Episode 288

On Mother’s Day weekend in 2021, a brutal crime shattered an affluent neighborhood in St. Johns, Florida. When 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey was reported missing, the community mobilized, unaware of the dark secrets lurking just beneath the surface. As investigators closed in on a suspect, it became clear that some of the most chilling betrayals came from those closest to home.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Listener discretion is advised.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
There was no reason. There was no purpose. It was
done for no other reason than to satisfy this defendant's
internal desire to feel what it was like to kill someone.

Speaker 4 (00:33):
Why is there a Sword and Scale on a Tuesday?

Speaker 1 (00:36):
That doesn't seem right? I should call the manager.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
This is season twelve, episode two hundred and eighty eight
of Sword and Scale show that reveals that the worst
monsters are real. Hey, instead of complaining, I wanted to
head on over to the store and buy some stored

(01:01):
outswordskill dot com. We got murdered daddy's shirts, we got
people are shit tank tops. We have sass whole dad
hats that are perfect for summer. In fact, we have
a whole bunch of tumblers and things that are great
for the beach or the pool. I have to head
on over there and support your favorite podcast, because I

(01:22):
know this is something we do for the love of it.
But you know we also like to eat every now
and then. Let's get a little warmer out there, So

(01:49):
let me take you down to a little place called
Saint John's, Florida. It's a suburban dreamland tucked between Jacksonville
and Saint Augustine. Sounds pleasant, doesn't it. This is a
place where life feels peaceful, predictable. Ordinary golf courses blend

(02:12):
seamlessly into hoa neighborhoods. Everyone has a pool here. Parents
trust that when their kids leave in the morning, they'll
come back at night before the street lights turn on.
Saint John's wasn't always as booming as it is today.
In fact, it was barely a dot on a map
just a few decades ago. But things have changed, especially

(02:37):
in Florida. Over the past ten years, the once quiet
community has exploded in size, growing from just over eighteen
thousand people to almost ninety thousand today. Despite that growth,
there's still a sense of security here, a belief that
you know your neighbors, that you know your children, that

(03:01):
bad things happen somewhere else. On Mother's Day, May ninth,
twenty twenty one, it would take only twelve hours for
that sense of safety to shatter completely. You're gonna have
to pay close attention here. We're going to jump around
in the timeline a bit, but we'll start at around

(03:23):
three point thirty pm. On the side of one of
these beautifully landscaped streets sits a cop car. In the
back seat there are two teenage boys, both about fourteen
years old. They live in the area and their parents
have money and ring cameras everywhere. These aren't the type

(03:43):
of kids you usually see in the back of a
police cruiser. They're laughing, each holding their own phone with
one extended arm as they record videos on Snapchat for
Cred fucking Coppard.

Speaker 5 (04:02):
Tristan justin if you fucking to walk out of the dam
when you see this.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
He's talking about a missing teen Tristan. He says, Tristan,
if you walk out the dam, and then the video
cuts off. Then Aiden posts another snap but he's holding
up a peace sign and it's captioned, Hey guys, has
anybody seen Tristan lately? You see, as they're laughing and

(04:29):
joking in the back of a cop car their classmate
is missing. It's as if the gravity of the situation
hasn't sunk in yet, or worse that it doesn't matter.
Earlier that morning, thirteen year old Tristan Bailey's mother had
awoken to find her daughter's bed empty, given Tristan's age

(04:50):
and the fact that she's a cheerleader with good grades.
Her mom immediately called nine one one.

Speaker 6 (05:00):
You could come to my home right now.

Speaker 7 (05:01):
I don't.

Speaker 8 (05:03):
I don't even.

Speaker 9 (05:05):
Take a big book for me.

Speaker 10 (05:06):
Okay, I will think talking.

Speaker 11 (05:08):
She's thirteen, thirteen years old?

Speaker 9 (05:12):
Can you go room by room with me?

Speaker 4 (05:15):
I did.

Speaker 8 (05:16):
I did take a sif bread.

Speaker 12 (05:17):
I had my whole family.

Speaker 13 (05:20):
It was she's supposed to be sleeping in her room. Yes,
the last time somebody saw her.

Speaker 3 (05:27):
Was at mid night?

Speaker 9 (05:29):
Was last night?

Speaker 14 (05:30):
Yeap?

Speaker 15 (05:31):
What time you all waited ben her?

Speaker 3 (05:34):
The last time her sister saw her was at midnight.

Speaker 9 (05:38):
Is there any reason that she would have left to
go to.

Speaker 16 (05:40):
A friend's house?

Speaker 7 (05:42):
No, I haven't mean left out before. No, not to
my knowledge.

Speaker 17 (05:47):
And her location is off her.

Speaker 11 (05:50):
Not cat locations off.

Speaker 18 (05:51):
I have my friend have.

Speaker 13 (05:53):
Her and I spent sixty and she stopped sharing mokupo
with her.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
Her phone's going straight the boymail.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
While her mother was on the phone, Tristan's father scoured
the property desperate to find her. When that failed, he
got in his car, driving through the neighborhood in search
of her. Soon police started to arrive at the Bailey's residence,
ready to take statements and launch a full scale search
of their own.

Speaker 12 (06:20):
So, you know, my wife and I woke up this morning, and.

Speaker 5 (06:25):
The time is that up, it's okay.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
We'd probably both look up around seven, okay.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
And my daughter was and said that she was going
to make breakfast for my wife because it's mother's day.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Started making breakfast. It was around nine thirty.

Speaker 19 (06:53):
When I say nine thirty or nine forty, that we
asked my son to go upstairs to wake up, come
down for breakfast.

Speaker 9 (07:02):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (07:04):
He came down and said.

Speaker 19 (07:08):
He didn't find her in her room or in the.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
Media room, which.

Speaker 12 (07:17):
The kids would sometimes sleep on if they're working to
be So I went up to drive around the two
amenity centers, just worried that I'm.

Speaker 9 (07:27):
Sorry, if I'm going to.

Speaker 20 (07:28):
Host New York friend, I'm worried that she.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Might be up there.

Speaker 13 (07:35):
And then you came back over here, and that's when
law enforcement started to show up.

Speaker 14 (07:38):
Correct.

Speaker 2 (07:38):
Correct, law enforcement was here at one point. So that's
when we started to piece together that she snuck out
last night.

Speaker 21 (07:49):
We begin tonight with breaking news from Saint John's County,
where police say this thirteen year old girl hasn't been
seen in some fifteen hours.

Speaker 5 (07:59):
Thanks for us as six. I'm Jeff Bellen.

Speaker 21 (08:01):
This is the photo of the Saint John's County Sheriff's
Office wants you to take a close look at Tristan
Bailey is missing. Deputies say she was last seen during
the overnight hours at the Amenity Center in the Durban
Crossing subdivision.

