Anatomy of Murder - Walking in the Night - Part 2 (Tristyn Bailey)

Episode Date: October 3, 2023

A young teen disappears and the search to find her becomes national news. After she is discovered murdered, the answers to who, what and why are as perplexing as they are horrifying. For episode information and photos, please visit https://anatomyofmurder.com/ Can’t get enough AoM? Find us on social media!Instagram: @aom_podcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @AOM_podcast | @audiochuckFacebook: /listenAOMpod | /audiochuckllc

Previously on Anatomy of Murder. We're trying to figure out where Tristan's at. I'm not trying to get you in trouble or anything like that. Obviously, I'm more concerned right now about her safety and what she's doing and where she could be hanging out. My dad had FaceTimed me and gave me a single nod of confirmation that the body they had found was in fact Tristan's. We saw her last moments walking into the cul-de-sac

and then we saw Agent Fucci exiting the cul-de-sac. All done. I'm Scott Weinberger, investigative journalist and former deputy sheriff. I'm Anasiga Nicolazzi, former New York City homicide prosecutor and host of Investigation Discovery's True Conviction. And this is Anat second episode in a two-part series. If you haven't yet, go back and listen first to part one. On the night of May 9th, 2021, 14-year-old Aiden Fucci was sitting with his parents in an interview room at the St. John's County Sheriff's Office.

Just a few hours earlier, the body of 13-year-old Tristan Bailey had been found after an extensive search. She'd been stabbed to death. As the Bailey family reeled from the news, police were working to figure out what had happened to Tristan and who had killed her. No arrest had been made, but Aiden Fucci's behavior and his inconsistent stories raised suspicions. And now, police had surveillance footage of him walking with Tristan in the direction where her body was found. So in about the 1.45 time frame, you see the two of them on a couple cameras caught walking east on Saddlestone Drive towards the cul-de-sac where she's ultimately found. Those same cameras, when you watch them over time,

at approximately 3.20 a.m., you saw the now taller center figure we know to be Aiden Fucci now running alone westbound on Saddle Stone Drive. Other surveillance videos showed him running in just socks towards his home, carrying white tennis shoes in his hands. Now, Scott, obviously there's going to be speculation the second officers see that videotape. I'm happy to speculate as well.

You know, let me say this. Clearly, stab wounds would produce a lot of blood. So I can only assume he may be attempting to cover up his tracks from the scene of a really gruesome crime scene. Tracking evidence from that scene potentially with sneakers could leave sneaker tracks where just his socks likely would not. And that was really the difference for me was the socks. Because if someone's running barefoot and carrying their shoes, well, again, this is Florida. And if it's warm, and especially if they're kids, like that to me isn't going to do a whole lot. I might use it later if you end up having a crime, which again, they're still trying to figure out. But it's really the socks.

Like normally you either take off your shoes and socks or you leave them both on. It's not just the socks, which I think goes towards what you're saying, Scott. Again, what do shoes have? Treads. So you potentially don't want those treads to show wherever he had just been. And it was based on that video surveillance that police then secured a search warrant for Fucci's home. While that was happening, Fucci and his parents sat at the sheriff's office. The room they were in was being recorded, something the family seemed aware of and which is legal under Florida law. Florida law enforcement, in the course of an investigation, can record anyone and we don't have to tell you. So oftentimes, interview rooms are always recording, you know, when we put people in there. The courts have determined you don't have an expectation of privacy in a police station, so to speak, and in an interview room. As they waited, Fucci's parents peppered him with questions about his night.

Why was he home so late? Why was he carrying his shoes when he came home? And did anything happen between him and Tristan. Here is a portion of that conversation. You know they found this girl right? Where? In our neighborhood down our main street. Is she good? No she's not. She's dead. That's why this is very important. It's all on you right now. That's not my problem. You were the last one seen with her. So right now, it's facing you right now, son.

So however you talk, you breathe, you think, then you respond. So even as he sat there hearing that Tristan had been found and that she was dead, Fuji didn't seem very taken aback by the news of her murder or the fact that her body had been found just down the street from his home. His only response to being told Tristan was dead, why is it my problem? Callous words to say the very least. And when I heard that, I mean, I was thinking, you know, is this a form of denial for him? You know, if he was responsible, is it also possible that he was under the impression that he may be able to just get

away with it? You know, remember, we're dealing with a 14-year-old at that time. And again, I always think it's important to look at both sides, which is what investigators and prosecutors need to do to make sure we don't have tunnel vision and anything along the way. And again, we're talking about a preteen. So if we look at it from the other side, is it just that he's putting his back up automatically? And so many preteens and teens and young people in general do. And whether it's that they're uncomfortable with the situation or just don't know how to respond, you know, due to the emotion of the situation or maybe their lack of experience. But again, like whatever the issue, similarly to what you were saying, Scott, like I'm not settled on that. And that wasn't my sense when listening to him talking here.

