15-Year-Old Charged With Murder of Mo. Girl

ST. MARTINS, Mo. Oct. 24, 2009— -- Authorities have charged a 15-year-old with first-degree murder for the death of a 9-year-old girl in central Missouri.

Cole County Juvenile Court Administrator Michael Couty said Saturday that the 15-year-old is being detained for the death of Elizabeth Olten. Police did not release the teen's gender or name.

Elizabeth's body was found Friday -- two days after she went missing -- after the suspect led police to a wooded area near her home west of Jefferson City. Cole County Sheriff Greg White said Saturday that the girl was found in an area that had previously been searched but she had been "very well concealed."

White said Elizabeth was acquainted with the suspect but declined to elaborate.

The sheriff did not give any details on how Elizabeth died or about the juvenile in custody, but said Elizabeth's body was found just before 3 p.m.

"We were able to obtain some physical evidence and through some analysis of some of the evidence and in all honesty some written evidence, we were able to develop a person of interest," White said on Friday. "Once we reached that person and interviewed them, ultimately they led us to where we've recovered Elizabeth's body."

Elizabeth, of St. Martins, was last seen when she started walking home from a neighbor's house on Wednesday evening, police have said.

White said he had spoken with Elizabeth's mother and said the family is "deeply grieving."

"I'm a parent, and I know how I would feel. I would simply leave it to you that they are grieving," he said.

Elizabeth's family and friends have described her as a bashful fourth-grader -- the youngest of five children -- who loved cats but was afraid of the dark and would not normally have gone into the woods. Some of her family members had spent Friday making buttons with Elizabeth's photo, before learning of her death.

"She was a wonderful, happy, shy child. I never saw her argue with her mother, her sister or anyone," said Liza Adrian, the sister-in-law of Elizabeth's sister, who spoke on behalf of the family during a Friday night news conference.