The U.S. Florida prosecutor said on May 27 local time that a 14-year-old boy carried out a premeditated attack, stabbed a schoolgirl 114 times to death, and was charged with first-degree murder and will be tried as an adult.
The victim, Tristyn Bailey, 13, was a student at Patriot Oak College and a school cheerleader.
The victim, Bailey, was only 13 years old
On May 9, she was found dead in the woods near her home in northwestern St. John County, near Jacksonville, with a mutilated body.
Police found a knife in a pond near the crime scene, usually used for hunting, with the tip of the knife broken. The forensic doctor found the tip of the knife in Bailey's skull, and the blood on the murder weapon matched the victim's blood.
Soon after, police found bloodstained clothes at the home of 14-year-old boy Aiden Fucci and detected the victim's DNA. He was arrested.
The 14-year-old suspect, Fuch
According to an arrest report, Bailey's family last saw her around midnight on May 9. An hour later, residential surveillance near the Dubin North Amenity Center showed Bailey and Fucci walking together, at one point toward the east side of Saddlestone Avenue.
At around 3:30 a.m. on May 10, another video showed Fucci walking alone on Saddlestone Avenue, "wearing a pair of white shoes with a black 'Nike' logo."
Fooch was initially charged with second-degree murder. But seventh circuit state prosecutor R. S. Miller R.J. Larizza announced at a news conference that Fucci is now charged with first-degree murder and will be prosecuted as an adult for his methods of being too cruel and premeditated.
Lariza revealed that at least 49 of the victims' stabbing sites were in the hands, arms and head, suggesting an attempt to resist the attackers. "Just from the quantitative point of view, it can be inferred that there was premeditation. Every stretch of the arm, every time the arm is lowered, it is premeditated. ”
Bailey is also a school cheerleader
In the weeks leading up to the murder, Fucci's testimony to witnesses also indicated that he was premeditated: he intended to take someone into the woods and stab him or her to death.
Asked if Fucci had mental health issues, Lariza said "no," adding: "Teens have the potential to do things that we adults never thought about." He warned parents in the community to pay close attention to whether their children were emotionally abnormal.
It is unclear how the two met, or whether they belonged to the same class. Lariza said that while investigators have not yet determined the motive, he confirmed that Bailey's encounter with Fucci "began as a child wandering."
Lariza said there was no evidence that others were involved in the horrific crime. Fucci has been held in a juvenile detention center since his arrest and will be transferred to an adult detention center on May 27, but will not be held in the same cell as an adult.
Nandu reporter Shi Minglei