Speaker 22 (08:14):
You know, again, so many families out here, you know.
I talked with one family who says their kids went
to school with Bailey and they still can't believe something
like this happened. You know, They've been here, living here
for about twelve years now, and they said, never has
a child been missing. The Saint John's County Sheriff's Office
says Bailey was last wearing a white cheerleading skirt and
a dark colored skirt shirt. So if you have any

(08:38):
information about the current whereabouts or have seen Bailey, please
contact your nearest local law enforcement.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
After piecing some things together and talking with the parents
of some of Tristan's friends, they quickly determined that Tristan
had plans to sneak out that night, as did many
other kids. Apparently there were secret tunnels underneath Tristan in
his neighborhood, which the straight out of his Stephen King
novel and you know, kind of cool.

Speaker 2 (09:06):
We heard that she was linked with.

Speaker 12 (09:11):
Potentially this boy Trey, a boy Tray, and a boy.

Speaker 2 (09:19):
Aiden.

Speaker 12 (09:21):
There was also another boy, Joshua, but from everything I've heard.

Speaker 19 (09:25):
That Joshua didn't pan out. At one point, I also left.
I left with my daughter because we heard there's this place.

Speaker 12 (09:36):
Called the Tunnel where kids sometimes go and use drugs.

Speaker 4 (09:42):
Here's one of the other parents talking about the notorious Tunnels.

Speaker 6 (09:47):
They were hanging out at the North. They stuck out
sometime in the middle of the night, and we're hanging
out at the North and then the two boys went
home and they said, going to go home, but she
was going to meet this twenty two year old guy.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
I guess she buys babe stuff.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
From or gets a twenty tw year old dealer or
twenty tw year.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Old plug, whatever that means.

Speaker 6 (10:08):
But I don't know who that guy was.

Speaker 4 (10:10):
Sneaking out into those tunnels wasn't uncommon, especially for teens
looking for an escape from the ordinary or the watchful
eyes of their parents and the numerous numerous security cameras.
I mean, I really should buy some ringstock.

Speaker 15 (10:29):
Describe to me what takes place at the back of
these trails as far as your understanding of it.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
What are these people do drugs?

Speaker 9 (10:35):
They come out high?

Speaker 5 (10:37):
What kind of drugs?

Speaker 23 (10:39):
I'll, I'll, I know of where I've seen my own
eyes in marijuana, and I've seen babes. Okay, ninety five
percent of time when I go to North I do
not see people coming in or out, or even if
I go and there people in there, it's normally like
one thirty in the morning, people go back there.

Speaker 15 (11:02):
What's her relationship with Trey and Aiden?

Speaker 9 (11:04):
Do you know?

Speaker 23 (11:05):
I mean, I have no idea. I personally didn't even
know they knew each other.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
You didn't know who knew each other?

Speaker 9 (11:11):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
I didn't knew.

Speaker 23 (11:12):
I didn't know Aiden Trey them too. I didn't know
they knew. Okay, what do you know about? I mean,
how is she? Describer to me?

Speaker 5 (11:20):
She?

Speaker 23 (11:21):
I just know she did she played cheer. I knew
she was friends with She's gonna be friends with older kids.
Shed at lunch, you know me come sit up with
like the older kids, because she's she wasn't six when
I was an eighth, So she would always be up
with like the seventh or eighth grade areas, and I

(11:42):
just know she was kind of one of the popular people.

Speaker 15 (11:44):
Okay, describe Try and Aiden for me.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
What do you know about them?

Speaker 1 (11:49):
I know?

Speaker 23 (11:50):
First with Trey, I used to I would help volunteer
and coach the po A volleyball team for boys, and
he used to play and he got kicked off for
punching this kid named Josh and the face and like
hurrying him pretty badly. And I just know that's he
has a bad background. I've heard things from people about

(12:11):
his family and just not to mess with him in general.
I just know he's one of the bigger kids. That
just he's one of the beliefs of the school. He's
had problems, and then Aiden, he's I've had problems.

Speaker 9 (12:23):
He has in the past.

Speaker 23 (12:25):
I think maybe three or four months ago, jumped to
one of my friends named Henrik in my grade, and
that's how I know he's not a very good person.
Trey has been held back. He's fifteen, but he's in
the eighth grade. And Aiden, I'm pretty ser he's fourteen
and in the eighth grade.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
Rumors were starting to spread fast. Group chats lit up
with speculation quickly adding new names to the mix.

Speaker 24 (12:55):
From everyone talking about it. I just heard that she
was missing and then she's just like snuck out or something.
But it turned out people talking about what they thought happened.

Speaker 9 (13:05):
Or what happened.

Speaker 10 (13:06):
And one of the kids that was supposed to be involved,
and who was Aptain Abrahem, I think he say his lesson.

Speaker 1 (13:15):
How old is he?

Speaker 10 (13:16):
He is fourteen? He's in my grade.

Speaker 25 (13:19):
And he had said some things in a was it
a private chat?

Speaker 10 (13:22):
And someone screenshoted it.

Speaker 1 (13:24):
Do you know who's talking to?

Speaker 25 (13:27):
His name is on it, and he says, Aiden Tree
just snuck out with her train and chalking. So they
went in the woods. He raped her, I mean she
was all up on him. She tried running away and
her and she fell and she bled out literally thirty
seconds away from my house. Aidan tried to get me
to go with them. Do you know who's who got

(13:51):
the screen grab with this?

Speaker 1 (13:53):
That kid that's right there, and he said it to you.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
It was in a group shot.

Speaker 10 (13:57):
They got reposted, It got reposted everywhere.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Okay, do you know Aiden?

Speaker 26 (14:06):
He went to my.

Speaker 10 (14:06):
School last year. He was in my math class. He
was really bad kid.

Speaker 24 (14:11):
And he was always getting into trouble with girls at
school and as all over them. Yeah, I'm pretty sure
he got expelled from our school.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
That's why it goes to PA.

Speaker 1 (14:23):
Yeah, what about Trey.

Speaker 10 (14:25):
I have no clue. I just my my boyfriend was
he sits at the lunch table with him.

Speaker 24 (14:32):
He was like, I would never suspect him to do that,
Like he's not a very good kid.

Speaker 9 (14:35):
But he was like, I.

Speaker 10 (14:36):
Would have never thought he would do that.

Speaker 5 (14:38):
Gotcha.

Speaker 10 (14:39):
You said that there was another conversation too that had
been deleted.

Speaker 24 (14:43):
Oh yeah, they someone posted on their story, but I
don't think anybody even had time to screenshot it because
they deleted it like that.

Speaker 10 (14:51):
He was like, it was like a group chat that
they had like planned to do this.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
They aiden, or yeah.

Speaker 10 (15:00):
Who is on that group chap? And often.

Speaker 9 (15:05):
Try And that's the reason.

Speaker 23 (15:07):
Yeah, mine is standing is that I know both kids
decently well and had problems with both of them in
the past, and that their area or all the keys
area around here that do drugs, starts just don't do
good things, hang out at this spot by North.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Just way back there in the woods, and.

Speaker 23 (15:29):
I know they just sounds like an air they would
take people to do things like that.

