Via/AP
Wade Wilson, dubbed the “Deadpool killer” for sharing a name with the Marvel anti-hero, smirked in court as he learned the jury recommended the death penalty for his brutal murders of two women. Wilson was convicted of murdering Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in Cape Coral, Florida, on June 12. The two women were killed within hours of each other in October 2019.
Wilson murdered Melton, 35, by strangling her in her bed just after meeting her and her friend Stephanie Sailors at a bar in Cape Coral on October 6. Hours later, using Melton’s car, he targeted Ruiz, 43, luring her into the vehicle in broad daylight after asking for directions to a local school. When Ruiz tried to leave, he fought her, strangled her, and pushed her out of the car before running her over up to 20 times.
On June 25, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty for Wilson, finding his murders “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel.” Ten of the 12 jurors voted for the death penalty for Ruiz’s murder, and nine voted for capital punishment for Melton’s murder.
Wilson, covered in tattoos including stitches around his mouth and swastikas, showed no signs of fear or distress at the announcement. He smirked at the judge, who is scheduled to decide on the capital punishment recommendation on July 23. His reaction has been described as “chilling” and “creepy” on social media.
“This guy could really be the poster boy of nonfunctioning psychopaths…The eyes. There’s no one home,” one user wrote on X. “He’s dead inside,” a TikTok user responded to the unsettling footage, while others on X called him a “soulless monster.”
In court, prosecutor Sara Miller called Wilson’s murders “shockingly evil and vile,” describing how Wilson carefully calculated the deaths of both women. Miller said Wilson had an “utter indifference” to Melton’s life. “Both murders were especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel. He inflicted pain, and he showed utter indifference to her [Melton’s] life,” Miller reported on Daily Mail.
Melton’s body was found at her home, tied and wrapped up, with signs of a struggle evident from her broken fingernails and internal and external bruises. Ruiz was found dead in a field behind a Sam’s Club three days after vanishing on her walk to work.
During the trial, the jury heard from Steven Testasecca, Wilson’s father, who detailed how his son “excitedly” bragged about the murders. The sickened father said Wilson showed no remorse and provided graphic details. “He said that he pulled her out of the car and realized she was still breathing,” Testasecca said of Ruiz’s murder. “He said he got back in the car and ran her over until she looked like spaghetti.”
Wilson’s defense team argued that their client, who did not testify, has a “diseased mind” and drug addiction, but Miller dismissed this theory as “not credible.” “He was under the influence of power, of lust, of control, of hate,” she said. The assistant state attorney called the jury’s death penalty recommendation “justified given the horrific nature of this case.”