The fact that it didn't even look like his parents believed him and his just responses to things were not appropriate. And at one point he says, how is any of this my problem? You're the last person to see this girl. This is a problem. So either he actually doesn't care that someone he knew was missing and now confirmed dead, or he knows exactly what happened and is trying to play it off by seeming to be uncaring. It could also perhaps be a ploy to cover up either A, knowing more, or B, actually being the one responsible. Back at the Bailey house, Forrest, his wife Stacy,

and their children were in a state of shock. On top of the grief, they were trying to understand how Tristan had disappeared and had now been found, all in the span of only nine hours. There were so many unknowns, but they did have a strong ally in law enforcement. St. John's County Police Department did an incredible job of keeping all of us informed at any moment of the day. There was never a point where the family was left in the dark from the police.

Family members of homicide victims often struggle with the not knowing what's happening in their loved one's investigation. Police are trying to protect the case, but families feel they want and need more access to the information they're sometimes given. It's clearly a tough balance to strike. The Baileys, however, felt very supported by the investigative team and the victim advocate they worked with. At the same time, police were early on in the investigation and only knew so much.

We quickly began to understand that we were going to have to be comfortable with not knowing until they fully knew. They weren't going to let us go down to false roads, but when they knew something, they told us. At the rate police were moving, the unknowns wouldn't remain question marks for very long. The search of Fucci's home turned up multiple important items of evidence.

So several things were located in Aiden Fuchi's bedroom of importance that night. He had a dresser that was pushed back into his closet. And when that dresser was searched, there was a knife sheath without a buck knife. We believe she was stabbed, but we don't know if this could mean anything. But it was collected at that time. There was a bunch of clothing crammed between the dresser and the wall. They're going through the pile one by one, and ultimately at the bottom of the pile, they find white Nike tennis shoes that were damp and appeared to have blood on them, ultimately

tested positive on scene for blood, along with a piece of paper they were sitting near that also appeared to have blood on it. So let me just take a sidestep for a moment and talk about the difference between presumptive blood and DNA testing. Presumptive blood tests and DNA testing are used in conjunction to provide, you know, a really effective method of identifying and analyzing blood evidence at crime scenes. A presumptive test provides a very quick initial test that what you are collecting is presumed to be what you think it is, is blood. And of course, that is used for DNA testing, which provides detailed, specific information about the blood.

And here, investigators had surveillance video showing the clothes that Fucci wore that night. Blue jeans and a white shirt, which also tested positive for presumptive blood. The clothing and the shoes were collected and they were sent for DNA testing. And it wasn't just Fucci's clothes. So the sink was swabbed and then the drain was actually removed. Those both tested presumptive positive for blood. So that was very, very important and allowed us that night to make a decision to go ahead in the early morning hours of the now attempt to make an arrest on Aiden Fucci.

Based on the multiple piece of evidence the police had now obtained, Coochie was charged with the second-degree murder of 13-year-old Tristan Bailey. At 3.45 in the morning, less than 24 hours after she was first reported missing, police again knocked on the Bailey's front door. They knew we weren't going to be sleeping, and they showed up at the door and let us know the arrest had been made. Back at the sheriff's office, police were working around the clock to sort through the rest of the items collected from the Fucci's home.

Then, in the early hours of that Monday morning, police uncovered a new piece of evidence. And it was damning, not just for Aiden Fucci, but for his mother too. While executing a search warrant at the home of Aiden Fucci, police had seen that there were surveillance cameras not just on the outside of the house, but inside as well. And one video stood out to them right away. It was captured a few hours after Tristan was reported missing. And while Fucci was outside speaking with police,

a video from inside the home showed Fucci's mom walk into her son's room. She bends down and picks up a pair of his jeans. She essentially goes in his room, finds these damp jeans, believes she sees blood on them. And you see her on the video cameras going into the bathroom and appearing to scrub them with something that she retrieves from the shower and then shows them, goes downstairs, shows them to the friend multiple times asking her if she sees anything on them. Anna Seeger reviewing the video as we both have, what was your first impression of what she was doing? I don't think it's a coincidence at all that she is deciding to do laundry at that very moment. You know,

