Tristyn Bailey case: Aiden Fucci’s mother charged with destroying evidence

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (TCD) --

The mother of a Florida teenager charged with murdering 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey surrendered to authorities Saturday in connection to the case.

Crystal Lane Smith turned herself in at the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office and was taken into custody Saturday afternoon.

Smith was booked into the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Detention Center and charged with destroying evidence. She was released on $25,000 bond.

On May 9, after Tristyn Bailey was found stabbed to death in a park in St. Johns, Aiden Fucci was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies.

Home surveillance video allegedly shows Crystal Smith washing or scrubbing a pair of blue jeans in a bathroom at the residence, the St. Augustine Record reports, quoting a State Attorney’s Office news release.

The jeans and the bathroom sink drain tested positive for the presence of blood, according to the affidavit quoted by the Record.

Investigators said an unidentified witness was involved, the Record reports.

Tristyn Bailey’s remains were found at about 6 p.m. on May 9, about eight hours after her family reported her missing. Investigators believe she was killed some time after 1 a.m. on May 9. She was stabbed 114 times, according to Seventh Judicial Circuit Florida State Attorney R.J. Larizza.

A knife was found in a pond near where Bailey’s body was found in a park in the area near the Durbin Amenity Center.

Bailey’s DNA was on Fucci’s shoes and a T-shirt found in his bedroom by investigators, Larizza said.

Fucci has pleaded not guilty after being indicted as an adult on a charge of first-degree, premeditated murder. He remains in custody without bond.

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