Editing Billy Bailey (section)

== Prior criminal history ==
As an adult, Bailey was known to police as a brawler and a thief.<ref name=":0" />

Bailey had 10 prior convictions, including for six felonies.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1980-03-02 |title=Billy Bailey |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-news-journal-billy-bailey/78956257/ |access-date=2025-05-18 |work=The News Journal |pages=68}}</ref> He had a criminal history dating back to 1967, when he was arrested for disorderly conduct after running down the street with a rifle. Bailey was later arrested on a charge of grand larceny in connection to a theft. In 1968, he was arrested a third time for burglarizing a home near [[Dover]]. In 1974, he was arrested for stealing $1,500 worth of tools from a Dover industrial plant and sentenced to five years in prison. He was paroled in 1977, but was arrested for violating his parole in January 1979. He received an 18-month sentence for forgery. In August 1978, Bailey threatened to kill his wife, daughter, mother-in-law, and father-in law after his wife left him and refused to let him contact her daughter.<ref name=":3" />