Episode 288

Today, we're exploring deep in the North American wilderness among nature's wildest plants, animals, and

cows.

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Ready to take advantage of an incredible deal at Mazda?

September is the final month of eligibility for federal $7,500 electric vehicle lease cash on the new Mazda CX70 and CX90 plug-in hybrid.

All Mazda current inventory is unaffected by new tariffs.

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$7,500 electric vehicle lease cash offer expires at the end of September.

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$7,500 lease customer cash could toward 2025 CX70 PHEV and CX90 PHEV when leasing through Mazda Financial Services.

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Lease customer cash is not redeemable as cash or cash back option.

Lease customer cash is only available on approved credit.

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Limit one discount per customer per vehicle.

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Void reprohibited.

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Offer ends 930-2025, and you must take delivery prior to expiration of offer.

See participating Mazda dealer for complete details.

Sword and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences.

Listener discretion is advised.

There was no reason.

There was no purpose.

It was done for no other reason than to satisfy

this defendant's internal desire to feel what it was like to kill someone.

Why is there a Sword and Scale on a Tuesday?

That doesn't seem right.

I should call the manager.

This is season 12, episode 288 of Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst monsters are real.

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Why don't you head on over there and support your favorite podcast?

Because

I know this is something we do for the love of it, but you know, we also like to eat every now and then.

Ready to take advantage of an incredible deal at Mazda?

September is the final month of eligibility for federal $7,500 electric vehicle lease cash on the new Mazda CX70 and CX90 plug-in hybrid.

All Mazda current inventory is unaffected by new tariffs.

See your local Mazda dealer for details.

$7,500 electric vehicle lease cash offer expires at the end of September.

Don't miss out!

$7,500 lease customer cash good toward 2025 CX70 PHEV and CX90 PHEV when leasing through Mazda Financial Services.

Lease customer cash can be combined with other public offers, including lease incentive offers.

Lease customer cash cannot be combined with APR or other customer cash offers.

Lease customer cash is not redeemable as cash or cash back option.

Lease customer cash is only available on approved credit.

Not all customers will qualify for credit approval or offer.

Limit one discount per customer per vehicle.

Lease customer cash offer only available in the United States regardless of buyer's residency.

Void reprohibited.

Apply within the lease structure as a capital cost reduction.

Lease customer cash is only available on participating Mazda Mazda dealer's current inventory, which is subject to availability.

Off rents 9:30-2025, and you must take delivery prior to expiration of offer.

See Participating Mazda Dealer for complete details.

It's getting a little warmer out there, so let me take you down to a little place called St.

John's, Florida.

It's a suburban dreamland, tucked between Jacksonville and St.

Augustine.

Sounds pleasant, doesn't it?

This is a place where life feels peaceful, predictable,

ordinary.

Golf courses blend seamlessly into HOA neighborhoods.

Everyone has a pool.

Here, parents trust that when their kids leave in the morning, they'll come back at night.

before the streetlights turn on.

St.

John's wasn't always as booming as it is today.

In fact, it was barely a dot on a map just a few decades ago.

But things have changed, especially in Florida.

Over the past 10 years, the once quiet community has exploded in size, growing from just over 18,000 people to almost 90,000 today.

Despite that growth, there's still a sense of security here.

A belief that you know your neighbors, that you know your children, that bad things happen somewhere else.

On Mother's Day, May 9th, 2021, it would take only 12 hours for that sense of safety to shatter completely.

You're going to have to pay close attention here.

We're going to jump around in the timeline a bit.

But we'll start at around 3.30 p.m.

On the side of one of these beautifully landscaped streets, sits a cop car.

In the back seat, there are two teenage boys, both about 14 years old.

They live in the area, and their parents have money and ring cameras everywhere.

These aren't the type of kids you usually see in the back of a police cruiser.

They're laughing, each holding their own phone with one extended arm as they record videos on Snapchat for

Cred.

He's talking about a missing teen, Tristan.

He says, Tristan, if you walk out the dam.

And then the video cuts off.

Then Aiden posts another snap, but...

He's holding up a peace sign and it's captioned, hey guys, has anybody seen Tristan lately?

You see, as they're laughing and joking in the back of a cop car,

their classmate is missing.

It's as if the gravity of the situation hasn't sunk in yet, or worse,

that it doesn't matter.

Earlier that morning, 13-year-old Tristan Bailey's mother had awoken to find her daughter's bed empty.

Given Tristan's age and the fact that she's a cheerleader with good grades, her mom immediately called 911.

Yes, this.

I need somebody to come to my home right now.

I don't.

I don't even think.

Take a big breath for me, okay?

How old?

Is there anything?

She's 13.

13 years old?

Can you go room by room with me?

I did.

I did.

Take a big breath.

I've had my whole family.

Okay, was she supposed to be sleeping in her room?

Yeah.

The last time somebody saw her was at midnight.

Was last night?

Yes.

What time?

The last time her sister saw her was at midnight.

Is there any reason that she would have left to go to a friend's house?

No.

Has she

left out before?

No, not to my knowledge.

And her location is off.

Her Snapchat location is off.

I have, my friend has her.

And I turned 60 and she stopped sharing local code phone.

Her phone's going straight to voicemail.

While her mother was on the phone, Tristan's father scoured the property, desperate to find her.

When that failed, he got in his car, driving through the neighborhood in search of her.

Soon, police started to arrive at the Bailey's residence, ready to take statements and launch a full-scale search of their own.

So, you know, my wife and I woke up this morning and uh.

it's okay

we probably both woke up around seven okay

and um

my daughter was and said that she was going to make breakfast for my wife because it's Mother's Day

started making breakfast it was around 930

when I say 9.30 or 9.40 that

we asked my son to go upstairs to wake up, come down for breakfast.

Okay.

He came down and said

he didn't find her in her room or in

the

media room,

which the kids will sometimes sleep on if they're watching TV.

