A Father Turns in the Son Who Attacked the McKernans
(‘A Touching Recollection,’ Forensic Files)
You might think that prison would have scared Craig Bailey straight for at least a while.
At the age of 20, he had committed an aggravated robbery and received a sentence of 25 years. The parole board let him out after just seven.
Douglas Bailey, Craig’s supportive father, allowed the ex-con to move back in and start over.
But Craig, 28, almost immediately committed another violent felony, much worse than his previous offense, and ended up under arrest within days of his release.
For this week, I looked for more information about the crime and Craig’s trial for rape and kidnapping. I also checked up on where he is today.
So let’s get going on the recap of “A Touching Recollection” along with extra information from internet research:
The episode starts out with a description of Jackson Township, an Ohio community that Forensic Files describes as upscale. The area has eight public parks and offers yearly Easter Egg hunts, haunted hayrides, and fishing derbies. Most residents own their homes and the median cost is almost $300,000.
I get the feeling that the McKernan household was a little different from most of their neighbors’.
Stephanie McKernan, barely 18, was married and living at the Erie Avenue Northwest home with her husband, Jamie McKernan, and his sister, whom Forensic Files and court papers call Megan McKernan. She was also 18.
On Saturday, May 6, 2000, Stephanie and Megan were seated in their yard, when two men in a pickup truck stopped by to chat them up. Stephanie told them she had a husband, and Megan said she had a boyfriend (she didn’t really). The men were gracious about it and left without incident.
Except for the fact that the pair in the truck consisted of a man in his late 20s and his father—both of whom were too old to be hitting on teenagers—the encounter seemed harmless enough.
Later that night, Stephanie and Megan heard a noise outside. Forensic Files didn’t mention it, but they saw a truck park behind the house and recognized it as the same Chevrolet that the two flirters were driving, according to reporting from the Akron Beacon Journal.
The women armed themselves with a flashlight and can of spray paint and went outside to investigate.
The younger of the two men who they had met earlier appeared suddenly and said he was a Jackson Township police officer. When Stephanie and Megan refused to get in his truck, he asked them if they wanted to die.
“I tried to spray him in the eye with the paint, but wind blew it away, so I hit him in the face with the can,” Stephanie later testified. “I saw him pulling her [Megan] by the hair. She was screaming and calling my name.” Stephanie hit the assailant in his head with his own gun’s barrel, and Megan struck him in the face with the flashlight. He managed to force Megan into the truck and flee.
Stephanie called 911 in hysterics. “He got her,” Stephanie told the operator. “He hit me in the head with a big old rifle. He kept saying, ‘Do you want to die?’” The responders were skeptical at first.
The men of the McKernan family had some run-ins with the law, and apparently that made police doubtful of anything their relatives said.
But the officers noticed a cover for a rifle scope and large boot prints left at the scene. Megan’s sweatshirt lay on the ground. It had come off as she struggled to free herself from the abductor. Police also discovered a purple glove that didn’t belong to the McKernans.
While an officer sat in his car to keep an eye on the purported crime scene, Megan came out of the darkness. She ran to the vehicle and said, “I have been raped.” She had bruises and scratches.
The assailant had driven her to Boyd’s Corner, an isolated area on an abandoned road, then overpowered her and sexually assaulted her in his vehicle, she said.
The rapist told Megan that he was sorry for what he did and he’d like to marry a girl like her.
She asked her attacker to let her walk home, but he insisted upon driving her most of the way in his blue Chevy truck. It had a Tweety Bird air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror, she recalled.
Megan described the rapist as about 6 feet tall, blond with piercing blue eyes, and having a crescent shaped gash between his brows where she hit him with the flashlight.
After authorities appealed to the public for help, an anonymous caller told police about a suspicious vehicle possibly connected to the rape. It was parked at a home on Bahama Avenue Northwest.
There, police met Douglas Bailey and his live-in girlfriend. Douglas allowed them to look at the 1987 Chevy S-10 truck. Inside, they saw a rifle, a purple glove matching the one at McKernan house, and a Tweety Bird air freshener.
