Convicted child killer charged with first-degree murder after being released from prison

A convicted child murderer who was released from jail in 2020 was charged Saturday with first-degree murder for the brutal killing of a woman found dead in a South Florida canal.

Eric Pierson, 54, allegedly killed 33-year-old Erika Verdecia, whose body was found stabbed four times with a screwdriver on Sept. 25, Sunrise police said.

Pierson, who is 6-foot-8, supposedly confessed to attacking Verdecia, who had been missing for three weeks, police said.

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"Why is this guy in the streets? Why?" Carmen Verdecia, the victim's mother, said. "He's going to pay this time. We're not going to stop until we see him in the electric chair."

In September 2020, Pierson was released from prison after carrying out 27 years of a 40-year sentence for the 1993 murder of Kristina Whitaker, 17.

Before that, in 1985, he was condemned to an 18-year sentence for attempted murder after breaking into a woman's home and slitting her throat, but authorities said he was paroled.

Her daughter's friends told Verdecia's mother on social media that they had seen Verdecia with Pierson three days after she went missing, the mother said.

"I flipped out," she said. "I told (police) my daughter was seen with a killer. And then they started looking for her. But it was too late."

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Pierson was questioned by police, and his girlfriend said he would stare at the canal behind his home where he placed Verdecia's body and say, "Damn that b**** stinks ... If they don't find a body, they don't have a case," according to authorities.

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Tags: News, Florida, murder, Police, Prison

Original Author: Luke Gentile

Original Location: Convicted child killer charged with first-degree murder after being released from prison