Man Sentenced to Death for Random Killings of Florida Women

A grand jury indicted the 30-year-old in 2019 on charges of first-degree murder for the deaths of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43. Wilson confessed to police shortly after his arrest that he had killed both women on Oct. 7, 2019.

After being found guilty in June, a jury voted by two majority decisions that Wilson should receive the death penalty, and Lee County Circuit Judge Nicholas Thompson agreed at a hearing on Aug. 27.

“The evidence showed that both murders were heinous, atrocious, and cruel,” Judge Thompson wrote in the sentencing order, “and that the second murder was cold, calculated, and premeditated.”

The jury voted in favor of the death penalty 9-3 in Melton’s case and 10-2 in Ruiz’s murder. In Florida, only eight out of 12 jurors need to recommend the death penalty for it to be considered by a judge.

Wilson, riddled with Nazi face tattoos, appeared motionless in the courtroom as cheers and claps erupted from the gallery when the sentence was read. He had declined to address the court earlier in the afternoon.