“She’s a She’s clinically insane at this moment. Delusional and paranoid. Um, mentally ill.”
“She has laid completely on her side and has an object up to her head.”
“Trust me, dude. I tried and tried and tried for over seven years to get away from that abusive family.”
When officers close in on a desperate shooter following a brutal execution, the situation escalates as negotiators attempt to bring an end to the bloodshed.
The following is based on official police records released to date, and most of the footage has never been seen before until now. In Washington City, Utah, on the evening of June 18th, 2024, a concerned neighbor calls 911.
“Um, my neighbor just came running down the road yelling, ‘Call 911 for gunshots and there’s a yellow Kia Soul that just drove away from their house. I don’t know what’s going on. Go in the house.'”
Once he and his wife are safely inside, the neighbor Cory calls 911 himself to explain further.
“I need an officer to if there’s gunshots.”
“Okay. Is somebody shot?”
“I think so.”
“Was something shot at your house?”
“Yes, I think my parents were shot upstairs.”
“Did someone come into your house to shoot?”
“Yes, I think it was my brother.”
“What’s your brother’s name?”
“His car name is Colin. He goes by Mia.”
According to Corey, the 28-year-old suspect, whose legal name is Mia Troy Bailey, may still be armed.
“You’re not able to go check if your parents are or what their status might be?”
“No, they can’t check anything right now.”
“We ran away.”
Minutes later, another call reaches emergency dispatchers. This time from Mia’s own cell phone.
“911. What is the”
“The owner of this iPhone was in a severe car crash and is not responding to their phone. The emergency location is”
The recording relays exact coordinates to dispatchers, leading officers to a broken iPhone in the street and to the realization they have no way to effectively track Mia’s location. With a possible armed suspect still at large, they remain on high alert as they enter Cory’s home in search of their parents. Inside, they discover the gruesome aftermath of a brutal massacre. On the living room floor, 69-year-old Gail Bailey is found motionless on her stomach with blood soaking into the carpet beneath her. In a nearby hallway, her husband, 70-year-old Joseph Bailey, is found lying flat on his back with blood pooling around his head. The married couple shows no signs of life, and it’s clear they are beyond any hope of saving. Officers keep this heartbreaking discovery to themselves as they meet with their son, Corey.
“So Cory, I know this is hardest thing you’ve ever done, right? I need you to tell me what happened today.”
“So me and my wife were downstairs watching a show.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. My mom was upstairs arguing with my grandma about some family drama or whatever, but apparently it pissed off my brother. He’s schizophrenic. He’s been going through a lot of issues lately and trans transitioning.”
Cory explains that his mom’s argument with his grandmother happened over the phone and involved a scheduled surgery for Mia, though he is unsure of the details.
“We have a protective order against him.”
“Okay.”
“Me and my wife.”
“Okay. Does that include that house?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“Includes the house, me, my wife, and my kids.”
“Okay.”
According to police records, officers had been called to the home a year earlier after Mia allegedly pointed a gun at Cory during a verbal confrontation. Following the incident, Mia was taken to the hospital for mental health treatment, and the firearm was confiscated by the Washington City Police Department at Mia’s request. But what caused the violence today is still beyond Cory’s understanding.
“on and off as I heard shooting upstairs and then my my mother yelling and screaming and then I locked the door to our room and I started opening the window and I tried got her out and got myself out. By the time we were climbing out the window, he was pounding on my door trying to open it and then I heard gunshots at my door there. So I think he was trying to shoot the door open or something like that or try to shoot in where we were. But we got out and ran here and that’s when I called 911.”
“Where would your brother go?”
“The only other place I could think of is my aunt Jenny’s or my grandma’s house.”
Cory contacts his older brother by phone to see if he knows where Mia might go. He shares that Mia may have a boyfriend who works at a local pizza shop. A lead officers will soon follow up on. For now, they deliver the heartbreaking news.
“I I’m sorry to be the one to tell you.”
“I know. Thank you.”
“They’re they’re deceased. both.”
“Okay.”
“This is my brother’s.”
“I know. And that’s the reason I put him on on mute. I’m going to let you deal with that. Okay.”
“Do you need something right now? I mean, we have a victim’s advocate we can call out for you.”
“I I don’t even know where to begin with this.”
“Oh, I know.”
“Until he’s found, I don’t know where to go that would be safe.”