Okay.

So

I went up to drive around the two amenity centers, just worried that

I'm sorry if i'm going too fast new your friend

um worried that she she might be up there and then you came back over here and that's when law enforcement started to show up correct correct law enforcement was here um

at one point so that's when we started to piece together that

um she snuck out last night We begin tonight with breaking news from St.

John's County, where police say this 13-year-old girl hasn't been seen in some 15 hours.

Thanks for joining us at six.

I'm Jeff Ballin.

This is a photo the St.

Johns County Sheriff's Office wants you to take a close look at.

Tristan Bailey is missing.

Deputies say she was last seen during the overnight hours at the amenities center in the Durban Crossing subdivision.

You know, again, so many families out here, you know, I talked with one family who says their kids went to school with Bailey, and they still can't believe something like this happened.

You know,

they've been living here for about 12 years now, and they said never has a child been missing.

The St.

John's County Sheriff's Office says Bailey was last wearing a white cheerleading skirt and a dark colored skirt shirt.

So if you have any information about the current whereabouts or have seen Bailey, please contact your nearest local law enforcement.

After piecing some things together and talking with the parents of some of Tristan's friends, they quickly determined that Tristan had plans to sneak out that night, as did many other kids.

Apparently, there were secret tunnels underneath Tristan's neighborhood, which is straight out of a Stephen King novel and, you know, kind of cool.

We heard that she was linked with

potentially this boy Trey,

a boy Trent,

and a boy

Aiden.

There was also another boy, Joshua, but from everything I've heard, the Joshua didn't pan out.

At one point I also left.

I left with my daughter because

we heard there's this place called the tunnel where kids sometimes go and use drugs.

Here's one of the other parents talking about the notorious tunnels.

They were hanging out at the north.

They snuck out sometime in the middle of the night and were hanging out.

at the north and then the two boys went home and they said going to go home but she was going to meet this 22-year-old guy that I guess he buys babe stuff from, or it's a 22-year-old dealer, or 22-year-old plug, whatever that means.

And,

but I don't know who that guy was.

Sneaking out into those tunnels wasn't uncommon, especially for teens looking for an escape from the ordinary or the watchful eyes of their parents and the numerous, numerous security cameras.

I mean, I really should buy buy some ring stock.

Describe to me what takes place at the back of these trails as far as your understanding of it.

What are these?

People do drugs.

They come out high.

What kind of drugs?

All I know of, or I've seen with my own eyes, is marijuana.

And

I've seen vapes.

Okay.

95% of the time when I go to north, I do not see people coming in or out, or even if I go in there, people in there.

It's normally like 1.30 in the morning, people go back there.

What's her relationship with Trey and Aiden?

Do you know?

I mean, I have no idea.

I personally didn't even know they knew each other.

You didn't know who knew each other?

I didn't, I didn't knew, I didn't know Aiden, Trey, them two.

I didn't know they knew.

Okay.

What do you know about I mean how is she describe her to me?

She I just know she did

She playing

cheer

I

I knew she was friends with, she's normally friends with older kids.

She wouldn't at lunch, she'd normally come sit up with like the older kids because

she was in sixth when I was in eighth.

So she would always be up with like the seventh or eighth grade areas.

And I just know she was kind of one of the popular people.

Okay.

Describe Trey and Aiden for me.

What do you know about them?

I know first with Trey, I used to, I would help volunteer and coach the POA volleyball team for boys.

boys, and he used to play, and he got kicked off for punching this kid named Josh in the face and like hurting him pretty badly.

And I just know that's he has a bad background.

I've heard things from people about his family and just not to mess with him in general.

I just know he's one of the bigger kids that just is one of the bullies of the school.

He's had problems.

And then Aiden,

he's,

I've, I've had problems.

He has in the past, I think maybe three or four months ago, jumped one of of my friends named Henrik in my grade.

And

that's how I know he's not a very good person.

Trey has been held back.

He's 15, but he's in the 8th grade.

And Aiden, I'm pretty sure, is 14 and in the 8th grade.

Rumors were starting to spread fast.

Group chats lit up with speculation.

quickly adding new names to the mix.

From everyone talking about it, I just heard that she was missing and I thought she just like snuck out or something but it turned out people talking about what they thought happened or what happened

and one of the kids that was supposed to be involved.

And who was that?

Apton Abraham, I think he's saying his last name.

How old is he?

He is 14.

He's in my grade.

And he had said some things in a was it a private chat?

And someone screenshotted it and put it on.

Do you know who he was talking to?

It's his name is on it.

And he says, Aiden and Trey just snuck out with her, Trey and Chalkin, so they went in the woods.

He raped her.

And when she was all up on him, she tried running away and he hit her and she fell and she bled out literally 30 seconds away from my house.

Aiden tried to get me to go with them.

Do you know who who screen

Who got the screen grab of this?

That kid, that's right there.

And he sent it to you?

It was in a group shop.

It got reposted.

It got reposted everywhere.

I'm sure.

Okay.

Do you know

Aiden?

He went to my school last year.

He was in my math class.

He was a really bad kid.

He was always getting into trouble with girls at school and I was all over them.

Yeah.

I'm pretty sure he got expelled from our school.

That's why he goes to POA.

Okay.

What about Trey?

I have no clue.

I just, just he my my boyfriend was he sits at the lunch table with him and he was like I would never suspect him to do that like he's not a very good kid, but he was like I would have never thought he would do that.

Gotcha

You said that there was another conversation too that had been deleted.

Oh, yeah, they um someone posted on their story, but I don't think anybody even had time to screenshot it because they deleted it like that.

He was like, it was like a group chat that they had like planned to do this.

Between Trey Trey and Aiden or yeah

who is on that group chat?

Abs and

Trey and Aiden.

That's three of them.

Yeah.