imagine that she obviously knows that Tristan is missing and now the police are there questioning him. And so to me, it's clear, like she suspects that her son did something or at least may have done something bad. And then as his mother, whether right or wrong, you know, she's trying to help him. And it wasn't just that footage that was troubling. There had also been an exchange between Fucci and his mom from the sheriff's office interview room that got investigators attention and which they now viewed in a whole new light. Again, here is that conversation recorded in the sheriff's interview room. And if you watch the video, it is really like she's almost mouthing something to him or making like a facial expression showing him that she really wants him to agree with her when she's

talking about the quote-unquote khakis that he was supposedly actually wearing. Based on the video evidence, first the jean washing, and then the attempt to coach him to lie about what he was wearing, Fucci's mom was charged with evidence tampering, which is a third-degree felony in Florida. With Fucci under arrest and his mom dealing with her own charges, the prosecution was already beginning to build their case for trial. Part of the case would be Tristan's numerous injuries showing cause of death, manner of death, and the amount of stab wounds showing his potential intent. During the autopsy, the medical examiner identified 114 stab wounds on her body. A lot of them, you know, were lacerations, but there were approximately 50 defensive injuries,

and those would have been from the back of her hands, front of her hands, wrists, forearms, a lot of them that center on her arms and hands. As is often the case, the medical examiner couldn't conclude the order that the injuries had occurred, but one thing was clear. They didn't have enough information to say that in all of these injuries, she was still alive. And they can do that by looking at the tissues surrounding every wound to see if there is essentially blood uptake in this wound, which means the heart's still pumping. And so unfortunately, we know that she was alive through the entire attack because of the blood seen in the tissues, in the vital organs, and in all the wounds. Tristan had clearly put up a fight, trying with all her might to defend against the attack.

But in the end, brutality won. Additionally, a metal fragment resembling the tip of a knife was found lodged in her scalp. It was recovered by the lab and preserved as evidence. Just like they had with the news of Fucci's arrests, officers went to the Bailey's house with the autopsy results, wanting to advise them directly before it hit the media. They brought Forrest and his wife into a separate bedroom to speak with them privately.

It would be up to Forrest and Stacey how to share the horrendous information with the rest of their children. I will never forget the sound, but my mom screeching in the other room. All the siblings were sitting out on the couch listening to my mom scream. The extreme pain in her mother's voice threw Brittany into a state of panic. She ran into the closest bathroom. And I destroyed the bathroom. I pulled the toilet paper apart. I was banging on the mirror. I was slamming the door. I don't,

and next thing you know, my dad came in and kept telling me, be brave for your mom, be brave for your mom. You can do this, you know, and I'm trying to calm down, but I didn't know what the details were yet. Once Brittany had settled, the Bailey siblings gathered to hear the gruesome details of Tristan's death. Once the news was delivered that she had been stabbed 114 times and she fought till the end, they just kept telling us over and over,

she put up a really big fight. That was when I fell to the ground. As she lay on the ground, overcome with emotion, one of the police officers got down on the ground next to Brittany. At one point, I had a police officer on his hands and knees on the floor with me when I was in a rough state crying, and he prayed for me and got to my level, looked me in the eyes and just he cared. I truly felt all the way through that he empathized with what we were

going through. You know, Scott, hearing Brittany talk about this, like I just, I felt the lump in my throat when she said it the first time and I feel it even thinking about it now. And it really goes into behind that uniform and that badge, police, just like everybody else, are human beings. And what that officer did, it just really shows me empathy and the humanity of it all. Nothing could ever prepare anyone to receive news like that. The brutality in the way her life was taken is unimaginable. For the Bailey family, it was just all too real.

It didn't take long before many of the details about Tristan's murder were being splashed all over the news. This is another good reason why the advocate that was assigned to them by the Sheriff's Department played such a vital role, preparing them each step of the way of what was going on and what was going to unfold in a public release of information. They always kept us informed before the media released it out into the public, which was super helpful to not have that shock factor crumble us down. Monday afternoon, the retention ponds near where Tristan's body had been found 24 hours earlier were being searched. TV crews were on the scene filming and broadcasting in real time. There was a point in time when we were watching news and that was when they had divers in the lake and they were covering it when they had recovered the knife.

