The plea deal ended a Miami-Dade murder case that began after a family returned from Walt Disney World.
MIAMI, Fla. — A Miami-Dade father was sentenced March 30 to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2023 shooting death of his 21-year-old son, Eric Contreras, ending a second-degree murder case shortly before trial.
The plea closed one of the more closely watched family homicide cases in South Florida because it involved a father, a son, a 911 confession and a deep dispute over whether the shooting was murder or self-defense. David Contreras, 54, also was ordered to serve 10 years of probation. The sentence ended the criminal case in court, but it left major questions unresolved about the final argument inside the family home in Kendall and reopened fresh grief for Eric Contreras’ friends, girlfriend and relatives.
The shooting happened Nov. 3, 2023, at the family’s home in Kendall, near Southwest 84th Avenue and 107th Street, according to police and court reporting. Investigators said the family had just returned from a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando when an argument at home turned deadly. After the gunfire, David Contreras called 911 and said he had shot his son. In later reporting on the dispatcher call, he said, “I lost it on him.” Deputies who arrived at the house found Eric Contreras suffering from gunshot wounds. He was pronounced dead at the scene. David Contreras was arrested that day and later booked on a charge of second-degree murder with a deadly weapon. In an initial court appearance days later, a judge denied bond as the case began moving through the Miami-Dade system.
By the time the case returned to court this week, the legal path had changed sharply. David Contreras gave up his right to a trial and pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a deadly weapon as part of a negotiated deal. The sentence called for 12 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation, with local reports saying the probation term does not allow early termination. During the hearing, Contreras apologized and said he was the one who had to live with what happened. Judge David Young pushed back hard, saying others would also carry the loss, including Eric’s mother, his brother and future generations of the family. Defense lawyer Frank Quintero later told reporters that no father wants to kill his child and said his client would live with the consequences forever. Prosecutors, however, accepted the manslaughter plea instead of taking the murder charge to a jury.
Eric Contreras was described in court and in earlier public tributes as a Florida International University student who drew people in with his warmth and humor. At sentencing, friends and loved ones filled the courtroom and spoke less about the mechanics of the crime than about the life that had been cut short. His girlfriend said she believed she had found the love people search for over a lifetime. Friends said he made people laugh, showed up in hard times and had a way of making others feel welcome. Outside court, family friend Gus Alfonso said there was no real justice because a prison term could not restore a lost life. Cristina Alfonso, another family friend, called what happened unfair. Their comments gave the hearing a second purpose beyond sentencing. It became a public accounting of Eric’s life, not only of his death, and a reminder that the emotional damage spread far beyond the defendant and the victim.
The case had been marked for months by a major disagreement over what led to the shooting. Defense attorneys argued in court filings and hearings that David Contreras had suffered years of abuse from his son and could claim self-defense. Prosecutors did not accept that version. In 2025, defense lawyers sought Eric Contreras’ medical records as they prepared that theory for a possible trial. Even with the plea now entered, many details remain unknown in the public record. Authorities have not released a full minute by minute account of the argument inside the house, and public reporting has not settled basic questions such as what triggered the final confrontation or the precise sequence in the seconds before the gun was fired. What is clear is that the evidence available to the public included the father’s 911 call, police accounts from the scene and doorbell audio broadcast by local television in which he is heard speaking to his wife moments after the shooting.
The court history also showed how the case shifted over time. After the arrest in November 2023, David Contreras remained jailed while facing a second-degree murder charge. In April 2024, a judge granted pretrial release under strict conditions, allowing him to await trial at home. Later court hearings adjusted parts of that arrangement, and reports from 2025 said he was allowed to live again with his wife and family while remaining under supervision. Those decisions angered some of Eric Contreras’ friends, who said they felt the legal process had moved too far toward sympathy for the father. The conflict surfaced again at the sentencing hearing, where dozens of people packed the courtroom. Some friends said they had been left out of funeral arrangements and denied a fair chance to grieve. The bitterness on display showed how a homicide case inside one home can divide not only a family but also a wider circle of classmates, friends and community members long after the crime itself.
The plea means there will be no murder trial, no jury verdict and likely no full public airing of the competing stories that had shaped the case for more than two years. Instead, the official ending came in a courtroom where the legal question was answered through a negotiated admission of guilt. David Contreras left facing a prison term. Eric Contreras’ loved ones left with the same absence they had carried since 2023. No further hearings were publicly announced at the close of the proceeding, and the next public developments, if any, would most likely come through an appeal, a post-sentencing filing or prison records rather than testimony in open court. For now, the case is closed on paper, but the record still leaves a gap between what the court resolved and what the people closest to Eric say they are still trying to understand.
Author note: Last updated April 2, 2026.