My understanding is that I know both kids decently well and had problems with both of them in the past and

that their area or all the kids area around here that do drugs or just don't do good things hang out at the spot by north just way back there in the woods and i know that just it sounds like an era they would take people to do things like that

as trey abscher and aiden fuci sat in the back of a cop car broadcasting themselves on snapchat rumors continued to circulate the leading theory was that the two boys had lured tristan into the woods assaulting her and killing her Allegedly, they had even tried to involve a third boy who backed out.

Even more suspicious, Tristan allegedly had an ongoing sexual relationship with Trey.

Keep in mind, folks, these kids are 13 and 14 years old.

Prior to Tristan's disappearance, a video had been circulating around the school that depicted the teens were in a sexual act.

Trey had secretly recorded the encounter and shared it with other boys, which, by the way, can stick your kid with charges in the realm of possession, production, and distribution of child pornography, even if they're minor, in case you didn't know.

So, if you're parenting via iPad, I would suggest you get off your ass.

So, anyway, the night before Tristan went missing, Trey had been badgering a different girl from their school to come meet them out in the woods that night.

Her name is Lola.

And do you know, um, I don't know how you pronounce his name, Adrian

Fuchsi.

Adrian.

Adrian Fuchsi.

Do you know him?

Well, I didn't know him personally, but I heard about him a lot in the fifth grade.

He got sent home because he broke a kid's nose, and then

he's been getting in a lot of trouble and stuff because

and like I didn't know him personally.

I stayed away from people like him.

And then earlier today, he posted something in the back of the cop car saying

yo anyone seen and traded the same thing and everybody's been reposting that and saying about how messed up that is

he asked me to sneak out earlier that morning and I said yeah because like

live a little have fun

What time do you think?

Around 10.30, he asked me first and then he kept snapping me throughout the whole entire day which he was like are you still going?

Are you still going?

Which I found a little bit weird and so then

that was at 10.30 a.m.

or p.m.

Uh that was a.m.

And

that would have been Saturday morning, yesterday.

So what my main theory was is that after Trey got mad at me and I got mad at him, he asked her to sneak out.

And then

so

I know that, like, at Food Truck, she would always talk about the times when she sneaks out and stuff.

And I know that she's not exactly, like, you know, like, ideal daughter.

And everybody just wants to sneak out and have fun.

Tristan had actually told one of her friends about her plans to hang out with Trey and Aiden.

Tristan was the only one.

who thought that sneaking out and hanging out with these boys was a good idea.

Even her fellow 13-year-olds told her not to go.

She was like, I'm supposed to meet up with them sometime this weekend.

So I guess it was like after school.

I didn't really know when it was.

Like, I had this like really bad feeling because, like, she was like, we're gonna go hang out.

And I was like, um, like, it just didn't sit right with me.

And I got very agitated.

And then she asked me what's wrong, and I told her, like, I didn't really know.

Like, it just, like, I didn't really want her to go.

And, I mean, I guess she went anyways, but.

Despite the warnings, though, Tristan followed through with her plan, walking straight into the unknown.

But while everyone was busy pointing fingers, there was one side of the story that no one had heard yet:

the boys.

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Ready to take advantage of an incredible deal at Mazda?

September is the final month of eligibility for federal $7,500 electric vehicle lease cash on the new Mazda CX70 and CX90 plug-in hybrid.

All Mazda current inventory is unaffected by new tariffs.

See your local Mazda dealer for details.

$7,500 electric vehicle lease cash offer expires at the end of September.

Don't miss out.

7,500 lease customer cash good toward 2025 CX70 PHEV and CX90 PHEV when leasing through Mazda Financial Services.

Lease customer cash can be combined with other public offers, including lease incentive offers.

Lease customer cash cannot be combined with APR or other customer cash offers.

Lease customer cash is not redeemable as cash or cash back option.

Lease customer cash is only available on approved credit.

Not all customers will qualify for credit approval or offer.

Limit one discount per customer per vehicle.

Lease customer cash offer only available in the United States regardless of buyer's residency.

Void reprohibited.

Apply within the lease structure as a capital cost reduction.

Lease customer cash is only available on participating Mazda dealer's current inventory which is subject to availability.

Offer ends 930-2025 and you must take delivery prior to expiration of offer.

See participating Mazda dealer for complete details.

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As afternoon turned to evening on Mother's Day 2021, the peaceful St.

John's community had become the epicenter of a frantic investigation.

What began as a simple search for a missing teenage girl had quickly morphed into something dark and strange.

All eyes were on three teenage boys.

Doffus Sabscher, known by everyone as Trey,

Aiden Fuchsi, and a third boy, Abten.

The rumor mill was an overdrive, and no one knew what to believe.

So, it's around 4 p.m.

and St.

John's County cops have Trey and Aiden in the back of a squad car.

They have to get a statement from each of them before they decide what their next move is.

Meanwhile, another deputy drives over to Abden's house to get statements from him and his family.

Hey, are you Aiden?

Hey, I'm the technical police officer through the sheriff's office.

We're trying to figure out where Tristan's at.

And I'm not trying to get you in trouble or anything like that.

Obviously, I'm more concerned right now about her safety and what she's doing and where she could be hanging out.

You're telling him that there may be another path that he's maybe staying at?

Where she's staying at?

What's the path?

there's like a trail that goes super deep down there down to the woods this morning.

Okay.

Have you heard from her at all?

No?

Okay.

All right.

So are you willing to kind of give me a statement about what's going on?

Yeah, so we were at Trey's house and then I stayed there until probably like 1.50 a.m.

And then I was really late to be home, so I just had to leave because my mom would like seriously just kill me.

Okay.

So we started walking home and next to like where that brick wall starts up there, okay, is where like she touched my dick and I like pushed her off me real hard.

And then I just kind of like got out of one, kind of walked away out of anger.

So why did she do that though?

Was she like, were y'all talking about like she's

oh, she's the home?

Is what you're saying?

Okay.

All right.

She's ready to like breathe.

