MARY Bailey’s childhood was turned upside down after her stepfather was shot to death.

She was initially charged in the case, but police dropped the charges after she agreed to testify against her mother.

Who is Mary Bailey?

Mary Bailey is an author and entrepreneur from West Virginia.

The daughter of Priscilla Wyers, she has been in and out of the spotlight for years because of the true-crime fascination surrounding her stepfather’s death.

Her stepfather, Wayne Wyers, was found shot to death at their West Virginia home in the early morning hours of February 24, 1987, but what was most shocking about the case was who pulled the trigger.

What was Mary Bailey asked to do?

On February 23, 1987, Wyers returned home from a trucking job to discover that his vehicle had been damaged by one of his wife’s friend, who had borrowed the car.

He reportedly flew into a fit of rage and began threatening his wife and son.

Bailey, who was 11 years old at the time, watched it all unfold, scared that her stepfather would kill her brother.

“The baby’s crying and it’s scary and he’s got a knife,” Bailey recalled, via A&E True Crime.

“I’m going to watch this man murder my brother,” she thought.

Wyers eventually fell asleep, which was when Bailey’s mother handed her a gun and asked her to shoot him.

“You have to, Mary. He’s going to kill me. And if he kills me—what are you going to do?'” Priscilla said after Bailey begged her mother not to make her do it.

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“I certainly didn’t feel like I had a choice,” Bailey recalled.

After two failed attempts, Bailey fired the fatal bullet.

Where is Mary Bailey now?

Priscilla called 911 after Bailey shot her stepfather to report what had happened.

She told police that she killed her husband in an act of self-defense, but she denied pulling the trigger.

“I didn’t shoot him,” she told police, via Investigation Discovery, “but I’m responsible.”

Police charged both Bailey and her mother with murder, but the charges against the 11-year-old child were dropped after she agreed to testify.

Priscilla was convicted of first-degree murder in June 1988 and sentenced to life in prison while Bailey was placed in the foster care system, where she remained until the age of 17.

After leaving foster care, Bailey relocated to North Carolina and started a medical uniform business.

She now resides in Gastonia with her attorney husband, according to People.

In 2020, Bailey published the memoir, My Mother’s Soldier, which recounts her “horrific and chilling journey.”

As for her mother, she was released on parole in 1998 and went on to live a quiet life up until her August 2022 death, which came as a result of cancer.

If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or chat at thehotline.org.