Utah Woman Sentenced to Life in Prison After Pleading Guilty to Killing Her Parents

A Utah woman could spend the rest of her life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting her parents.

On Friday, Dec. 19, Mia Bailey was sentenced to two consecutive sentences of 25 years to life for the murders of her parents, Joseph and Gail Bailey, and up to five years for aggravated assault, KUTV, ABC4 and The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Bailey, 30, allegedly shot her 70-year-old father twice in the head and her 69-year-old mother four times after breaking into their Washington City home on June 18, 2024, KUTV and KSL.com previously reported.

Prosecutors said Bailey then went downstairs and fired through her brother’s bedroom door, where he was locked inside with his wife. She allegedly told police she didn’t care if the shot killed her brother, per KUTV.

Bailey was arrested on June 19, 2024, and charged with 11 felony counts related to the deaths of her parents and the attempted murder of her brother, according to the Washington City Police Department.

Her sentencing follows her guilty plea in November 2025, when she admitted in court documents that she “intentionally” shot and killed her parents, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

During the hearing, defense attorney Ryan Stout asked the judge to impose concurrent sentences rather than consecutive ones, citing Bailey’s lack of prior criminal history and her mental illness, which he argued “left her functioning at the cognitive and emotional level of a young child.”

Stout said she was diagnosed with autism, psychosis, schizophrenia, ADHD and OCD, and may also have bipolar disorder, The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Bailey’s brother, Dustin, also spoke in court and described her mental health struggles. He alleged she committed the crimes due to “powerful hormones” and other drugs he believed were irresponsibly prescribed during her transgender treatment, per The Salt Lake Tribune.

“We support LGBTQ rights fully. This has nothing to do with identity,” Dustin said, according to the outlet. “Providing powerful hormones to a person in a psychiatric crisis without proper psychiatric safeguards is not affirming care. It is reckless … it acted as an accelerant, intensifying instability, impairing judgment and compounding risk. That failure harmed Mia and it endangered our parents.”

Bailey said in a statement during sentencing that she was “sincerely, deeply sorry” to her family and that she couldn’t live with herself, per ABC4.

The final decision on the length of Bailey’s term will be made by the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole after sentencing, according to KUTV.