Cory’s wife, who suffered minor injuries during the escape, is treated by paramedics before the couple is taken to a hotel for the night. Meanwhile, officers reach out to Mia’s aunt, Jenny, who shares serious concerns.
“I know she’s at times heard voices. That was kind of new to me three weeks ago.”
“You say uh Mia has been hearing voices.”
“I don’t know. Um a couple weeks ago she was and she went into the hospital to get her mats fixed around.”
Officers soon arrive at the home of the man Mia’s brother identified as a possible boyfriend, but tension remains high as word spreads that police are hunting for an armed suspect. His mother remains cautious as she answers the door.
“Hear the police.”
“Yes.”
“Can we see some ID?”
“Well, you got a badge.”
“Hold on. I got one for you.”
“Sorry.”
“No, you’re good. Let me try to find my uh”
“That’s okay. I heard what was going on and I’m quite frightened.”
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely.”
“His mother and I heard what was”
“Yeah. I don’t even have”
“That’s fine. Please come in.”
“Oh, there you go.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“You’re okay. We come in.”
“Quite frightened. I thought that was a person coming after us.”
The officers explained they are searching for Mia, but according to him, their relationship is still very new.
“Yeah, I just I just started to get to know her like a couple weeks ago. I don’t know her very well.”
“Okay. Um, I know that she was kind of depressed and I could tell that she told me she used to cut”
“Mhm.”
“And uh um as far as where she is, I I really don’t know.”
“So, you’ve only known her for a week and a half.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
“I can tell that she wanted to progress things fast, you know.”
“Yeah. Um are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend or what? Were you just starting dating? What?”
“Yeah, just kind of starting. Well, although she put on her Facebook that he was her boyfriend.”
“Yeah, that surprised me.”
The officers tell them not to answer their doors and if they see anything suspicious to call 911. As they continue searching the area, an officer suddenly spots Mia walking along the street before vanishing down a dirt road. Nearby units take up positions, using their headlights to watch the trees and field for any sign of movement in the dark.
“Good job spotting her.”
“Holy.”
“Whoa. was they’re going home and we’re going to her cousin’s house and we see her well we didn’t know who she was and I can see the gun in the wast on her she takes off running here and then she just slowly start walking like oh there’s no houses we’ll just keep calling her and then next thing I’m stop running”
officers stationed in the neighborhood start connecting key details leading to a shocking realization
“she was there for a total of 4 minutes both of them with eight rounds mom execution style and took off. We took this gun in that she has and all that we had call.”
“We’ve already taken the gun before.”
“We took it and the ammo that we found at the house is what were killed with.”
“You see, I cleared it to get the gun back.”
The night is long and grueling as officers joined by the US Marshalss search tirelessly with drones, helicopters, and canines for any sign of Mia. By the following morning, they find their suspect hiding in a patch of dried tumble weed, likely exhausted, dehydrated, and now fully surrounded.
“All units, if you see the drone, we’re almost directly above her. She is laid completely off her side and has an object up to her head in brown shrubbery.”
The object in question is a gun, quickly turning the situation into a crisis negotiation.
“Okay, Mia, I’m here to talk to you. I’m here to help you through this. I know that you’re going through a rough time right now and that’s okay. I I’m here to help you out. Need you to put the weapon down and put your hands up in the air so we can know that we can talk safely. Okay.”
“Can’t do that.”
“Okay. Why can’t you do that, Mia?”
“I need to contact a prosecutor.”
“She wants to talk to the prosecutor.”
The officer explains that because of the firearm, they can’t bring a prosecutor to the location as this would put him in harm’s way. With Mia difficult to hear, the negotiator heads to a better location, positioning himself behind a wall for cover as he calls out again.
“Mia, this is Tyler with the St. George PD group.”
“The nuclear option.”
“Okay.”
“That sounds like”
“That sounds like you’re on a tough time.”
“Wow. You want to hire a transplant?”
An officer takes off her body cam, placing it on the wall where it can capture the sound of Mia’s voice more clearly. Hiding in the bramble and still holding the gun, Mia begins shouting about a previous altercation with a former landlord.
“Right after he left, he sh threatened to shoot me in the balls or threatened to kill me slowly. the gun three weeks before the incident.”
“Well, I can tell you this, Mia. I can definitely look”
“and none of my family believed me or the cops or the goddamn hospital.”
