San Bernardino woman who entombed boyfriend in backyard sentenced to prison

A San Bernardino woman who eluded authorities for eight years after killing her boyfriend and entombing his body under a staircase in her backyard was sentenced on Friday, March 27 to 15 years in prison.

Trista Ann Spicer was convicted of second-degree murder in November 2025 by a jury that rejected her claims of self-defense in the October 2014 slaying of her boyfriend, 42-year-old Eric Mercado, in her Davidson Street home.

Spicer testified during trial that she struck Mercado in the head several times with a cast iron skillet during a violent confrontation after Mercado became upset over the dinner she served him. She then stabbed him in the neck with a kitchen knife he had dropped after she struck him with the skillet.

Spicer testified that Mercado had a history of physically and verbally abusing her, and often made her sit naked for long periods as part of his punishing and controlling behavior.

Addressing Spicer during Friday’s proceedings in San Bernardino Superior Court, Mercado’s sister, Mahira Torres, called Spicer “evil.”

“You took my brother’s life, and you shattered ours,” Torres said. She described Mercado as a loving father to his two children and an honorable man who encouraged her to follow her dreams.

“I will always feel thankful and blessed for the love I received from my brother,” Torres said. “He taught me to go after anything in life with a fearless mindset.”

Spicer said that after she killed Mercado, a friend helped her wrap his body in a deflated air mattress and conceal it in a space beneath a concrete staircase in her backyard. She said she subsequently had a homeless friend construct a brick wall over the space to entomb the body.

Mercado’s body remained entombed there for eight years — until 2022, when Spicer told her boyfriend at the time she needed to remove it because her family wanted to sell the house. His mother urged him to call the police, and he did.

Prosecutors believe Spicer killed Mercado while he slept. Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Carrillo said Friday that Mercado’s injuries were more consistent with that scenario.

According to a probation officer’s report obtained by the Southern California News Group, Spicer’s boyfriend contacted police on Aug. 23, 2022, informing them he had information of a possible homicide. He told police he and Spicer had a conversation about moving out of California, which she agreed to, but said she needed help with something first, telling him that approximately six years earlier, she “murdered her then-boyfriend and buried him under the stairs of the property.”

“She said her then-boyfriend would beat her continuously and she murdered him while he slept,” according to the probation report. “Spicer went into further detail stating she hit him in the head with a pan and then slit his throat.”

Torres said her brother’s disappearance for eight years shattered the family, and that her other brother died two years after her family reported Mercado missing.

“As time went by, life just got harder and harder to live for me, as well as my family — the thought of not knowing what happened … not knowing if he’s alive or dead, or suffering waiting to get saved — that really broke me,” Torres said. “My family went eight years trying to get answers, and it seemed like everybody knew about it except his close family.”

She said her family received calls and tips about her brother, and the information was passed on to police, but nothing came of it. “It really made us lose hope in our justice system and our law enforcement,” Torres said.

A victim advocate read the impact state of Mercado’s mother, Guadalupe Plascencia, with a Spanish interpreter translating in English. Plascencia, after thanking Deputy District Jennifer Carrillo and her office for their “great kindness” and sympathy to her family, said:

“I can just tell you that I really feel pity for you. You will never be able to understand the enormous pain that you have caused — the bitterness that overcomes my mind. And you will never understand it, because you lack feelings, sensitivity and empathy,” Plascencia said. “My son’s not here, but for you it’s time to pay. Our bad decisions will reach us sooner or later. And in my heart, I don’t have rancor or feelings for revenge because, for me, you don’t even deserve that.”

Plascencia told Spicer she “marked my life forever,” and left an immense emptiness in her heart and in all of those of us who loved her son.

“You know, nobody won here,” Plascencia said in her statement. “We all lost. May God have mercy on all of us.”