Okay.

She has a guy who uses selling those free swords.

She says she bangs and he's explaining something.

She's told you about this before?

Other classmates had mentioned this elusive 21-22-year-old guy, too.

Apparently, Tristan was, quote, banging him and was being provided cases of white claw along with vapes and whatever drugs she wanted, LSD, shrooms, weed, you name it.

Both Trey and Aiden told police they thought she might have been picked up by this guy after she and Aiden had their little fight and parted ways in the middle of the night.

They weren't the only ones with this theory.

As these stories unfolded, the police were working behind the scenes, gathering hard evidence.

All of the kids' houses were within walking distance, but the streets were densely packed, meaning officers would have to knock on a lot of doors.

Then after scanning hours of security and doorbell camera footage, someone finds a clip.

The truth is about to surface, one frame at a time.

And it's far more chilling than anyone imagined.

You see, when law enforcement first located Aiden, he gave his side of the story.

He said that after leaving Trey's house on Telford Drive at around 1 a.m., he and Tristan walked along North Durban Parkway.

He claimed that about a quarter out of the way into their walk, she parted ways and made a left onto Cloysterbain Drive, her street.

Aiden said he kept walking toward his home on Castledale Court and got home at around 3 a.m.

But the detective quickly picked up on a problem.

Why had it taken Aiden two hours to get home?

The distance from Trey's house to Aiden's home was just under two miles.

A walk like that shouldn't have taken more than 40 minutes, tops.

Aiden, sensing the shift in tone, tried to adjust his story a bit.

He told the officer he'd been walking around by himself for a while, for whatever reason.

This inconsistency raised red flags, of course.

To get a clearer picture, the detective asked Aiden if he'd be willing to ride in the back of a patrol car and retrace the path they had walked together.

Aiden agreed, and his dad followed behind him in his golf cart.

As they drove up North Durban Parkway, Aiden's story shifted once again.

This time he admitted that he had an argument during the walk.

He claimed Tristan had tried to make a move on him, and because he didn't want to cheat on his girlfriend, he pushed her.

Does that sound believable, ladies?

I didn't think so.

Anyway, he said she fell and he even got out of the car to demonstrate the push.

saying he thought maybe she hit her head.

But he walked away and didn't look back.

But something still didn't add up.

Surveillance footage obtained from a home on Saddlestone Drive, up near Castledale Court where Aiden lived, showed something entirely different.

At approximately 1.45 a.m., two figures were captured walking east along the road.

One was wearing a light-colored hoodie and wearing Nike shoes, and the other was dressed in black.

But by 3.27 a.m., the same camera captured only one figure, wearing a light-colored hoodie, running west.

The footage even captured the sound of his feet slapping against the sidewalk.

He was shoeless, carrying his white Nikes.

This

raised a question.

Why had Aiden and Tristan been spotted together way past Tristan's street on Saddlestone Drive if he had claimed she parted from him much earlier and headed home?

after seeing this footage, investigators knew they had to bring in Aiden one more time for questioning.

They now had proof that he wasn't telling the full story.

Aiden was the last person to see Tristan.

No one else was involved.

Once he's put in the back of a squad car, Aiden's behavior turns desperate.

When you're done over there, bring the canines over to Leith Hall and North Durban

to get a scent from over here.

Yeah.

No, he yeah, he's with me in the car.

Okay, bye.

As soon as the door shuts and the cop walks away, he tries to FaceTime his girlfriend, whom he has in his phone as quote, Dream Girl.

I mean, I can't even make this shit up, guys.

just have bowl to drink though.

Let me see your phone.

Thank you.

Take his phone for now.

Let me hold on to your phones, alright, buddy?

These kids are much more technically savvy than the cops that are dealing with them.

Did he really think that just putting Aiden's phone in the front seat would keep him from using it?

Hey, Siri.

Text Dream Girl, they took my phone, I'm using Siri, and I love you by.

Your message to Dream Girl says they took my phone, I'm using Siri, and I love you by.

Ready to send it?

Yes.

Okay, it's sent.

Hey Siri,

text Dream Girl, I'm talking through the glass.

I cannot see your text.

Your message to Dream Girl says I'm talking through the glass.

I cannot see your text.

Ready to send it?

Yes.

Okay, it's sent.

Hey, Siri,

text green dream girl.

Please stick with me through this.

Sorry, I missed that.

Could you say it again, please?

Please stick with me through this.

I'm sorry.

While Aiden was being driven to the police station, he lashed out in frustration, kicking the seat in front of him and complaining.

I'm going to get arrested for bullshit, he said.

At the same time, across town, detectives were at the Bailey residence trying to gather more information about Tristan, hoping to understand what kind of girl she really was.

So, obviously, we're here because went missing, and we're trying to figure out where she could be at.

And I just want to ask you some questions about like the last time you had maybe seen her or, you know, what's been going on with her or anything like that.

From your knowledge, when was the last time you saw or talked?

It was sometime after 12.

So I think it was probably around 12.15.

She came down the stairs, she talked about something that I can't remember.

Okay.

And then she went out to the garage to take a call.

And then when I went to see what she was doing, she was on FaceTime with a boy.

And I think it was Trey.

Yeah, have you tried calling her or texting her or anything like that?

Have you had any luck?

Yeah, I've called her a few times, but I just get straight to voicemail.

Okay.

Has this ever happened with her before that you're aware of?

No.

No.

You've never heard of her sneaking out until today, or no?

Okay.

Now, at this point, the Baileys knew nothing of Aiden's story.

They were still trying to investigate their mysterious 22-year-old drug dealer, Leed.

The officer following up with them instructed Tristan's younger sister to call a girl named Sam.

You see, apparently, Sam and her sister Lena were closer to Tristan and had more information about this guy.

Ultimately, this would end up being a fruitless pursuit, but Tristan's mother was desperate.

Okay.

