Wade Steven Wilson was born on May 20th, 1994 in Tallahassee, Florida. His biological father, Steven Testasaka, was only fifteen. His mother was just fourteen. Both were excited to become parents, and Steven’s family looked forward to the baby’s arrival, though his mother lost her battle with lung cancer just a month before Wade was born.
When Wade entered the world, his father was serving an eight-month sentence in a juvenile facility. Originally named Anthony, Wade faced circumstances far from ideal for a newborn. The fourteen-year-old mother struggled to raise the child alone. She was reportedly an addict and battled mental illness.
Six months into his sentence, Steven received legal papers stating that the boy’s mother was giving him up for adoption. Steven later shared, “I was just a kid. I didn’t really have nobody to have my back. As I’ve matured, I 100% understand that was the right thing to do.
”
The adoption was arranged privately. A couple from a nearby church had been hoping to adopt a baby boy, and when Wade’s maternal grandmother learned about it, she acted quickly and placed the infant in their care. The couple, Steven and Candace Wilson of Cape Coral, Florida, welcomed him wholeheartedly and changed his name from Anthony to Wade. Unlike his biological parents, Wade’s adoptive parents were stable, kind, and loving.
Steven spoke highly of them: “It just worked out where they adopted him and gave him a good life. They’re good people. ”
For most of his childhood, Wade lived in Tallahassee and attended Deerlake Middle School and later Child’s High School in 2012. Despite being raised in what many described as a stable, supportive environment, his behavior and choices eventually diverged sharply from the life he was given.
One classmate who praised his adoptive family reported, “But for some reason on that course, something fell off. Something didn’t make sense, like it wasn’t appreciated or was taken for granted. ”
Another friend from middle school said Wade would always wear a black hoodie with his hood over his head. “They always look so eerie together.
Just like at 6:30 in the morning, the sun hasn’t come up yet. We did not respect authority whatsoever. ”
Wade was reportedly expelled after being caught smoking weed in school bathrooms. Another incident involved him being caught trying to set a toilet paper roll on fire.
A woman who briefly dated Wade around 2012 said he was not a respectful person and that he had cheated on her during their short relationship. She recalled that one day she returned to her seat and discovered money was missing from her book bag. She immediately suspected Wade and informed her teacher. The teacher escalated the situation to the principal, and soon a staff member arrived to address the entire class.
Everyone was kept in the room after the bell, and the staff member instructed whoever took the money to return it. No one came forward, and eventually the students were dismissed. Despite this, the ex-girlfriend felt certain he was responsible. She said, “It pissed me off because he was trying to make a mockery out of it or laugh about it or pick on me and make fun of it.
”
A male classmate described Wade as troubled. “People that were on track for college, I’d say, weren’t his acquaintances. The kids that got into trouble, he would hang out with them mostly. Wade pushed the boundaries as far as crazy things he would do.
Trespassing and breaking into cars and all that stuff. Even if he didn’t get anything monetarily out of it, it was just something he liked to do. ”
Around that same time, Wade stole his parents’ car and vanished for three days. After turning eighteen, he spent much of his life cycling in and out of jail and probation centers.
Around this time, he also tried to reach out to his biological parents. Steven and Wade started speaking on the phone, and Steven noticed that Wade didn’t seem normal, but he attributed his violent tendencies to drug use. The father told his son about his similar experience with drug use and how he should seek help. But Wade didn’t do that.
By the time he entered his twenties, Wade had built up a lengthy criminal history. His record included charges ranging from burglary, grand theft, retail theft, and criminal mischief to resisting arrest, probation violations, violent offenses, domestic incidents, and even assault on a child. Those who knew him said he displayed obvious signs of mental instability. People close to him described him as someone who could be charming and engaging one moment and then suddenly irritable, explosive, or unpredictable the next.
On December 14th, 2014, officers were called to a local hospital where a twenty-two-year-old woman reported a violent incident involving Wade. She told police she had been at a party and had consumed far more alcohol than she could handle. There, she met Wade. She initially found him attractive and felt drawn to him, thinking he would take care of her in her drunken state.
What started as harmless flirting quickly shifted into something far more disturbing. Wade attempted to involve one of his friends in a threesome, pressuring her into a situation she did not consent to. The woman reported that she was then assaulted inside of Wade’s SUV. Less than a month later, on January 7th, 2015, Wade turned himself into the Tallahassee police, insisting he was innocent and claiming he had evidence to support his defense.
However, his case became complicated when he learned he was also a person of interest in a separate robbery involving firearms. On July 11th, 2016, Wade accepted a plea deal related to the firearms case. He was sentenced to community control, probation, and received an adjudication conviction. Then, on October 9th of the same year, he was found not guilty on the assault charges, avoiding what could have been a thirty-year prison sentence.
