Insets, left to right: Trista Ann Spicer and Eric Israel Mercado (San Bernardino County Sheriff's Office). Background: home where Spicer allegedly killed and buried Mercado (KNBC).
A 46-year-old woman in California may spend the rest of her life behind bars for killing her ex-boyfriend, smashing him in the head with a frying pan and slitting his throat before burying his remains in a "makeshift tomb" in her backyard.
A jury in San Bernardino County on Monday found Trista Ann Spicer guilty on one count of second-degree murder with a sentencing enhancement for using a deadly weapon in the slaying of 42-year-old Eric Mercado.
Spicer argued she was acting in self-defense when she killed Mercado, who had been missing since 2014 until his body was discovered buried on Spicer's property in 2022.
As Law&Crime previously reported, detectives with the San Bernardino Police Department's Homicide Unit conducted a "follow-up interview" with Spicer on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2022, after receiving a tip about possible human remains being hidden in her yard. After corroborating the information provided by the tipster, investigators were able to obtain a search warrant for a property in the 1400 block of E. Davidson Street.
The tipster was later identified as Waylan Gentry, Spicer's boyfriend from 2022, who claimed she had moved Mercado's body from its original location beneath some concrete steps after learning that her family planned on selling the home. Gentry previously testified that Spicer was talking about moving from California to Illinois, where she had family, but that she had one important thing to take care of before she could leave, and asked Gentry to help.
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The task, according to Gentry, was to help Spicer "get rid of" her boyfriend, the San Bernardino Sun reported.
"I didn't know what she meant," Gentry said. "She said he was buried under the stairs. I did not believe her."
Gentry reportedly said he decided to go to the police after speaking with his mother, who told him to "do the right thing." When police searched the home, they found a hidden storage compartment that was about 8 feet wide, 6 feet high, and 3 feet deep.
Mercado's body was reportedly found in the compartment wrapped inside a sliced air mattress. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Mercado told police that his nose and eye socket appeared to have been "obliterated" and would have left him dead "within seconds."
"During the service of the search warrant, investigators observed what appeared to be a makeshift tomb on the property. Investigators entered the makeshift tomb and located human remains inside," police wrote in a news release. "Homicide investigators identified pertinent information and learned that Trista Spicer and the decedent, Eric Mercado, lived at the residence together. Investigators learned that Mercado had been reported missing by his family in 2014 and had not been seen since."
During the trial, Spicer testified that she met Mercado in 2014, claiming that he soon convinced her to start using methamphetamine again after six years of being clean, the East Bay Times reported.
The physical and emotional abuse began shortly afterward, she claimed. However, she said Mercado was prone to fits of violence and she was afraid to report the abuse.
She reportedly said that in October 2014, Mercado became upset over the dinner she prepared and threw it at her. At the time, she was sitting naked on the couch because he had ordered her to do so. She reportedly said Mercado stabbed her in the neck before ordering her to get him coffee in the kitchen. While there, she said she grabbed a frying pan and used it to strike Mercado in the head, swinging the cooking utensil with both hands before cutting his throat.
Spicer is currently scheduled to appear in court for her sentencing hearing on Jan. 20, 2026. She is facing 16 years to life in a state correctional facility.
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