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Women have been sending letters to a Florida judge begging him to spare the life of a heavily-tattooed convicted killer who brutally murdered two women in 2019.
Wade Wilson, 30, was found guilty last month of killing Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43.
The defendant killed the women within hours of each other. He met Melton at a live music bar on 6 October 2019 before strangling her to death at her home in Cape Coral, where her body was discovered, prosecutors said.
The following day, Ruiz was reported missing. She was walking to the bar where she worked when Wilson approached her in a car that he had stolen from Melton’s home and asked her for directions.
Ruiz got in the car, Wilson strangled her and “ran her over until she looked like spaghetti” the court heard. The women were not known to each other.
The jury in Lee County, Florida found Wilson guilty of the two murders and voted in favor of the death penalty for the killer, who has been in jail for the past five years.
County Circuit Judge Nicholas R Thompson is considering the jury’s recommendation, and has the final say on whether the defendant is sentenced to death or life in prison without parole. Wilson’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for July 23.
But in an effort to persuade him to spare Wilson from the death penalty, three women have sent letters to the judge, citing the killer’s reported history of mental health issues, substance abuse and alleged lack of parental support.
“With regards to the Wade Wilson case, it appears clearly documented that Mr Wilson suffers with mental health issues that appear to be severely aggravated by the use of drugs,” Lindsay Brann, a mother of two boys in Alberta, Canada, wrote in a letter, lodged in Lee County Circuit Court.
“I would also like to note that if you look past his tattoos to his face structure since being in prison and medicated, he is healthier, his face is fuller compared to his booking picture where his face is gaunt, pale and he looks unhealthy compared to now, while he is on medication to control his multiple mental health issues.”
Wilson has several tattoos that cover the majority of his face, neck and hands, including two swastikas on his right scalp and under his right eye.
Marion Worth also advocated for Wilson’s life to be spared, saying that her son was murdered in August 2023. “Even in such a grievous case, I advocate for life imprisonment rather than the death penalty as the most just and humane resolution,” she wrote.
One woman, Heidi Cox, appeared to know Wilson, according to her correspondence.
“As someone who cares unconditionally for Wade, I have deeply reflected on the gravity of the situation and the impact of your decision,” wrote another woman from Florida.
“While I understand the severity of the crime committed, I believe that a life sentence would allow Wade the opportunity to reflect, repent and contribute positively within the confines of prison.”
Wilson has also been flooded with love letters, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
He has received nearly 4,000 messages online 754 photos and 65 letters in the mail, in total. The sheriff’s office said they rejected 163 photos for their “inappropriate nature.”
A sheriff’s office spokesperson told The Independent that “inappropriate” was classed as “sexual organs, content that is deemed indecent or controversial.”
