A 14-year-old teen is being charged as an adult for first-degree murder in the brutal stabbing of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey.
According to CNN, Aiden Fucci was initially charged with second-degree murder for Bailey’s brutal death, but the charge was later upgraded to first-degree murder due to the nature of the crime.
Tristyn Bailey’s body was found on May 9 after her worried family had reported her missing earlier that day.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office said the girl had sustained 114 stab wounds with at least 49 defensive wounds to her head, hands, and arms.
“To say that it was horrific could arguably be made as an understatement,” R.J. Larizza, state attorney for the 7th Judicial Circuit, said.
“The bottom line is that premeditation could be inferred, certainly, from just the sheer number of stab wounds that Tristyn Bailey had to suffer,” Larizza continued.
The prosecutor claims witnesses told authorities that Fucci allegedly made statements that show he intended to kill someone by taking them into the woods and stabbing them.
Larizza also revealed that evidence proved the tip of the knife believed to have been used in Bailey’s murder was also found in her scalp along with the suspect’s DNA on her body. Authorities also confirmed a knife with a broken tip was found in a pond near the girl’s body, Larizza said.
“It brings me no pleasure to be charging a 14-year-old as an adult with first-degree murder. But I can tell you also that the executive team and I reviewed all the facts, all the circumstances, the applicable law, and it was not a difficult decision to make that he should be charged as an adult,” Larizza stated.
