A 44-year-old woman from California will stand trial for allegedly murdering her ex-boyfriend, hitting him in the skull with a frying pan and slicing his neck with a box cutter before burying his remains in a “makeshift tomb” on her property.
According to court papers acquired by Law&Crime, San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge William Jefferson Powell on Friday ordered Trista Ann Spicer to stand trial on one count of murder with an enhancement for use of a dangerous weapon in the death of 42-year-old Eric Israel Mercado.
Spicer has pleaded not guilty to killing Mercado, who had been missing since 2014 when his body was located on Spicer’s farm in 2022.
According to a previous news release from the San Bernardino Police Department, officers from the Homicide Unit performed a “follow-up interview” around 3 p.m. on Aug. 23, 2022, after getting a report about probable human remains being hidden on a neighborhood property. After verifying the tipster’s information, officers obtained a search warrant for a property in the 1400 block of E. Davidson Street.
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“During the execution of the search warrant, authorities discovered what seemed to be a makeshift tomb on the premises. “Investigators entered the makeshift tomb and discovered human remains,” the announcement claimed. “Homicide investigators discovered important information, including the fact that Trista Spicer and the decedent, Eric Mercado, shared a house.
Investigators discovered that Mercado was reported missing by his family in 2014 and has not been seen since. Investigators said they concluded Spicer was guilty of Mercado’s death based on the information gathered during the inquiry. She was arrested on September 2, 2022, in Yucaipa, California, approximately 70 miles east of Los Angeles.
New information about Mercado’s death was presented at a preliminary hearing in the case on Friday.
According to the San Bernardino Sun, the hearing focused on the testimony of Spicer’s most recent boyfriend, Waylan Gentry, who verified that he was the one who informed authorities about Spicer’s killing of Mercado.
Gentry, a convicted felon, reportedly told the court that he started living with Spicer in 2019 and that the two frequently used narcotics and alcohol. Gentry stated in 2022 that Spicer was considering moving from California to Illinois, where she had family, but that she had one crucial task to complete before leaving, and she requested Gentry for assistance.
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The job, according to Gentry, was to assist Spicer in “getting rid of” her lover, the Sun said.
“I didn’t know what she meant,” Gentry stated. “She claimed he was buried underneath the stairs. “I didn’t believe her.”
lawandcrime stated that he chose to contact the police after chatting with his mother, who advised him to “do the right thing.” When authorities examined the house, they discovered a hidden storage room that was approximately 8 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 3 feet deep.
Mercado’s body was discovered in a compartment wrapped in a sliced air mattress.
The medical examiner who performed Mercado’s autopsy informed police that his nose and eye socket appeared to have been “obliterated” and would have killed him “within seconds,” according to the Sun.
According to records, Spicer is scheduled to appear in court again on July 12.