A Florida judge on Tuesday sentenced a 30-year-old man to death for the random 2019 killings of two Southwest Florida women.
Wade Steven Wilson, reportedly tied to a white supremist gang, was found guilty this summer of charges including first-degree murder in the slayings of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, of Cape Coral. A 12-member Lee County jury previously recommended he receive the death penalty for his crimes.
In Florida, juries recommend whether a convict should receive the death sentence, but the decision is ultimately up to a judge.
On Tuesday, 20th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Nicholas Thompson imposed the capitol sentence - one for each murders.
“The evidence showed both murders were heinous, atrocious and cruel, and that the second murder was cold, calculated and premeditated,” Thompson said during Wilson's sentencing hearing.
The defendant inflicted "serious physical and emotion pain to the victims" while on probation for felony convictions, the judge said.
Here's what to know about the Wilson's case:
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Wilson, of Fort Myers, was born to underage parents and given up for adoption. He grew up in the Tallahassee area before moving to Lee County.
He has voluminous tattoos on his face, including stitches, a swastika, and one that reads, 'glory' in cursive.
Wilson shares the shares his name with the alter ego of the Marvel character Deadpool.
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Wilson's weeks-long trial began June 1 with jury selection, and took place at the the Lee County Courthouse in Fort Myers.
The jury convicted him of six charges including two counts of first-degree murder June 12.
On June 25, 10 of the 12 jurors voted Wilson should be executed for killing Ruiz. Jurors voted nine to three in favor of the death penalty for Melton's slaying.
Until April 2023, Florida juries were required to unanimously vote for a death sentence recommendation. Last year Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a bill allowing the jury to recommend death with as few as eight votes.
According to trial testimony, Wilson met Melton, and a friend Oct. 7, 2019, at a Fort Myers bar and later in the evening, the trio visited Melton's Cape Coral home. After Melton's friend left, Wilson strangled Melton to death as she slept, stole her car, and then drove to meet his girlfriend, Melissa Montanez. After his girlfriend refused to get into the car, he assaulted her, but she managed to flee.
Not long after he drove back to Cape Coral, Wilson saw Ruiz walking to work along a street, pretended to ask her for directions, lured her into the car then attempted to strangle her. He then drove to an empty lot and attacked. When she tried to flee, Wilson attacked her, strangled then pushed her out of the car and running her over 10 to 20 times.
Her body was found in a field three days later, as vultures circled overhead, the News-Press, part of the USA TODAY Network reported, and after the murders, Wilson called his father Steven Testasecca several times and said he killed the woman. Testasecca contacted police and Wilson was arrested Oct. 8, 2019.
"He was excited," Testasecca testified in court, adding Wilson said he wanted to make Ruiz "look like spaghetti."
Wilson found guilty of the following charges:
The condemned man also faces charges in unrelated crimes, including attempted escape from jail and drug charges.
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According to court documents show, Wilson is connected to a white supremacy prison gang.
The prison gang was founded in the late 80s in the Florida prison system, according to the Anti-Defamation League, and is the largest in the state,
Wilson now joins 279 people including two women on Florida's death row.
The most recent execution in The Sunshine State took place in October when the state executed Michael Zach for a woman's 1996 slaying.
Florida's is set to execute 57-year-old Loran Cole by lethal injection on Thursday for the 1994 murder of an 18-year-old college student and rape of the victim's sister during a camping trip at Ocala National Forest in north central Florida.
A Marion County jury convicted Cole of killing John Edwards, a freshman at Florida State University and sexually assaulting Edward's then 21-year-old sister.
If Cole is put to death, it will mark the seventh time Florida executed a man since Aug. 8, 2019. Cole will also become the first inmate executed in Florida this year and the 13th in the nation if his lethal injection takes place.
Contributing: Stacey Henson, Tomas Rodriguez and Kim Luciani
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.