Speaker 4 (15:35):
As Trey Absher and Aidan Fucci sat in the back
of a cop car broadcasting themselves on Snapchat, rumors continued
to circulate. The leading theory was that the two boys
had lured Tristan into the woods, assaulting her and killing her. Allegedly,
they had even tried to involve the third boy, who

(15:57):
backed out. Even more suspicious, Tristan allegedly had an ongoing
sexual relationship with Trey. Keep in mind, folks, these kids
are thirteen and fourteen years old. Prior to Tristan's disappearance,
a video had been circulating around the school that depicted
the teens were in a sexual act. Trey had secretly

(16:20):
recorded the encounter and shared it with other boys, which,
by the way, can stick your kid with charges in
the realm of possession, production and distribution of child pornography,
even if they're a minor in case you didn't know, so,
if you're parenting via iPad, I would suggest you get

(16:40):
off your ass. So anyway, the night before Tristan went missing,
Trey had been badgering a different girl from their school
to come meet them out in the woods that night.
Her name is Lola, and you know, I don't know
how you pronounced his name, Adrian.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
Foodsheet him.

Speaker 14 (17:02):
Well, I didn't know him personally, but I heard about
him a lot. In the fifth grade. He got he
got sent home because he broke the kid's nose, and
then he's been getting in a lot of trouble and stuff.
Because it's kind and like I didn't know him personally,

(17:23):
I stayed away from people like him. And then earlier
today he posted something in the back of a cop
car saying, yo, anyone seemed and traded the same thing,
and everybody's been reposting that and saying about how messed
up that is?

Speaker 9 (17:41):
Right.

Speaker 14 (17:42):
He asked me to sneak out earlier that morning, and
I said yeah, because like, live a.

Speaker 10 (17:50):
Little have fun.

Speaker 14 (17:52):
What time do you think around ten thirty? He asked
me first, and then he kept snapping me through the
whole entire day, which was like are you still going?

Speaker 2 (18:03):
You still going?

Speaker 14 (18:03):
Which I found a little bit weird.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
And so then I was at ten thirty am.

Speaker 7 (18:11):
H that was am, and.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
That would have been Saturday morning yesterday.

Speaker 14 (18:16):
So what my main theory was is that after Tree
got mad at me and I got mad at him,
he asked her a sneak out, and then so I
know that like at food trucks, she would always talk
about the times when she sneaks out and stuff, and
I know that she's not exactly like, you know, like

(18:38):
the ideal daughter and everybody just wants to sneak out
and have fun.

Speaker 4 (18:45):
Tristan had actually told one of her friends about her
plans to hang out with Trey and Aiden. Tristan was
the only one who thought that sneaking out and hanging
out with these boys was a good idea. Even her
fellow thirteen year olds told her not to go.

Speaker 10 (19:01):
She was like, I'm supposed to me too with them
sometime this weekend.

Speaker 27 (19:03):
So I guess it was.

Speaker 7 (19:04):
Like after school.

Speaker 27 (19:05):
I didn't really know when it was like I had
this like really bad feeling because like she was like,
we're gonna go hang out, and I was like, like
it just didn't sit right with me, and I got
very agitated, and then she asked me what's wrong, and
I told her like I didn't really know, Like it's
just like I didn't really want her to go, and mean,
I guess she went anyways.

Speaker 4 (19:25):
But despite the warnings, though, Tristan followed through with her
plan walking straight into the unknown. But while everyone was
busy pointing fingers, there was one side of the story
that no one had heard yet, the boys. As afternoon

(20:11):
turned evening on Mother's Day twenty twenty one, the peaceful
Saint John's community had become the epicenter of a frantic investigation.
But began as a simple search for a missing teenage
girl had quickly morphed into something dark and strange. All
eyes were on three teenage boys, Daffie Sapsure known by

(20:33):
everyone as Trey, Aiden Fucci, and a third boy, Abton.
The rumor mill was an overdrive and no one knew
what to believe. So it's around four PM and Saint
John's County cops have Trey and Aiden in the back
of a squad car. They have to get a statement

(20:53):
from each of them before they decide what their next
move is. Meanwhile, another deputy drives over to Appleton's house
to get statements from him and his family.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
Hey are you Aiden?

Speaker 13 (21:05):
Hey, I'm technically so obviously through the Sheriff's office, we're
trying to figure out where Christian's at and I'm not
trying to get you in trouble or anything like that.

Speaker 7 (21:15):
Obviously, I'm more concerned now about her safety and from
what she's doing or she could be hanging out.

Speaker 28 (21:20):
You're telling him that there may be another path.

Speaker 13 (21:22):
He's maybe staying up here, she's staying up what's.

Speaker 1 (21:26):
The path.

Speaker 5 (21:28):
Goes super deep down there.

Speaker 1 (21:29):
Down in the woods.

Speaker 7 (21:31):
Okay, have you heard from her at all?

Speaker 28 (21:34):
No?

Speaker 5 (21:34):
Okay, all right.

Speaker 13 (21:37):
So are you willingly kind of give me a statement
about what's going on with her?

Speaker 9 (21:42):
Yeah?

Speaker 29 (21:43):
So we we're at trace house and then I stayed
there until probably like one fifty am, and now it's really.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Late to be home.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
So I just had to leave the rest.

Speaker 5 (21:51):
With Mama, like serious and just to kill me.

Speaker 29 (21:54):
Okay, So we started walking home and then next to
I where that brick wall starts up there is where
like she touched my dick and I like preshed her
off me real hard.

Speaker 7 (22:04):
And then I just kind of like that I want
and I walked.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Away to anger.

Speaker 7 (22:09):
Why why did she do that?

Speaker 9 (22:10):
Though?

Speaker 14 (22:10):
Was she?

Speaker 26 (22:11):
Like?

Speaker 7 (22:11):
Were y'all talking about plays? She's Oh, she's a hung
So what you're saying.

Speaker 5 (22:17):
She's ready for?

Speaker 7 (22:20):
She had a guy who used.

Speaker 16 (22:22):
She says she bangs in music changes something she she's
told you about this before it still meadmin.

Speaker 4 (22:29):
Other classmates had mentioned this elusive twenty one twenty two
year old guy too. Apparently, Tristan was quote banging him
and was being provided cases of white claw along with
vapes and whatever drugs she wanted, LSD, shrooms, weed, you
name it. Both Trey and Aiden told police they thought

(22:50):
she might have been picked up by this guy after
she and Aiden had their little fight and parted ways
in the middle of the night. They weren't the only
ones with this theory. As these stories unfolded, the police
were working behind the scenes gathering hard evidence. All of
the kid's houses were within walking distance, but the streets
were densely packed, meaning officers would have to knock on

(23:13):
a lot of doors. Then, after scanning hours of security
and doorbell camera footage, someone finds a clip. The truth
is about to surface, one frame at a time, and
it's far more chilling than anyone imagined. You see, when
law enforcement first located Aiden, he gave his side of

(23:35):
the story. He said that after leaving trace house on
Telford Drive at around one am, he and Tristan walked
along North Durban Parkway. He claimed that about a quarter
out of the way into their walk, she parted ways
and made a left onto Cloister Main Drive, her street.

(23:57):
Aiden said he kept walking toward his home on Castledale
Court and got home at around three am. But the
detective quickly picked up on a problem. Why had it
taken Aiden two hours to get home. The distance from
Trey's house to Aiden's home was just under two miles.
A walk like that shouldn't have taken more than forty minutes.

