brush and soaking weather hampered the search effort. “If you go to Iowa and look at a flat piece of farmland that’s 140 acres, you go, well it’s not that big.’ You translate that to Missouri and you use the same thing, you walk a long time to cover that same amount of land,” White said. “It’s muddy out there now. It’s difficult terrain, it’s difficult weather.” On Wednesday night, the Missouri State Highway Patrol searched for Elizabeth using a helicopter with a thermal imaging radar. But White said fall foliage hindered that effort. When the full search of about 60 people resumed this morning, a team with dogs used by the Department of Corrections joined officials from nearby fire departments and numerous state and local police agencies. http://www.kansascity.com/news/breaking_news/story/1523510.html#

Body of Missing Missouri Girl, 9, Found in Woods Friday, October 23, 2009 The body of a 9-year-old Missouri girl who vanished walking home from a friend's house was found in a heavily wooded area Friday. An "older juvenile" suspect led authorities to Elizabeth Olten's body, deep in the woods near where an exhaustive search for the child was under way for much of the day. Elizabeth disappeared just after she started walking home from a friend's house Wednesday night. "There's been no contact with her since then," Cole County Sheriff Greg White told Fox News earlier Friday, before Elizabeth was found dead. White said Elizabeth spoke with her parents on the phone before she left her friend's house. "Her parents said she should leave and get home," he told Fox. About 70 investigators worked on leads Friday and another 70 people spent the day scouring woody, uneven terrain west of Jefferson City, Mo. The Associated Press contributed to this report. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,569338,00.html

Olten's body found By Jeff Haldiman - jhaldiman@newstribune.com Published: Friday, October 23, 2009 3:33 PM CDT Elizabeth Olten, missing since Wednesday night, was found dead Friday. Authorities announced that her body had been recovered in a heavily wooded area. This is an area that they have been searching since Wednesday. Through physical evidence and some written evidence, officials said at a 3 p.m. news briefing, they determined a person of interest. That person was interviewed and then led officials to the body. A juvenile, apparently a friend of Elizabeth's, is involved in the case. No other details were available immediately, and the case remains under investigation. http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/10/23/news_local/069local02bodyfound09.txt

October 27, 2009 Breaking Developments in Elizabeth Olten case Posted: 05:43 PM ET New stunning reports have emerged in the Elizabeth Olten case today. On Friday we first learned about the body of the 9 year old being found in a heavily wooded area behind her home. Police had been searching that area for days, but for some reason did not find Elizabeth until Friday afternoon…now we know why. Police reveal they were led to the location of the body by a teen that they now have in custody and plan to charge in connection with Elizabeth’s murder. Cops say that physical and written evidence led them to the identification of the suspect, including a letter from an unidentified person. After interviewing the teen, cops were led to the body, which they say was very well concealed in the wooded area, which would explain why authorities were not able to find it before. Now we are learning, through multiple media reports and neighbors, that the teen suspect, who will be charged in the murder, is a 15 year old girl! Cops won’t reveal much about the suspect, besides their age, but have asked the district attorney’s office to charge the teen with first degree murder. Prosecutors say that request from the sheriff’s office is a direct indication that they believe the murder was pre-meditated. Meanwhile, neighbors on the ground are telling us that right after the body was found, authorities began searching the home of the friend that Elizabeth was last seen playing with. You recall Elizabeth went missing as she was headed home from that friend’s house. Cops will not confirm the report, and it’s unclear what led them to search that home. There are two upcoming hearings in this case that could hold great significance. The first is a hearing tomorrow, where the court will decide if the suspect will remain at the juvenile detention center, or will be allowed to go home until the hearing scheduled for next month. Prosecutors will request the teen remain at the detention center. The other court date will be the big showdown: a certification hearing will be held on November 18 where the court will decide if the teen suspect will be charged as an adult or as a juvenile. Under Missouri law, children as young as 12 can be charged as adults with first degree murder, however, should the teen suspect face first degree murder in adult court, they won’t face the death penalty. Missouri Law does not allow someone younger then 16 years old to be sentenced to the death penalty. Also today, the family of Elizabeth Olten began the process of saying goodbye to their beloved child. Visitation for Elizabeth Olten was held today, the memorial is scheduled for tomorrow. Posted by: Matt Zarrell Filed under: Story Updates http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/27/breaking-developments-in-elizabeth-olten-case/