Trista Ann Spicer, a 46-year-old Southern California woman, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the murder of her boyfriend, Eric Mercado, in October 2014. She was found guilty of second-degree murder and claimed she was acting in self-defence after Mercado became angry over the dinner she served him. During the trial, Spicer testified that she hit Mercado on his head multiple times with a cast-iron skillet before stabbing his neck with a kitchen knife. This claim was rejected by the jury. Following the murder, San Bernardino Police Homicide detectives searched Spicer's home for possible human remains.