Killer released last year kills again, police say

Man confesses to gruesome murder of missing woman.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — A convicted killer who was released from prison last year has killed again, Sunrise police say.

The body of Erika Verdecia, a 33-year-old single mother missing since Sept. 24, was found in a Davie canal Saturday morning, detectives said.

Eric Pierson, 54, confessed Saturday to killing Verdecia on Sept. 25, according to an arrest affidavit. Pierson told police he stabbed Verdecia with a screwdriver four times — twice in the neck and once in each eye. Pierson is in jail facing charges of first-degree murder. It’s not the first time. In 1995, Pierson pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 17-year-old Kristina Whitaker. Her battered body was found buried under debris at a construction site in Davie.

He was sentenced to 40 years in prison but served 25. He was released on Sept. 3, 2020.

In 1985, Pierson pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder after breaking into a Davie woman’s house and cutting her throat and hands with a kitchen knife. Miraculously, the woman survived. Pierson was sentenced to 18 years but served four.

Verdecia’s family has vowed to see justice served.

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

Erika Verdecia was reported missing by her family three days after she walked out the door on Sept. 24, Carmen Verdecia said.

Verdecia’s mother used social media sites to reach out to her daughter’s friends. One told her he’d seen Erika with a “grimy” man at a sandwich shop and asked the man for his name. Eric Pierson, he was told.

Carmen Verdecia said she Googled the name and was horrified to see a man by that name had been convicted of murder in 1995.

“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.”

Sunrise police had a brief interaction with Pierson after 2 a.m. Sept. 25 during a traffic stop. Verdecia was a passenger in the truck but showed no signs of distress, the arrest affidavit said.

Based on his confession, Pierson killed her soon after.

Eric Pierson