A Utah woman has been sentenced to spend a significant portion of her life in prison after a chilling crime that shook her community. Mia Bailey was sentenced by a Salt Lake City judge to two consecutive 25-year terms for the murder of her parents, Joseph and Gail Bailey. Additionally, she received up to five years for an assault charge linked to the same tragic incident.

The grim events unfolded on June 18, 2024, in Washington City, where Bailey broke into her parents’ home and fatally shot them. The incident, as reported by CrimeOnline, also involved a harrowing moment where she fired shots through her brother’s locked bedroom door. Fortunately, he survived and was able to call 911 for help.

Following the murders, law enforcement officers found Bailey walking near Horseman Park. During the encounter, she brandished a gun, holding it to her head, and walked away, disappearing into dense brush in a nearby ravine. The search for her concluded the next morning when officers located her near the St. George’s Latter Day Saints temple.

Upon her arrest, Bailey expressed no remorse, reportedly telling officers, “I would do it again. I hate them.” Her chilling words underscore the deep-seated animosity she harbored towards her parents, leading to a family tragedy that will leave lasting scars.

Officers subsequently took her into custody, with Bailey stating, “I would do it again. I hate them.”

According to an arrest affidavit, a neighbor’s security camera captured Bailey’s arrival and departure in a yellow Kia Soul at her parents’ residence. She later told police vivid detail of the murders, saying “that she entered the house and almost immediately began shooting at her mother.”

“Mia stated that her father … heard the shots and began walking toward her,” the affidavit read. “Mia stated that she shot her father in the head and that he immediately dropped to the ground.”

Court documents indicated that Bailey shot her father two times in the head and shot her mother four times. Police said Bailey admitted she shot her father the second time to “to make sure that he was dead,” according to KSL.

“While doing that, Mia … walked back over to her mother and shot her in the head to make sure that she was dead.”

Bailey later agreed to a plea deal, in which she admitted to both aggravated murder and aggravated assault. FOX 13 Salt Lake City reports she also acknowledged she was mentally ill, which is not the same as an insanity plea.

Bailey stayed quiet during sentencing, while her attorney read a statement, indicating that she had since changed her mind about the killings, and now felt remorse.

“It makes me want to die, because I can’t live with myself,” the statement read. “I am sincerely, deeply sorry to my family that I committed this atrocity.”

One of Bailey’s brothers, Dustin Bailey, told the court that the family supported the sentencing, but highlighted that the defendant had struggled with mental health issues and had not been “stable, safe or adequately supported.”

[Feature Photo: Mia Bailey/Washington County PD]