And so when she said that, I was like, oh my god, like I know someone, like I don't associate with them whatsoever.

But I know of him.

And I really hope everything is okay.

Thank you, Sam.

If you guys need anything else, just let me know.

Okay, I'll let you know.

Sam,

Sam.

Okay.

Alright.

Get Sam.

Sam.

Sam.

Please, just...

Please just be honest with me.

I don't think you're not being honest, but somebody just sent me a message, and it said

that Lena didn't tell the police everything that she knows.

Sam, does Lena know anything else?

If she doesn't know anything, can you get it out of her?

As Tristan's mother and sister talked with a detective in the kitchen, someone was walking near Saddlestone Drive, where Aiden and Tristan had been caught on camera the night before.

As Tristan's family speculated about different possibilities, holding out hope that she may be found alive, this person had just come upon

her body.

Hello?

Hi, this is Alberto Hartsville's Sheriff's Office.

Your phone call 911 is everything, okay?

No, I found the missing girl.

There's a, uh, at the end of the street, there's a retention pond on the other piece of property.

Yeah, at the end of that, if you come back to the pond

at the southern end of it, she's about 25 feet in the woods.

She's in the woods now on the pond?

She's in the woods back here behind the pond.

Yes, sir.

She looks like she's wearing black shorts and a black shirt.

Don't touch her, please, sir.

No,

I'm about to come up anyway.

It looks like black shorts, black Nike shorts, and a black shirt.

And she's not moving, correct?

No, there's bugs flying all over.

I don't think she's alive.

As a 911 caller hung up the phone, Tristan's family was ending their call with Sam.

Tristan's father was in another room at the time.

He was the first of them to hear the news, and I gotta say, brace yourselves.

Alright, thanks.

Okay, I love you.

Love you too.

Okay, bye, Sam.

This is the coding too.

I'll call you guys back soon, okay?

Okay, thank you.

Of course, bye-bye.

No, no, no.

Well, one family faced the unthinkable loss of their daughter.

Another parent just a few miles away was already trying to protect their own child no matter the cost.

But as the truth started to unravel, it became clear not every parent was grieving.

In fact, some were already covering their tracks.

During the night and into the early morning hours, Aiden and his family were being kept in an interview room.

Holding them in a room together was intentional, but this flew right over their heads.

It's a holding arm.

They're gonna send you detectives in here to start talking to you.

Whatever, you know.

You need to talk to your lawyer first.

Do I have a lawyer?

Yeah.

You do.

That's the sound of Aiden's mother, Crystal, entering the room.

You're going to love her.

You know, you don't speak until Andy comes.

You have to speak in the cop car.

You don't have to speak anywhere until your attorney comes, which is Andy.

You knew it in the women?

Yes.

So you did not have to speak in none of the cop cars, you had to speak anywhere until he was present.

You just say, I'm not speaking as my tongue is here.

That was it.

Are you asking questions?

Um, well, they asked, like, what color is my hair and what color of my eyes and all that?

That's all I am.

And then, where do you live?

You know, they found this girl, right?

Where?

In our neighborhood, down our main street.

Is she dead?

No, no, no, she's dead.

That's why this is very important.

It's all in you right now.

Oh, my problem.

You might have to do that.

You were the last one scene with her.

So right now, it's a lot of, it's facing you right now, son.

So however you talk, you breathe, you think,

then you respond.

This is very serious, Aiden.

You can't act like, I don't know,

I don't know.

You can't, and you can't.

You understand this is serious

clearly.

You understand, right?

Everything you say will affect you.

Everything you say will affect you, she says, right after.

You can't act like I don't know.

Hmm.

What did she mean by that?

That Snapchat that you did was not very smart.

It's not good at all.

Now we have people wanting to burn our house on their car, so

because of that Snapchat thing you did.

It's all over your internet and everywhere.

Social media.

And it just doesn't look right.

So everyone thinks that you did.

You and another kid killed or raped her.

And that's the one around social media pretty fast right now.

Before we play the next clip, remember what Crystal had told her son when she came into the room.

She basically scolded him for talking to the cops before his lawyer was present.

But not realizing there are cameras in every room, she nonchalantly goes on to ask him all the same questions a detective would ask in an interrogation.

She does their work for them.

Did you tell me anything different in the cop car that we don't know about?

No.

Do you know if this girl got

picked up?

You told me about her dealer.

You think she got picked up by him?

Probably.

She says she wasn't coming home.

She says she's going to find somebody.

After you left her there walking?

Like, you think she got picked up after that?

She just kept walking?

Probably.

Do you know if she turned the other direction or she was just still walking behind you?

So you pushed her down and then you walked.

We shouldn't be talking to you.

I'm just asking when you told the cops.

I don't know what she said.

I was just asking when you told them.

You walked away.

You came straight home.

You didn't turn back around to see where she went?

What were you doing outside in that late night?

We were at Tree's house and you know with them.

Did you kiss or do anything with this girl?

Be honest as you can to them.

To Vandy, your lawyer.

Yes.

Yeah.

You kissed her.

Anything further?

So your DNA is going to be on her.

I remind you that these people are allowed to vote.

We saw your shoes were off on the camera.

Fall your shoes off.

Good feet were hurting.

And those shoes give me blisters.

This is serious, Adam.

It's very serious.

This is no joke.

This is your whole life.

Your whole life.

Ann Rs.

Ann Rs.

And your brothers and sister?

Did she really grab you and you just really pushed her or was that...

No, she did.

Okay.

You don't know what happened to her after you pushed her.

Did she say ow or get mad?

She said and she was like, Ann.

I think I pushed her, but I just told her to FOMO.

The only direction she won't do?

Probably the other way, because she wasn't next to me anymore.

You didn't look back on her?

They're searching her house right now.

Crystal sounds really nervous, doesn't she?

Try to keep up here.

I know it's a lot.

The lawyer she mentioned hiring for Aiden is actually a family member.

