ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — State investigators have confirmed that a knife found in a pond was the weapon used to murder St. Johns County teen Tristyn Bailey.
Action News Jax reported after Tristyn’s death in May 2021 that investigators found a knife while searching near where the 13-year-old’s body was found in the Durbin Crossing neighborhood.
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Aiden Fucci, 15, who is accused of killing Tristyn, is currently in jail awaiting trial.
In July 2021, investigative documents released by the State Attorney’s Office revealed that two friends told investigators that Fucci told them “on multiple occasions that he wanted to kill someone by stabbing them or slitting their throat.”
Those same two friends said that the Buck brand folding knife that investigators recovered was identical to one that Fucci would carry.
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A Buck brand knife with a wood and brass handle was found in the pond where Tristyn’s body was found. The SAO said the tip of the knife was bent and broken. It was later confirmed to be found on Tristyn’s body during an autopsy.
A report from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, dated July 25, 2022, confirms the finding that the “knife blade tip recovered from the victim’s scalp and the Item 19 buck knife blade were at one time a single item.”
Evidence report in Tristyn Bailey case by ActionNewsJax on Scribd
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Fucci, who is due back in court on Friday, is currently scheduled to go to trial on Nov. 7. In an Aug. 5 felony hearing, his defense attorney asked that his trial be pushed back to February 2023, as she said she needs more time to gather witness testimonies.
Judge R. Lee Smith said during that Aug. 5 hearing that he would wait until this Friday’s hearing to see how things progressed before making a decision about moving the trial back.
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