On Mother’s Day 2021, Aiden Fucci stabbed seventh grader Tristyn Bailey 114 times — all because he wanted to “feel what it was like to kill someone.”
Tristyn Bailey/InstagramTristyn Bailey was just 13 years old when she was killed by her 14-year-old schoolmate.
On May 9, 2021, 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey disappeared from her home in St. Johns County, Florida. Hours after her family reported the cheerleader missing, her bloodied body was discovered in a wooded area, covered with 114 stab wounds. Chillingly, someone had written the word “karma” on one of her ankles and drawn a smiley face on the other.
Police uncovered a damaged Buck knife in a drainage pond near Bailey’s body. They also reviewed security footage from the night of her murder that appeared to show Bailey and her 14-year-old schoolmate, Aiden Fucci, walking toward the scene of the crime. About an hour and 45 minutes later, a figure that appeared to be Fucci could be seen walking back alone, carrying a pair of white Nike shoes.
When investigators searched Fucci’s home the next day, they made several disturbing finds. Among his possessions were a Buck brand knife sheath, a pair of blood-soaked Nike shoes, a T-shirt with blood on it, and a pair of wet jeans in a laundry basket
And as more information came to light, it began to paint a picture of Aiden Fucci as an especially disturbed young man — one who, as it turned out, was capable of murder.
A Cheerleader With A “Heart Of Gold”
The youngest of five children, Tristyn Bailey was born in 2008 in Singapore, where she spent the first four years of her life before her family moved to Florida. As her mother, Stacy Bailey, would later explain, the pregnancy was a difficult time for the family.
“I was put into a high-risk category and I had a high-risk doctor,” Stacy said, according to First Coast News, “because we were told that Tristyn potentially had Down Syndrome. And then it got worse from there as they found a spot or potentially a hole in her heart. We faced every day wondering if she would be okay. The fear was constant, which was incredibly difficult on my family.”
Tristyn Bailey/InstagramTristyn Bailey on her 13th birthday.
Thankfully, Tristyn was born healthy. Her parents’ fears were put to rest.
In 2021, Tristyn Bailey was 13 years old, a cheerleader, and a seventh-grade student at Patriot Oaks Academy in St. Johns County, Florida. By all accounts, she had grown up into a kind girl with a “heart of gold” — the sort of person who always gave her classmates the benefit of the doubt and had a particular gift for befriending those who didn’t fit in.
Tragically, it seems that that kind and trusting nature put the teen in danger.
“I did not know that I needed to teach Tristyn to be afraid of the evil in her own school,” her mother said. “To be cautious and fearful of the people you think are your friends. Aiden Fucci, you betrayed us all.”
Aiden Fucci And The Brutal Murder Of Tristyn Bailey
To the people who knew Aiden Fucci best, it wasn’t altogether surprising that he would become a killer.
Leading up to the murder of Tristyn Bailey, the 14-year-old had reportedly told multiple friends that he had fantasized about dragging someone into the woods and stabbing them to death.
According to interviews acquired by The Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2021, one friend claimed that Fucci would occasionally “take his knife out and pretend to stab [her] with it.” Fucci also allegedly often drew “graphic pictures depicting mutilated bodies,” and claimed that he heard voices telling him to kill people when he was angry.
“Aiden knew something was wrong with him and wanted to reach out for help,” one of his friends said.
SAPDA drawing made by Aiden Fucci.
Unfortunately, Fucci never did get help. Instead, he gave in to his twisted desire to kill.
According to police reports, Fucci asked for Tristyn Bailey’s number on May 8, 2021. That night, he convinced Bailey to sneak out of her house to meet him at a friend’s house nearby.
Shortly after midnight, Bailey was captured on camera walking through her neighborhood. Around 1:20 a.m., surveillance footage shows her walking with Fucci from their friend’s house. Further surveillance video shows the two of them again at 1:45 a.m., walking toward a wooded area.
An hour and 45 minutes later, Fucci is seen on camera one last time, walking back alone and carrying his shoes.
The next morning, Mother’s Day, Tristyn Bailey’s siblings went into her room to wake her up — only to find an empty bed. The family quickly reported Tristyn missing. And they didn’t have to wait long to learn of her fate.
Tristyn Bailey’s body was found later that very day with 114 knife wounds to her head, neck, shoulders, arms, hands, and back. A medical examiner reported that at least 49 of those wounds were defensive.
Police were able to put together a timeline of Bailey’s movements the night before. After interviewing the friend whose house Bailey had stopped at after midnight to meet Fucci, they zeroed in on Fucci as a suspect.
The next day, May 10, investigators searched the Fucci home, where they found Fucci’s blood-spattered Nike shoes, a Buck brand knife sheath, a bloody T-shirt, and blood and dirt on the drain of the bathroom sink.
At 3:30 a.m., Aiden Fucci was arrested for murder.
Aiden Fucci’s Trial For The Murder Of Tristyn Bailey
Soon after Tristyn Bailey’s body was found, a medical examiner determined her cause of death to be sharp force trauma by stabbing. Investigators also noted that the video of Aiden Fucci and Bailey walking together fell within the timeframe of her death. And as police spoke to Fucci’s friends, they began to build a profile of a troubled young man with a disturbing fascination with murder.
As these incriminating details emerged, Fucci’s lawyer, Anwar “Andy” Snober, filed to withdraw from the case; the motion was granted by the courts.
Around this time, Fucci’s mother, Crystal Lane Smith, was also arrested for tampering with evidence related to Bailey’s killing. Police say Smith had scrubbed something off of her son’s jeans following the murder, before she learned what had happened to Bailey. She ultimately pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to 30 days of jail time.
Meanwhile, Aiden Fucci was tried as an adult. While the teen initially entered a plea of not guilty, in February 2023, he made the startling decision to change his plea, now pleading guilty to the charge of first-degree murder.
St. Johns County PoliceAiden Fucci’s booking photo.
On March 24, 2023, Judge R. Lee Smith sentenced Aiden Fucci to life in prison for the murder of Tristyn Bailey, noting that he found the case particularly troubling because “this crime had no motive.”
“This was not done out of greed,” he said at the time, according to News4Jax. “It was not done in retaliation or retribution or revenge. It was not a crime of passion. It was not a crime 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.”
The only member of Fucci’s family to appear in court on his behalf was his grandmother, who begged for some lenience for her grandson. She said that she felt “there is some good in Aiden,” while also offering a tearful apology to the Bailey family for their loss. Fucci’s mother also wrote to the judge, saying her son was “not beyond saving.”
St. Johns County PoliceThe knife Aiden Fucci used to stab Tristyn Bailey 114 times.
Fucci himself also wrote a letter to the court.
“I’m sorry for all the pain I caused to the Bailey family,” he wrote. “I [sic] sorry to the friends, brothers, sisters, mom, dad, and any other family relatives. I’m sorry that you didn’t get to know her that long.”
Today, Aiden Fucci is serving out his life sentence. And the family of Tristyn Bailey continues to mourn their tragic loss.
For more true crime, read about the horrific murder of 15-year-old Seath Jackson. Or, meet the teens who murdered their classmate after watching the movie Scream.
