Florida teenagerAiden Fuccihas been sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing 13-year-oldTristyn Baileymore than 100 times in 2021.
Just before his trial was set to begin in February, the 16-year-old pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for stabbing Tristyn when he was 14 and leaving her body in the woods at the end of a cul-de-sac near her house on Mother’s Day 2021.
Fucci received the maximum sentence for murdering the young cheerleader, which Tristyn’s family had stressed in court that they wanted.
“Aiden Fucci made a heinous decision on May 9, 2021, and took the very life that I brought into this world,” Tristyn’s mother, Stacy Bailey, told the court Wednesday,News4Jax.comreports.
“Please do not for one second think that he could be rehabilitated at any point. He is beyond saving,” she said.
Tristyn Bailey.gofundme
Since he is a juvenile, Fucci was not eligible for the death penalty.
He is eligible to have his case reviewed in 25 years, allowing a judge to consider a lesser sentence, according toThe Florida Times-Union.
“This case is probably the most difficult and shocking case that this county, St. Johns County, has dealt with,” Judge R. Lee Smith said before he handed down the sentence,Action News Jaxreports.
‘A Cold, Calculated Murder’
Tristyn wasfound deadon May 9, 2021, after her parents reported her missing.
She had been stabbed 114 times.
Assistant State Attorney Jennifer Dunton noted that 49 of the stab wounds to her hands, arms, and head that were defensive in nature, which means she was alive while Fucci was attacking her, News4Jax.com reports.
Before the judge handed down the sentence, he addressed Tristyn’s family, saying the teen would want them to be happy again.
“Allow ‘Bailey Sunday Fundays’ to return to your home,'” Smith said.
Tristyn’s slaying, he said, “was committed in a cold, calculated manner.”
When Fucci was arrested on May 10, 2021, he posted a selfie on social media of him in the back of a patrol car giving a peace sign with the caption, “Hey guys has anybody seen Tristyn lately?”
He subsequently made several “admissions” of guilt, according to his arrest report.
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Days before Tristyn’s killing, Fucci told his girlfriend that he planned to kill someone, though he didn’t specify who that was going to be, Dunton said, News4Jax.com reports.
“He said it would be at night, he would drag someone into the woods and he would stab them, and it would happen within a month. He said he would act innocent, keep killing and run away,” Dunton said.
Tristyn Bailey, Aiden Fucci.Courtesy Tanya White; Court screenshot
Killer Says ‘I’m Sorry’
In a 17-page court filing asking the judge for a lower sentence, Fucci’s attorneys said he had suffered from mental health issues, News4Jax.com reports.
During a pre-trial conference via video from a room in the Duval County Jail, Fucci was heard talking about demons, saying, “Please don’t let the demons take my soul. The demons are going to take my soul away.”
Fucci then asked, “What’s going on?” and then says, “Why am I here? I just want to talk to my mom and dad. What’s going? What’s going on?”
In a letter to the court, Fucci apologized to Tristyn’s family.
“I’m sorry for all the pain I caused to the Bailey family,” he wrote, News4Jax reports. “I(’m) 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. You did not have any long relationships with (Tristyn) and for that I’m sorry.”
Fucci’s grandmother asked the judge not to sentence him to life in prison, saying, “Please don’t take him out of our lives forever. I know there is some good in Aiden,” News4Jax.com reports.
Fucci’s mother, Crystal Smith, sent a letter to the judge asking him for a lesser sentence than life, writing, “he is not beyond saving,” News4Jax.com reports.
Crystal Smith is charged withtampering with evidencein her son’s murder case, allegedly for washing blood off her son’s jeans.
Her trial is scheduled to begin in April.
Attorneys for Fucci and his mother did not immediately return PEOPLE’s requests for comment.
source: people.com
