As a jury prepares to decide who should raise the children of Lee Gilley and Christa Bauer, the children’s paternal aunt spent a second day on the witness stand Thursday disputing claims that the children had contact with their father before he fled to Italy.
Cristin Gilley, who’s married to Lee Gilley’s brother Matt, testified Wednesday and Thursday as they seek custody of the young children. For the last two years, the kids have primarily lived with Bauer’s parents, Chris and Sharon Bauer, in South Carolina. The maternal grandparents are also seeking custody.
Earlier in the trial, evidence presented to the jury showed phone calls between Matt and Lee Gilley appeared to overlap with at least seven times when the Gilleys were scheduled to have custody of the children, elevating the Bauers’ concerns that the kids had been exposed to their father.
Cristin Gilley, who lives with Matt Gilley and their four children in North Carolina, testified that at least some of the phone calls were related to medical treatment for her mother-in-law’s ongoing cancer treatment. She said the calls never happened when the children were present.
The Bauers previously testified about a break in trust between the Gilley and Bauer families after Lee Gilley was accused of killing Christa Bauer in Oct. 2024.
Chris Bauer testified that the Gilleys “formed a bubble” while Cristin Gilley testified the Gilleys felt as if they were being pushed out of the children’s lives despite their wishes.
In emails shared with the jury, Cristin Gilley wrote about not wanting to be judged by Lee Gilley’s actions and feeling like she was “in the middle of tension between families.”
After Lee Gilley cut his ankle monitor and left the U.S. for Italy in May, the Bauers filed for emergency orders in the custody case to block the children from having any visits with Gilley’s side of the family amid concern for their safety and fear someone may abscond with the kids.
At the time, Judge Angela Lancelin, who Sharon Bauer referred to in one email as the “wacko judge,” according to an email presented to the jury, did not adjust the custody or visitation orders.
Cristin Gilley, seeking to maintain the monthly visits after Lee Gilley fled, said she offered daily FaceTimes, “air trackers,” introductions to their neighbors and her own mother, as additional safety measures to help the Bauers feel at ease, but her offers did not appear to get a response.
She testified Lee Gilley leaving the country intensified tension with the Bauers and that her husband Matt Gilley never expressed being afraid that Lee Gilley would leave the country.
Prosecutors in Lee Gilley’s criminal case have said he was discussing plans to flee and obtain a new identity in April of 2025 with a woman in San Diego, more than a year before he left the U.S. Cristin Gilley said she had no knowledge of his plans.
Cristin Gilley acknowledged she initially had no concerns about her own children being around Lee Gilley after his arrest in October 2024 and testified they had dinner with him and the Gilley grandparents in Feb. 2025 while he was out on bond.
She called the whole situation “very confusing” but said over the last two years, her opinion changed about the children being around Lee Gilley.
Despite filing an intervention in the lawsuit to gain custody of the children, and later filing paperwork with intentions to adopt the children, Cristin Gilley said she has had no direct contact with Lee Gilley related to the litigation.
Any future contact between the children and Lee Gilley, Cristin Gilley said, should be decided by the court and guided by therapists. It remains unclear when Lee Gilley could be returned to Texas while he continues fighting extradition in Italy.
The Bauers have sought sole conservatorship of the children throughout the trial, testifying that another change in their routines would be a major blow to progress that has been made since suffering the trauma of losing both parents around the same time.
As a bond condition, Lee Gilley has been ordered no contact with the kids since his arrest days after Christa Bauer’s death, which the medical examiner has ruled a homicide due to compression of the neck.
The Bauers have also told the jury about extensive family, school, and community connections the children have created since moving with them to South Carolina in June of 2025.
Closing arguments are expected Friday before the jury begins deliberating.
