News outlets sue Bath police for records in Bailey murder case

Three news organizations have sued the Bath Police Department for records tied to the 2024 murders of Lisa Bailey and her daughter, Jennifer Bailey, pressing for police reports, body-camera footage and 911 audio that could show how officers handled earlier domestic-violence calls at the home.

The Times Record, Maine Trust for Local News and WMTW filed the complaint in Sagadahoc County Superior Court after months of requests and refusals. At issue are records from two police responses on Sept. 24, 2024, including one call described as an assault with a knife around 8:30 a.m. and another described as a family fight just before 2 p.m.

Police later responded to the home again on Oct. 2, 2024, when Lisa and Jennifer Bailey went to Bath police to make statements about the earlier incidents. Jennifer Bailey asked to see the Sept. 24 police report, but she was told to file a public records request. Four days later, on Oct. 6, Michael Bailey shot Lisa Bailey and Jennifer Bailey outside the home and then killed himself.

Bath police said on Oct. 25, 2024 that they would not release the requested material after consulting the city attorney at Bernstein Shur. Sagadahoc County Communications also denied the request for 911 records. Police cited the Maine Intelligence and Investigative Record Information Act and privacy concerns, while the news organizations argued that the public interest outweighed privacy because Michael Bailey was dead and no criminal case would follow.

The withheld records could show more than paperwork. They could reveal how officers documented the calls, what body-camera video captured, how dispatchers handled the 911 reports and whether the response to the Sept. 24 incidents changed after the family sought police help again on Oct. 2. A Jan. 23, 2025 report said Bath police and Sagadahoc County officials were still refusing to release the records, keeping the dispute alive months after the killings.

The fight has become a broader test of public accountability in Sagadahoc County. More than 100 people gathered at a Bath candlelight vigil on Oct. 9, 2024 to honor Lisa and Jennifer Bailey and confront domestic violence in Maine. Lisa Bailey worked as a housekeeper at Plant Memorial Home, and Jennifer Bailey, a 2016 University of Maine graduate, worked at Basham and Scott while hoping to become a paralegal. In May 2025, about nine speakers at a Bath support group again returned to the Bailey case as residents continued to ask what law enforcement knew, when it knew it and what the public is entitled to see.