CHELSEA — Close to 20 family members of Kaylee Bailey, the 16-year-old Corinth teen killed in October while riding her dirt bike, stood in the snow outside Orange Superior Court in Chelsea early Wednesday morning wearing matching shirts with her picture on them.
They were 30 minutes early for the arraignment of Kyle Hunt, the 23-year-old Washington, Vt., man who was charged last week in connection with the crash that killed Bailey.
In the windshields of the nine parked cars Bailey’s family drove from as far as Bethel to get to courthouse were pink signs that read “Justice for Kaylee.”
Out of the snow that continued to lightly fall as they waited for Hunt, some family members wrote the plea for justice with their fingers on the hoods of their cars.
But Hunt never showed up to court Wednesday, despite Vermont State Police originally citing him to appear at 8:30 a.m. on felony charges of gross negligent operation – death resulting and obstruction of justice.
The arraignment wasn’t on the day’s docket, the family would learn, the case had not even been filed yet.
On his way into the courthouse, State’s Attorney Colin Seaman told the family outside that he was waiting on additional information in the case, which delayed Hunt’s appearance in court.
“Sometimes when you’re prosecuting a case, you ask for a little more information … before you bring the case,” said State’s Attorney Colin Seaman. “There’s one piece that I’m waiting on, and I think we’ll have it in a week or two.”
Seaman declined to elaborate but he did say the ongoing investigation could result in more charges against Hunt.
“Charges sometimes change when the state’s attorney … reviews them,” Seaman said. “In this case, in reviewing (the affidavit), I think there may be additional charges.”
After listening to what Seaman was able to share, Lisa Thompson, Kaylee’s aunt, expressed frustration.
“We are all here because what happened is we got this big thing in capital, red letters (from state police) that said (he was) cited today,” Thompson said. “It fuels additional fire because we believe something is going to happen without the kind of transparent communication between … the courthouse and the state police.”
Seaman told the family he is the one to contact, repeating that a new citation for Hunt likely would be ready within a couple of weeks.
“The family’s not giving up,” Kaylee’s mother, Heather Bailey, said.
“Well, neither will I,” Seaman replied.
Lisa Thompson drove about a half hour from East Corinth to get to court. Sleep, she said, “was not my friend last night.”
“You’re hoping that the state’s attorney is communicating with the Vermont State Police,” she said. “But it’s not effectively communicated to the families.”
Heather Bailey said she received little information from investigators since the fatal collision in October, despite calling nearly every day.
Her daughter died after a Subaru Crosstrek, driven by Hunt, turned in front of her Kawasaki dirt bike on Richardson Road in Orange on Oct. 5. Hunt was uninjured.
An attempt to reach Hunt by phone on Wednesday was not successful.
Charges against Hunt were announced by state police last week.
“The state police and Colin (Seaman) both told me when he was being cited and they told me when it was, which was supposed to be today, but (Seaman) also said that he was gonna call and fill me in more,” Bailey said.
But, she said, she never heard from him.
A voice message for Seaman was not immediately returned.
At around the time Hunt’s arraignment was scheduled to take place on Wednesday, Kaylee’s family got back in their cars to drive home, where they’ll wait on word from the state’s attorney’s office about when to make the trip again.