(24:19):
Tops Aiden, sensing the shift in tone, tried to adjust
his story a bit. He told the officer he'd been
walking around by himself for a while for whatever reason.
This inconsistency raised red flags. Of course, to get a
clearer picture, the detective asked Daiden if he'd be willing

(24:42):
to ride in the back of a patrol car and
retrace the path they had walked together. Aiden agreed, and
his dad followed behind him in his golf cart. As
they drove up North Durban Parkway, Aiden's story shifted once again.
This time he admitted that he had an argument during
the walk. He claimed Tristan had tried to make a

(25:04):
move on him, and because he didn't want to cheat
on his girlfriend, he pushed her. Does that sound believable, ladies,
I didn't think so. Anyway, he said, she fell, and
he even got out of the car to demonstrate the push,
saying he thought maybe she hit her head, but he

(25:25):
walked away and didn't look back. But something still didn't
add up. Surveillance footage obtained from a home on Saddlestone Drive,
up near Castledale Court where Aiden lived, showed something entirely different.
At approximately one forty five am, two figures were captured
walking east along the road. One was wearing a light

(25:48):
colored hoodie and wearing Nike shoes, and the other was
dressed in black. But by three twenty seven am, the
same camera captured only one figure, wearing a light colored hoodie,
running west. The footage even captured the sound of his
feet slapping against the sidewalk. He was shoeless carrying his

(26:10):
white nikes. This raised to question why had Aiden and
Tristan been spotted together way past Tristan Street on Saddlestone
Drive if he had claimed she parted from him much
earlier and headed home. After seeing this footage, investigators knew
they had to bring in Aiden one more time for questioning.

(26:34):
They now had proof that he wasn't telling the full story.
Aiden was the last person to see Tristan. No one
else was involved. Once he's put in the back of
a squad car, Aiden's behavior turns desperate.

Speaker 30 (26:49):
When you've done over there, bring the canines over to
Leith Hall and North Durban to get a scent from
over here. Yeah now, yeah, he's with me in the car. Okay.

Speaker 4 (27:09):
As soon as the door shuts and the cop walks away,
he tries to FaceTime his girlfriend, whom he has in
his phone, as quote dream Girl, I mean I can't
even make this ship up cases.

Speaker 7 (27:25):
M making face time full to drink Hill, I want
to say it. Thanks, Okay, I love you. Let me

(27:47):
see your phone.

Speaker 3 (27:49):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (27:55):
Take his phone till for now.

Speaker 5 (27:58):
You wear me home On to your phones.

Speaker 4 (27:59):
All right, buddy, these kids are much more technically savvy
than the cops that are dealing with them. Did he
really think that just putting Aiden's phone in the front
seat would keep them from using it?

Speaker 1 (28:11):
Hey, Siri, text dream Girl, they took my phone. I'm
using Siri and I love you.

Speaker 8 (28:18):
By your message to drink Girl says they took my
photo of using Siri and they love you by ready
to send it.

Speaker 7 (28:28):
Yes, okay, it's sent.

Speaker 1 (28:32):
Hey Siri, text dream Girl. I'm talking through the glass.
I cannot see your text.

Speaker 8 (28:42):
Your message to drink Girlsis, I'm talking through the glass.
I cannot see your text. Ready to send it?

Speaker 7 (28:49):
Yes, okay it's sent.

Speaker 9 (28:53):
Hey Siri.

Speaker 1 (28:55):
Text dream Girl. Please stick with me through this.

Speaker 8 (29:02):
Sorry, could you say it again?

Speaker 7 (29:04):
Please please stick with me through this. I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (29:19):
While Aiden was being driven to the police station, he
lashed out in frustration, kicking the seat in front of
him and complaining, I'm going to get arrested for bullshit,
he said. At the same time, across town, detectives were
at the Bailey residents trying to gather more information about Tristan,
hoping to understand what kind of girl she really was.

Speaker 13 (29:41):
So obviously we're here because went missing, or we're trying
to figure out where she could be at, and I
just want to ask you some questions about like the
last time you had been seen her, or you know
what's going going on with her.

Speaker 9 (29:52):
Or anything like that.

Speaker 13 (29:55):
From your knowledge, when was the last time you saw
her talking?

Speaker 31 (29:59):
It was after twelve, so I think it was probably
around twelve fifteen. She came downstairs, she talked to him
out something that.

Speaker 13 (30:09):
I can remember, okay, And then she went out to
the garage to take a call.

Speaker 31 (30:17):
And then when I went to see what she was doing,
she was on facetiome with a boy and I think
it was tried.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
Now, have you tried calling her, texting her or anything
like that?

Speaker 9 (30:30):
Have had any lots?

Speaker 26 (30:31):
Yeah?

Speaker 31 (30:31):
I've called her a few defense, but it just get
straight to place.

Speaker 13 (30:34):
Now, Okay, has this ever happened with her before that
you were aware of?

Speaker 9 (30:37):
Sure?

Speaker 13 (30:38):
No, you've never heard of Were sneaking out until today
or no?

Speaker 16 (30:43):
Now.

Speaker 4 (30:43):
At this point, the Baileys knew nothing of Aiden's story.
They were still trying to investigate their mysterious twenty two
year old drug dealer lead. The officer following up with
them instructed Tristan's younger sister to call a girl named
Sam you see a Apparently Sam and her sister Lena
were closer to Tristan and had more information about this guy. Ultimately,

(31:08):
this would end up being a fruitless pursuit, but Tristan's
mother was desperate.

Speaker 14 (31:13):
Slia Aiden were like, she said, she was gonna go
beat o her twenty two year old plug Okay, blug
blug like means like deal, what I guess okay, and
so like she said that.

Speaker 28 (31:26):
I was like, oh my god, like I know someone like.

Speaker 10 (31:29):
I don't associate with him whatsoever.

Speaker 26 (31:31):
But I know of him and I really help.

Speaker 31 (31:37):
Thank you, Sam. Anything else, just let me know, okay,
I'll you know.

Speaker 28 (31:43):
Sam, Sam?

Speaker 25 (31:46):
All right?

Speaker 14 (31:47):
Sammy Sam?

Speaker 28 (31:48):
Sam, Please just please.

Speaker 14 (31:52):
Just be honest with me.

Speaker 13 (31:53):
I don't think you're not being honest.

Speaker 28 (31:54):
But somebody just sent me a message and it said.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
That Lena didn't tell the police everything that she knows.

Speaker 13 (32:04):
Sam.

Speaker 10 (32:05):
Does Lena know anything else? Can we If she doesn't
know anything, can you.

Speaker 28 (32:09):
Get it out of her?

Speaker 4 (32:11):
As Tristan's mother and sister talked with the detective in
the kitchen, someone was walking near Saddlestone Drive, where Aiden
and Tristan had been caught on camera the night before.
As Tristan's family speculated about different possibilities, holding out hope
that she may be found alive, this person had just

(32:31):
come a pond her body.

Speaker 32 (32:34):
Hello, all right, this up where your hearts will share office?