Just two weeks earlier, Mia contacted the St. George Police Department, claiming the landlord brandished a shotgun and installed listening devices in the home that caused headaches. A cousin, who had recently offered Mia a place to stay, was able to give more details to investigators.
“She was yelling about she had lost some money in a scam. Um, and then she was saying somebody at her residence had pointed a gun at her and it was traumatic. And then I was like, ‘Okay.’ And then she started saying and anyways, he was poisoning me anyway and he was putting devices that produced radiation near me and microphones in the walls. And I said, ‘All right.’ And I realized at that point you can’t argue with somebody who’s that far gone.”
“Like how’s she been the last few days? like anything just like”
“I mean delusional and paranoid um mentally ill. I mean I can’t put it any more frank than not making sense.”
“Yeah, I believe you. I I don’t think that that’s something that you would make up. I absolutely believe you and you may believe that”
“do investigating at all.”
“And I can look into”
“You know what? You’re not the only person that has had that happen to you. There’s a 15year-old kid got A GUN POINTED AT him and what are the cops do? Nothing.”
With Mia armed, on edge, and potentially suffering from delusions, the negotiator tries to calm the situation by discussing the earlier demand for a prosecutor.
“Well, what would you like to say to the prosecutor?”
“I want the death penalty via fire squad and I want it in written notice.”
“Oh, Mia, that’s that that hurts my heart that you want that that you feel that that’s your”
“else to live for.”
“Well, Mia, I I’m sure there’s lots to live for.”
“There’s nothing, dude. That’s why this Why do you think I killed him over the surgery? That was my last hope.”
According to Mia, the surgery was for gender reassignment.
“So, Mia, I’m just curious, how how long have you wanted this surgery?”
“all my life.”
“And I know you kind of talked about like your family were were they on board at all or they just so against it?”
“Well, they acted like they were not against it, but they were, especially my mother. Trust me, dude. I tried and tried and tried for over seven years to get away from that abusive family. I moved to Washington because I knew I was going to either kill my or kill somebody and I needed to go just tell him I want the death penalty by firing squad.”
The negotiator changes the subject bringing the conversation back to the motive behind the murders.
“So I’m curious how much does a surgery like that cost?”
“30,000.”
“30,000. Wow.”
“I had it all set up.”
“And what happened with that?”
“Apparently, my mom called the hospital.”
“And what did she what did she tell him?”
“I don’t know exactly, but she basically said that she was against the surgery and that she shouldn’t get it.”
“I was pissed at her so much. I wanted her to call the hospital back to say I was mad cuz of all this gatekeeping bull.”
According to Mia, Gail Bailey told the hospital there were mental health concerns, which is what led to the cancellation. Mia’s cousin had shared similar sentiments based on recent behaviors.
“Um she’s taking I mean massive amounts of hormones for her um transition, but she’s on estrogen and testerone testosterone blockers that’s got to affect your mind in some way and it probably did not good things to her brain, you know, like this has been like recently where I’m like what the are you talking about? She’s a she’s clinically insane at this moment.”
“First, let me answer this. Do you have extensive technology knowledge?”
“I would say I know a fairly good amount.”
“Okay. Well, do you know Stephen Hawkins? His a little brain device. They make them talk.”
“Yeah.”
“Apparently, it’s solar powered and it could filter words.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I can X-ray.”
“The hospital wouldn’t um give me the blood results. I had 3,000 times the level of radiation in my blood and and they said I was right.”
“So I’m curious where do you think you got the radiation from?”
“From that device for several months.”
“Okay, I can I can see what you’re talking about with that.”
“I don’t know how does it. I It makes like a subsonic sound.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve been trying to look for months.”
“So, with the radiation levels that high, what have you looked into like what?”
“Well, apparently they could read my thoughts.”
With Mia seemingly disconnected from reality, the negotiator changes the subject once again. For a while, they discuss Mia’s past employment working with children with special needs. 30 minutes into the negotiations, it seems as though the rapport building is helping to put Mia at ease, but it’s clear the danger is not fully behind them. Meanwhile, an officer makes a call to provide an update on the situation and shares a keen observation.
“Feel like we’re making some good rapport. And then she’ll swing back around to my life is over. And when she does that, she transitions her voice back to her male voice. Um, but when she’s building her core, she’ll talk more like feminine and female.”
“It’s quite interesting, actually.”
“Dude, my life’s over, dude.”
“Mia know it.”
