WASHINGTON, US - A teenage girl in Missouri will be charged as an adult, her lawyer said Thursday, for allegedly killing a nine-year-old girl because she "wanted to know what it felt like."

The court in Cole County, near Jefferson City, charged the 15-year-old as an adult with strangling and stabbing to death last month nine-year-old Elizabeth Olten, attorney Kurt Valentine told AFP.

If convicted the girl could face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

After telling investigators that she had "wanted to know" how it felt, the teenager led police to a forest where she had buried the body. She had dug two graves in the forest a few days before the killing, court records showed.

She was reportedly a good student in school and was unknown to police in the area.

The local News Tribune newspaper said that in 2007 she had attempted suicide and was being treated for depression.

She had also become involved with Gothic culture, where adherents dress in dark clothing and reportedly praise suicidal behavior.

If convicted, the teenager "is not going to survive her time in the Cole County jail," where she would be held with adult criminals, warned Valentine.