Speaker 17 (32:37):
Your uncle?

Speaker 9 (32:38):
Now one wanted the thing?

Speaker 11 (32:38):
Okay, No, I found the missing girl. There's a uh.
Look at the end of the street. There's a retention
pond and there a piece of property. Yeah at the Endnet,
I could come back to the pond at the southern
end of it. She's about twenty five feet in the woods.

Speaker 9 (32:55):
She's in the woods and on the pond.

Speaker 11 (32:58):
She's in the looks back here behind the ponds. She
looks like she's wearing black shorts in the black Okay,
don't touch her, please, sir. What are you wearing. It
looks like black shorts, black niky shorts and the black shirt.
And she's not moving correct, No, there's bugs flying all over.

(33:18):
I don't think she's right.

Speaker 4 (33:21):
As a nine to one one callar hung up the phone.
Tristan's family was ending their call with Sam. Tristan's father
was in another room at the time. He was the
first of them to hear the news. And I gotta say,
brace yourselves.

Speaker 14 (33:37):
All right, thinks okay, let me.

Speaker 31 (33:42):
Okay, So this is.

Speaker 14 (33:48):
I can't thank you, of course, okay, no.

Speaker 24 (33:59):
No, no.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Well, one family faced the unthinkable loss of their daughter.
Another parent just a few miles away, was already trying
to protect their own child, no matter the cost. But
as the truth started to unravel, it became clear not
every parent was grieving. In fact, some are already covering

(34:33):
their tracks. During the night and into the early morning hours,
Aiden and his family were being kept in an interview room.
Holding them in a room together was intentional, but this
flew right over their heads.

Speaker 5 (34:47):
What's this? This this a hole in Urma. It's a
whole aura. They're going to send you toos. They had
to start talking to you.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
Whatever.

Speaker 5 (34:58):
You know, that's talk to your lawyer first.

Speaker 9 (35:04):
Yeah, you do.

Speaker 4 (35:09):
So that's the sound of Aiden's mother, Crystal, entering the room.
You're gonna love her.

Speaker 26 (35:17):
You know.

Speaker 10 (35:18):
You don't speak until Andy comes.

Speaker 7 (35:21):
You have to speak in the cop car.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
You don't have to speak.

Speaker 10 (35:24):
Anywhere until your attorney comes, which is Andy. Yes, So
they did not have to speak and none of the
cop course. You had to speak anywhere until he was present.
You just say I'm not speak as fun Thomas here.

Speaker 5 (35:37):
And then ask you questions. Well, they asked like one,
close my hair and work close in my.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Eyes and all that's all I am.

Speaker 18 (35:47):
And anywhere can you live?

Speaker 28 (35:49):
You know?

Speaker 5 (35:50):
They found the strolly.

Speaker 10 (35:52):
In her neighborhood down on Main Street.

Speaker 9 (35:57):
She did.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
She's dead.

Speaker 10 (36:01):
That's why this is very important.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
It's all on you right now.

Speaker 32 (36:08):
You're the last one seen with her, so right now,
it's a lot of it's facing you right now. So
so however you talk, you breathe, you think, then you respond,
This is very serious.

Speaker 2 (36:21):
Aden.

Speaker 8 (36:22):
You can't act like I don't know, I don't, I don't,
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (36:24):
You can't and you can't.

Speaker 5 (36:27):
Clearly you understand, right.

Speaker 10 (36:32):
Everything you say will affect you.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Everything you say will affect you, she says right after.
You can't act like I don't know.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Hmmm what she means by that.

Speaker 5 (36:44):
That snapshot that you did was not very smart. People
in the Burner house on of course, because of that snapshot.

Speaker 28 (36:52):
Thinking, it's all over your all over the internet, never
social media.

Speaker 32 (36:55):
It's on social media. You'll probably can't stay with me
after we get done with this. It's just for your
well safe being. When you do the sunshine, it's sorry,
and I heard about it.

Speaker 5 (37:07):
And it just doesn't look great.

Speaker 18 (37:10):
So everyone thinks that he did and another kid killed
or right, sure, and that's the one around social media
pretty for us.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
Right now, before we play the next clip, remember what
Crystal had told her son when she came into the room.
She basically scolded him for talking to the cops before
his lawyer was present, but not realizing there are cameras
in every room, she nonchalantly goes on to ask him
all the same questions a detective would ask in an interrogation.

(37:45):
She does their work for them.

Speaker 9 (37:48):
Did you tell them anything different than Copcord that we
don't know about?

Speaker 2 (37:54):
Do you know if this girl.

Speaker 5 (37:58):
Told me about her dealer.

Speaker 2 (38:03):
You think she got picked up by him?

Speaker 5 (38:05):
Probably she said she wouldn't come home. She says she
didn't find somebody left her there walking like you think
she got picked up. After that, she just kept walking,
you know, she turned the other direction, or she was
just still walking behind you. She pushed her down, and
then you walked to what we shouldn't talking to him,
just as I was when we told them.

Speaker 9 (38:28):
As you.

Speaker 5 (38:33):
Walked away, we came straight home. You didn't turn back around.

Speaker 9 (38:36):
See what she went?

Speaker 31 (38:39):
Mm hm.

Speaker 5 (38:42):
What we're doing that late at night?

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Mm hmm About the.

Speaker 5 (38:47):
Tray's house with them? Did you let the kids start
doing anything with this girl?

Speaker 10 (38:53):
Be honest as you can to them to lawyer, Yes, yeah, okay, there.

Speaker 5 (39:02):
Any further mm hmmr be on her.

Speaker 4 (39:08):
I remind you that these people are allowed to vote.

Speaker 32 (39:11):
You saw your your shoes were off on the camera,
or your shoes off, she's get me blessed.

Speaker 2 (39:20):
This is this is serious.

Speaker 25 (39:26):
It's very serious.

Speaker 9 (39:29):
This is no joke.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
This is your whole life, your whole life and your
brothers and sister.

Speaker 10 (39:37):
Did she really grab you when you just really pushed her?

Speaker 9 (39:40):
Was that she did?

Speaker 2 (39:42):
Okay? You don't know what happened to herrever you sure did?

Speaker 10 (39:47):
She said, how get mad?

Speaker 9 (39:50):
She said? She was like, I think I pushed her, but.

Speaker 5 (39:57):
That phone the only directions you want to probably the
other way because she wasn't nicing anymore.

Speaker 10 (40:07):
You didn't look back on. They're searching our house right now.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
Crystal sounds really nervous, doesn't She try to keep up here?

Speaker 1 (40:17):
I know it's a lot.

Speaker 4 (40:18):
The lawyer she mentioned hiring for Aiden is actually a
family member. Crystal isn't married to Aiden's dad. She remarried
and her new husband's brother in law is a lawyer,
So we're talking about that level of lawyering. The lawyer's
wife's name is Victoria, and she knows Crystal did something

(40:40):
very bad.

Speaker 33 (40:41):
First off, of, you could just tell us what is
your relationship to Aiden Fuci's family and how do you
know them and what's the relationship.

Speaker 9 (40:50):
There through marriage.

Speaker 1 (40:52):
My husband and.

