In Tarrant courtroom, mom tells baby’s killer she hopes it ‘eats you from the inside out’
Bailey Bingham said she had come without words of forgiveness on Thursday in a Tarrant County courtroom as she addressed the man who killed her little boy.
The 1-year-old’s death has, his mother said, left a gaping hole in her chest.
On a Sunday afternoon in October 2020, Bingham was meeting with Zayden McLean’s father in the parking lot of Texas Health Huguley Hospital in Fort Worth to exchange custody.
Nico Delafuente walked up to Bingham’s SUV and got in the driver‘s door in an effort to steal it.
Bingham, who was holding Zayden, ran to the driver‘s door to stop the carjacking. When Delafuente backed up, the door knocked Bingham and her baby to the ground.
The boy’s father, Shea McLean, jumped into a back seat of the SUV in an effort to prevent Delafuente from stealing it.
Delafuente continued to back up and stopped abruptly behind Bingham and her son. Delafuente placed the SUV in drive and intentionally drove forward, running over the mother and her child, according to Matt Anderson, a Fort Worth police homicide detective who wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit that he watched a hospital surveillance video recording of the robbery and killing.
Zayden died at another hospital; his mother was seriously injured.
Delafuente continued through the parking lot until crashing into a tree. He got out the SUV and ran across the parking lot, where he was detained by witnesses and a hospital security guard.
Delafuente’s blood-alcohol content was .20, more than twice the legal limit for driving, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Delafuente was indicted on capital murder of a person under 10. Last week in an auxiliary state district court in Tarrant County, Delafuente, who is 34, pleaded guilty to murder in an agreement with the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office in which he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
He will become eligible for parole after serving half of the term. Defendants found guilty of capital murder at trial are sentenced to life in prison without parole in cases, such as this one, in which the state waives the death penalty.
Assistant District Attorneys Allenna Bangs and Amy Allin prosecuted the case. Defense attorneys Tim Moore and Brett Boone were appointed to represent Delafuente.
Zayden was bright and silly and, had he lived, would now be in school.
“He was the light of my life, and that light was stolen from me,” Bingham said in the courtroom.
As Delafuente stood facing her at a diagonal angle, Bingham pondered his afterlife.
“I hope the fact that you murdered a 1-year-old eats you from the inside out,” she said.
Within a minute, a deputy directed him to a secure area outside of the courtroom.
This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 4:00 PM.