At that point, Wade had an opportunity to complete his remaining obligations and rebuild his life. Instead, over the next three years, he repeatedly committed minor offenses that kept him cycling in and out of custody. Three years later, in December of 2018, Wade was reported as a person of interest in the Denise Williams trial. Denise Williams had been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy in the death of her husband, Mike Williams, a case that had baffled Tallahassee for almost twenty years.
Mike vanished in the year 2000. For years, Denise insisted he had drowned in Lake Seol during a hunting trip. The story held up long enough for her to collect a massive life insurance payout, more than a million dollars, which she had arranged shortly before his disappearance. Behind the scenes, Denise had been having an affair with Brian Winchester, who was Mike’s friend.
The two had allegedly plotted his death so they could be together. Ironically, the marriage Denise had schemed and killed for didn’t even survive. Her relationship with Brian collapsed, and the two were officially divorced by 2016. Eventually, in October of 2017, investigators finally discovered Mike Williams’s body near Tallahassee.
That same year, Brian Winchester received a twenty-year prison sentence, followed by fifteen years of probation. Wade’s name entered the case when Brian testified in court that he had attempted to recruit Wade, who had once been his fellow cellmate, to fabricate evidence against Denise Williams. Wade reportedly even offered to kill Denise outright. According to some accounts, he allegedly received $20,000 in a Manila envelope during a post-release meeting while he was still on probation as payment to carry out this attack.
However, the planned assault never took place. In 2019, Denise Williams finally faced her own reckoning and was sentenced to life in prison. Wade’s involvement in such a disturbing, high-profile case revealed just how far he was willing to go. By this point, his life was completely consumed by violence, crime, and drugs.
But these crimes were only escalating. On the afternoon of February 18th, 2019, Wade and his former girlfriend, Kelly Matthews, got into an argument about him going to rehab. Eventually, Wade agreed to go. Kelly needed to stop by her mother’s house to pick up some money, so the two drove together.
Somewhere along the way, Wade changed his mind about rehab and became increasingly agitated. According to a twenty-one-page report from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Wade was driving the SUV when he suddenly demanded that Kelly pawn her laptop to get money. He drove her to several pawn shops, but none of them were willing to take the laptop. With each rejection, Wade grew more irritated.
It was then that Wade turned on Kelly and began choking her with both hands. She didn’t lose consciousness, but she had visible bruises on her neck. According to her own statement, he choked her two to three times. Wade then struck Kelly several times, forced her down onto the floorboard, and pulled out a pocketknife to slice through her t-shirt and bra.
He then used the torn fabric to blindfold her before shoving her in the back of the SUV to assault her. For nearly two hours, Wade kept driving with Kelly trapped in the back. Along the way, he sold Kelly’s phone for just $50. He then tied her hands and feet using trash bags and attempted to kill her.
Fortunately, Kelly survived the attack, but Wade became even more agitated and punched her. Afterwards, he untied Kelly and allowed her to use a restroom at a gas station in Keargo. Moments later, he drove to another gas station, got into another vehicle, and disappeared. Kelly then drove straight to her mother’s house and contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Detective Lewis Potter was assigned to the case while Kelly was taken to a hospital for treatment. The next day, Detective Potter asked Kelly if he could reach out to Wade directly, but she refused. Five days later, on February 23rd, 2019, Detective Potter received a call from Britney Lozada. She revealed that Wade had been living with her and her sister Courtney.
According to Britney, Courtney had snuck Wade into the home at night without her knowledge. There isn’t much public information about Wade and Courtney’s relationship, but it is believed that Wade was cheating on Kelly with Courtney. After Detective Potter interviewed everyone connected to the incident, he ultimately closed the case, as in his own words, “There were no witnesses to the alleged crime and no evidence to establish probable cause. ” Nevertheless, Kelly still filed charges against Wade for theft and reported several missing belongings from her home.
When officers ran Wade’s name through a database used to monitor pawn shop transactions, they were able to verify her claims. Four months later, on July 1st, 2019, Wade’s ex-girlfriend, Melissa Mila Montaz, reported him for assault. According to her, she had barely known Wade for fifteen days, and she had already become his victim. She stated that Wade had choked her until she lost consciousness.
Wade was arrested by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and charged with battery. In September, Wade pleaded guilty to pawning Kelly’s belongings without her consent. The same month, another woman from Lee County accused him of assault and kidnapping, though she later chose not to pursue charges. On September 18th, 2019, Wade walked out of the Palm Beach County Jail, released once again, headed straight towards more violence.