Speaker 28 (40:54):
Aidan, Fuji's mother's husband are first cousins. Well, that morning,
we just decided to go on a golf cart ride
to go see their construction that's being taken in their home.
We got there and we're looking at their kitchen and
light pendants, and officers showed up needing to speak to
Aiden and his parents. I soon followed after, just to

(41:19):
see what was going on, and the officers asking questions
about where the last place Aiden had seen the girl
and were there any drugs involved, et cetera. The officer
asked if he could take Aiden so Aidan could show
him where the underground tunnels are in the neighborhood, and
his mom agreed to that. So Aiden left with the

(41:41):
officer in his patrol car and they went to the
North Amenity Center. Crystal and I were outside with the children,
and I had asked her, had she looked in his
room to see if she's seen anything that would be
beneficial or and she said no, and she said that

(42:03):
she was going to so she went up to his
room and I stayed outside with the children. She had
came back down and she had said that his genes
were damp, and I had asked her they are wet
or damp? And she said damp and I said, okay,
like her face looked kind of pale, and I said

(42:23):
what else? And she said there was like a discoloration
on the jeans. And I said, I don't remember exactly why.
I to be honest, I had asked her where the
jeens were, I believe, and she brought me inside.

Speaker 25 (42:37):
Okay, when she brought you inside, did she show you
the geens?

Speaker 9 (42:41):
Yes?

Speaker 33 (42:42):
And how did she show you the jeans or did
she say anything while she was showing you the genes.

Speaker 28 (42:48):
She brought the jeans out of her room and handed
them to me, and I held them up and I
didn't see anything on the jeans and I said, I
don't see anything, and she said.

Speaker 7 (42:59):
Yes, you do.

Speaker 28 (43:00):
And I looked at them and it was like on
the back butt pocket, there was a discoloration underneath the
pocket of the jeans. And I said, it looks yellow,
and she said that she had washed it. When she
had said she had washed it, I said, why would
you wash it? And I don't recall what she said
to me. At that point, there was something else.

Speaker 5 (43:21):
You said, Why would you wash those jeans?

Speaker 9 (43:26):
Oh, you could get in trouble.

Speaker 28 (43:27):
Okay, yeah, I'm sorry. Well, I just knew that there
was a missing girl at that point, and he was
the last person seen with her. And in my mind,
I wouldn't have touched anything in his bedroom. I mean,
if it was my child, I would have went up
there and looked to see what was going on. But
I wouldn't have messed with anything in his room, just
because I know they probably would come with a search.

Speaker 9 (43:44):
Weren't to search the home.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
By dinner time on May ninth, thirteen year old Tristan
Bailey's body had been found, and fourteen year old Aiden
Fucci's guilt seemed undeniable. The home security footage showed him
walking to his house in the early morning, wearing the
same jeans as mother Crystal later admitted to washing. But

(44:38):
it wasn't just a simple wash. Crystal was doing more
than laundry. She was rewriting the truth, and as investigators
circled closer to the Fucci family, Crystal wasn't just hiding evidence,
she was actively trying to reshape the narrative, attempting to
coach her son into saying he wore a different pair

(45:01):
of pants that night. This wasn't just a mother protecting
her child. This was something much more calculating.

Speaker 2 (45:10):
Clothes m.

Speaker 5 (45:17):
There have you nothing on this closer?

Speaker 10 (45:30):
Sure isn't one of them?

Speaker 26 (45:35):
M hm.

Speaker 5 (45:37):
And we looked on a camera, right.

Speaker 4 (45:42):
M Aiden tries to tell the truth that he was
wearing blue jeans that night, but his mother says, are
you sure when we checked the security camera, you were
wearing khakis. When police checked Crystal's security camera footage, if
on something very different. Not only was Aiden seen entering

(46:03):
the house in the blue jeans, cameras inside the home
caught Crystal scrubbing them by hand in the sink. Now
she was working over time to cover both of their asses.
Soon Aiden had to be swabbed for DNA samples, and

(46:23):
after that they're all moved to a different room than
the one they were in.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Before everything was recorded. What a fucking idiot?

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Say nothing, don't.

Speaker 34 (46:43):
Speak from any thought. Keep your head out, no, I
was just keep your head down. It's gonna be wrong.
He'll be fine enough.

Speaker 5 (47:01):
I tat you, and you see there's a change in
your own horn.

Speaker 27 (47:07):
Yes, they're gonna search my house first, and if there's
any kind of thing that links.

Speaker 9 (47:15):
But now he's gonna go home.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Jesus h.

Speaker 5 (47:21):
It's always a chance.

Speaker 11 (47:23):
You're right.

Speaker 9 (47:23):
I don't think someone is home.

Speaker 5 (47:27):
Mm hm, so my nomes saying he.

Speaker 2 (47:31):
M hmm, it's I'll check.

Speaker 19 (47:37):
Guess with your mind.

Speaker 28 (47:38):
A do anythink.

Speaker 5 (47:45):
Mm hmm. It was CBD t th high CB.

Speaker 9 (47:49):
You don't do ja.

Speaker 5 (47:51):
I think you did something stupid.

Speaker 9 (47:52):
Maybe something made you do it, so that'll justify it.

Speaker 4 (47:55):
Even if he had been high, nothing could have justified
what Aiden did to Tristan.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Nothing na die.

Speaker 4 (48:04):
His parents babied him, comforted him, and even assured him
they put money on his books. Aiden was no victim,
though he was not a child. He was a monster,
a cold hearted killer, someone with absolutely no conscience.

Speaker 35 (48:21):
Today, the Saint John's County Grand Jury convened and issued
an indictment against Aiden Fucci for first degree murder involving
our victim, Tristan Bailey. Aiden Fucci will be tried as
an adult. To say that it was horrific could arguably

(48:42):
be made as an understatement. The medical examiner completed an
autopsy on our victim and identified confidently that there were
one hundred and fourteen stab wounds one hundred and fourteen.

Speaker 3 (49:01):
At least forty.

Speaker 35 (49:02):
Nine of those stab wounds were to the hand's arms
and the head and were defensive in nature. The bottom
line is that premeditation could be inferred, certainly from just
the sheer number of stab wounds that Tristan Bailey had

(49:24):
to suffer. Every time that arm went back and every
time that arm went down, that was premeditation. And it
happened a few times. One fourteen by two, that's two
twenty eight. But it's not just the fact that she
was stabbed fourteen times, one hundred and fourteen times. It's

(49:48):
also information that we were able to glean from witnesses.
The defendant made statements to several people that he intended
to kill someone. He didn't say who that was, but
he indicated to witnesses that he was going to kill
someone by taking them in the woods and stabbing them,

(50:12):
which are certainly the facts of this case.

Speaker 4 (50:17):
Remember Dreamgirl Aiden's girlfriend, well here she is.

Speaker 15 (50:22):
Did you ever hear Aiden discuss having a certain plan
that he wanted to carry out and not maybe specifically
to a certain person, but did he ever discuss in
detail like this is how I would do something or
this is what I want to do.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
Yeah, he did.

Speaker 15 (50:38):
Can you tell me about that?