They had found what just may be the murder weapon. When it was ultimately pulled up from the pond, it was missing the tip of it. Then we knew that it was one and the same. You know, kind of seeing that on TV was a little bit difficult. Yet, I would also say, because we knew that she had been stabbed to death, it wasn't a surprise to us when they're finding the murder weapon. If anything, you know, at least they recovered the murder weapon, which at that point, you know, you're wanting to make sure that they're getting what they need to make sure the person who's guilty of the crime is held accountable. And as the case continued to build, all signs kept pointing to Aiden Fucci.

Yet with no apparent motive and little connection to Tristan, this crime didn't add up. But then they spoke with Fucci's girlfriend and what she told them would shed new light on Fucci and the crime. Jennifer was hard at work preparing her case against Aiden Fucci. Part of the continuing investigation included interviewing people that knew him, such as his friends and girlfriend. His girlfriend told police that Fucci and their friend group were into gore, which is a kind of film genre that features graphic imagery of injury and death.

It's all about the portrayal of graphic violence. She, though, had expressed the difference. Like, she liked to watch true crime on television and, like, you know, movies about it. But she noted that she did think it was weird that Aiden would actually seek out real beheadings of people on the dark web or real murders, not TV actors, and that he had gone a little bit further with that. She reported that there were times when the line between the presumable fantasy world of gore and the real world had become blurry. For example, Fucci had a set of knives. Aiden's girlfriend provided the knowledge that he, in fact, was obsessed with knives,

that he had named his two most favorite knives, picker and poker, and would sort of play with those knives a lot. He had actually kind of play stabbed her, you know, acted it out and didn't stab her. But Fucci's girlfriend and his friend had also heard him express a desire to kill. They also were privy to some information that Aiden had shared about his desires to kill someone and how he would do it. He went into more detail with the girlfriend than Trey, but he pretty much described to them that he wanted to stop someone to death, watched them bleed out, had told the girlfriend that he would do it within the month, and that he would keep killing until he got caught.

But she never thought that he would actually carry out his words. She believed it was just talk or fantasy. She clearly realizes now how wrong that was and how much of a sign that was that she should have recognized. But just said at the time, I never thought he would hurt me. I thought he was kidding. And that he just, it was part of just being into gore and true crime. So Anastasia, the question could be really raised, is this just kids being kids and should they have known better and should they

have told somebody else about his actions, his words, the threat of violence? And just even having to have that conversation, it gets uncomfortable, right? When you're thinking about what people specifically, young people should do or what they should be able to figure out, like where those lines are between, as you would say, Scott, like the big red flags that there is real potential danger versus kids going down roads that they shouldn't, but there is really nothing going to come from it.

But there seems something here about the actual gore, the knives, there's red flags all over it, even for young teens. Just saying, you know, she was a teen herself is not enough to say that, right? You know, her parents, a teacher at school, or anybody who may be harboring a concern,

she kept it to herself. It's unclear what else could have been done. There is a lot of push and pull with kids and people in general about what they should and shouldn't report. And we've talked about it before. Are they motivated to not? Are they fearful of retribution for themselves? There's a lot of question marks in all of this, but certainly the warning signs seemed clear. As the investigation continued, the Baileys tried to keep tabs on developments while at the very same time planning Tristan's funeral. There were so many moving components. You know, my sister and I were trying to coordinate with a funeral home. Have we ever done that before? No.

My dad and my mom are working with the police in finding more details. They were obviously deep in their individual grief, yet throughout, they remained bonded together. Within the first week or two, I remember one of the police officers talking to me about how it can impact and tear families apart and how it increases the likelihood of divorce of parents, the suicide risks that can happen for other siblings. And I completely appreciate it. But even as his family stuck together, it didn't mean that there weren't individual challenges as they each struggled

with their grief. There's a lot of focus on how is mom doing? There's not a lot of focus on, you know, how are the siblings doing? How are the best friends doing? We take an approach of just kind of moving on and that's not how grief works. So it's been from something that, you know, those of us that have worked in this world, we've just seen so many times, like that ripple effect of grief. There are parents, couples that divorce, relationships that fail, siblings of those specifically in murder that can really be left almost invisible while the parents try to work through grief. And, you know, Forrest really got it when he talked about it, just the understanding that there are so many pitfalls while navigating this just devastating reality that was now part of their lives. You know, we both have dealt with so many families facing this similar type of grief. You know, over the last, especially 17 years with Weinberger Media, whether it's the series on the case with Paul LaZanne or our show, NSC, A True Conviction, we've produced nearly

