A teenager finds life in the death of a boy’s trash that changed the warnings of a missing child
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An 18-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced to life in prison Friday for his role in the brutal slaying of a five-year-old Milwaukee boy whose disappearance later led to a change in state law.
Erik Mendoza, who was 15 at the time of the crime, will not be eligible for parole for 50 years. In February, he pleaded guilty to first degree murder, concealing a corpse and three counts of reckless endangerment in the death of Prince McCree, according to local outlets FOX 6 and WISN.
“Considering the seriousness of this defendant’s crimes, they don’t get any worse and worse than this,” Milwaukee County District Attorney Matthew Torbenson said during Friday’s sentencing hearing.
McCree was reported missing on October 25, 2023, after his mother allowed him to play video games in the basement of her family’s home, where David Pietura – who was later sentenced to life in prison – also lived. When she couldn’t find him later that day, she contacted police, according to FOX 6.
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Erik Mendoza is in the booking photo. (Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office)
The next morning, authorities found the child’s body in a landfill near North 55th Street and West Vliet Street, about a mile from his home, WISN reported.
Investigators say Mendoza admitted to choking McCree and hitting him multiple times with a golf club, FOX 6 reported, citing court records.
Court records allege Mendoza and his accomplice Pietura later disposed of the boy’s body. Surveillance video cited in court documents shows the pair carrying a white trash bag in the canyon the day McCree disappeared, according to the outlet.
Prosecutors said Pietura initially told investigators that he and Mendoza had gone for a walk. However, the cellphone’s GPS data contradicts his account. Pietura later directed police to the location of McCree’s body, FOX 6 reported.
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Prince McCree, 5, is shown in an undated family photo. (IFX 6)
Pietura pleaded guilty to first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison in 2024, according to FOX 6.
The case prompted the Prince Act, a Wisconsin law that expanded the state’s missing child alert system to include cases that do not meet Amber Alert criteria, WISN reported.
During Friday’s hearing, McCree’s parents delivered emotional victim impact statements.
“What I want to say is. I wish this boy would die and burn. There’s no mercy. And I wish I could do it with my own hands,” Darron McCree, Prince McCree’s father, told the court. “I am a different person now. My life is my child’s life.”
Jordan Barger, Prince McCree’s mother, said “her child didn’t deserve anything.”
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Darron McCree, father of five-year-old Prince McCree, attended Erik Mendoza’s trial. (IFX 6)
“He was five. You were 15,” Barger said. “That’s a huge difference. And like I said, I’m just glad that justice was done.”
Mendoza refused to speak to the court during the sentencing.
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The Milwaukee Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
