Florida Teen Sentenced To Life For Murder Of 13-Year-Old Classmate Stabbed 114 Times

A Florida teenager has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his 13-year-old schoolmate on Mother’s Day 2021.

Aiden Fucci, 16, was tried as an adult in connection with the death of Tristyn Bailey in Durbin Crossing. Bailey’s body was found around half a mile from Fucci’s home in the neighborhood where she also lived with her family.

According to R.J. Larizza, the state attorney for Florida’s Seventh Judicial Circuit, Bailey was stabbed 114 times during the attack that took her life, WJXT reported.

“To say that it was horrific could arguably be made as an understatement,” Larizza said, noting, “The bottom line is that premeditation could be inferred, certainly from just the sheer number of stab wounds that Tristyn Bailey had to suffer.”

A St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office arrest affidavit states Fucci allegedly told investigators he and Bailey were walking when they began to argue and “he forcefully pushed the victim to the ground, causing her head to strike the ground.”

According to Larizza, leading up to the murder, Fucci allegedly “indicated to several witnesses that he was going to kill someone by taking them in the woods and stabbing them, which are certainly the facts of this case.”

The suspect’s DNA was allegedly found on Bailey’s body, and her DNA was on white Nike shoes that were collected as evidence from Fucci’s bedroom, the state attorney said.

In August 2022, over a year after the murder, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said in a report that a knife recovered from a St. Johns County retention pond near where Bailey’s body was discovered allegedly matched a portion of blade found in the victim’s scalp, WJXT reported.

On Feb. 6, 2023, Fucci pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in her fatal stabbing, according to PEOPLE.

On March 24, 2023, the teenager was sentenced to life in prison for the crime. Haley Harrison, with the State Attorney's Office 7th Judicial Circuit of Florida, said Fucci is eligible to have his case reviewed in 25 years, allowing a judge to consider a lesser sentence.

“I hope that parents will learn something from this, this vicious and brutal murder, and that is that you need to know what your kids are doing and what they are saying,” Larizza said of the slaying. “Because while we might not be able to stop these brutal and vicious murders from happening, we ought to at least try.”