400 hours of television. And that's 400 individual families of homicides, each who have suffered a deep loss, just like the Bailey's. As it was in my time in law enforcement, I came to understand the incredible grief, but also the mission of them turning their pain into purpose. And we talk about that often. And it really just comes from, again, mostly just seeing it that people process differently, you know, even just forgetting as a prosecutor, I just think about it in my own life as we're talking now, like my aunt and uncle,

which I've talked about before, they lost their only child to murder. And I just, I always think about their household for years and years afterwards. It was just quiet whenever you walked in there. And I think that they just turned within almost forever. So I really think that the way Forrest talks about just that understanding of all the things that need to be focused on for the sake of his children and his wife and their family as a whole is just such an important step in trying to move forward together. Just nine days after Tristan's body was found, the Bailey set aside the darkness of her death to focus on what mattered most, celebrating her life. It was like we had to put our game pace on and get out there and talk about Tristan,

how great she was, because she truly was that great. And just like Tristan, the celebration of her life was anything but average. Hundreds of community members streamed into a church covered in aqua ribbons, Tristan's favorite color. We wanted to make sure that that celebration was just showing all the different angles and facets of who she was and how she interacted with people, but also doing so in a manner that, you know, kind of lived up to her level of energy. Her mom, Stacey, said she made a promise to Tristan before the ceremony to make her name shine all above the evil that had happened.

Her family, friends, teachers, and cheer team shared stories about Tristan filled with laughter and tears. Brittany had joked that she heard no new stories about the baby sister that she knew so well. Actually, I take that back. There were people who came up to us after the celebration of life, and those stories were the ones that we learned even more into Tristan's heart. She just truly was this person who uplifted people who felt at their lowest state or encouraged people to throw their back to whatever Whatever it was, it was like you could always rely on Tristan for a good laugh or uplifting. You got this. A saying of Tristan's

was written on the backdrop of the stage. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us because we're a family. This message carried the family from the celebration of Tristan's life to the next phase in their journey, the trial against Aiden Fucci. Jennifer and the team of prosecutors were well aware of how traumatic a trial could be for the victim's family members. They made an extra effort to make sure that Bailey's wouldn't be blindsided by anything shown at trial. And, you know, this is a topic we talk about often at NSEGA, about having that great communication between a prosecution team and the family of a victim by really giving them a roadmap of what to expect as a case moves forward.

Because while as prosecutors we need to look at the evidence at that point clinically, you know, as we present it in a courtroom, it's never going to be like that for the loved ones. For them, it's that moment to be face-to-face with the specifics of what their loved one endures. And we can just all obviously imagine how excruciatingly painful seeing that in an open forum, hearing that would be. For Jennifer, working with the families is as meaningful as any other part of her prosecutorial responsibilities. Well, I think when you meet with families of decedent victims, and over time, you really

start to realize it's not just getting justice or the ultimate punishment for the defendants. That's obviously the main goal, but I've also learned over time you get to walk that family through, quite honestly, not a very friendly and certainly not a fun or pleasant process, which is the criminal justice system. I like forming those relationships and walking the families along with our victim advocates through the process and explaining things and just getting them to that end result.

And hopefully it's a good result or a great result. But my goal is to make sure they understand what's going on every step of the way. Shortly before the trial was set to begin, the Baileys gathered together for a preview of the prosecution's case against Fucci. We saw clips of the ring cameras with her walking from place to place, putting her in a timely manner to see where she started, where she ended. There was evidence of her clothing, where she was located, her specifically in the woods, drone footage, things like that. As painful as it was for the Baileys, Jennifer and her colleagues felt that it was important the family didn't see or hear specifics for the first time in a very public courtroom setting.

What's sad about it is that you can't unsee things. What we saw will be forever engraved in our brains. You want to remember that person in their highest part of life. Those moments definitely are not memories you want to take away. They also learned about the results from the DNA testing. So the Nike shoes and the shirt from Aiden Fucci's room were positive for Tristan Bailey's blood. And then the knife, believe it or not, the knife that was submerged in the pond, when it was removed and ultimately swabbed, they were able to get Tristan's DNA off of the knife. Testing also confirmed that the knife recovered in the pond

and the metal fragment found in Tristan's wound were one in the same. In light of all the evidence, prosecutors elevated charges against Fucci to first-degree murder, and it was determined that he would be charged as an adult. Now, I have to stop for a second because many of you probably remember that Fucci at the time was 14 years old, and so it's going to turn some heads thinking about charging him as an adult. But very simply, the reason is that courts for juveniles and adults are very different, specifically meaning different rules. And if someone pleads guilty or is convicted at trial, sentencing is very different as well.