Crystal isn't married to Aiden's dad.

She remarried, and her new husband's brother-in-law is a lawyer.

So we're talking about that level of lawyering.

The lawyer's wife's name is Victoria, and she knows Crystal did something very bad.

First off, if you could just tell us, what is your relationship to

Aiden Fuji's family?

And how do you know them and what's the relationship there?

Through marriage, my husband and

Aiden Fuji's mother's husband are first cousins.

Well, that morning we decided to go on a golf cart ride to go see their construction that's being

taken in their home.

We got there and we're looking at their kitchen and light pendants, and an officer showed up needing to speak to Aiden and his parents.

I soon followed after just to see what was going on.

And the officer is asking questions about

where the last place Aiden had seen the girl, and

were there any drugs involved, etc.

The officer asked if he could take Aiden so Aiden could show him where the underground tunnels are in the neighborhood.

And his mom agreed to that.

So Aiden left with the officer in his patrol car and

they went to the North Amenity Center.

Crystal and I were outside with the children.

And I had asked her, had she looked in his room to see if she'd seen anything that would be beneficial or strange?

And she said no and said that she was going to.

So she went up to his room and I stayed outside with the children.

She had came back down and she had said that his jeans were damp.

And I had asked her if they were wet or damp and she said damp.

And I said, okay.

Like her face looked kind of pale and I said what else?

And she said there was like a discoloration on the jeans and I said

I don't remember exactly what I said to be honest

I had asked her where the jeans were I believe and she brought me inside okay when she brought you inside did she show you the jeans yes

and

how did she show you the jeans or did she say anything while she was showing you the jeans she brought the jeans out of her room and handed them to me and I held them up and I didn't see anything on the jeans and I said I don't see anything and she said yes you do and I looked at them and it was like on the back butt pocket there was a discoloration underneath the pocket of the jeans

and I said it looks yellow and she said that she had washed it

when she had said she had washed it I said why would you wash it and I don't recall what she said to me at that point

There was something else you said

why would you wash those jeans?

Oh, you could get in trouble.

Okay.

Yeah, I'm sorry.

Well, I just knew that there was a missing girl at that point, and he was the last person seen with her.

And in my mind, I wouldn't have touched anything in his bedroom.

I mean, if it was my child, I would have gone up there and looked to see what was going on, but I wouldn't have messed with anything in his room just because I know they probably would come with a search warrant to search the home.

This is Bethany Frankl from Just Be with Bethany Frankl.

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By dinner time on May 9th, 13-year-old Tristan Bailey's body had been found, and 14-year-old Aiden Fuchsi's guilt seemed undeniable.

The home security footage showed him walking to his house in the early morning, wearing the same jeans as Mother Crystal, later admitted to washing.

But it wasn't just a simple wash.

Crystal was doing more than laundry.

She was rewriting the truth.

And as investigators circled closer to the Fuchi family, Crystal wasn't just hiding evidence.

She was actively trying to reshape the narrative, attempting to coach her son into saying he wore a different pair of pants that night.

This wasn't just a mother protecting her child.

This was

something much more calculating.

You wore packies or including

them?

When we looked on the camera, you were wearing khakis.

Right?

Aiden tries to tell the truth that he was wearing blue jeans that night, but his mother says, Are you sure?

When we checked the security camera, you were wearing khakis.

When police checked Crystal's security camera footage, they found something very different.

Not only was Aiden seen entering the house in the blue jeans, cameras inside the home caught Crystal scrubbing them by hand in the sink.

Now she was working overtime to cover both of their asses.

Soon, Aiden had to be swabbed for DNA samples, and after that,

they're all moved to a different room than the one they were in before.

This is the room they record, Jen.

Yes.

Everything you said was recorded.

The other one was not.

What a fucking idiot.

Don't say nothing.

Don't take nothing from anybody.

Keep your head down.

No.

No, just keep your head down.

It's gonna be rough.

You'll be fine though.

I touch me.

There's a chance of me going home.

Yes.

They're gonna search my house first.

And if there's any kind of thing that links.

And now he's gonna go home, Jason.

There's always a chance.

You're right.

They're gonna have something else up.

Hope so long.

I know I'm staying here.

So nothing ought to

like

mess with your mind to act

doing the thing you were supposed to.

It was CBD,

not THC, THC, get you high, CBD, don't do Jack.

I'm just trying to think if you did something stupid, maybe something made you do it, so that'll justify it.

Even if he had been high, nothing could have justified what Aiden did to Tristan.

Nothing.

Nada.

His parents babied him, comforted him, and even assured him they'd put money on his books.

Aiden was no victim, though.

He was not a child.

He was a monster.

A cold-hearted killer.

Someone with absolutely no conscience.

Today, the St.

John's County Grand Jury convened and issued an indictment against Aiden Fucci for first-degree murder involving our victim, Tristan Bailey.

Aiden Fucci will be tried as an adult.

To say that it was horrific could arguably be made as an understatement.

The medical examiner completed an autopsy on our victim and identified confidently that there were 114 stab wounds.

114.

At least 49 of those stab wounds were to the hands, arms, and the head and were defensive in nature.

The bottom line is that premeditation could be inferred, certainly, from just the sheer number

of stab wounds that Tristan Bailey had to suffer.

Every time that arm went back

and every time that arm went down, that was premeditation and it happened if you times 114 by 2 that's 228

but it's not just the fact that she was stabbed 14 times or 100 114 times it's also information that we were able to to glean from witnesses

the defendant made statements

to several people that he intended to kill someone.

He didn't say who that was, but he indicated to witnesses that he was going to kill someone by taking them in the woods and stabbing them,

which are certainly the facts of this case.

Remember Dream Girl, Aiden's girlfriend?

Well, here she is.

Did you ever hear Aiden discuss having a certain plan that he wanted to carry out?

