Aiden Fucci, a Florida teen, now 16, has pleaded guilty Monday to the fatal stabbing of 13-year-old cheerleader Tristyn Bailey in a quiet suburb of Jacksonville.
Bailey was fatally stabbed 114 times on Mother’s Day in 2021 by Aiden Fucci, who then dumped her body in a forested location close to their neighbourhood.
In a brief statement to the court, Aiden Fucci said, ‘I just want to say I plead guilty and I’m sorry for the Bailey family and my family.’
According to The New York Post, Fucci is being charged as an adult, and prosecutors stressed they did not offer him any leniency in sentencing as part of the plea agreement.
He is not eligible for the death penalty because he committed the heinous crime while still a 14-year-old minor.
It was reported that Fucci’s friends confirmed he openly fantasised about violence and murder in the months leading up to the killing and that he selected his classmate as a target in a fit of rage.
‘He has frequently depicted dismembered bodies in his drawings as he told us he was being told to kill innocent people by voices in his head,’ his friends said.
As per a statement by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, ‘Aiden Fucci’s decision to enter a guilty plea today is nothing more than a testament to the hard work and dedication of the exceptional men and women of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office.’ This was an all-out agency effort.
Bailey had been socializing with both Fucci and another classmate before the crime, and she was last captured on a surveillance camera in a local cul-de-sac around 1:45 a.m.
Her family reported her missing after she failed to appear for a Mother’s Day breakfast with her family later that morning