But this time, what he would do wouldn’t be another theft or an assault. This time, it would be not one but two murders carried out within just a few hours of each other. On the night of October 6th, 2019, Wade and Mila went to a bar in Fort Myers called Boot Live. There, Wade met a man named Jason Shepard.
Jason invited Wade and Mila to his home. Mila wasn’t comfortable with the idea and declined. A short time later, Wade encountered two other women, Christine Melton and her friend Stephanie Sailors. He then stole Mila’s car and drove with Christine and Stephanie to Jason’s home.
Eventually, they left for Christine’s duplex apartment in Cape Coral. According to Stephanie’s court testimony, Wade and Christine hooked up that night at Jason’s place. Sometime later, Stephanie left because she had work on Monday and needed to take her son to school. She walked out the door.
Everything seemed perfectly normal. In court, she recalled that Christine hugged her, kissed her, and said she’d see her tomorrow. But tomorrow would never come. After Stephanie’s departure, Wade and Christine went to sleep.
But Christine didn’t know she was about to become Wade’s first murder victim. In the early hours of October 7th, 2019, Wade strangled Christine while she slept. Prosecutors later noted that Christine had injuries consistent with resistance. This suggested that Christine woke up when Wade tried to strangle her to death and attempted to fight back.
Nevertheless, after the heinous crime, Wade stole Christine’s black Nissan Versa. When Mila demanded her own car back, Wade drove to her workplace in downtown Fort Myers in the stolen Nissan Versa, having abandoned Mila’s vehicle at Christine’s duplex. There, he tried to force Mila into the stolen car, but she resisted. Enraged, Wade began choking her and pushed her upstairs into her workplace and held her against the wall by her throat.
In court, Mila described the ordeal: “I went to the driver’s side window. I said, ‘Where are my keys? Where’s my car? ’ He was calm and just saying, ‘Get in the car.
Get in the car. ’ And it escalated quickly. ” When she would not agree to get in the car, he became violent and aggressive. He tried to pull her in the car physically, and she resisted by getting “plank style” so that he could not grab her into the vehicle.
He was pulling at her dress, probably a little hair, everything, and then the dress started to rip off of her body. Once he realized she was getting away from him, he opened the car door, forgot to put it in park, and the car started to roll forward. He tackled her to the ground, and the car grazed both of their legs. “I start to get beat,” she said.
“It all went so fast and so slow. Whether it be punches, slapping, choking, that kind of nature. ” She was either dragged or pulled by her hair or arm or dress. She tried to reason with him, but “there’s nobody behind those eyes anymore.
So there was no reasoning with him. ” A crowd began to develop, and she was expecting people to call 911. She was trying to buy time until help could get there. Somehow they moved up to the upper level.
She tried to convince him to go into her spa. “Elongate the amount of time it took to get help. I was trying anything that I could to expand the amount of time that I didn’t have to go to his car where I’d probably never be seen again. ” She knew help was on its way.
The cop even said that’s the most amount of pings they’d ever heard from a 911 call ever. They ended up right outside suite number six, where her unit was at the time. “I didn’t know whether in my head I didn’t know whether I was going to be thrown over. I didn’t know whether he was going to drag me in and then they would have to resuscitate my body if they got me inside.
I knew I was going to die that day. I was just buying time. ” He continued to beat her. She recalled the final punch that she remembers: “He got me so straight on and blood just went crazy everywhere and it almost was like a minute where I could duck under and run under his arm, run down the stairs.
” That’s when neighboring businesses called her in. “I didn’t even realize how crazy I looked, but like they rescued me. ”
Mila thankfully found an opportunity and ran away. At around 8:50 a.
m. , Fort Myers police received multiple 911 calls reporting a man trying to force a woman into a vehicle. Mila had already left before police could apprehend him at the scene. Later, Wade crossed paths with Diane Ruiz, who was walking to her 10:00 a.
m. bartending shift at the Moose Lodge in Cape Coral. Diane was engaged to be married and was the mother of two sons, aged 29 and 19. She didn’t know Wade, but being the warm, helpful person she was, she stopped when he asked for directions to a nearby school.
Wade then forced Diane into the car. He began beating and choking her before pushing her out of the vehicle. But the horror didn’t end there. Wade then ran over her with a stolen Nissan at least ten times.
Investigators later reported that Diane was still alive during this brutal assault. Many publications have stated that Wade wanted to make her remains look like spaghetti. Hours later, her colleagues from the Moose Lodge Bar contacted the police to report that Diane was nowhere to be found. It was her first shift that she had failed to go in for in five years.
