An 18-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced Friday to life in prison for his role in the brutal killing of a 5-year-old Milwaukee boy whose disappearance later led to changes in state law.
Erik Mendoza, who was 15 at the time of the crime, will not be eligible to petition for release for 50 years.
He pleaded guilty in February to first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in the death of Prince McCree, according to local outlets FOX 6 and WISN.
“When considering the serious nature of this defendant’s offenses, it does not get more serious, more egregious than this,” Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Matthew Torbenson said during Friday’s sentencing hearing.
McCree was reported missing on Oct. 25, 2023, after his mother allowed him to go play video games in the basement of the home where his family lived, where David Pietura — who was later sentenced to life in prison in the case — also lived.
When she could not find him later that day, she contacted police, according to FOX 6.
The following morning, authorities found the child’s body in a dumpster near North 55th Street and West Vliet Street, roughly a mile from his home, WISN reported.
Investigators said Mendoza admitted to choking McCree and striking him multiple times with a golf club, FOX 6 reported, citing court records.
Court records allege Mendoza and accomplice Pietura later disposed of the boy’s body. Surveillance video cited in court filings showed the pair carrying a white garbage bag through an alley on the day McCree disappeared, according to the outlet.
Prosecutors said Pietura initially told investigators he and Mendoza had gone for a walk. However, cellphone GPS data contradicted his account. Pietura later directed police to the location of McCree’s body, FOX 6 reported.
Pietura pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to life in prison in 2024, according to FOX 6.
The case prompted the Prince Act, a Wisconsin law that broadened the state’s missing-child alert system to include cases that do not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert, WISN reported.
During Friday’s hearing, McCree’s parents delivered emotional victim impact statements.
“What I want to say is. I wish this guy would die and burn. No mercy. And I wish I could do it with my hands,” Darron McCree, Prince McCree’s father, told the court. “I’m a different person now. My life is my kid’s life.”
Jordan Barger, Prince McCree’s mother, said her “baby didn’t deserve anything.”
“He was five. You were 15,” Barger said. “That’s a very, very big difference. And like I said, I’m just happy justice got served.”
Mendoza declined to address the court during sentencing.
