The 13-year-old Florida cheerleader, Tristyn Bailey, who was stabbed to death earlier this month — was reportedly stabbed 114 times before her death while fighting her murderer.
The 14-year-old boy accused of killing Bailey has had his charge upped from second-degree murder to first-degree, and will be charged as an adult according to the 7th Judicial Circuit State Attorney R.J. Larizza said during a news conference last week.
The suspect has yet to be named as he is a minor.
“It brings me no pleasure to be charging a 14-year-old as an adult with first-degree murder,” Larizza said. “But I can tell you also the executive team and I reviewed all the facts, all the circumstances, the applicable law and it was not a difficult decision to make, that he should be charged as an adult.”
Larizza said that of the 114 stab wounds Bailey sustained, at least 49 were to her hands, arms and head. “They were defensive in nature,” he said, adding that “premeditation could be inferred certainly from just the sheer number of stab wounds that Tristyn Bailey had to suffer.”
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“Every time that arm went back, and every time that arm went down, that was premeditation,” Larizza said.
“To say that it was horrific could arguably be made as an understatement,” he said.
In addition, Larizza stated that the 14-year-old suspect, who has been held at a juvenile detention center since he was arrested on May 10, is being transferred to an adult prison — but will be held separately from the adult inmates.
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“It’s a sad decision and a sad state of affairs,” Larizza said. A motive has yet to be determined.
Bailey was found dead in a remote wooded area on May 9.
The suspect was arrested the following day, and allegedly made several “admissions” of guilt according to police.