Speaker 17 (50:40):
They were sitting on the roof and.

Speaker 16 (50:45):
The topic was brought up about brought up again about
He asked me, like, what I would do if he
murdered someone.

Speaker 26 (50:56):
I don't know what my answer really was, but he
would say that if he was going to murder someone
who was going to be planned, he.

Speaker 16 (51:06):
Said that he would just walk at night or something
and find like a random person walking to and just
drap them.

Speaker 5 (51:18):
In the woods and stop them.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
Okay.

Speaker 16 (51:21):
He said that he thinks it's going to happen soon.
He said I should expect it within the month.

Speaker 15 (51:29):
And when was that that he said this, I think
this month.

Speaker 35 (51:34):
The defendant had a knife that he carried with him.
A knife was found in the pond very close in
proximity to our victim's body. That knife had a tip
that was broken off. That tip was located by the
medical examiner in the scale of our victim.

Speaker 17 (51:56):
Aiden kept knives for protection, always had a knife on him.
If he wasn't at school, he would keep his AirPods.
He listened to music to try and calm him down.
He said that helped him put his anger. Well, there
was mainly two that he would have on him, and

(52:17):
it was one that its stepdad gave him. It was
like a it was like a kind of.

Speaker 16 (52:24):
Gray black like army looking one. It had a skull
on it, maybe like an orange skull on it or something.
And he called it picker okay, because it had that
guess teeth and knife fed.

Speaker 15 (52:44):
You mean like it like it had a serrated edge.

Speaker 25 (52:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 9 (52:48):
There was another one.

Speaker 7 (52:51):
It was like yellow and it was like it was
made on a wood.

Speaker 9 (52:55):
I think he called that one.

Speaker 17 (52:58):
Uh, he called.

Speaker 26 (53:02):
One picker and then he called not one.

Speaker 15 (53:07):
Polker.

Speaker 35 (53:09):
The statements that the defendant made to his friends made
it clear that he was considering a homicide, and I
got to tell you this, it's disturbing and concerning that
those statements were not, let's say, adequately or appropriately, are
not taken seriously by the folks that hurt them. I'm

(53:32):
not saying that this could have been avoided, but I'm
saying that it was never reported beforehand.

Speaker 4 (53:38):
Along with a series of violent drawings, investigators found bloodstains
on clothing and shoes Aiden had hidden in his bedroom.
The samples match Tristan's DNA profile. Slam dunk. All the while,
Aiden's parents took extreme measures to protect their sweet little
angel from a big scary thing called consequences.

Speaker 5 (54:09):
All this, we love him. I didn't take the name away.

Speaker 4 (54:29):
They were in fact going to take him away. It
was one am. By this point he was dressed in
an orange jumpsuit and he was destined for a jail cell.

Speaker 9 (54:39):
Remember this street started.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Talking around a couple of reds.

Speaker 9 (54:45):
He is being arrested a day.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
Aiden pleaded not guilty to his charges, even without the
support of his family lawyer and under the guidance of
a public defender. He was confident enough to take his
case all the way to trial. In February of twenty
twenty three, jurors were selected, but before that could begin,
Aiden changed his plea to guilty. And that's a good

(55:12):
thing that he did, because someone at the county jail
had already snitched on him. This guy came forward with
no promises made in his own case. Aiden had apparently
told him the whole story of what happened that night.
I know it's going to be really hard to understand
this guy, but he's a well, he's a criminal, he's

(55:34):
a jail house and foreman, a snitch, a rat, not
a public speaker.

Speaker 1 (55:40):
So there's that.

Speaker 33 (55:42):
At some point in time the defendant and our investigation,
Aiden Fuji was transported to the Duval County Jail, and
he was placed is somewhere in the vicinity of you correct?

Speaker 9 (55:52):
Okay?

Speaker 33 (55:53):
And where were you located at whenever Aiden Fuji was
transported and housed in to Jacksonville County Jail, I mean.

Speaker 3 (56:00):
Eyeblock segregation.

Speaker 9 (56:01):
He I brought thirty Okay, the man saal.

Speaker 33 (56:04):
So if you could explain to me kind of how
these cells are arranged or situated.

Speaker 9 (56:10):
They're right next to each other. There one man seal.
They got a shower, a toilet in the bunk in
each front of Okay, the only way you could talk
is through the event. Okay, I said, I don't get
no news, paper I don't get it, made one phone call.
I don't come out for no red. I can't see
nobody of paperwork.

Speaker 33 (56:28):
Do you have a television?

Speaker 9 (56:29):
Have no television? Have none of that? Have no internet asset?

Speaker 33 (56:33):
I have no Okay, before aiding food, she was transported
that house in the Jacksonville County Jail. Did you have
any knowledge of this case? The word investigating in Saint
John's County, Norfolk. Okay, so how did you become aware
of this investigation that we're working in Saint John's County?

Speaker 5 (56:47):
Asian food?

Speaker 9 (56:48):
She told me. He told me, he say me and Trey,
this is my right. And he say me and Trey
with that tree house. And he wanted Christian to come over.
She said, not at her house. And it was like
at twelve am when we left, saying him and tree,
I mean him and Christian. When we left her house
and went into the woods, I made sure I had
my knife. We walked on the streets a little bit first,

(57:12):
and I can't remember, got us going and together, then
me leave it by myself. But once we got into
the woods, we had to get past this barb wire
fence to get to the pund. We got on the
floors and we had sex. She I like, she ain't
want to, but I made her. It was good. I
came inside her a little bit and that shit was

(57:32):
on my mind, so I said to myself, she got
to die. Man. I just snapped her and I stablished
her a lot of time. She was yelling my name,
excuse me, I ain't care. Then I threw the weapon
in the run and I left. I got home. It
was like two am. Trey called me the next day

(57:52):
and iks, have I seen Have I seen her? I said, nah,
it's crazy cause that's one other things in my head
that I planned at.

Speaker 36 (58:02):
He said there was no witness that a neighbor camera
had him and her going in the woods, but only
him coming out. He said he told the police he
was walking around. He said, he told the police she
was running away and she could sleep down. He said
she was trade girlfriend at home. That's his homeboy, and

(58:22):
she was thirteen.

Speaker 9 (58:23):
He said it was by his house.

Speaker 36 (58:25):
He said it was a pun. It's a big it's
a big pun. It got floats on it. He said
he smoked some weed and he been planning to have
sex with her. And he said he asked her, can
can they have?

Speaker 9 (58:38):
Saye? She said no, any raid of it.

Speaker 4 (58:41):
Though there were no sexual assault charges pursued. This one
witness says that Aiden confessed to raping Tristan before killing her.
It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it it. In
sentencing hearing occurred over the course of three days. His
mother faced charges for her involvement as well. Thank Goodness,

(59:05):
whether sentencing to occur right after her sons.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
I have considered all of the evidence that has been
presented for the last during this week, the testimony that
was presented, the victim impact statements, the evidence that was submitted,
the filings, and I have analyzed each and every one
of those factors, as well as any other factors that

(59:29):
may be relevant to these proceedings in order to determine
an appropriate sentence for this case. I would say that
the defendant has shown some ability to modify his behavior
that was shown in.

