A blade tip found in 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey’s body originated from a knife that was discovered in a St. Johns County retention pond, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report released Tuesday.
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Blade tip recovered from Tristyn Bailey’s body came from knife found in St. Johns retention pond: FDLE
A blade tip found in 13-year-old Tristyn Bailey’s body originated from a knife that was discovered in a St. Johns County retention pond, according to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement report released Tuesday.
The FDLE report lists two pieces of evidence submitted to the FDLE in April that underwent forensic analysis. The report shows one is a damaged buck knife — which was removed from a retention pond near the location where Bailey’s body was found — with a silver-colored metal blade and the tip of the blade missing. The second piece of evidence, according to the report, is a damaged silver-colored metal knife blade tip that was recovered from Bailey’s scalp.
The report states that examinations of the knife and the blade tip showed that they were similar in color, type of material and “striation pattern running along the width of the blade pieces.”
“Further comparisons of their fractured edges also revealed the correspondence of the complex feature contours and surface details,” the report continues.
The report concludes by saying the blade tip and the knife blade were at one time a single item.
News4JAX asked Plata what a defense lawyer would do with this information now that it has been submitted.
“You’re trying to find out can they possibly tie it to my client? Where did the knife come from? Who sold it?” Platat said. “Kind of try to piece it together.”