People Magazine Investigates: Why did Cheryl Pierson get her father killed?

Cheryl Pierson will narate the 1986 murder of James Pierson and the dark family history that was buried for years in the re-run of a People Magazine Investigates episode. The episode, titled The Cheerleader and The Hitman, will air on ID this Thursday, July 21, 2022 at 8 pm ET.

The official synopsis of the episode states:

"When a widower and father of three is found murdered outside his Long Island home, police have reason to look into shady business dealings as a possible motive; then, a tip leads to three unlikely suspects, exposing dark family secrets."

After enduring years of abuse at the hands of her father, Cheryl orchestrated a murder-for-hire plot to get her r*pist father killed. One of her fellow high school juniors named Sean Pica seemingly volunteered to do the job for her.

She reportedly paid Pica $1000 to help her get her widowed father out of the way and about three months later, the job was done.

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Cheryl Pierson was mercilessly and repeatedly r*ped by her father, James Pierson

Cheryl Pierson claims that she was subjected to years of s*xual assault at the hands of her father when she was a teenager. She also said that she was too terrified to tell anyone about it, including her boyfriend at the time, Rob Cuccio.

However, the latter started having suspicions and decided to confront his girlfriend about it and she finally confessed.

Cuccio reportedly said during an interview:

"I was afraid to confront Cheryl about it. We were having a little argument and it came out. I said, 'I know what your dad is doing to you.' I remember Cheryl’s face getting red."

He added,

"Cheryl started to cry, and she said, 'You’re right Rob, but you can’t tell anybody.' I knew in that moment that there was no way I could leave her."

Later during the trial, the accused's lawyers asserted that she felt she had no choice but to have her father killed after he allegedly spoke about assaulting her sister. The lawyers said Cheryl didn't have a choice to get her father, 42-year-old electrician, James Pierson, killed when he mentioned assaulting her eight-year-old sister JoAnn.

Cheryl Pierson, who was a 16-year-old high school cheerleader at the time spoke about a murder-for-hire plan she had seen on the news. Later, one morning during class, she enquired if any of her peers were willing to kill someone for cash. That's when a junior named Sean Pica offered to do it for $1,000.

James Pierson was found dead after being shot five times in the head and chest in the driveway of their Long Island home on February 5, 1986. The body of the 42-year-old was found by his cheerleader daughter in the hamlet of Selden, New York. Later, police discovered a number of small-caliber bullet casings scattered next to the victim's body.

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Cheryl Pierson along with two others were arrested for the murder of her father

When Cheryl Pierson told the hired hitman of the abuse she was living through, they executed a plan to have James Pierson killed. She and her then-boyfriend Rob Cuccio put together a sum of $400 as a downpayment to Sean Pica. However, she was uncertain if the hired killer would be able to execute the plan successfully. Despite that, on that cold February morning, she was standing right beside her abusive father's corpse.

Ultimately, 18-year-old Pica admitted to killing James and was given a 24-year jail term and was eventually released in 2002. Rob, the 20-year-old boyfriend of the cheerleader, admitted to the crime and was released on probation.

Additionally, Cheryl received a six-month sentence after she pleaded guilty. She was granted parole for good conduct three and a half months after the sentencing.

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The high school sweethearts, Cheryl Pierson and Rob Cuccio, are now married, raising a family of their own.

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Catch the full story this Thursday on People Magazine Investigates. As previously stated, the episode will air at 8 pm ET on Investigation Discovery.