Speaker 5 (59:42):
School through the dean of students.

Speaker 3 (59:44):
However, as doctor Pritchard noted, this crime is extraordinary. His
behavior was so unusual compared to individuals his age that
there is a poor prognosis for rehabilitation. The effect of
this crime that has had on the victim's family and
on the community is significant. There is no greater loss

(01:00:08):
than the loss of one's own child. The nature and
circumstances of her death have caused an even greater trauma
on her loved ones. Her siblings, parents, and extended family
members all provided compelling victim impact statements relating their personal
struggles with coping with her death. It has caused them
deep and emotional and mental health problems. They are no

(01:00:32):
longer able to function as the family they once were.
It has also had a tremendous impact and effect on
this community. This Court has reviewed all of the letters
that were submitted by her friends, teachers, coaches, and others.
Approximately one hundred and fifty letters were received. I have
read all of them, and all of them strike a

(01:00:54):
similar chord. This was a devastating crime, was devastating to
the children of this community. It material materially changed an
entire community. Some of the letters indicated and discussed children
who were teenage children who could not sleep in their

(01:01:15):
beds alone and had to sleep in between their parents
for fear of what happened in this case. I would
submit that this case is probably the most difficult and
shocking case that this county, in Saint John's County has dealt.
With one hundred and fourteen stab wounds, forty nine defensive wounds,

(01:01:39):
thirty five wounds to the head and neck, twenty nine
to the back and shoulder, and six fatal wounds. This
court has reviewed and seen more than its fair share
of autopsy photos. The autopsy photos in this particular case
were particularly difficult the forty nine defensive wounds indicate that

(01:02:02):
Tristan Bailey was conscious, that she was aware, and that
she was doing everything she could to fend off this attack.
She suffered a painful, horrifying death from someone that she trusted.

(01:02:23):
Her screams were most likely stifled by her own suffocating lungs.
He lured her into a secluded place in the woods
near his home, a person that she trusted, and he
led her there under false pretenses. There was a heightened
level of premeditation in this case based on the prior

(01:02:45):
statements that he made to his girlfriend and his friend.
He indicated that he was going to kill someone, at
which point he determined that it was going to be
Tristan Bailey. I don't know, but there was going to
be a victim. He indicated that he was going how

(01:03:06):
he was going to do it, that he would take
them into a wooded place, that he would stab them,
he would kill them, and then run away so that
he could keep on killing. He told his best friend
that he wanted to kill someone to see what it
felt like, and he wanted to watch them bleed out.

(01:03:26):
This particular crime was committed with the weapon of choice
as a knife, which he nicknamed poker, that required a
up close personal type of murder. That is rare, it's unique.

(01:03:49):
What is also very troubling is that this crime had
no motive. This was not done out of greed. It
was not done in retaliation, retribution, or revenge. It was
not a crime of passion. It was not a crime

(01:04:10):
that was committed because he felt rejected by her. It
was not done in a fit of uncontrollable anger. There
was no reason, There was no purpose. It was done
for no other reason than to satisfy this defendant's internal
desire to feel what it was like to kill someone.

(01:04:35):
It is for this reason, and all of the reasons
previously stated, that leads this Court to the conclusion that
there is only one appropriate sentence in this case. Mister Fucci,
if you and your attorneys wo please rise, Council. Is
there any legal reason why this court cannot impose sentence
at this time?

Speaker 9 (01:04:56):
No sense.

Speaker 3 (01:04:59):
Mister Fucci, having entered a plea of guilty to the
crime of first degree murder, I adjudicate you guilty of
the premitted first degree murder of Tristan Bailey. I send
you to life in prison. Because of your age, you
are eligible for a review of the sentence in twenty
five years. You will be taken back to the or

(01:05:20):
to the Duval County Jail, and then transported into the
Florida State prison system.

Speaker 2 (01:05:25):
We are adjourned.

Speaker 4 (01:05:28):
This sentence means that Aidan Fuci could get out of
prison before his fortieth birthday if he behaves well, if
he's a good boy. So far, he's not really made
a name for himself as an obedient in me. His mother,
on the other hand, only spent thirty days in jail
for tampering with evidence, and we'll be on probation for

(01:05:48):
five years. This murder not only shattered a family, but
it made everyone in the community leery of each other,
as I would argue you should be in any community,
especially small ones. The fact that an adult was involved
in the cover up made it all the more shocking.

(01:06:11):
Parents were slammed right into the face of reality when
it came to what their teenagers were doing behind their backs.
But no one expected a crime so brutal, let alone
a cover up so close to home. After the sensing,
Tristan's father spoke outside the courthouse.

Speaker 20 (01:06:30):
As part of this investigation. The amount of kids sneaking
out in our community and the frequency of how often
they are doing so had.

Speaker 5 (01:06:38):
Us completely dumbfounded.

Speaker 20 (01:06:41):
With regard to Crystal Smith and her apology. As I
mentioned before, there's an open case with her, so it's
difficult to comment. The fact that we are continuing to
have to go through the legal process makes the apology questionable.
You've seen the videos from the home, You've seen the
videos from the interrogation room. I would say, if she's sorry,

(01:07:03):
she can start by accepting responsibility. To Aiden's family. I
would remind them that he is still here, They can
still see him. They can encourage him to change his
behavior of bragging about his brutality and threatening the corrections
officers and their families that keep him from harm, and

(01:07:26):
setting out on a better road.

Speaker 4 (01:07:40):
In a tight knit community like Saint John's, everyone thought
they knew each other, neighbors trusted one another, families felt safe,
and parents believed they understood their children. But this case,
in cases like it's, shatter those illusions. It wasn't just

(01:08:01):
about sneaking out or the dangers of lurking online. It
was about realizing how much of their kids' lives parents
were missing as Tristan's father put it, they didn't even
know what their own kids were truly capable of. But
this case wasn't just about the actions of teenagers. It

(01:08:22):
was also about the choices made by full grown adults
that should know better.

Speaker 1 (01:08:29):
Crystal Food Chees's.

Speaker 4 (01:08:30):
Desperate attempt to protect her son, to cover up for
him in his darkest moment, taught us all a painful lesson.
When someone is drowning in their own choices, sometimes trying
to save them without thinking can pull you under two.
Sometimes the instinct to shield a loved one from consequences

(01:08:52):
only drags you down with them. This crime took more
than just Tristan's life. It shattered a family and forced
a community to confront the uncomfortable truth. Sometimes the darkness
we fear most isn't lurking out there, it's right in
front of us, hidden beneath the choices we make. And

(01:09:17):
when someone is drowning in their own sins, jumping in
after them only ensures you both sink. This episode was

(01:09:52):
written and produced by Elaina Thomas, one of our senior writers.
We're gonna start giving our producers a lot more credit
in the future. Something we should have done a long
time ago. If you enjoyed that show, head on over
to swordscale dot com, consider signing up for Plus and
getting a whole lot more content commercial free, and also
check out store dot sornscale dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:10:14):
Stay safe, don't say

Speaker 29 (01:11:11):
We are come, never go.