A Wisconsin teenager has confessed to brutally killing a five-year-old boy, entering a guilty plea in court.
Erik Mendoza, 18, initially denied the charges and was preparing for trial. However, on Monday, he acknowledged his role in the tragic death of young Prince McCree in Milwaukee on October 25, 2023.
Mendoza admitted guilt to five charges, which include first-degree intentional homicide, concealing a corpse, and three counts of reckless endangerment. At the time of the crime, Mendoza was just 15 years old.
Authorities apprehended Mendoza along with a co-defendant, 29-year-old David Pietura Jr, a day after the incident took place. Pietura was 27 when the crime occurred.
In June 2024, Pietura conceded to first-degree intentional homicide as an accessory and received a life sentence without parole.
Mendoza’s sentencing is set for June 5, where he too could face a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
In a police interview after he was arrested, Mendoza admitted to going on a criminal rampage on the day he murdered the five-year-old by also stabbing three random people in the neighborhood with a butterfly knife.
The reason he gave police was simply that he was ‘bored’ and that he ‘wanted to stab someone badly.’
Erik Mendoza, 18, pleaded guilty on Monday to murdering a five-year-old boy in Milwaukee in 2023. He is pictured getting escorted into the courtroom where he made the plea
Mendoza was arrested alongside an accomplice, 29-year-old David Pietura Jr, on October 26, 2023. Pietura’s mugshot is pictured
Pietura and Mendoza’s victim, Prince McCree, 5, was found ‘blood soaked, bound, and gagged in the fetal position’ in a dumpster near the home they all shared
Mendoza was set to be tried as an adult before his guilty plea. For the past two years, his lawyer attempted to have the case dismissed and have his client be tried as a juvenile.
When that didn’t work, the lawyer tried to have Mendoza claim insanity, but the murderous teen was ruled competent to stand trial.
On October 26, 2023, McCree’s body was found ‘blood soaked, bound, and gagged in the fetal position,’ wrapped up in garbage bags in a dumpster.
Police found the brutalized little boy near the home he and his family shared with several other people, including Pietura and Mendoza.
Court documents say McCree’s mother last saw him on the morning of October 25. He was sick, so she kept him home from school.
The boy ‘wanted to go into the basement of the residence to play video games,’ which he frequently did with Pietura.
The mother assumed the boy was playing with the 27-year-old, but when she checked the basement later, it was dark and empty.
A detective searched the basement and spotted ‘blood on the cement floor near carpet runners.’
McCree’s mother last saw him the morning of October 25. He stayed home from school and went to the basement of their multi-family home to play video games with Pietura
Pietura pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime in June 2024. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
Mendoza pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and three counts of reckless endangerment. He is pictured sitting in the courtroom while making the plea
Pietura, who was down there at the time, immediately tried to move the runners to cover the stains. He claimed he and Mendoza had roughhoused earlier, and the blood came from Mendoza’s nose.
However, in the portion of the basement that was Pietura’s bedroom, the detective ‘observed more suspected blood on a white comforter covering a chair, as well as on a blanket that was used as a divider.’
Another detective noticed ‘a large amount of blood on Pietura’s right leg,’ and he was quickly arrested for obstruction.
Authorities then executed a search warrant with a K9 team. One of the dogs ‘alerted to the odor of decomposition at the base of the basement stairs where three sweatshirts were hanging from the back of a door.’
One of the sweatshirts was spotted on surveillance video as Pietura carried the garbage bag containing McCree’s remains.
After police found several bloodstains in the bedroom, Pietura admitted that Mendoza had ‘talked for some time about wanting to kill someone.’
The teen ‘never liked’ McCree and discussed wanting to kill the boy, court documents said.
Pietura also confessed to witnessing Mendoza choking McCree in the bedroom until he was motionless and doing nothing to intervene.
Pietura was seen on surveillance footage carrying a garbage bag containing McCree’s remains. A K-9 alerted to the sweater he was wearing at the time
McCree was savagely choked, gagged, beaten with fists, hit with a 30-pound barbell and struck in the head multiple times with a golf club
Once the child stopped moving, Pietura said: ‘We got to clean it up.’ Using thick black duct tape, he and Mendoza bound Prince’s hands and feet, documents say.
They stuffed rags into Prince’s mouth and covered them in tape to quiet his screams in case he was still alive.
When Mendoza noticed the child regaining consciousness, he allegedly said: ‘We need to shut him up.’
Pietura punched the boy repeatedly in an effort to silence him. When that didn’t work, Mendoza stomped on his head multiple times.
When he ‘continued to whimper,’ Pietura grabbed a 30-pound barbell and dropped it on the child’s head.
Believing that he was dead, Pietura and Mendoza placed his body in multiple garbage bags. When he began to make noise again, the pair took turns striking him in the head with a golf club.
Mendoza admitted to stabbing three random people in the neighborhood the day he murdered McCree. The black butterfly knife he used is pictured
Police also recovered a ‘black-handled butterfly knife,’ which Mendoza confirmed was the weapon he used after the murder to go on a stabbing rampage.
When asked what he would say to the stabbing victims, Mendoza allegedly said, ‘I’m sorry, but you are alive.’
When Mendoza appeared at an early juvenile court hearing on October 31, 2023, McCree’s father told him tearfully: ‘You did this to my baby. Erik, you broke us.’