If Fucci was tried as a juvenile and convicted in the murder of Tristan, he would be back on the streets by age 21 after serving just seven years. And for the trial itself, while always cautious, prosecutors felt that their case was strong. But would a jury agree? As in most murder cases, there were multiple hearings leading up to the trial against Aiden Fucci.

But in one hearing, Fucci appeared disoriented and looked confused. He muttered something about demons taking his soul. This now added the possibility that his team would raise the defense of insanity, or basically a not responsible defense. And with a crime like this, that wouldn't be totally unexpected. Keep in mind that the legal test for this is whether or not he knew right from wrong at the time that the crime was committed. An insanity defense or this not responsible defense, as prosecutors usually call it, it really just means, again, as Scott said, it doesn't mean that there wasn't a mental impairment at play or someone isn't suffering from some sort of mental disorder. Indeed, many people are. But

really, when it comes down to not being held responsible legally for a crime, it has to negate the intent, which means that at the time of the crime, you didn't know right from wrong. It's a very simple, bright line rule, but it's anything from simple to prove because really it comes down to experts examine the individual who's been charged, both sides, and then they agree or they disagree. And that all plays out in court if that defense is raised. In a sense, this would become a battle of the experts. I mean, psychiatrists, psychologists, would they find Fucci legally insane or would he be able to proceed with trial? And that's exactly it. And so prosecutors just need to anticipate, as Jennifer did,

is this defense going to be raised? And so she was thinking about it. And what she did, again, being proactive, was she decided to pull audio from calls that Fucci had made from jail. And what we uncovered was that he was perfectly fine and talking to his mom. Like, literally, the guards come get him for court, because it was on Zoom at that time. And he tells his mom, I've got to go to court. And then right after court, jumps back on the phone with his mom and is acting completely coherent and fine. So

we were prepared to use that if he tried to claim any sort of confidence. Now, I've watched that Zoom several times, and I think many may be thinking when they saw it that it was an act. As disturbed as he did appear in the tape, my first thought really was it may be an act with the hopes of using an insanity defense. And it would not be the first time, as you know, Anastasia, that a defendant facing such serious charges with a potential lifelong sentence would attempt to work or defraud the system. And that's exactly it. And that is what those audio tapes really pointed to. Again, you're fine before and right after court, but all of a sudden you're disoriented and talking about demons only

in the courtroom. Well, that is what we as prosecutors call malingering, which really just means falsifying or exaggerating an illness for some sort of gain here, thinking about is there going to be a potential not responsible defense here? But I think, you know, like you said, Scott, your gut was there when you saw it. But then seeing what Jennifer uncovered, it really would protect against that being thought of as real again, if that happened in court. And of course, it remained up to the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond any reasonable doubt.

Now, his young age and the potential for sympathy that naturally comes with it was definitely of concern. By the time the trial was set to begin, it had been well over a year since Tristan's murder. And during that time, the Baileys, along with a close group of friends, families, and supporters, attended every pretrial hearing. There was always a group of at least 10 people covered in aqua who showed up for those hearings, motions, anything for her. We support her. We support everything that our community has done for her, and therefore we're going to be there for every step of the way.

The Baileys got somewhat accustomed to the process of hearings and meetings and court appearances, but it was far from easy. And it brought up a lot of memories, and it brought up a lot of trauma. The little bits of healing you would get done, two months would go by with no hearing. You would get two months further into healing, but then you would go back into the courtroom and you were set back. And you had to kind of push the reset button and then start again. That was hard. And it was really difficult for everybody. And you could see it on everyone's faces that they were struggling. And each time they stepped into the courtroom, they had to face Aiden Fucci. The first time that he was in the courtroom when we walked in, it was completely