And not maybe specifically to a certain person, but did he ever discuss in detail, like, this is how I would do something or this is what i want to do

yeah he did

can you tell me about that um they were sitting on my roof and

the topic

was brought up about brought up again about

he asked me like what i would do if he murdered someone

I don't know what my answer really was, but

he would say that if he was going to murder someone it was going to be planned

he said that he would just

walk

at night or something and find like a random person walking to and just drag them in the woods and stab them

okay

he said that he thinks it's going to happen soon he said i should expect it within the month and when was that that he said this

i think this month.

The defendant had a knife that he carried with him.

A knife was found in the pond, very close in proximity to our victim's body.

That knife had a tip that was broken off.

That tip was located by the medical examiner

in the scalp of our victim.

Aiden kept knives for protection.

He always had a knife on him if he wasn't at school.

He would keep his AirPods.

He listened to music to try and calm him down.

He said that helped him with his anger.

Well there was mainly two that he would have on him and it was one that his stepdad gave him.

It was like a

it was like a kind of

gray

black like

army looking one.

It had a skull on it, maybe like an orange skull on it or something,

and he called it picker.

Okay,

because it had, I guess, teeth the knife had

you mean like it like it had a serrated edge?

Yeah, okay.

There was another one,

it was like yellow and it was like out of it was made out of wood, I think.

Like he called that one uh

he called

one picker, and then

he called that one

poker.

The statements that the defendant made to his friends made it clear that he was considering a homicide.

And I got to tell you this, it's disturbing and concerning that those statements were

not,

let's say, adequately or appropriately, or not taken seriously by the folks that heard them.

not saying that this could have been avoided, but I'm saying that it was never reported beforehand.

Along with a series of violent drawings, investigators found bloodstains on clothing and shoes Aiden had hidden in his bedroom.

The samples matched Tristan's DNA profile.

Slam dunk.

All the while, Aiden's parents took extreme measures to protect their sweet little angel from a big scary thing called consequences.

Can you take him away?

Are they taking me away?

I don't know what they're going to do.

They were, in fact, going to take him away.

It was 1 a.m.

by this point.

He was dressed in an orange jumpsuit and he was destined for a jail cell.

Aiden pleaded not guilty to his charges, even without the support of his family lawyer and under the guidance of a public defender.

He was confident enough to take his case all the way to trial.

In February of 2023, jurors were selected, but before that could begin, Aiden changed his plea to guilty.

And that's a good thing that he did, because someone at the county jail had already snitched on him.

This guy came forward with no promises made in his own case.

Aiden had apparently told him the whole story of what happened that night.

I know it's going to be really hard to understand this guy, but he's a...

well, he's a criminal.

He's a jailhouse informant, a snitch, a rat, not a public speaker.

So, there's that.

At some point in time, the defendant in our investigation, Aiden Fuji, was transported to the Duval County Jail, and he was placed somewhere in the vicinity of you, correct?

Yes, sir.

Okay, and where were you located at whenever Aiden Fuci was transported and housed in the Jacksonville County Jail?

I mean, I blocked segregation.

I blocked segregation.

Yeah, he and I blocked segregation.

Okay.

One-man cell.

So if you could explain to me kind of how these cells are arranged or situated.

They're right next to each other.

They're one-man cell.

They got a shower, a toilet, and a bunker each one of them.

Okay.

The only way you can talk is through the vent.

Okay.

That's it.

I don't get no newspaper.

I don't get to make one phone call.

I don't come out for no rent.

I can't see nobody paperwork.

Do you have a television?

I have no television.

I have none of that.

I have no internet access.

I have none of that.

Okay.

Before Aiden Fucci was transported and housed in the Jacksonville County Jail, did you have any knowledge of this case that we're investigating in St.

John's County?

No, sir.

Okay.

So how did you become aware of this investigation that we're working in in St.

John's County?

Aiden Fuchsi told me.

He told me, he said, me and Trey, this is my writing, he said me and Trey was at Trey house.

And he wanted Christian to come over.

She snuck at her house, and it was like 12 a.m.

when we left.

Saying him and Trey, I mean him and Christian when we left her house and went into the woods I made sure I had my knife we walked on the streets a little bit

first and a camera got us going in together then me leaving by myself but once we got into the woods we had to get past this barbed wire fence to get to the pond we got on these floors and we had sex She acted like she ain't want to, but I made her.

It was good.

I came inside her a little bit and that shit was on my mind.

So I said to myself, she got to die.

Man, I just snapped and I stabbed her a lot of time.

She was yelling my name.

Excuse me.

I ain't care.

Then I threw the weapon in the bun and I left.

I got home.

It was like 2 a.m.

Trey called me the next day.

And asked,

have I seen her?

I said, no.

It's crazy because that's one of the things in my head that I planned out.

And he it was no witness that a neighbor camera had him and her going in the woods, but only him coming out.

He said he told the police he was walking around.

He said he told the police she was running away and she could sleep down.

He said she was a straight girlfriend.

That's his homeboy and she was 13.

He said it was by his house.

He said it was a pond.

It's a big pond.

It got floaters on it.

He said he smoked some weed weed and he been planning to have sex with her.

He said he iced her.

Can they have sex?

She said no, and he raped her.

Though there were no sexual assault charges pursued, this one witness says that Aiden confessed to raping Tristan before killing her.

It just gets worse and worse, doesn't it?

Aiden's sentencing hearing occurred over the course of three days.

His mother faced charges for her involvement as well, thank goodness, with her sentencing to occur right after her son's.

I have considered all of the evidence that has been presented for the last, during this week,

the testimony that was presented, the victim impact statements, the evidence that was submitted, the filings.

And I have analyzed each and every one of those factors as well as any other factors that may be relevant to these proceedings in order to determine an appropriate sentence for this case.

I would say that the defendant has shown some ability to modify his behavior that was shown in school through the Dean of Students.

However, as Dr.

Pritchard noted, this crime is extraordinary.

