13-Year-Old Girl Stabbed 114 times By 14-Year-Old Boy Who Is Being Charged As Adult

A 14-year-old boy from Florida will stand trial as an adult for the first-degree premeditated murder of a 13-year-old girl earlier this month.

Aiden Fucci’s case was changed from juvenile to adult for his brutal killing of Tristyn Bailey, who was allegedly stabbed 114 times, prosecutors said.

The 14-year-old boy was initially facing second-degree murder charges but did not have time to enter a plea before the charges were upgraded, ABC News reported, citing the State Attorney’s Office of the 7th Circuit. State Attorney R. J. Larizza explained in a press conference Thursday that the charges were upgraded due to the brutality of the case.

It was on May 9 when the victim was reported missing to the St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office. The family of the 13-year-old girl last saw Bailey around midnight. A search was then launched to find her.

The body of the teen was found at 6 p.m. in the immediate area near a retention pond. Fucci was singled out as the suspect and was arrested, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office on May 11.

“It brings me no pleasure to be charging a 14-year-old as an adult with first degree murder. It was clear to us after we look at what happened that it was not only appropriate to charge the defendant as an adult, but it was really the only charge we could make,” Larizza said in a statement.

Larizza shared new details tied to the incident, revealing that the victim had 114 stab wounds on different parts of her body. According to the report from the medical examiner, Bailey had at least 49 wounds to her hands, arms and head that were defensive in nature.

“She was fighting for life,” Larizza said. "To say it was horrific could arguably be made as an understatement."

"[Fucci] indicated to witnesses that he was going to kill someone by taking them into the woods and stabbing them. The statement that the defendant made to his friends made it clear he was considering a homicide," he continued.

The weapon used to kill Tristyn was a knife found in a nearby pond. The broken tip of the weapon was found in the girl’s skull. Fucci’s DNA was also found on Bailey’s body. The girl’s DNA was found on the knife, the 14-year-old’s shoes and a shirt found in Fucci’s bedroom.

Judge Howard M. Maltz informed Fucci of his rights, the charges and the probable cause to detain him. The 14-year-old boy will remain in jail without bond. He is set to be arraigned in the coming weeks, WJXX reported.