BATH — Jennifer Bailey was her mother’s rock.

The 32-year-old would often “drag her mom out of the house” to have some fun, to take her out to the zoo and craft fairs, said Jennifer’s best friend, Kerry Smith, of Lewiston. While Jennifer, who went by Jennie, was more adventurous, her mother, Lisa Bailey, loved to bake, cook and take care of their dog, Bud.

“They brought love, they were caring, they were giving,” Smith said in a phone interview Tuesday. “And right up until their final moments, they were courageous and brave. That’s how I want them to be remembered.”

The women died Sunday morning outside of Jennie’s childhood home, a one-story, emerald green house in the quiet neighborhood along Crawford Drive in Bath, after being shot by 66-year-old Michael Bailey, Lisa’s husband and Jennifer’s father. State police said Michael was later found inside the home, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

On Tuesday morning, people had placed large baskets of purple and white flowers near the front door. A small, handmade white cross read, “God wept here.”

The incident shocked the community.

“Bath is a very close-knit community. Things like this don’t happen a lot,” Bath Police Chief Andrew Booth said at a news conference Sunday. “Everybody knows everybody around here, and we’re going to get through it as a community.”

Smith, who had been close with Jennie since they were in second grade, said both women were generous, and loved animals and children. Smith’s two children knew her as “Auntie Jennie,” who often brought them gifts from her and her mother.

She called Jennie a fierce advocate for others, whether it was through raising awareness about mental health or cultural differences.

Jennie graduated from the University of Maine in Orono in 2016 as a pre-law student and most recently worked at the law firm Basham and Scott, where she processed claims and hoped to become a paralegal, Smith said.

“I know that in the short time she did work there, she made an impact on her coworkers,” she said.

Kimberly Scott, CEO of Basham and Scott, said Jennie was “a bright light” in the office during the few months she worked there, spearheading snack runs and fawning over photos of coworkers’ pets. Scott said Jennie’s cubicle was filled with pictures of her own dog, Buzz.

“You would have thought that she had been working there for years because she just made friends quickly,” Scott said on a Tuesday evening phone call. “People just wanted to be around her.”

Jennie began working at the firm in July, Scott said, and within weeks, she began suggesting initiatives to make the office more welcoming, like advocating for a green space where people could spend their lunch hours.

“She just was constantly thinking of ways to improve other people’s lives,” Scott said.

Lisa worked as a housekeeper at the Plant Memorial Home assisted living facility. She always had a smile on her face and loved to cook and provide for others, Smith said.

“That job for Lisa absolutely filled her cup,” Smith said. “She loved working there. She loved her colleagues, she loved the residents … And I know that they loved her too.”

Scott said many of Jennie’s coworkers plan to attend a candlelight vigil for the pair Wednesday evening. The vigil, organized by Plant Memorial Home & Thomas Cottages, will be held at 1 Washington St. in Bath and begins at 7 p.m.

‘SHE PROTECTED HER MOM’

The women had lived with abuse for years, but the situation had recently worsened, Smith said.

In the weeks before the shooting, she said, Jeannie would drive straight home after work to be with her mom.

“She stayed in a situation and subjected herself to verbal, physical and emotional abuse at the hands of a man who was supposed to love her unconditionally,” she said. “She had to make sure her mom was OK. And up until the very end, I had no doubt that she did that. She protected her mom as much as she could.”

According to a criminal record history provided by the Maine Bureau of Identification, Michael Bailey had never been charged with domestic violence.

When Lisa finally decided to file for divorce, Jennie helped her with the paperwork, Smith said. The women were also ready to file protection from abuse orders, but were waiting to make sure the order would allow them to keep their dog.

Bath police had responded to their home twice in one day last month, which spurred Lisa’s decision to divorce Michael, Smith said.

According to police records, officers first responded to a report of an assault with a knife around 8:30 a.m. Sept. 24, and returned just before 2 p.m. after someone reported a family fight.

The records did not include any details about what happened and Bath police did not immediately fill public records requests for reports tied to those incidents.

But Smith said Jennie told her about both reports.

Jennie was cutting strawberries that morning when her father bumped into her, Smith said. She made a joke about how he should be careful because she’s holding a knife, then he called the police to report that his daughter had stabbed him, Smith said. Later, when Jennie was at work, Michael had locked Lisa out of the house, prompting the second police call.

That afternoon, the women kicked Michael out of the house, Smith said.

Few details about what happened Sunday morning have been released, but according to a neighbor who witnessed the shooting, Michael shot the women in the back as they were trying to get in their car and leave the home.

The neighbor, who asked not to be identified out of privacy concerns, said he had just moved to the neighborhood a few months ago and didn’t know the Baileys well.

But he saw police respond to the home in September, so when he heard yelling and screaming from the house across the street on Sunday morning, he went to the window to see what was going on. That’s when he saw Michael shoot at the women with a rifle.

Michael then went back into the house and a little while later, the neighbor said he heard a final gunshot coming from the home.

When Smith saw the alerts on her phone that the area was put on lockdown, she knew the worst had happened, she said. She rushed there from her home in Lewiston and got more notifications that the incident had been resolved. But Smith didn’t see it like that.

“The threat is not gone because domestic violence is everywhere,” she said. “It’s in (your) neighbor’s house, it’s in people that you love and care about, it looks like happy families.”

THREAT OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 

She said their deaths were preventable and more resources are needed for victims of domestic violence.

“I should have seen this red flag, but so should law enforcement,” Smith said, referring to the two police calls in September. “I don’t think they should be afraid to step on someone’s toes or worry about the abuser’s rights. We really need to be focused on the victims’ rights.”

Domestic abuse homicides accounted for 49% of Maine’s homicides from 2020 to 2023, according to the state’s latest report.

Every domestic abuse related homicide in Maine is reviewed annually by a panel of professionals from state agencies and other systems. The 2023 report, which examined 27 cases, found that 16 perpetrators had used a firearm to kill 16 victims. And of those, only one person was prohibited from owning guns.

Francine Garland Stark, who serves on that panel and is the executive director of the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, said the coalition works with law enforcement, the judicial branch, prosecutors, health care and education professionals to prevent these and similar situations.

“It is very important for us to not make excuses for people’s behavior and to take very seriously any threats that they have made,” Stark said.

After Maine police make an arrest in a domestic violence incident, state law requires them to use a risk assessment tool to determine how dangerous someone may be, Stark said.

“We can’t predict who is going to be the person who is going to commit murder, but we have lots of information that tells us who’s at a higher risk of doing more violence,” she said. “If we prevent any violence, we are also preventing homicides.”

If police are being called to a house often, Stark said that should prompt law enforcement to examine other resources that may help, such as domestic violence resource centers. But if an abuser doesn’t necessarily commit a crime, like assault or terrorizing, victims still have resources, Stark said.

She said it’s important for people to confront their friends or family who may have abusive tendencies before they do something they regret. All concerns regarding domestic violence should be taken seriously and professionals should be contacted to make a plan, she said.

“There are so many layers of controlling behavior that abusive partners may be doing and most of those things don’t ever come to a level where they’re against a law,” she said.

Staff writer Daniel Kool contributed.

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