JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – A Missouri teenager accused of killing a 9-year-old neighbor girl is to appear in court for a potential plea hearing.

Alyssa Bustamante pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder in the October 2009 slaying of Elizabeth Olten in a rural town just west of Jefferson City.

The 16-year-old was scheduled to be tried as an adult later this month, but Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson confirms Bustamante is to appear at a hearing Tuesday.

In 2009, a state Highway Patrol officer testified that Bustamante confessed to strangling Elizabeth, cutting her throat and stabbing her because she wanted to know what it felt like. But last summer, a judge blocked part of Bustamante’s statement from being used at her trial.