Woman Accused of Killing Sleeping Boyfriend with Frying Pan, Box Cutter Before Hiding Body In 'Makeshift Tomb'

Previously unknown details about Eric Israel Mercado's (above right) apparent murder were revealed in San Bernardino court last Friday, where his former girlfriend and suspect Trista Ann Spicer (above left) appeared at a preliminary hearing during which her roommate testified against her.

Mercado was reported missing by his family a decade ago and the case made headlines in August 2022 when Spicer was charged with his murder. At the time, police executed a search warrant at her home after "receiving information of possible human remains located" on the property. "During the service of the search warrant, investigators observed what appeared to be a makeshift tomb on the property," they added, saying Mercado's remains were found inside.

On Friday, more details emerged after a man named Waylan Gentry testified, claiming he met Spicer back in 2019, before moving in with her. While The San Bernardino Sun referred to Gentry as Spicer's "most recent boyfriend," he reportedly said they weren't lovers and were instead roommates who did drugs together "all the time."

He claimed that in 2022, Spicer began talking about moving to Illinois to be with family, but told him she "needed to take care of something first" and "needed [his] help" to do it. That "something" was the fact she needed to "get rid" of her boyfriend, he said, claiming Spicer told him "he was buried under the stairs."

Of the alleged murder, Gentry claimed Spicer told him she hit a sleeping Mercado over the head with a frying pan and slit his throat with a box cutter. San Bernardino Police Detective Tiffany Montez also testified that it appeared Mercado's eye socket had been "obliterated" and the hits to the head would have killed him "within seconds."

Though Gentry said he initially "did not believe" Spicer, eight months later he told police what she allegedly said after his mother told him to "do the right thing." Mercado's body was then found in what one police officer testified was room estimated to be "3 feet deep, 8 feet wide and 6 feet high."