Florida’s “Deadpool Killer,” a heavily tattooed man named Wade Wilson, has been sentenced to death for murdering two women in 2019.
Wilson remained silent and emotionless when he learned his fate on Tuesday — a marked contrast with others present in the Lee County courtroom, who whooped and cheered as Judge Nicholas Thompson delivered the sentence, according to the Fort Myers News-Press.
In June, jurors found Wilson guilty of two counts of first-degree felony murder and two counts of first-degree premeditated murder in the slayings of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43. After considering a series of mitigating factors, they recommended he receive the death penalty, while Wilson’s attorneys requested he instead be handed two life sentences for the brutal killings.
Wilson initially crossed paths with Melton and her friend Stephanie Sailors at Buddah LIVE on Oct. 7, 2019, and they eventually made their way to Melton’s house in Cape Coral. Once Sailors left, Wilson strangled Melton to death as she slept in her bed and stole her car, prosecutors said.
A short time later, Wilson spotted Ruiz walking along a nearby street. He stopped and asked her for directions to a nearby school and ultimately lured her into the car. When Ruiz tried to get out, Wilson beat and strangled her before forcing out of the vehicle and running her over 10 to 20 times. Prosecutors said she “looked like spaghetti” when her body was found three days later.
“Mr. Wilson’s decisions were not only pitiless and consciousness-less, but they amounted to tragically reducing Ms. Melton, as well as Ms. Ruiz, to nothing more than memories and photographs,” Assistant State Attorney Andreas Gardiner said, per the Independent.
Wilson has been dubbed the “Deadpool Killer” because he shares his name with the Marvel antihero played by Ryan Reynolds. The double-murderer — who sports several swastika tattoos, including one below his eye — has also been linked to the Unforgiven, a white supremacist prison gang.
