Two death sentences against murderers in Florida. What happens next?

Wade Wilson, the Fort Myers, Florida man convicted in 2019 of killing two Cape Coral women, was sentenced to death on Tuesday.

A jury found Wilson, 30, guilty on June 12 of the murder of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, and recommended the death penalty after weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances.

Judge Nicholas Thompson agreed with the jury's recommendation and sentenced Wilson to two death sentences, one for each murder.

Wilson's legal team filed a motion for a retrial or acquittal on murder and several other charges on July 3. Thompson denied the motion on August 15.

The verdict was originally scheduled for July 23, but a defense request for a delay due to scheduling conflicts with expert testimony was granted and the verdict was postponed.

Here you can find out everything about Wade Wilson's crimes, his trial and what happened next:

Crimes of Wade Wilson

Wilson, then 25, met Kristine Melton, 35, and her friend Stephanie Sailors on October 7, 2019, at Buddah LIVE, a bar in Fort Myers.

After the bar closed, Wilson and the two women went to Jayson Shepard's house, where they stayed for several hours before leaving in the morning.

Wilson, Melton and Sailors then went to Melton's home in Cape Coral. After Sailors left, Wilson strangled Melton in her bed while she slept and stole her car.

A short time later, Wilson saw 43-year-old Diane Ruiz walking down a street in Cape Coral, asked her for directions to a nearby school and lured her into the car.

As Ruiz attempted to get out of the car, Wilson attacked her, punched her, and strangled her before pushing her out of the car and running over her ten to twenty times.

After the murders, Wilson called his biological father, Steven Testasecca, several times, confessing and describing the gruesome details of his crimes.

After initially dismissing the calls and attributing the confessions to Wilson being a “good storyteller,” Testasecca, 46, put his phone on speaker, whereupon Wilson's biological mother listened in and passed information on to police.

Testasecca asked Wilson for his location and told him he would send him an Uber. Instead, his whereabouts were reported to police, who arrested Wilson on October 8, 2019.

Wade Wilson victims Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz

Kristine Melton grew up in Illinois and moved with a friend to Cape Coral, where she worked as a waitress.

She was reportedly the godmother to her cousin Samantha Catomer's child, owned a cat, and lived in a duplex in Cape Coral.

Melton loved dressing up and her favorite holiday was Halloween, Catomer testified during Wilson's trial.

Melton was quick-witted, made everyone around her feel safe and understood, and “was valuable, not just to me but to everyone who knew her,” Catomer said.

Melton was 35 years old when she met Wilson at Buddah LIVE, a bar in Fort Myers. After leaving the bar and spending several hours at Jayson Shepard's house, Melton, Sailors and Wilson went to Melton's duplex.

After the sailors left, Wilson strangled them in their sleep.

Diane Ruiz, 43, a mother and engaged, was described as caring and hardworking.

She worked as a bartender at the Moose Lodge in Cape Coral and never missed a shift in five years.

Ruiz was on her way to work for her 10 a.m. shift when she met Wilson.

Shortly after killing Melton, Wilson saw Ruiz walking down a street in Cape Coral and lured her into his car after asking her for directions.

As she tried to leave, Wilson beat and strangled Ruiz, pushed her out of the car, and ran over her repeatedly.

Her body was found in a field three days later.

What was Wade Wilson convicted of?

Wilson was tried and found guilty on six counts:

Two counts of premeditated murder
First degree murder
Grand theft
battery
Burglary
Petty theft

Wilson is also charged with other crimes, including attempted prison escape and drug offenses.

Wade Wilson is associated with the white racist prison gang “Unforgiven”

Court documents in the escape attempt link Wilson to the “Unforgiven,” a white supremacist prison gang.

Wilson has several swastika tattoos, including on the right side of his head and under his right eye.

The swastika was introduced as a symbol of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party in 1920 and, according to the Anti-Defamation League, has served as “the most significant and notorious symbol of hatred, anti-Semitism and white supremacy” since 1945.

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Unforgiven gang was founded in Florida's prison system in 1986 and is the largest white supremacist prison gang in the state.

Wade Wilson is sentenced to death

On June 25, 2024, the jury in Wilson's trial recommended the death penalty for each murder.

The sentence was determined during the trial. The jury had the option of recommending life imprisonment without parole or the death penalty.

Florida juries had to vote unanimously to recommend the death penalty until April 2023. Then Governor Ron DeSantis lowered that hurdle by signing a law allowing juries to recommend the death penalty with just eight votes.

After weighing aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the jury voted for the death penalty – 9 to 3 in Melton's case and 10 to 2 in Ruiz's case.

On Tuesday, August 27, 2024, Judge Thompson imposed the death penalty for each murder.

Where is Wade Wilson being held now?

Wilson is being held at the Lee County Jail in Fort Myers, Florida. Once other charges, including attempted escape, are resolved, he will be transferred to the Florida prison system.

Florida's death row, the Union Correctional Institution, houses prisoners sentenced to death.

Where is Florida's death row, the Union Correctional Institution?

Florida's death row is located at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, about 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville.

What is life like on Florida's death row?

According to the Florida Department of Corrections, death row inmates are allowed to use snacks, radios and 13-inch televisions, but do not have cable or air conditioning.

They wear orange T-shirts to distinguish themselves from other inmates and the same blue pants as normal prisoners.

Death row inmates receive three meals a day—at 5 a.m., from 10:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., and from 4 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The food is prepared by prison staff and transported to the cells in isolated carts, where inmates are given sporks to eat from the trays provided.

They are allowed to shower every other day.

All visits must be approved in advance and inmates may receive mail daily except holidays and weekends.

Inmates are not allowed to stay together in common areas.

Death row inmates are counted at least hourly. They are handcuffed everywhere except in their cells, in the yard, and in the shower. They remain in their cells except for medical reasons, exercise, social or legal visits, or media interviews.

A Death Watch cell is 12 x 7 x 8.5 feet high.

Once the governor signs a death warrant, the inmate is placed on death row and is legally and socially barred from making phone calls.

Is the electric chair still used in Florida? What methods of execution are there?

In 1923, the legislature passed a law replacing execution with the electric chair. That year, a chair was built out of oak by prison inmates.

The current three-legged electric chair in Florida, nicknamed “Old Sparky,” was built from oak by employees of the Florida Department of Corrections and installed at the Florida State Penitentiary in 1999.

A law passed in 2000 allows lethal injection as an alternative to the electric chair. A person sentenced to death has one opportunity to choose to be executed in the electric chair. The decision must be made in writing and submitted to the prison director.

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