Content Warning: This story contains depictions of disturbing violence.
Two people, including a teenager, have been charged with murder in connection with the death of a 5-year-old boy whose body was found in a dumpster in Milwaukee last week.
Prince McCree, 5, was reported missing by his mother around 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, according to a criminal complaint reviewed by PEOPLE. His body was reportedly found around 9am the next day in a dumpster behind a bar about a kilometer and a half from his home. Prince’s death has been ruled a homicide.
An Oct. 30 news release from the Milwaukee Police Department confirms that David E. Pietura, 27, and Erik Mendoza, 15, have been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, physical abuse of a child causing death and concealment of a corpse in connection with the boy’s death.
Mendoza was additionally charged with three counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety in connection with a series of alleged stabbings on Oct. 23 in the city, according to the criminal complaint.
It is not clear whether the suspects have entered pleas or hired lawyers to speak on their behalf.
According to the criminal complaint, both Pietura and Mendoza admitted to beating the boy to death and disposing of his body. The suspects reportedly lived in separate parts of the same house as Prince’s and Mendoza’s families.
The morning Prince was reported missing, his mother kept him home after he complained of a cough and sore throat. The complaint states that the boy’s mother last saw him around 9 a.m. when she believed he had gone down to the basement to play games.
5-year-old boy found dead in Milwaukee dumpster: ‘Just the cutest little boy’
After authorities discovered evidence in the home, police questioned Pietura and Mendoza. Although Pietura initially denied any involvement, he allegedly eventually admitted to investigators that he walked in on 15-year-old Prince who was suffocating in the basement and did not intervene, the complaint states. The complaint alleges that the couple then bound and gagged the boy, threw his body into trash bags and repeatedly beat Prince, alternating between hitting him with a golf club and at one point with a barbell and a concrete plinth.
Pietura allegedly admitted it was his idea to tie Prince up and gag him before placing his body in garbage bags, the complaint said. Pietura also reportedly said during an interview with police that Mendoza “talked for a while about wanting to kill somebody,” adding that the 15-year-old never liked the little boy and talked about wanting to kill him.
Authorities say that after beating the boy, the two went to a nearby dumpster and dumped his body in such a way that it was hidden by other trash bags in the dumpster, according to the report.
“Defendant Pietura’s original plan was to walk toward the path leading to the sewer line and place PRM’s body in the sewer line, but PRM’s body was ‘too heavy,'” the complaint states.
David E. Pietura.
Milwaukee Police Department
When they returned to the home, Mendoza allegedly cleaned the blood off the basement floor with a rag.
According to the complaint, investigators found surveillance footage of Pietura and Mendoza carrying a large white trash bag and approaching the dumpster where authorities later found Prince’s body. The couple was then seen leaving the area without a trash bag, according to the complaint.
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A preliminary autopsy performed by the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the boy died of multiple blunt force injuries and ruled his death a homicide.
LaTonya Johnson, a state senator and neighbor of the child’s family in kindergarten, said for Milwaukee Magazine–Sentinel last week that Prince’s parents were distraught and in shock after learning of their son’s death.
“This neighborhood is relatively quiet,” she said. “You don’t see a lot of police activity. We knew it was something serious.”
Mendoza also allegedly admitted to police that he stabbed three strangers in the city on Oct. 23, according to the complaint. Authorities said they found the butterfly knife he allegedly used in each stabbing while investigating Prince’s death.
“Defendant Mendoza admitted that he felt a rush after stabbing each victim, but that he felt bad after committing the stabbing,” the complaint states. “When asked what he would say to the stabbing victims, the accused Mendoza replied: “I’m sorry, but you’re alive.”
Marie Stillo, a cousin of Prince’s mother, created a GoFundMe campaign to raise money “to give Prince the funeral and headstone he deserves, and to help his mom and dad with whatever they need at this difficult time,” according to the fundraiser’s description.
“Prince loved Transformers, Spiderman, Fortnite, Roblox, school, learning and Baby Shark when he was younger,” she wrote. “Our little angel was loved very much by his father, mother, brother, sister, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins and many other loved ones and friends.”
In a press release, the Milwaukee Police Department thanked its investigators for their hard work “in bringing Mendoza and Pietura to justice.”
“MPD continues to extend its condolences to the McCree family and all those affected by this terrible tragedy.”
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