nauseating. I mean, we had never seen or heard of this guy before. And all of a sudden he's sitting in front of us, you know, in shackles and an inmate suit. It's probably one of the harder moments that we went through to face him. A few days before jury selection was set to begin, Jennifer got a phone call from Fucci's defense attorney. The attorney hinted that Fucci may be getting ready to do something called an open plea. And really that is exactly what it sounds like. It's basically where a defendant pleads guilty, but without any promise from the prosecution as what sentence they are going to recommend. And so again, it's going to now put it to the judge in this case

who is going to have to in Florida because he was a juvenile. They'll have a sentencing hearing and then the judge will decide, but there will be multiple options. Instead of in the normal sense, you take a plea and you know what the agreed-upon sentence will be. I had some indication over the weekend, so I just gave the family a little bit of a heads up and said, you know, tell who you want to tell, but keep this close. If some of you want to, you know, just the immediate family wants to come Monday morning, I don't know what's going to happen. Court started late that Monday. The jury selection process was set to begin.

But then, around 9.30 that morning, the defense attorney came in and made the announcement. Aiden Fucci would plead guilty to the first-degree murder of Tristan Bailey. I was surprised that he decided to plead guilty so late in the game. With the overwhelming amount of guilt that we had, I would have expected a guilty plea. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had happened a lot earlier and the defense team just focused a lot on all the mitigation and everything they want to do for sentencing.

I was surprised at the fact that he did it jury selection morning. The Baileys had mixed emotions about the plea. Remember, in anticipation of this trial, the family had sat in a room and watched and listened to a preview of all the evidence. We go into the courtroom for him to turn around and plea. While that was a huge relief and so, so, that was huge, there was a part of us that was angry that he waited till the very last minute because we had just gone through all the hurt and pain and reopening these wounds to prepare for it for nothing because he desired to plea. While there wouldn't be a trial, there would still be a sentencing hearing. So while the

Bailey's would still be in court, it would be for less time than if they'd been a trial, and there was now a limited scope of appeals possible for Fucci. Jennifer turned her focus to prepping for the sentencing hearing. As the juvenile convicted of first-degree murder, Fucci faced between 40 years to life in prison. He would also be granted an automatic review hearing after 25 years. And just so it's not confusing, you know, Scott's using the word juvenile like literally due to his age. He was 14 at the time of crime.

It's already been determined that he was going to be tried in an adult court. So this is an adult plea. But because of his actual age, the law in Florida says that if someone is convicted of first degree murder, well, that's automatic life or the death penalty. But a juvenile could never be sentenced to death. But for a juvenile, it is 40 or life. However, no matter what the sentence that the judge decides on because of their age at the time of the crime, that after 25 years, the judge can review the sentence and potentially offer a lighter sentence at that time if warranted. And so considering that this would now have a proceeding at least in 25 years down the road, it was important to have all the evidence against Fucci on the record.

You want to show enough of the crime and what he did that this wasn't a spur of the moment type, impetuous decision on the behalf of a juvenile to do something stupid. This was much different than that. So you want to paint that picture both for the court now, but for the future court in reviewing his sentence. The week of the hearing, the court was filled with Tristan's family and friends. There were aqua ties, sweaters, and even fingernails painted aqua, just like during Tristan's celebration of life. One by one, her loved ones took the stand and told the judge, the court, and even Fucci himself how Tristan's murder had forever affected them. I feel like I finally was able to say what I was trying to

convey, which was that there wasn't a word strong enough to describe the devastation that this has caused in my family, the loss. I don't think it exists. There's nothing big enough to describe what we've gone through. On the final day of sentencing hearing, the courtroom was packed. The judge read out his sentence. Aiden Fucci was sentenced to life in prison. He will have an automatic review hearing in 25 years.

Approximately six weeks later, Aiden Fucci's mother pled no contest on the charge of evidence tampering. She was adjudicated as guilty and sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years probation. Justice was served, but it won't change what the Baileys will forever now live with. Justice is not a thing that magically makes the pain go away. Yes, it did what it needed to do for somebody who had a poor choice in their life, but it doesn't change our reality. It doesn't bring my sister back. The Baileys have managed the best they can, both individually and also in the same way

they always have, by leaning on each other. It's been from day one, us staying together. And as we went through everything, we went together as a family. And I think that's been what has helped each of us at points in time is to be able to lean on one another. It's also taught us that we're all grieving very differently and understanding that we need to give each other grace as we go through because we're at different points in how we're reacting to things. One way the family has funneled their pain is by working for change and by establishing the Tristan Bailey Memorial Foundation, also known as the Tristan Bailey Strong Foundation. The foundation focuses on honoring Tristan's spirit and also victim advocacy. Their advocacy was, in fact, instrumental in helping pass a bill in the state of Florida

