Man & woman who recorded child sex abuse in photos and journals plead guilty on MS Coast
A Mississippi Coast man and woman will each spend 40 years in prison after they pleaded guilty to sexual abuse of a young girl in Jackson County, the District Attorney’s office announced Wednesday.
Robert James Bayliss, Sr., 35, of Gulfport and Christina Marie Bayliss, 35, of Biloxi each pleaded guilty to four felonies: sexual battery, touching of a child for lustful purposes, exploitation of a child and conspiracy.
“These defendants are the epitome of evil,” District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath said in a press release.
Circuit Court Judge Keith Miller sentenced the pair after Jackson County authorities accused them of sexually abusing a female child from the age of 4 to 12, according to the release.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the pair in April 2022 after allegations surfaced about their role in sex acts with the female child in Jackson County, the release said.
The investigation found they “engaged in a scheme to commit sexual battery,” and also documented their abuse in journals that investigators later seized with search warrants, the release said.
McIlrath also said the pair captured the “heinous sexual acts” in photos. “Despite all that this victim has gone through,” the release said, “she demonstrated extraordinary grace and strength in facing and forgiving her abusers.”
The Baylisses have no chance of parole.
“These Defendants have earned every single day of their 40-year sentences,” Assistant District Attorney Bill Barrett, who prosecuted the case, said in the release. “I am so proud of the victim for her bravery to report this unspeakable crime and to face the Defendants in court.”
