Eryn Allegra

Case record: Eryn Allegra

Overview

Eryn Allegra was a 32-year-old woman from Port St. Lucie, and she was accused of smothering her 8-year-old son, Tristan, to death on Christmas Day 2008. She pleaded guilty to premeditated first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

Timeline

• February 2, 2010 — Allegra appeared before Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn and was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years consecutively.
• February 3, 2010 — Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl commented on Allegra’s plea and sentencing.
• February 1, 2010 — Eryn Allegra was scheduled to plead guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.
• January 1, 2009 — Michael Allegra discussed Eryn Allegra’s confession and his own plans regarding Tristan.
• December 27, 2008 — Reporting described neighbors’ views and details from a police arrest affidavit, including the alleged pills and smothering at a Holiday Inn.
• December 25, 2008 — Between 3 and 4 a.m., Allegra was suspected of smothering Tristan with a pillow; after she was sure Tristan was dead, she slit her wrists in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
• December 24, 2008 — Allegra gave Tristan eight Advil pills to put him to sleep in a room at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 1 in Port St. Lucie.
• August 2007 — Allegra told investigators she began having serious financial problems and lost a string of jobs; a man with whom she was having an affair broke off their 1 1/2-year relationship, and she had been pregnant but lost the baby.
• February 2000 — Allegra married Michael Allegra.
• Mid-January 2009 — The State Attorney’s Office filed a second-degree murder charge against Allegra.
• February 2009 — A grand jury indicted Allegra on premeditated first-degree murder.
• Nov. 9, 2007 — Michael Allegra was arrested on a charge of attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud.
• Dec. 12, 2007 — Michael Allegra pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years of drug offender probation.
• Oct. 31 (year not specified in the record) — Michael Allegra was booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on violation of probation.
• Late May (year not specified in the record) — Michael Allegra said he was nabbed for a probation violation that landed him in jail again.
• Early in the case narrative (year not specified in the record) — Allegra was arrested on a fraud charge involving prescription drugs and spent about five months in jail; she was out for a couple of months before a probation violation landed him in jail again.

The offence

Eryn Allegra gave her son, Tristan, eight Advil pills to put him to sleep in a room at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 1 in Port St. Lucie on Christmas Eve. Between 3 and 4 a.m. on Christmas morning, she was suspected of smothering him with a pillow in that room.

After she was sure Tristan was dead, Allegra slit her wrists in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.

In a letter to Tristan left in the hotel room, Allegra wrote: “You’ll always be my sweet boy.”

Investigation

Police questioned Allegra after her confession, and she was described as having been “well aware that what she did was wrong.”

In a journal, Allegra wrote: “I am just alone.” and “Nowhere else to go. ... People move on. I just can’t.”

Allegra told police she started having serious financial problems in August 2007 and lost a string of jobs. She also told police that a man with whom she was having an affair broke off the 1 1/2-year relationship; she had been pregnant with his child but lost the baby.

Allegra never denied killing her son and gave police a description of the night in the hotel room watching movies and cartoons, and how she had Tristan, a third-grader at Mariposa Elementary School in Port St. Lucie, turn off a cartoon she thought was inappropriate for a child.

An arrest affidavit quoted the following description of the pillow placement:

“The defendant allowed the victim to sleep a couple of hours prior to using the hotel pillow ... placing (it) over the victim’s face, causing the victim to stop breathing,”

The arrest affidavit also stated that after seeing that her son had no pulse and was not breathing, Allegra went into the bathroom tub and tried to commit suicide by slitting her wrists and arms; it added:

“the razor blades were not sharp enough.”

After the interview, police charged Allegra with murder.

Arrest and custody

Following the unsuccessful suicide attempt and the 911 call, Allegra was taken to St. Lucie Medical Center, where she was treated for minor cuts to her wrists and arms. After being released from the hospital, Allegra was questioned by police and confessed.

Trial

Allegra pleaded guilty.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl accepted the plea deal and stated that spending the rest of her life behind bars “is probably a much greater punishment for her.”

At the sentencing hearing, Allegra answered “yes, sir” and “no, sir” to Judge Dan Vaughn’s questions.

Neither Allegra nor her attorneys tried to persuade Vaughn to give a lighter sentence.

Sentencing

At sentencing, Circuit Judge Dan Vaughn accepted the plea deal and imposed:

• Life in prison for the premeditated first-degree murder charge.
• Plus 30 years, to run consecutively for the aggravated child abuse charge.

Tom Bakkedahl said he felt “very strongly that (Allegra) deserved the death penalty” and thought he could have convinced a jury to agree; he also said his office decided to accept the plea bargain because there was a possibility the state Supreme Court could have ruled against execution.

Margaret Allegra of Jensen Beach, Tristan’s paternal grandmother, addressed Allegra:

“If you had committed suicide, it would have been hard enough on us,”
“We would have been devastated. But we would still have Tristan. ... What you have done takes my breath away. ... You took something very precious from our lives. ... to take an innocent life, I don’t know what made you do that.”

Catherine Whiting of Stuart said after the hearing she “had hoped Erin would do some time and then be released, (but) I was just kidding myself to think I would ever bring her home.”

Where Allegra would serve her sentence was stated as being determined by the state Department of Corrections.

Appeals

No appeal outcome was provided.

Outcome

Allegra pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life in prison plus 30 years consecutively.

Aftermath and related people

Michael Allegra, Tristan’s father, never stopped writing his son while he was in jail and asked him about his friends. He wrote cards and planned to see Tristan one last time before planning his funeral. He learned that his wife, Eryn Allegra, confessed to police that she had suffocated their son in his sleep.

Michael Allegra said Eryn Allegra and he agreed to share custody of their only child after Eryn left to live with another man. He said they were married in February 2000, and he said she had worked at a day care center.

Michael Allegra said he was arrested previously on a fraud charge involving prescription drugs, and that he spent about five months in jail, later faced a probation violation, and was back in jail around late May.

Curt Hawker, a neighbor on Southeast Bowie Street, said Allegra was “courteous but not real sociable.” Larry Roberts said they seemed to have a friendly relationship and that they were surprised. Elaine Spaulding said Allegra “seemed like a good mom ... (who was) very protective of her son.”

Other details

Allegra lived at the 2200 block of Southeast Bowie Street.

Neighbors described her as “courteous but not real sociable.”

Allegra used a room at the Holiday Inn on U.S. 1 in Port St. Lucie.

Allegra was described as having been an independent contract carrier for The Stuart News off and on from August 2000 until July.

Sgt. Rob Vega, a spokesman for the Port St. Lucie Police Department, said Allegra most recently worked at Liberty Medical Supply Inc. in Port St. Lucie, though it could not be confirmed with the company late Friday afternoon.

Records stated Allegra lived at various addresses in Stuart and Jensen Beach from June 1998 to November 2001.

Her maiden name was Eryn Haylee Mayer.

Records indicated that Michael Allegra was arrested Nov. 9, 2007, on a charge of attempting to obtain a controlled substance by fraud. He pleaded no contest and was sentenced Dec. 12, 2007, to two years of drug offender probation. He was booked into the St. Lucie County Jail on Oct. 31 for violation of probation, with a scheduled release to Tuesday (as written in the narrative).