Photo: Florida Department of Corrections
A convicted murderer who was released from a Florida prison last year is accused of killing another woman. In 1995, Eric Pierson, 54, was sentenced to 40 years behind bars for the brutal murder of 17-year-old Kristina Whitaker. He was released in September 2020 after spending 25 years behind bars.
On Saturday(October 16), Pierson was charged with first-degree murder after he admitted to killing 33-year-old Erika Maria Verdeci. The single mother had been missing since September 24. She left behind a six-year-old daughter.
Hours after her body was discovered, Pierson told detectives that he stabbed her multiple times with a screwdriver and dumped her body in a canal.
"Why is this guy in the streets? Why," the victim's mother, Carmen Verdecia, told the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. "He's going to pay this time. We're not going to stop until we see him in the electric chair."
This isn't the first time that Pierson has been released early from prison and gone on to commit more crimes. In 1985, he was convicted for trying to kill a woman but only spent four of his prison 18-year sentence behind bars.
"This is not going to stop here. The man left my granddaughter without a mother. I don't know why they are letting these criminals out. They are letting killers out. These people should not be let out," Carmen said.