An 18-year-old Wisconsin teenager has pleaded guilty to the savage beating and murder of a five-year-old boy in a horrific case that has shocked the local community. Erik Mendoza, who was 15 years old at the time of the crime, admitted on Monday to murdering Prince McCree in Milwaukee on October 25, 2023, after initially entering a not guilty plea and being set for trial.
Guilty Plea and Charges
Mendoza pleaded guilty to a total of five charges, including first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse, and three counts of reckless endangerment. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 5, where he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole, mirroring the fate of his accomplice.
Accomplice Already Sentenced
Mendoza was arrested alongside David Pietura Jr, then 29 years old, one day after the murder was committed. Pietura, who was 27 at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty in June 2024 to first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Gruesome Details of the Crime
Court documents reveal that McCree's body was found on October 26, 2023, blood soaked, bound, and gagged in the fetal position, wrapped in garbage bags in a dumpster near the home they all shared. The boy had been savagely attacked, including being choked, beaten with fists, hit with a 30-pound barbell, and struck multiple times in the head with a golf club.
Motive and Additional Violence
In a police interview, Mendoza admitted that on the day of the murder, he also went on a stabbing rampage, attacking three random people in the neighborhood with a butterfly knife. He told authorities his motive was simply that he was bored and wanted to stab someone badly. When asked what he would say to the stabbing victims, Mendoza allegedly responded, I’m sorry, but you are alive.
Investigation and Evidence
The investigation began when McCree's mother last saw him on the morning of October 25. The boy was sick and stayed home from school, wanting to go into the basement to play video games, which he frequently did with Pietura. When she checked later, the basement was dark and empty.
A detective searching the basement found blood on the cement floor and on items in Pietura's bedroom area. Surveillance video showed Pietura carrying a garbage bag containing McCree's remains, and a K9 team alerted to the odor of decomposition on a sweatshirt he wore.
Confessions and Cover-Up
Pietura confessed to witnessing Mendoza choke McCree until he was motionless and doing nothing to intervene. He admitted that Mendoza had talked for some time about wanting to kill someone and never liked McCree. After the attack, the pair bound the child's hands and feet with duct tape, stuffed rags into his mouth, and covered them with tape to silence any screams.
Legal Proceedings
Mendoza was set to be tried as an adult before his guilty plea. Over the past two years, his lawyer attempted to have the case dismissed and have him tried as a juvenile, and later tried to have him claim insanity, but Mendoza was ruled competent to stand trial.
At an early juvenile court hearing in October 2023, McCree's father addressed Mendoza tearfully, saying, You did this to my baby. Erik, you broke us.