His behavior was so unusual compared to individuals his age that there is a poor prognosis for rehabilitation.

The effect of this crime that has had on the victim's family and on the community is significant.

There is no greater loss than the loss of one's own child.

The nature and circumstances of her death have caused an even greater trauma on her loved ones.

Her siblings, parents, and extended family members all provided compelling victim impact statements relating their personal struggles with coping with her death.

It has caused them deep and emotional and mental health problems.

They are no longer able to function as the family they once were.

It has also had a tremendous impact and effect on this community.

This court has reviewed all of the letters that were submitted by her friends, teachers, coaches, and others.

Approximately 150 letters were received.

I have read all of them and all of them strike a similar chord.

This was a devastating crime.

It was devastating to the children of this community.

It

materially changed an entire community.

Some of the letters indicated and discussed children who were teenage children who could not sleep in their beds alone and had to sleep in between their parents for fear of what happened in this case.

I would submit that this case is probably

the most difficult and shocking case that this county in St.

John's County has dealt with:

114 stab wounds, 49 defensive wounds, 35 wounds to the head and neck, 29 to the back and shoulder, and six fatal wounds.

This court has reviewed and seen more than its fair share of autopsy photos.

The autopsy photos in this particular case were particularly difficult.

The 49 defensive wounds indicate that Tristan Bailey

was conscious,

that she was aware,

and that she was doing everything she could to fend off this attack.

She suffered a painful,

horrifying death from someone that she trusted.

Her screams were most likely stifled by her own suffocating lungs.

He lured her into a secluded place in the woods near his home,

a person that she trusted, and he led her there under false pretenses.

There was a heightened level of premeditation in this case.

Based on the prior statements that he made to his girlfriend and his friend,

he indicated that he was going to kill someone.

At which point he determined that it was going to be Tristan Bailey, I don't know.

But there was going to to be a victim.

He indicated that he was going, how he was going to do it, that he would take them into a wooded place, that he would stab them,

he would kill them, and then run away so that he could keep on killing.

He told his best friend that he wanted to kill someone to see what it felt like and he wanted to watch them bleed out.

This particular

crime was committed with the weapon of choice as a knife, which he nicknamed poker.

That required an

up-close,

personal

type of murder that

is rare.

It's unique.

What is

also very troubling is that this crime had no motive.

This was not done

out of greed.

It was not done in retaliation, retribution, or revenge.

It was not a crime of passion.

It was not a crime that was committed because he felt rejected by her.

It was not done in a fit of uncontrollable anger.

There was no reason.

There was no purpose.

It was done for no other reason than to satisfy

this defendant's internal desire to feel what it was like to kill someone.

It is for this reason, and all of the reasons previously stated, that leads this court to the conclusion that there is only one appropriate sentence in this case.

Mr.

Fucci, if you and your attorneys would please rise.

Counsel, is there any legal reason why this court cannot impose sentence at this time?

No, sentence.

Mr.

Fuci,

having entered a plea of guilty to the crime of first-degree murder, I adjudicate you guilty of the premitted first-degree murder of Tristan Bailey.

I sentence you to life in prison.

Because of your age, you are eligible for review of the sentence in 25 years.

You will be taken back to

the Duval County Jail and then transported into the Florida State Prison System.

We are adjourned.

This sentence means that Aiden Fuci could get out of prison before his 40th birthday if he behaves well.

If he's a good boy.

So far, he's not really made a name for himself as an obedient inmate.

His mother, on the other hand, only spent 30 days in jail for tampering with evidence and will be on probation for five years.

This murder not only shattered a family, but it made everyone in the community leery of each other.

As I would argue you should be in any community, especially small ones.

The fact that an adult was involved in the cover-up made it all the more shocking.

Parents were slammed right into the face of reality when it came to what their teenagers were doing behind their backs.

But no one expected a crime so brutal, let alone a cover-up so close to home.

After the sentencing, Tristan's father spoke outside the courthouse.

As part of this investigation, the amount amount of kids sneaking out in our community and the frequency of how often they are doing so had us completely dumbfounded.

With regard to Crystal Smith and her apology, as I mentioned before, there's an open case with her, so it's difficult to comment.

The fact that we are continuing to have to go through the legal process makes the apology questionable.

You've seen the videos from the home.

You've seen the videos from the interrogation room.

I would say if she's sorry, she can start by accepting responsibility.

To Aiden's family,

I would remind them that he is still here.

They can still see him.

They can encourage him to change his behavior of bragging about his brutality and threatening the corrections officers and their families that keep him from harm and setting out on a better road.

In a tight-knit community like St.

John's, everyone thought they knew each other.

Neighbors trusted one another.

Families felt safe and parents believed they understood their children.

But this case and cases like it shatter those illusions.

It wasn't just about sneaking out or the dangers of lurking online.

It was about realizing how much of their kids' lives parents were missing.

As Tristan's father put it, they didn't even know what their own kids were truly capable of.

But this case wasn't just about the actions of teenagers.

It was also about the choices made by full-grown adults.

that should know better.

Crystal Fucci's desperate attempt to protect her son, to cover up for him in his darkest moment, taught us all a painful lesson.

When someone is drowning in their own choices, sometimes trying to save them without thinking can pull you under too.

Sometimes the instinct to shield a loved one from consequences only drags you down with them.

This crime took more than just Tristan's life.

It shattered a family and forced a community to confront the uncomfortable truth.

Sometimes, the darkness we fear most isn't lurking out there, it's right in front of us, hidden beneath the choices we make.

And when someone is drowning in their own sins, jumping in after them only ensures you both

sink.

This episode was written and produced by Elena Thomas, one of our senior writers.

We're going to start giving our producers a lot more credit in the future.

Something we should have done a long time ago.

If you enjoyed that show, head on over to swordandscale.com, consider signing up for Plus and getting a whole lot more content, commercial-free, and also check out store.sword and scale.com.

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