The death of 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey has rocked the community of St. Johns County in Florida. Bailey's classmate, 14-year-old Aiden Fucci, was quickly arrested for her murder.

The 13-year-old cheerleading middle school student went missing on Mother's Day. After the Sheriff's office and community members spent the morning and noon hours searching for her, authorities called off the search at 6 p.m. and confirmed on Sunday evening that the body of Tristan Bailey was found in a nearby retention pond near where she was last seen.

St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick shared with the public, “This was an exhaustive search by the neighborhood, by the St Johns County Sheriff’s office. We have located a body that is preliminarily identified as Tristyn Bailey.”

Shortly after the announcement, 14-year-old Aiden Fucci was arrested for the teen's murder and is currently being held at the Department of Juvenile Justice. Bailey and Fucci were classmates and attended the Patriot Oaks Academy in St. Johns. The two also lived in the same close-knit community of St. Johns.

Details of the arrest or the murder were not readily released, but on Tuesday, Hardwick announced that the cause of death was "sharp force trauma by stabbing." Surveillance footage of the area shows Bailey and Fucci walking together toward the retention pond during the early hours on Sunday morning. Soon after, the footage captures Fucci walking alone in the opposite direction with his shoes in his hands.

On Tuesday, Fucci appeared before Judge Richard Orfinger in a video hearing. During the meeting, Judge Orfinger announced, "I do find that there is probable cause to believe the offense occurred and at this time I am going to order that Mr. Fucci be detained by the department of juvenile justice in secure detention for 21 days or until further order of the court."

Authorities have been vocal about their dedication to the case mainly in part because the murder rocked the close-knit community, leaving many stunned and baffled. Sheriff Hardwick later released additional details saying that the murder was “not an accident,” describing it as "a cold-blooded murder of a 13-year-old young girl who did not deserve to die.”

Hardwick called the circumstances horrific stating about the stab wounds, “I don’t want to mention the number of times, but it is horrific. It is horrible.” He adds, “And the word accident is nowhere involved in this case.”

Community Pushes for Teen to Be Tries as an Adult

Along with many community members, Hardwick has shared his support of trying Fucci as an adult. The decision to try the teen as an adult rests with the prosecution. The process, known as a direct file, allows minors 14 and older to be tried as adults for their crimes. There is no minimum age for a capital offense that seeks the death penalty or life behind bars. The decision lies with the state attorney and as pressure grows from community members, it’s unclear which way the prosecution will lean. If Fucci is tried as an adult and is found guilty of his second-degree murder charge, he could face life behind bars.

Growing Social Media Outrage

Because of how young the teens are in this case, social media has had an impact on how authorities are approaching the investigation. Shortly after news of Bailey's murder spread across the community, bad actors took to social media to spread misinformation regarding how the teen was murdered and who was involved. A trending hashtag supporting the alleged murderer, #FreeAiden, quickly began to spread online as well.

The sheriff's office has indicated that social media will play a part in the investigation as they continue to weed out information and search for a motive. The sheriff explained, ”We’re going to look at every aspect, every crime that’s out there. Our guys and girls are going to leave no stone unturned,” Hardwick said. “So those facts will come forward as the office of the medical examiner will actually complete their investigation.”

One social media post under public and official scrutiny has been a Snapchat image that Fucci shared with his followers. In the post, Fucci appears to be in the back of a police cruiser. The teen captioned the photo “Hey Guys has inybody [sic] seen Tristyn lately.”

Although it has not been confirmed, the sheriff's office will likely use subpoenas and search warrants to pull information from the phones of individuals who may be involved in the case. The sheriff explained, “I will say our real-time intelligence center really has captured all these videos as much as we can. We monitor it,” Hardwick said. “Unfortunately, with some of these things that are actually maybe you think is detrimental to the case actually help us to in the case and actually don’t actually hurt the case because we’re collecting this media.”