“Leave with the police tactics. Come on.”
With hope waning, the negotiator offers Mia a possible future to look forward to.
“I’ve heard of, you know, when people go to jail, I’ve heard of them, you know, in some cases the state paying for surgeries.”
“Yeah. Well, you think you’re going to go to a woman’s prison without the surgery? Certainly not going to try to live on even in prison without the surgery. Okay.”
“Yeah. Well, I just um just got word back from the prosecutor and he says he’s willing to he’s willing to talk. No promises, but need you to give up first.”
“I could have just killed my and let those pieces win like everybody else in my life. But no, I wanted to drag them with me.”
Nearly an hour into the standoff, the negotiator learns that the prosecutor has arrived on the scene and is willing to talk to Mia on the condition the gun is safely secured.
“Show him the second option then. He can’t fulfill the first.”
“What’s that?”
“Plan B.”
“What’s that?”
“We’ll call it plan B.”
“Okay. What’s plan B?”
“Get the surgery.”
“You You still want to get the surgery?”
“Yeah. We can’t be put in a men’s prison, though.”
“And that’s something that that you can work with with the prosecutor and judge is that’s what you can talk about and say, ‘Hey, look, this is what I want. This is what I would like to see happen.’ And then you guys talk about come up with a plan.”
With the promise that Mia can discuss it with the prosecutor in person, the negotiator asks that the gun be tossed aside.
“Looks empty.”
“It looks empty.”
“Dumb. I didn’t get it.”
“Okay. You going to save the last round for me.”
After reassuring Mia that no one will use excessive force during the arrest, a peaceful surrender is finally secured.
“WATCH THE Keep your hands where I can see them. Okay. Go down on your knees. Go down on your knees. Put your hands on the ground in front of you.”
“Yes.”
“Slide your body back until you’re laying on your face. Like this.”
“Slide your legs back until you’re laying down. Stick your arms out by your sides. Keep going. Turn your palms up. Do not move.”
Mia is then handcuffed and searched for additional weapons.
“Can’t really hide anything.”
Officers moved to secure the gun and later confirm it was not loaded and no bullets had been ejected into the field.
“Hi Mia, it’s me, Tyler. Good to finally put a a face to the voice.”
“Yeah,”
“I appreciate you working with me.”
“State trooper look.”
“State trooper look. I don’t know to to take offense to that or not, but”
“it’s an offense.”
“Okay, I appreciate it.”
Before heading to the police station, Mia is introduced to the prosecutor, who will soon join the detective in the interrogation room. There, Mia will make a chilling confession, revealing the final moments of Joseph and Gail Bailey.
“I’m going to reach my pants to talk. That’s okay.”
“What is it you’re doing?”
“Reach my pants to talk cuz I don’t want to see this thing.”
“Oh, wait. Can you just sit down and answer your pants? I don’t know.”
“Miranda then search Junior Pencil.”
“I hate this thing.”
The detective and prosecutor both arrive and once Miranda writes a read, Mia explains the anger that came after learning the scheduled gender reassignment surgery was cancelled.
“Just say I was very furious and I asked her like I don’t want to hear expl you know excuses. I want to hear like, you know, an explanation and I’m sorry and I’ll do something about it.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, uh she can’t say sorry to save her life apparently. Had one thing going on and uh she took that away from me. I told her it was going to kill several times and I needed this so bad and my mental ability was declining and that’s why I needed that surgery. I uh I knew I was going down regardless, but I was like, well, you know, enough is enough. Taking somebody with me.”
“So that’s”
“I uh rushed over to my parents to do the deed.”
“Okay. When you say do the deed, what what do you mean”
“kill them?”
“To kill them.”
“I don’t regret it. I hate them.”
“Okay.”
Mia adds that the gun used to commit the murders was not the same one that was confiscated by police a year earlier. Instead, Mia went to a pawn shop and sold it before buying a new one.
“Were you able to tell me what happened at your parents house?”
“I got parked there and uh pointed the gun. I was, you know, I told myself to uh throw away that part of me really, you know, that hesitant like always. And uh like ran in the door and shot at her person. Try to make it quick.”
“Do you remember how many shots you fired at your mom?”
“Um, let’s see. 12 um clips. So, it wasn’t full clip. So, probably three rounds less.”
“Okay. Do you remember if the first round hit her?”
“They all hit her and didn’t see it. That’s why I shot so many times.”
