Teen Killer Aiden Fucci’s Brutal Murder of Tristyn Bailey to Air on ID

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The brutal 2021 murder of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey, stabbed 114 times by her 14-year-old classmate Aiden Fucci, will be featured in an upcoming episode of Investigation Discovery‘s Murder Under the Friday Night Lights. The episode airs Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025, at 9 p.m. EST.

Bailey, a cheerleader at Patriot Oaks Academy, was reported missing on May 9, 2021, after failing to wake up for Mother’s Day celebrations. Her body was discovered later that day in a wooded area near Saddlestone Drive, south of Jacksonville. The case shocked the quiet community of St. Johns County, Florida.

Surveillance footage captured Bailey and Fucci walking together late on May 8, 2021. Fucci was later seen running alone, carrying his shoes. When questioned, Fucci initially denied involvement but later changed his story multiple times, claiming Bailey had tried to touch him inappropriately before he pushed her.

Investigators found a Buck knife in a nearby pond and a matching sheath in Fucci’s home, along with blood-stained clothing. Fucci, who had a history of violent tendencies, including carrying a knife and making threats, was arrested and charged as an adult. In 2023, he pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years.

The episode’s synopsis describes Bailey as “the future of Friday night lights at Creekside High” and highlights the challenges investigators faced in navigating teenage rumors to identify her killer. Fucci remains incarcerated at Suwannee Correctional Institution in Live Oak, Florida.