California Woman Killed Her Abusive Ex With a Frying Pan and Hid His Body for 8 Years – Now She Faces 16 Years in Prison

Trigger Warning: This article mentions details of killing. 

In a heartbreaking case of reactive abuse, a woman has been convicted of murder with a household weapon. The San Bernardino County jury charged Trista Ann Spicer with one count of second-degree murder enhancement after she hit her ex-boyfriend, Eric Mercado, with a frying pan before slitting his throat.

Spicer has consistently argued that she killed Eric Mercado in self-defense. Mercado vanished in 2014 and remained missing for eight years until investigators uncovered his body in 2022, buried in the backyard of Spicer’s San Bernardino home.

Police began looking into Spicer after receiving a tip about possible human remains on the property. Detectives questioned her in August 2022 and secured a search warrant for the residence. The tipster was later revealed to be Waylan Gentry, Spicer’s boyfriend at the time.

According to Mirror US, he told investigators he had moved the body from beneath the concrete steps after learning Spicer’s family planned to sell the house. He said Spicer had hinted she needed help “getting rid of” something before she left California.

The San Bernardino County jury in the Trista Ann Spicer murder case will resume deliberations on Tuesday. Jurors on Monday sent a third, unspecified question to the judge. Previous coverage: https://t.co/OSrSfC7UWr

— Brian Rokos (@BrianJRokos) November 4, 2025

Waylen Gentry eventually went to the police after confiding in his mother, who encouraged him to report what he knew. When officers searched the property, they discovered a hidden storage chamber roughly 8 feet wide, 6 feet tall, and 3 feet deep.

In a shocking revelation, they found Eric Mercado’s body wrapped in a cut air mattress. According to the medical examiner, his nose and eye socket had been “obliterated,” injuries that would have made him succumb to death instantly. From the information obtained, the ex here, Mercado, had lived at the home with Spicer before he disappeared and had been reported missing by his family in 2014.

Meanwhile, the accused Trista Ann Spicer admitted that she met her ex-boyfriend in 2014, and he had pushed her to use methamphetamine after she had been clean for six years. He allegedly became very emotionally and physically abusive, and she was afraid to seek help.  

Things went completely south for the couple on October 14 after he threw food at her that she had made because he did not like it. She was sitting on the couch as he stabbed her in the neck and ordered her to fetch coffee. She lost control and struck him in the head with the frying pan.

Trista Ann Spicer testified in her murder trial in San Bernardino this morning that she killed boyfriend Eric Mercado after he physically and verbally assaulted her almost daily over several months and threatened to kill her on the day she killed him. (1/2)

— Brian Rokos (@BrianJRokos) October 27, 2025

Spicer is scheduled to be sentenced on January 20, 2026, and faces 16 years to life in jail. Tragic cases like these reveal how abusive relationships can be extremely detrimental to people and how they can ruin people forever.

What happened to Trista Ann Spicer was a result of reactive abuse. According to Charlie Health, “Reactive abuse is when an abuser deliberately triggers their partner into aggression and then blames them for the reaction.” These instances are a common pattern seen in many toxic and narcissistic relationships stemming from control, jealousy, and blame. 

While a murder of another person, regardless of the situation, is never justified, had Spicer sought help before things were beyond repair for her, maybe she would have been able to choose the path of strength and healing for herself instead of prison.