“It just went right through her.”
“Okay. And so I made sure she was dead. So I shot her at her again and again.”
According to her autopsy report, Gail Bailey suffered multiple gunshot wounds, including one to the head and three to the torso.
“That was instant. He walked out, ‘What’s going on?’ And I pointed the gun at him and didn’t say anything. I shot an aim right at his head and it was instant. He just fell backwards. And the funny thing was I was bought him a Father’s Day gift that day, earlier that day. And to get backstabbed like that, the most backstabbed ever.”
But according to Mia’s aunt Jenny, Joseph Bailey was supportive of the surgery.
“Last I heard, the dad was taking her up for her sex change operation. Now, that’s what she told me, that dad was going to drive her up and stay with her. And the next thing I knew, it was off. And I just heard that today.”
Joseph Baileyy’s autopsy revealed he had been shot twice. Once in the face just below his left eye and once in the neck. After killing Joseph and Gail, Mia next went after Cory.
“And then I went downstairs with my brother. I said, ‘You ruined my life.’ It wasn’t so much so much him. It was directed towards a message about my parents.”
“Did you hear could you hear him inside?”
“Yeah, he bared the door and stuff and I just like him. I He’s not my main target. They want my brother interfering. And um go back upstairs and do one more round on dad just in case. Make sure he’s dead.”
“Do you remember how many rounds total you fired or how many rounds you had?”
“My dad two and Cy won and the rest on my mom. I don’t remember.”
“Do you remember? Do you remember how many rounds you had in the”
“I do remember actually coming up just in case cuz I heard her like bleeding quite a bit like choking. So, I went to shoot her again.”
After fleeing the home, Mia went on the run, determined to carry out one final step
“and then uh I get to sportsman house to get me one bullet.”
“Mhm.”
“So,”
“that’s where your ultimate goal was to find one more bullet.”
“One more bullet.”
“And it would have been bad for you.”
“Yep.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“I know. I I you know”
“I uh to be honest with you I wish you know one I wish the mental health services were better. I wish the transitioning services were better. I wish that people’s opinion it were more accepting of people.”
“Absolutely. Yeah.”
“And so I’m sorry that and even in a family I’m sorry that it came to this”
“my mercy and got me all that bull and uh so much for family.”
“If you if you were to give me one last one last statement from you what? Well, uh my statement would be to uh not gatekeep transgender people and uh let them start earlier. Not like super early. I mean, the sooner the better.”
“What age do you think is appropriate to begin?”
“Um 13 and 12 if you’re a woman.”
“So 12 if you’re a girl and 13 if you’re a guy.”
“Yeah, based on puberty.”
“Okay. So,”
“do you think”
“I don’t think the surgery is appropriate at the age, but as far as age or”
“Okay. When do you think that’s appropriate for the surgery?”
“At least 18. Like,”
“when you when you’re an adult, when you can make your own decision.”
“Yeah, it’s I mean, that makes sense. You don’t need the surgery right away if you’re taking chemical castration, all that stuff. Right.”
After a quick break and a meal, the detective and prosecutor returned to ask a few final questions surrounding Mia’s request for the death penalty.
“If you had to pick the if you had to pick the way that you would die, how would you pick?”
“Firing squad.”
“Wait a second. So I killed somebody and it’s the instant was instant. Honestly,”
“it’s only fair that died by the same hands that”
“So I can I can understand the fact that it”
“I know chemicals the second one.”
“Okay. Like lethal injection.”
“Yeah.”
“Three different methods. Chair, chemical,”
“firing squad.”
“So firing squad, chemical, chair.”
“Yeah,”
“that would be the order. I want to just clarify as far as any remorse that you have.”
“Well, I the remorse was I didn’t want to become the monster that they uh made me to be. I really wanted to be good. I really did.”
“Okay.”
According to court documents, in November of 2025, Mia Bailey entered a plea of guilty and mentally ill to two counts of aggravated murder and one count of aggravated assault. Mia was sentenced to two indeterminate terms of 25 years to life for aggravated murder, plus an indeterminate term of up to 5 years for aggravated assault, with all sentences to run consecutively. Mia’s plea agreement makes no mention of a guaranteed state paid gender reassignment surgery or a promise of a later transfer to a women’s prison. In a GoFundMe, a family member wrote of Joseph and Gail Bailey saying, quote, “They were two of the most loving and generous people we’ve ever known.”
