Preparedness
Deadpool Killer Sentenced For Shocking Florida Murders
On Tuesday, Wade Wilson, infamously known as the “Deadpool Killer,” was sentenced to death for the brutal murders of two women in Cape Coral, Florida, in 2019.
Wilson, also dubbed the “Cape Coral Strangler,” was found guilty of strangling 35-year-old Kristine Melton and 43-year-old Diane Ruiz within hours of each other on October 6, 2019.
In June, Wilson was convicted on two counts of first-degree felony murder and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder.
The jury voted overwhelmingly in favor of the death penalty, with a 9-3 decision for Melton’s case and a 10-2 vote for Ruiz’s murder.
In April 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis signed a law reducing the jury votes needed for capital punishment from unanimous to a supermajority of eight out of twelve.
Lee County Circuit Judge Nicholas R. Thompson upheld the jury’s recommendation, stating there was “no basis” to overrule it.
“Given the facts of the case, nothing in defendant’s background or mental state would suggest that a death sentence is inappropriate,” Judge Thompson said during the sentencing.
Wilson’s attorney, Lee Hollander, argued for two life sentences instead, citing Wilson’s brain damage from drug addiction and abandonment issues stemming from his adoption.
Wilson’s adoptive parents wrote a letter pleading for clemency, describing their son as “a joyful child” who later became “withdrawn, erratic, and depressed.”
“Wade was a joyful child, loved his parents and sisters, and was loved immensely in return,” the parents wrote.
“But over the teen years, and then especially in the early years of adulthood, Wade began to slip away from us, becoming withdrawn, erratic, and depressed at first. Then his addiction was added to mental illness and [he] became, frankly, paranoid and delusional and a sense of loss became increasingly sharp.”
They continued, “They put a tiny band-aid on it, and then sent him back into the world without a diagnosis, medication, and without follow-up care. We tried to hold pieces together but had no idea how to find the support Wade needed to be the person he was inside.”
“In those tragic moments when the cancer of severe mental illness and addiction won, we lost our son, grandson, brother, nephew, and uncle,” the family said.
The parents concluded, “Despite everything, Wade is still our son.”
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