Jania Ashlynn
In 2021, Tristyn Bailey, a seventh grade student at Patriot Oaks Academy in St. Johns, FL, was found dead in a wooded area near her home. She had been stabbed 114 times. Last month, her classmate, Aiden Fucci, pleaded guilty to the brutal murder.
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Impact Statements
At his sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Bailey’s mother requested that Judge R. Lee Smith of the 7th Judicial Court, to hand down a maximum sentence, life in prison, to Fucci for killing her daughter.
Fucci faces a 40-year minimum sentence for the crime. Though the state of Florida does carry the death penalty, Fucci cannot receive that particular sentence because he was 14 years old when he committed the murder.
Fox News Digital released the in-court statement that Tristyn’s mother, Stacy Bailey, made in court.
“Your Honor, I plead with you, please consider everything he has done to our daughter and our family. Aiden Fucci made a heinous decision on May 9, 2021, and took the very life that I brought into this world. Please do not for one second think that he could be rehabilitated at any point. He is beyond saving.”
She expressed that the mere idea of her daughter’s final moments still haunts her.
“Visions flood my head how terrified she must have been,” she shared, according to The Florida Times-Union. “He continues to strike, over and over and over … These visions are embedded in my mind … I pray she passed out, but honestly with the amount of defense wounds, I know she did not. She fought, and our beautiful daughter suffered for so long as he took no mercy in the 114 times he stabbed her.”
Tristyn’s father Forrest Bailey addressed Fucci in court as well. “I want to be clear, your insincere apology is not accepted. At no point in time have I seen any remorse.”
“When you lose a child, there’s ongoing questions of doubt,” he continued, “The pain and triggers happen every day.”
Unanswered Questions
Alexis Bailey, Tristyn’s sister, asked Fucci a series of questions during her victim impact statement.
“Did she see you coming at her with the knife or did you stab her while she wasn’t paying attention? … Did she beg you to stop? … What were her last words? Did you stay to watch her die?” she asked.
Tristyn’s older brother Teegan shared a statement as well. He was sitting on the couch watch television with Tristyn the night that she was killed. He went to bed first.
“Every single day I can’t help to wonder had I slept on that couch instead or I had stayed up later … there’s a possibility my little sister could still be alive today. I have lived with that question, that weight, that guilt since I went to wake up Tristyn on Mother’s Day and found her room empty.”
Her sister Brittany was on her honeymoon when she heard the news. She still remembers the “blood-curdling and excruciating screams” and “fatal wail” of her parents as authorities revealed the nature of Tristyn’s death.
The family shared their statements alongside a jaw filled with 114 stone hearts to represent the wounds Tristyn suffered.
Fucci’s sentence is set to be handed down in the coming days.
