On Mother’s Day weekend in 2021, a brutal crime shattered an affluent neighborhood in St. Johns, Florida. When 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey was reported missing, the community mobilized, unaware of the dark secrets lurking just beneath the surface. As investigators closed in on a suspect, it became clear that some of the most chilling betrayals came from those closest to home.
Chapter 1: What happened on Mother's Day 2021?
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.
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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... He's talking about a missing teen, Tristan. He says, Tristan, if you walk out the damn... And then the video cuts off.
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Chapter 2: Who was Tristan Bailey?
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. Bye.
Your message to Dream Girl says they took my phone. I'm using Siri and I love you. Bye. 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.
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Chapter 3: What was the community's reaction to Tristan's disappearance?
Through marriage, my husband and Aiden Fuji's mother's husband are first cousins. 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 was 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.
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