An 18-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced to life in prison last week after the brutal killing of a 5-year-old Milwaukee boy.
Erik Mendoza was 15 years old when he killed Prince McCree, who was reported missing by his mother in October 2023 after the boy went downstairs to play video games. Mendoza’s co-conspirator, David Pietura, also lived in the home with McCree and his mother.
After McCree was reported missing, police found the boy’s body in a dumpster about a mile away from home. According to court documents, Mendoza confessed to choking McCree before repeatedly hitting him with a golf club.
The case changed Wisconsin law and led to the Prince Act, which expands the Amber Alerts system for missing children who do not meet the criteria. According to Amber Alert Wisconsin, the child must be 17 years of age or younger, in danger of serious bodily harm or death, and the initiating agency must have enough descriptive information about the child, the suspect and/or the suspect vehicle to believe an immediate broadcast alert will help locate the child.
The Milwaukee Police Department requested an Amber Alert for McCree, but their request was denied because his case did not fit the criteria listed.
The Prince Act — or Senate Bill 981, now 2023 Wisconsin Act 272 — was signed by Governor Tony Evers to expand the Silver Alert to certain children. “An alert could be issued if the person is under the age of 18, their location is unknown, they do not otherwise qualify for another alert, and they are unable to return home without help because of a physical or mental condition, disability, or age.”
The act helped to “ensure authorities in future missing child cases have expanded resources to issue quicker and more robust alert notices to the public, hopefully ensuring kids are able to be quickly located and returned home safely in the future.”
After the murder, Mendoza and Pietura disposed of the boy’s body, and surveillance of the area showed them in an alley with a white garbage bag the same day that McCree disappeared, according to court documents.
The prosecutors jumped on the opportunity to mention that Pietura initially told investigators that he and Mendoza went for a walk, but cellphone GPS data refuted his claim. Pietura eventually led police to where they had left McCree’s body.
In 2024, Pietura pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to life in prison.
Earlier this year, Mendoza pleaded guilty 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 WISN. Mendoza will not be eligible to petition for his release for 50 years.
During the hearing last Friday, the boy’s parents, Darron McCree and Jordan Barger, gave very emotional victim impact statements.
“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.”
“What happened to Prince shouldn’t happen to any child,” Barger said in the press release. “The current alert system failed him and failed our family, and I hope that with this new law, more families will get the attention and resources they need to bring their kids home safely.”
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