The body of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey learned on May 9, 2021, Mother’s Day, hours after the Florida teenager reported her family’s fault. She had been stabbed and stabbed again and again.
Aiden Fucci, then 14, arrested for first-degree murder in Bailey’s death, a case that drew national attention for its brutality and the age of the victim and perpetrator. In February 2023, just before the jury variety begins. Fucci replaced his plea of guilt.
Judge R. Lee Smith sentenced Fucci to prison Friday, calling the crime “heinous, heinous and cruel. “
“This was done with no explanation other than to satisfy this defendant’s internal preference of feeling what it’s like to kill someone,” Smith said. “He committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretext of ethical or legal justification. “
This is what happened in 2021 and the following months.
Tristyn Bailey, one of Stacy and Forrest Bailey’s five children. He lived in Durbin Crossing, in northwest St. County. Johns, located in northeast Florida, just south of Jacksonville. Bailey was a student and cheerleader at Patriot Oaks Academy in St. Johns.
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Aiden Sean Fucci, 14 at the time of the murder, was a classmate at Patriot Oaks and lived near Bailey. Fucci’s friend and other friends told investigators that Fucci talks about killing other people and, in particular, said he planned to drag a user randomly. in the forest and stab them. Although records of minors under 18 are sealed, Seventh Circuit State Attorney R. J. Larizza said Fucci has no criminal record.
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On the night of his death, a frifinish said Fucci asked for Bailey’s number, according to police reports. He convinced her to leave the space and end up in the space of a frifinish, and video footage from an apartment shows two other people suspected of being Fucci. and Bailey walking east on Saddlestone Drive near the domain where his frame later discovered near the end of a retention pond. An hour and forty-five minutes later, the same video appears to show Fucci returning, alone, dressed in his shoes.
An autopsy found Tristyn had 114 “stab wounds or stab wounds to the head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and back,” according to an unredacted affidavit of the warrant issued by the state attorney. At least of them were defensive injuries, the medical examiner said.
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In Fucci’s arrest report, it showed he was with Bailey at a mutual friend’s house and left with her around 1:10 a. m. m. of May 9, 2021. He said he walked for a while until he was given the house around 3:30 a. m. m.
But one investigator said Fucci kept turning his story. Eventually, Fucci said they had an argument and pushed Bailey to the ground, where she hit her head.
Fucci arrested for second-degree murder in Bailey’s death. The Seventh Circuit State’s Attorney’s Office changed the rate to first-degree murder, premeditated, because of the brutality of the crime. Fucci qualified as an adult.
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Oui. Au the search for Bailey without him, an investigator saw a Snapchat message from Fucci showing him in the back of a patrol car taking a selfie and waving a peace sign. The message read: “Hey guys, [sic] I saw Tristyn recently” One of the responses said, “You were with her, Aiden, you know what happened to her. “
A pointless male knife discovered in the pond near its frame matched a fragment lodged in Bailey’s scalp and known as Fucci. There is a safety video and DNA evidence.
There were also wet shoes and bloody clothes on most of the sensitive ones in their room, blood and dirt in the drain near the bathroom sink, and wet jeans in a laundry basket. An empty knife case discovered in his room, along with a pocket book with violent drawings. Cell phone recordings and emails, Snapchats, recorded phone calls and text messages from offenders, and interviews with friends, family circle members, teachers, and fellow prisoners are additional evidence in the case.
Chronology: Events of the Disappearance, by Tristyn Bailey, 13, in Florida
In interviews with investigators, Fucci’s friend said she carried a knife with him and talked about killing other people and even her. He came behind her and pretended to slit her throat. But she and other friends said they never took it seriously. He also said he claimed to hear voices in his head when he was angry. He told the court he was taking antidepressants.
In sentencing proceedings, the sergeant of the St. County Sheriff’s OfficeKurt Hannon noticed that Fucci’s friend and friend described him as someone who had a fascination with knives, took one with him and showed them to him. He even called them “Picker” and “Poker. “
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CCTV from Fucci’s home the day after the murder captured Crystal Lane Smith, Fucci’s mother, taking jeans from Fucci’s bedroom to the adjacent bathroom, and the video appears to show her jeans rubbing shoulders.
That night, Fucci placed his parents in a recorded detention room at the St. County Sheriff’s Office. Johns. Smith asked Fucci if he was sure there was nothing on his clothes from the night before, according to the sheriff’s office. I think so, why?” he asked Fucci. La order said that “Smith could be seen giving [Fucci] a look of astonishment and whispering, ‘Blood. ‘”
Police placed the jeans in Fucci’s room with a search warrant. The jeans and bathroom sink drain tested positive for blood, the affidavit says.
Crystal Smith arrested in June for tampering with evidence in the case.
Sheriff’s Office incident reports document several instances in which Fucci engaged in fights, smuggled inmates, intimidated inmates into taking away their commissioner’s items, threatened them and was combative with guards and threatened them. He had to be pepper-sprayed and immobilized several times.
One detainee also said Fucci claimed it was “real” because he stabbed a woman face to face, unlike others who turned to someone.
Although he was charged with first-degree murder as an adult, he is not eligible for the death penalty because of his youth. He faces 40 years in prison. After serving 25 years of life in prison, the ruling would likely dictate the option of a lighter sentence, according to Florida law.
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Contributors: Scott Butler, Teresa Stepzinski, Florida Times-Union; Sheldon Gardner, Colleen Michele Jones, St. Augustine Record