A Wisconsin teenager is set to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
It comes after he brutally beat a young boy with a golf club and a birdbath before hiding the body in a garbage bag.
Erik Mendoza, 18, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the murder of 5-year-old Prince McCree in 2023.
Atlanta Black Star obtained court documents from the Milwaukee County Clerk’s Office detailing the case.
Mendoza pleaded guilty in February to first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse, and three charges of reckless endangerment. He will be eligible for parole in 50 years.
According to court documents, Mendoza, a 15-year-old at the time of the murder, cooperated with 27-year-old David Pietura. Together, they beat and strangled McCree before hiding the body.
Pietura was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in 2024.
In court on Friday, WISN reported prosecutors showed video for the first time of police finding the boy’s body.
Prince’s father, Darron McCree, addressed the court from the other side of a locked door.
“What I wanna say is, I wish this guy would die and burn, no mercy,” McCree said. “I wish I could do it with my hands. When he killed my baby, he killed me.”
Mendoza did not speak during Friday’s sentencing. His defense argued on his behalf that he is suffering from “serious mental health issues.”
“He’s responsible legally for this, but he’s a very troubled, seriously mentally ill person,” Mendoza’s attorney said.
McCree’s mother, who was allowed to sit on the other side of the locked door at sentencing, addressed the court.
“I’m glad justice got served for my baby. That’s all that matters to me, and I just hope basically he gets what he deserves in there because my 5-year-old didn’t deserve that,” the child’s mother told WISN.
Atlanta Black Star previously reported that on the day of his disappearance, McCree told his mother he wasn’t feeling well. He asked if he could stay home from school and play video games in the basement.
Pietura and Mendoza were living with McCree at the time. His mother told investigators she assumed they would join him. But when she got home, the basement was empty.
When the child’s parents reported him missing, the state denied their request for an Amber Alert.
Wisconsin state law requires very specific markers for Amber Alerts to be activated. The child has to be believed to be in a dangerous or life-threatening situation.
Atlanta Black Star previously reported that the Amber Alert was denied due to a technicality.
McCree’s body was found about a mile from his family’s home the next day. Investigators said they found him “blood-soaked, bound, and gagged in a fetal position” in a dumpster.
“If the opportunity arises, I will strangle this guy,” McCree’s father said during sentencing.
Law & Crime reported that Mendoza admitted that he was responsible for three nonfatal stabbings that took place in the neighborhood. He claimed that he was “bored” and “wanted to stab someone badly.”
The three attacks were random, including one victim who was “just sitting there on his phone,” Law & Crime reported.
None of those victims was identified.
Mendoza’s attorney tried to have his client claim insanity. However, the court ruled Mendoza was competent to stand trial.
