JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – New video was released Tuesday in the murder case against Aiden Fucci, the St. Johns County teen charged in the grisly slaying of schoolmate Tristyn Bailey.
The footage released as part of the discovery process includes two clips of surveillance video from Durbin Crossing, the subdivision where Fucci and Bailey lived, video from inside Fucci’s home and several clips that were uploaded to Snapchat.
Fucci, 14, is in custody at the Duval County jail while he awaits trial on a charge of first-degree murder in the killing of Bailey, whose body was found on Mother’s Day less than a half-mile from Fucci’s home.
TIMELINE: The investigation into Tristyn Bailey’s disappearance and death
The first piece of video is a two-minute clip recorded from a neighbor’s home that shows two people walking along the sidewalk in the subdivision about 12:15 a.m. May 9. The second clip shows someone running alone in the opposite direction over an hour later.
Those clips appear to back up the arrest warrant for Fucci, which said surveillance video showed two people, believed to be the teens, walking east on Saddlestone Drive in the early morning hours of May 9 before one was later seen heading west on the same street.
A 16-minute clip appears to have been recorded on a surveillance camera inside Fucci’s home. At one point, the video shows a woman running upstairs and picking up some clothes from a room, including a pair of jeans, before doing something to them off-camera.
Fucci’s mother, Crystal Smith, is charged with evidence tampering, a third-degree felony, in connection with the case.
According to charging documents, Smith is accused of washing her son’s blue jeans while he was being questioned about Bailey’s disappearance. Investigators said the jeans tested positive for the presence of blood, despite efforts to clean them.
Other footage released includes three clips of cellphone video. The first shows Fucci and a friend in the back of a patrol car. “Having fun in a (expletive) cop car,” Fucci can be heard saying. “What’s up guys? Tristyn if you (expletive) walk out the damn…” before it cuts off.
The two other cellphone videos show Fucci briefly and the contents of a law enforcement officer’s trunk, which contains a rifle and tactical gear.
Bailey, 13, was reported missing by family May 9 before being found stabbed to death near a pond in the Durbin Crossing subdivision.
Fucci, who attended Patriot Oaks Academy with Bailey, was arrested a day later and is considered the lone suspect in her murder. Based on the circumstances involved in the case, Fucci will be tried as an adult.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if this case is well over a year,” said attorney John Holzbaur, who is not affiliated with the case. “It’s going to take time. They’re going to continue to build this minute by minute.”
The chief medical examiner ruled Bailey’s death a homicide caused by “sharp force trauma by stabbing.”
State Attorney R.J. Larizza said the teen was stabbed 114 times. Larizza said 49 of the wounds were to Bailey’s hands, arm and head, and appeared “defensive in nature.” He said the tip of the knife used to kill her was found by the medical examiner inside her body.
“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 told reporters at a May news conference.
The state attorney also said multiple witnesses provided statements that Fucci had told people he planned to kill someone by “taking them into the woods and stabbing them.”
“Which are certainly the facts of this case,” Larizza added.
Investigators previously disclosed that they recovered DNA evidence from Fucci on Bailey’s body. They also said that Bailey’s DNA was found on shoes belonging to Fucci that were located in his bedroom.
Witnesses also told investigators that the knife believed to be the murder weapon looked identical to a knife Fucci was known to carry.
Speaking to detectives, Fucci acknowledged walking with Bailey and getting into an argument with her, according to his arrest warrant affidavit. The affidavit said he admitted that he “forcefully pushed the victim to the ground, causing her head to strike the ground.”
The document said Fucci’s story changed multiple times, but noted that he made several admissions.
Fucci and his mother are both scheduled to have pretrial hearings on Sept. 1.