ST JOHNS, Fla. — The moments leading up to Tristyn Bailey's body being found and her classmate Aiden Fucci's arrest are documented in a stack of audio interviews and evidence released by officials Friday.
The details include interviews with Fucci and Bailey's sister the morning after the child was reported missing. Also included is the interview with the man who found the 13-year-old cheerleader's body May 9, 2021.
Officer interviews Fucci after Bailey is report missing
Officer: "We're trying to figure out where Tristyn'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 [in the woods] ... What's the path?
Fucci: "There's like a trail that goes super deep down there."
Officer: "Down into the woods?"
Fucci: "Yes, ma'am."
Officer: "Okay, have you heard from her at all?"
Officer: "Now down this path that you're telling me about is this like a place where kids go to like, do drugs or drink what?"
Fucci: "This is a place to like chill out and do acid or just smoke weed.'
Fucci statement
Officer: " ... All right, so are you willing to kind of give me a statement about what's going on with her?"
Fucci: "Yeah, so we were at (friend's) house and 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 or else my mom would like, seriously just kill me so we started walking home and then next light where that brick wall starts up there ... I just kind of like walked, I kind of like walk away in anger."
Interview with Daniel Hart, the jogger who found Tristyn's body
Hart was running at around 5:30 p.m. He walked around the pond looking into the woods the whole time. He described the moments leading up to finding Tristyns body, explaining the exact location to the officer.
Officer: "Okay, Mr. Hart, can you tell me what's going on today?"
Hart: "So I heard there was a missing girl. I see the whole neighborhood's been a buzz everyone's been looking for her. The sheriff's have been around, helicopters flying and I just went for a run and my wife had mentioned maybe checking in the woods along the end of the cul-de-sac and the pond in the property next to us and so I finished my run and I went back there and walked around and I was about to go out of the pond and through the woods back to another retention pond behind our house just to walk to the woods back to our house just a last sweep and when I came out of the fence at the southern end of the pond, probably three to four feet in and I saw a dead girl there about 25-30 feet in."
Officer: "What did you do at that point?"
Hart: "I called 911."
Officer: "Okay, she's not in the pond?"
Hart: "No, sir she's in the woods about 30 yards south of this barbed wire fence here."
Officer: "When you saw her what was she wearing, what did she look like, did you touch her?"
Hart: "I did not. Like I said she's probably 25 or 30 feet beyond the fence and I only went a couple feet past the fence and as soon as I saw her I stopped and called 911. She's wearing black Nike shorts so I could see that and a black shirt and her hair was kind of muddy and messed up."
Officer: "Did you see her pants, shoes, anything like that?"
Hart: "I did not see her feet, no sir."
Bailey was stabbed over 113 times. Fucci was convicted in her murder and is awaiting sentencing.
Part of the evidence released Friday also included photos of the clothes Bailey and Fucci were wearing.