Teen Pleads Guilty in Horrific Beating Death of 5-Year-Old with Golf Club and Bird Feeder
- - Teen Pleads Guilty in Horrific Beating Death of 5-Year-Old with Golf Club and Bird Feeder
Christine PelisekFebruary 18, 2026 at 12:55 AM
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Prince McCree
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Erik Mendoza pleaded guilty on Monday, Feb. 16 to first-degree intentional homicide, hiding a corpse and three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in the 2023 death of Prince McCree
Prince was beaten with a barbell, concrete bird feeder and golf club
Mendoza's accomplice, David E. Pietura, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide and is serving a life sentence
A Wisconsin teenager has pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the 2023 death of a 5-year-old boy who was horrifically beaten with a barbell, concrete bird feeder and golf club.
Erik Mendoza, now 18, also pleaded guilty on Monday, Feb. 16 to hiding a corpse and three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety in connection with the death of Prince McCree, according to court records.
Mendoza’s accomplice, David E. Pietura, 29, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in June 2024. He is serving a life sentence, per court records.
Police began investigating the case when Prince was reported missing by his mother around 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2023, according to a criminal complaint previously reviewed by PEOPLE.
Earlier that day, his mother kept him home from school after he complained of having a cough and sore throat. She last saw her son around 9 a.m. when she thought he went down to the basement to play video games.
His body was found the next day in a dumpster behind a bar about a mile away from his home.
Pietura and Mendoza, who lived in the same household as Prince and his family, were questioned by police.
David E. Pietura and Erik Mendoza
Milwaukee Police Department (2)
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While Pietura initially denied having anything to do with the crime, he eventually told investigators that he walked in on Mendoza — who was 15 years old at the time — choking Prince in the basement but didn't stop it, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleged the two then bound and gagged Prince, put his body into garbage bags, and repeatedly beat him by taking turns striking him with a golf club, barbell and concrete bird feeder.
Pietura allegedly said he came up with the plan to bound and gag Prince before shoving his body in the garbage bags, the complaint states. Pietura also allegedly told investigators that Mendoza had “talked for some time about wanting to kill someone,” adding that he never liked Prince and discussed wanting to kill him.
Authorities allege that after the murder, the two disposed of Prince's body in a nearby dumpster, per the complaint.
Investigators said they found surveillance footage of Pietura and Mendoza carrying a large white garbage bag towards the dumpster where authorities later recovered Prince's body.
Mendoza is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
