Story of Girl, 11, Forced by Mom to Kill Stepdad Becomes Lifetime Movie: ‘It Came Full Circle’ (Exclusive)

Mary Elizabeth Bailey was just 11 years old when her mother asked her to do the unthinkable.

In February 1987, her mother, Priscilla Wyers, handed Mary a .22-cal. rifle and forced him to shoot and kill his abusive stepfather, Wayne Wyers, after he passed out drunk on a chair in their West Virginia home.

“‘If you do this,’ she said, ‘it’ll be over. You’re not going to jail, you’re too young,'” Mary told PEOPLE in 2022, noting that she begged her mother but Priscilla insisted.

After police arrived, Priscilla initially told investigators that she shot Wayne. But then she “said it was all my idea,” Mary previously explained.

Both Priscilla and Mary were charged with murder. Mary was eventually placed with a foster family and the charges against her were dropped after she testified against her mother.

A jury found Priscilla guilty of first-degree murder in 1988. Although she was sentenced to life in prison, she was eligible for parole in 1998 and was released shortly thereafter. Priscilla regained custody of Mary after she returned home.

Now, more than 35 years later, Maria’s harrowing experience has been adapted into a film: Would you kill for me? The story of Mary Bailey — for which PEOPLE has an exclusive trailer.

The film, which premieres October 28 at 8:00 PM EST on Lifetime, is told through three different perspectives and follows the volatile relationship between three generations of women — Ella (Melissa Joan Hart), her daughter Veronica (Olivia Scriven), and her granddaughter Mary (Presley Allard), whom Ella is raising for Veronica.

After Veronica marries a man named Willard (Connor McMahon), the lives of all three women take a turn for the worse. Willard becomes increasingly abusive, and Veronica then experiences a deep betrayal when her best friend Susan (Celina “Spookyboo” Myers) becomes pregnant with Willard’s child. The relationship eventually becomes increasingly toxic, leaving Ella, Mary and her half-brother Sammy at the mercy of Willard’s alcoholic rage.

From left: Melissa Joan Hart, Olivia Scriven and Presley Allard.

Courtesy of Lifetime

Mary shares her gratitude for being intimately involved in the making of the film, admitting it was an emotional process – but an unforgettable one.

‘People Magazine Investigates’ tells the story of a mom who made her daughter kill her abusive husband, then the girl blamed

“I think for me, being on set, watching your life unfold in front of you, you get to see your life from so many different perspectives,” she tells PEOPLE. “From each person’s perspective and from my own perspective. There’s a baby, there’s a 5-year-old, there’s an 11-year-old and there’s me as a goofy adult. So to just be able to see it and really process it was amazing. Absolutely. .”

Mary Elizabeth Bailey (center).

Courtesy of Lifetime

Mary says she ended up writing her 2020 memoir. My mother’s soldierabout his life experiences he allowed her to go through the healing process. She hopes viewers will be able to take a deeper look at how she forgave her mother, decades later.

“I think the film will help them see that she’s not the worst person in the world,” says Mary, who has a cameo in the film. “She was going through a lot. ‘Why did she do that? How to forgive her?’ I think the film will help them see how I forgave her.”

Mary, who now lives with her attorney husband in North Carolina and owns a medical uniform company, also notes that the film’s multiple perspectives are key to understanding how events unfolded.

Preslely Allard (bottom center) and Paulyne Wei (bottom right).

Courtesy of Lifetime

“Not one is portrayed so terribly that you don’t have a little empathy for that person,” she tells PEOPLE. “But that’s what I really love about it, I think people can watch it and even if they’re going through something, they can sympathize or sympathize and understand what people are going through and why they’re going through what they’re going through.”

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Overall, Mary hopes the film carries a message of healing.

“Watching it, it was full circle for me,” she says. “But it’s very emotional. But watching it and knowing that other people, hopefully millions of people, are going to watch this and be able to relate to this and find some hope, some healing through this movie. I mean, it’s really good, and I’m very excited because of that. So it’s mostly a focus, healing and hope for others.”

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Source: HIS Education