The shoeprints at the crime scene were similar to those of boots owned by Douglas Bailey’s son.
Craig Bailey, 28, had recently been released from prison for the 1993 robbery, during which he broke into a house and pulled the occupant’s hair during the commission of the theft.
Police found Craig at a meeting for alcoholics in treatment. Craig immediately yielded, putting his hands behind his back as though he expected an arrest.
In the police cruiser, however, Craig told the officers he had no idea why they had taken him into custody. He knew nothing about a rape the night before. He had been out drinking with his father that night, Craig said, according to court papers.
In a photo lineup, Megan picked out Craig Scott Bailey — born on April 4, 1972 — as the man who sexually assaulted her. Authorities held him in the Stark County Jail in lieu of $50,000.
Douglas Bailey said that on the night of the attack, he and his son were on their way to a movie, when Craig stopped to talk to the women. Later on, Craig dropped him at home and said he was meeting friends.
But, Douglas suspected, he really went to the women’s house. And Douglas acknowledged that he was the anonymous caller who tipped off police about the truck.
Forensic evidence against Craig kept building. Investigators found Megan’s fingerprints on the truck exterior (hence the name of the episode, “A Touching Recollection”). Bodily fluid from the rape test kit matched Craig’s DNA. Blood and footprints in the vehicle came from Megan.
Nonetheless, Craig refused the offer of a plea deal with a 25-year sentence.
He maintained his innocence.
The trial kicked off just a few months after the crime. Prosecutor Doug Maragas introduced additional forensic evidence, including the victim’s bloodstained hair tie, necklace, and bra, which was nearly ripped in half. There was also the matter of Craig’s hiking boots, which someone had cleaned thoroughly by the time investigators saw them — suggesting he was trying to get rid of evidence, the prosecution said.
In a popular go-to excuse for rapists — once a lab has matched their DNA with bodily fluids at the crime scene — Craig said that he and the woman had consensual sex.
His lawyer Rick Pitinii pointed out that the victim didn’t have the gun pointed at Megan during the entire time in the truck and that she removed some of her own clothing herself when Craig ordered her to do so. (I’m not sure how Pitinii thought that would help Craig’s defense.) Pitinii also suggested that a rapist would have forced Megan to perform oral sex, which Craig didn’t.
Pitinii said that Craig was kind to the women.
Oh, and the defense also said that Megan and Stephanie actually flagged down Craig’s truck — and that the three of them drank beer and listened to music together earlier in the evening.
Maragas was prepared. “Were they having a good time?” he asked before letting the court hear the recording of Stephanie’s hysterical 911 call.
Both women denied any social or consensual sexual activity with Craig.
Craig didn’t take the stand, but the defense did get some semi-favorable testimony from medical professionals. A nurse who was an expert on rape testified that Megan’s gynecological examination didn’t prove or disprove that a sexual assault had happened. An emergency room doctor at the hospital where Stephanie had gone for treatment of bruises sustained in the fight said that Stephanie’s injuries were inconsistent with the marks a butt of a shotgun or rifle would make.
The jury, however, was not impressed by their testimony.
Craig Bailey was convicted of rape, kidnapping, and two counts of felonious assault. The judge gave him 46 years for those offenses and reinstated 18 years from his earlier burglary conviction.
Today, Craig resides in the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center.
Ohio doesn’t allow sex offenders to earn credits toward shortening their sentences. The Department of Rehabilitation and Correction lists Craig’s release or parole eligibility date as April 25, 2052, when he’s 80 years old.
Finally, it should be noted that many viewer comments on YouTube questioned Stephanie and Megan McKernan’s decision to go outside to investigate the suspicious noise — instead of staying in the house and calling police. I think the answer is, they were 18 years old and lived in a neighborhood considered safe. They armed themselves with only spray paint and a flashlight because they really didn’t expect any danger. If anything, the teens probably thought the incident would end up as a funny story, not a traumatic crime.
That’s all for this post. Until next time, cheers. — RR
Watch the Forensic Files episode on YouTube
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