Trista Ann Spicer and her defense attorney, Gary W. Smith, speak at the preliminary hearing on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. Mercado was reported missing in 2014 and was discovered by police in 2022 after a tip from Spicer’s more recent boyfriend, Waylan Gentry. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
A Superior Court judge ordered a San Bernardino woman to stand trial for murder after a man testified at a preliminary hearing on Friday, June 21, that Trista Ann Spicer told him that she killed boyfriend Eric Israel Mercado in 2014 and hid his body behind a camouflaged doorway in a storage area in the backyard of her Davidson Street home.
Mercado’s family reported him missing soon after. He wasn’t found until 2022, when the man who testified Friday, Spicer’s most recent boyfriend Waylan Gentry, told police that Spicer had admitted to him eight months earlier that she had slammed Mercado’s head with a frying pan and slit his throat with a box cutter as he slept on a love seat.
Trista Ann Spicer and her defense attorney, Gary W. Smith, speak at the preliminary hearing on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. Mercado was reported missing in 2014 and was discovered by police in 2022 after a tip from Spicer’s more recent boyfriend, Waylan Gentry. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
San Bernardino detective, Tiffany Montez takes the witness looks over photographed evidence during the preliminary hearing of Trista Ann Spicer, on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Montez is questioned about her involvement in the investigation of the case. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Defense attorney, Gary W. Smith and Deputy district attorney, Jennifer Carrillo speak to each other during preliminary hearing for his client Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
San Bernardino County District Attorney Investigator, Erick Bennett takes the witness stand during the preliminary hearing of Trista Ann Spicer, on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Bennettis questioned about his involvement in the investigation of the case. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Deputy district attorney, Jennifer Carrillo, writes down notes during preliminary hearing for Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Deputy district attorney, Jennifer Carrillo, slides in photographs of evidence under the projector during preliminary hearing of Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
San Bernardino officer, Chad Holgate takes the witness stand during the preliminary hearing of Trista Ann Spicer, on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Holgate is questioned about his involvement in the investigation of the case. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Waylan Gentry points to evidence when being questioned about the layout of Trista Ann Spicer’s home on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her then-boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. Mercado was reported missing in 2014 and was discovered by police in 2022 after a tip from Gentry himself. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Defense attorney, Gary W. Smith, listens to a witness during preliminary hearing for his client Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
San Bernardino sergeant, Jose Alvarez takes the witness stand during the preliminary hearing of Trista Ann Spicer, on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Alvarez is questioned about his involvement in the investigation of the case. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Deputy district attorney, Jennifer Carrillo, questions a witness during preliminary hearing for Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Waylan Gentry takes the witness stand during the preliminary hearing of his former girlfriend, Trista Ann Spicer, on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her then-boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. Mercado was reported missing in 2014 and was discovered by police in 2022 after a tip from Gentry himself. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Defense attorney, Gary W. Smith, speaks to a witness during preliminary hearing for his client Trista Ann Spicer on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Trista Ann Spicer and her defense attorney, Gary W. Smith, speak at the preliminary hearing on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in her backyard in San Bernardino. Mercado was reported missing in 2014 and was discovered by police in 2022 after a tip from Spicer’s more recent boyfriend, Waylan Gentry. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Trista Ann Spicer walks into the courtroom for her preliminary hearing on Friday, June 21, 2024, at the San Bernardino Justice Center. Spicer is accused of killing her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, and burying him in the backyard of her home in San Bernardino. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG)
Testimony on Friday revealed new details in the case, such as how Mercado was believed to have been killed and his body concealed, and what prompted Gentry to turn in Spicer, 44. Gentry also said Spicer told him that Mercado had beaten her often, although Mercado’s family said in an interview in 2022 that they believed they had been getting along well.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Senior Investigator Erick Bennett testified that Spicer explained Mercado’s disappearance to his family by saying he left after an argument. But she also presented his wallet and cell phone to the family, Bennett said.
Spicer has pleaded not guilty.
Gentry, with long dark hair, a mustache and beard, heavily tattooed arms, grey shirt and pants and gleaming white sneakers, was a reluctant witness. His testimony will be important because so far, prosecutors have not presented any physical evidence linking Spicer to the slaying.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Gary W. Smith asked Gentry if he planned to testify at the trial.
“If I don’t have to, I don’t plan to,” Gentry said.
Their exchanges were peppery.
“How many felonies have you committed?” Smith demanded, taking aim at Gentry’s credibility.
“I don’t keep track of that,” Gentry replied.
He often had difficulty remembering other details Friday.
“My memory is bad,” Gentry explained.
“I can tell,” Smith retorted.
Smith repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to get Gentry to admit that he had assaulted Spicer. He denied ever doing so.
“I loved that woman with all my heart,” Gentry said. “Love is a thing, man. It makes you do stupid (expletive).”
Judge William Jefferson Powell IV granted the parties wide latitude, even pausing the testimony at one point to allow a bailiff to remove Spicer’s handcuffs so she could take notes. Spicer’s feet remained shackled.
Gentry said he met Spicer in 2019 and moved in with her after being paroled. Initially, he lived in a small house on the lot before moving in with Spicer. He stayed in a walk-in closet that locked from the inside. They were not lovers, but they abused alcohol and did drugs “all the time,” he testified. Gentry said he has been drug-free for two years.
In 2022, Spicer began talking about moving to Illinois to be near family, Gentry said.
“She said she needed to take care of something first. She needed my help,” he testified. She later said she needed to “get rid of” her boyfriend. “I didn’t know what she meant,” Gentry continued. “She said he was buried under the stairs. I did not believe her.”
But he noticed the outline of a door to that storage area next to a stairway and used an iron rod to poke holes in the wall. Gentry said he did not attempt to look inside. After eight months of doubting Spicer’s claim, Gentry called police after his mother told him to “do the right thing,” he testified.
San Bernardino police Officer Chad Holgate testified that when police searched the property, he saw circular patching beneath a slab of wood that was affixed to the doorway at an angle. He removed the panel and looked into a room he estimated was 3 feet deep, 8 feet wide and 6 feet high.
Gentry had earlier described Spicer as “a project girl” who was handy with tools.
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Carrillo displayed a photo that showed the sealed doorway in 2022 as well as a photo that showed an open doorway in early 2014 — before Mercado vanished — when police investigated the death of Spicer’s grandfather. Other photos from 2014 showed a green carpet inside the home that was found near Mercado’s body eight years later.
Mercado was wrapped in an air mattress that had been cut open.
His nose and eye socket had been “obliterated,” San Bernardino Police Detective Tiffany Montez testified. She said a medical examiner told her that the blows to the head would have killed Mercado “within seconds.”