that prohibits the release of crime scene pictures when a minor is killed. Florida has a very judicious open record stance. It's actually called the Sunshine Law, and it's where the press and the public, as an example, have the ability to request specific records that are entered into evidence in a court proceeding. The Bailey Act creates an exemption for any photo, video, audio recording, and autopsy report where the victim is a minor. So now it's an exemption and those items will not be released. And I do think just to explain that a bit, the reason that that became part of an important mission for them is that specific to Tristan's case, there were multiple requests for actual crime scene photographs. And there is

laws on the books that public records, if they fall within certain things such as crime scenes, that they have to be released if you do these Freedom of Information Acts. So again, this law basically says when it comes to juveniles, you can't get them. So we hopefully ward out irresponsible outlets and people that for whatever reason, you could literally broadcast these things on the internet if we didn't have laws like this in place. It has a very purposeful use

in the prosecution of the crime, yet the impact that it can have on, you know, grieving families, but beyond that, other children who have lost classmates and teammates and that impact, we need to kind of protect that information. The foundation will also support programs that teach young people self-defense and educates them about the dangers of social media. Social media is evolving so quickly and it definitely came into play both from Tristan's standpoint and not being more hesitant about the dangers of the

introduction she had, as well as, you know, from a parental standpoint in monitoring the social media. So we will focus on that. It is a cause that's also close to Jennifer's heart. Gosh, I mean, from doing child sex crimes to doing homicides that involve a lot of teenagers and young adults, the overwhelming commonality is self-signed social media. And when it comes to, you know, teenagers like this, I can't stress enough to parents about the importance of knowing what your child is doing in their phone. The foundation will also grant scholarships and other forms of support for young people who embody Tristan's spirit. With respect to Tristan, what we're going to focus on is a lot of items that champion people that live their life in a similar way to what Tristan was doing as far as being a friendly face in school, being somebody who reached out to people who were not being reached out to.

Today, the living Bailey family includes two parents and four siblings, but for them, they will forever remain the Bailey Seven. The thing that I always wanted out of this world was to have a family. It was my life's goal to be fortunate enough to have a large family. And the reality of having my children was far better than any dream that I ever would have had of it. And it's completely grounded what my aspirations were and what my dreams were when you have that ripped away. It's very difficult to work through. Yet, I also want to make sure that my children continue to live their life to the fullest.

They're also incredible and remarkable, and I want to make sure that they find their own happiness and find their own dreams and find a way to do that, continuing to carry their sister with them. I want to take a moment to talk about another one of Tristan's sisters. During sentencing, she took the stand in a packed courtroom and wanted to talk about her sister Tristan and the impact it has on her and on the family. But I also want you to hear it in her own words and the way she made that presentation to the court. She spoke while holding 114 aqua-colored stones, which was the number of stab wounds that Tristan had sustained. She paused and dropped them one by one into a jar. We have the audio recording of her dramatic testimony, and I thought it was so powerful.

This jar now holds 114 stones, one for each of the 114 stab wounds that my sister had to endure. It was one hour and 42 minutes between when my sister was last seen and when Aiden Fucci was next seen, running out of the woods holding his shoes because his feet hurt. It's funny that such a simple statement can bring such anger. Aiden Fucci could show compassion for his sore feet, yet had nothing to leave for my beautiful sister. The time it took for those stones to drop was a very powerful reminder of what Tristan endured during her final moments. There are many takeaways from this story. There's the prosecutor, Jennifer Dunton, who embodies a strong advocate both in court and also showing empathy and consideration for the loved ones of all victims as they deserve. Forrest and Stacey Bailey are parents who put each other and their children first.

The love and strength within that family unit is clear, and I hope that it will carry them through their grief and pain. And by redirecting their loss as a force for good and change should inspire us all. And Brittany's perspective shines a light on a group of surviving family members not talked about enough, the siblings. And then Tristan. Most of us got to know Tristan because of her death. But our takeaway should be who she was in life. Loud, silly, strong, empathetic and kind, and very, very much loved.

This AOM community, we see you, Tristan, for how you lived, and that is how you will be remembered. Tune in next week for another new episode of Anatomy of Murder. Anatomy of Murder is an AudioChuck original produced and created by Weinberger Media and Frasetti Media. Ashley Flowers is executive producer. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?