Teen Pleads Guilty in Horrific Beating Death of 5-Year-Old with Golf Club and Bird Feeder

A Wisconsin teenager has pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in the 2023 death of a 5-year-old boy who investigators say was beaten with a barbell, a concrete bird feeder and a 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 co-defendant, David E. Pietura, 29, previously pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in June 2024 and is serving a life sentence, court records show.

Police began investigating after Prince was reported missing by his mother around 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2023, according to a criminal complaint.

Earlier that day, she kept him home from school after he complained of a cough and sore throat. She told investigators she last saw him around 9 a.m., when she believed he went to the basement to play video games.

Prince’s body was found the next day in a dumpster behind a bar about a mile from the home.

Pietura and Mendoza, who lived in the same household as Prince and his family, were questioned by police. Authorities said Pietura initially denied involvement, but later told investigators he walked in on Mendoza — who was 15 at the time — choking Prince in the basement and did not intervene, according to the complaint.

The complaint alleges the two then bound and gagged Prince, placed his body into garbage bags, and took turns beating him with a golf club, barbell and concrete bird feeder.

Pietura told investigators he came up with the plan to bind and gag Prince before putting him into garbage bags, the complaint states. He also allegedly said Mendoza had talked for some time about wanting to kill someone, adding that Mendoza never liked Prince and had discussed wanting to kill him.

Authorities allege that after the killing, the two disposed of Prince’s body in a nearby dumpster.

Investigators said surveillance footage showed Pietura and Mendoza carrying a large white garbage bag toward the dumpster where Prince’s body was later recovered.

Mendoza is scheduled to be sentenced on June 5.