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A Florida teen changed his plea and pleads guilty for the stabbing death of Tristyn Bailey,13, according to local news outlet CBS 47.

Aiden Fucci, 16 stabbed the girl 114 times. And the autopsy confirmed 49 of the stab wounds were defensive injuries on her hands, arms, and face. He then dumped her body in a wooded area.

On Monday, Fucci's attorney filed a change of plea and now pleads guilty as charged. The plea came just ahead of jury selection for his first-degree murder trial.  The 2021 murder shocked the Durbin Crossing neighborhood. 

“I just want to apologize to the Bailey family,” Fucci said when the court asked if he would like to make a statement. According to News 4, Jax Circuit Judge R. Lee Smith asked Fucci if he needed more time to consider the guilty plea, but Fucci declined the offer.

Fucci is being prosecuted as an adult. And has been charged with first-degree murder. He was arrested on Mother’s Day in 2021, the day after Bailey’s mutilated body was found beside a retention pond nearby to her home.

Florida teen pleads guilty to the brutal murder

The St. John County’s State Attorney R.J. Larizza told reporters after his arrest that Bailey died “fighting for her life.” And prosecutors allege that Fucci on the night Bailey died told friends he “intended to kill someone by taking them in the woods and stabbing them.”

Larizza also reported that a knife found in the pond belonged to Fucci. And the knife’s blade was missing a tip later discovered in Bailey’s skull. Blood on the knife matched Bailey’s, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Predrag Bulic added.

There was surveillance video of the suspect and victim walking in a nearby park. Fucci was shown later running away. And Bailey was missing.

According to the arrest report, blood was found on his clothes in his bedroom. And his story kept changing while he was being questioned by police. 

Investigators later confirmed that all the blood stains on Fucci’s clothes and shoes tested positive for Tristyn’s DNA. And DNA identified as belonging to Fucci was found on Tristyn’s body.

During the search of Fucci’s room, investigators also found a notebook that held violent drawings, including at least one gory drawing of a naked woman.

The suspect’s mother, Crystal Lane Smith, was also arrested in 2021. And was charged with evidence tampering. She is accused of trying to remove blood off her son’s jeans while the town was still searching for the missing girl.

St. John’s Sheriff makes a statement

According to Sheriff Rob Hardwick the guilty plea “is nothing more than a testament to the hard work and dedication of the exceptional men and women of the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office,” the Facebook statement said on Monday. 

“This was an all-out agency effort. This was also an incredible community effort. The citizens of St. Johns County always show up and this case was no different.”

Hardwick added that the “strength and grace” of the Bailey family had been “incredible” throughout the case.

The next court hearing is scheduled for February 23 in Judge Smith’s courtroom.