Her coworker, Linda Giancola, shared that Diane was the heartbeat of the bar. “She always had everybody’s back. She just had that personality that was really magnifying. She has this really loud laugh that you could hear a mile away.
”
A short while later, Fort Myers police officer Timothy McCormack, who had been responding to the 911 call about Mila’s assault, spotted Wade sitting in a parked car outside Joe’s Crab Shack around 3:00 p. m. Officer McCormack approached the vehicle to question him, but Wade brushed him off, claiming he was simply waiting for his girlfriend. Beyond that, he was uncooperative and drove away.
Officer McCormack couldn’t give chase as Wade was only wanted on a misdemeanor battery charge at the time, and the officers were oblivious to the murders. Later that same night, Christine’s stolen Nissan Versa was spotted in Fort Myers. The vehicle had obvious damage consistent with a hit and run after Wade used it to run over Diane multiple times. When officers traced the car back to Christine’s duplex and entered her apartment, they discovered her lifeless body on her bed.
The discovery shattered Christine’s family and friends. She’s remembered as a fun-loving, super light-hearted person, super kind and non-judgmental by her brother, Richard Melton. Christine worked as a waitress and was the primary caregiver for their mother, who had begun showing signs of Alzheimer’s disease. Despite the emotional burden, Christine cared for her with remarkable patience and compassion.
According to Richard, Christine was her best friend. They had coffee every morning. Christine’s mother was never able to process what had happened to her daughter. Richard shared that she continues to believe that Christine is alive, thriving, and happily married.
Meanwhile, Diane Ruiz’s body wasn’t discovered until three days later, on October 10th. Search teams found her in a field behind a Sam’s Club. Cape Coral Police Sergeant Justin Daso later recalled that they noticed a single vulture circling an area to our east, which ultimately led them to Diane’s remains. The same day Wade committed these murders, he phoned his biological father, Steven, repeatedly.
During these calls, he openly described what he had done and even referred to himself as a killer. Steven initially believed his son was delusional and ranting about things that weren’t real. Wade also asked him to arrange an Uber so he could flee town. Additionally, Steven noticed no remorse in Wade’s statements.
Nevertheless, Steven made the responsible decision and decided to put Wade on speaker so his wife could relay his confession to the police. The next day, on October 8th, 2019, the police retrieved footage showing Mila’s violent episode with Wade. Through Steven’s help, law enforcement was able to locate his son, who had broken into someone’s home in Cape Coral. The homeowner was reportedly out of town when Wade broke through a rear window.
Wade then showered, ate popcorn, drank five White Claws, and stole the victim’s clothes, which he was wearing when arrested. Wade was immediately taken in for interrogation, but even then, he failed to show any remorse. During the interrogation, he stated that he would do it again and openly acknowledged the crimes he had committed. Afterward, he was booked into the Lee County Jail in Fort Myers, where he remained through sentencing.
Throughout his adulthood, Wade had spent only five months without an active court case, and that brief window was about to close forever. His list of offenses was long and seemingly endless. But this arrest marked an end to his criminal history. Or perhaps it should have.
On October 11th, 2019, Wade was officially charged with the murders of Christine and Diane. On November 19th, the county grand jury returned their indictment against Wade. The charges against him were as follows: two counts of first-degree murder, battery, burglary of a dwelling, first-degree petty theft, and grand theft of a motor vehicle. On December 12th, the state attorney’s office announced that it would seek the death penalty.
Much like Jaime Osuna, Wade got even more tattoos while in prison, mainly on his face. He got several hate symbol tattoos, including one just below his right eye. On September 30th, 2020, officials at the Lee County Jail received reports of a failed prison escape made by Wade and his cellmate, Joseph Kacena. Wade received an additional charge for criminal mischief in attempted escape.
There was reportedly a main organizer behind the escape attempt who had also tried to set up a getaway car. When officers inspected the 10×10 cell, they discovered signs of tampering. The metal window frame had been pried loose, and several cracks ran across the glass. On April 30th, 2023, there were reports of narcotics placed in the prison cell.
A K9 unit was deployed, and the dog alerted to an area lined with landscaping rocks. The authorities uncovered a gray grocery bag containing a Ziploc bag. The bag itself tested positive for crystal and contained loose cigarettes, suspected narcotics, lighters, and pills. According to an anonymous inmate trustee, the contraband had been smuggled in by inmate Bobby Hitchman.
He allegedly handed the items to another inmate, Daniel Malke, who then distributed the narcotics to Wade and fellow inmate Edmilson Martins. Further investigation into the case revealed that Wade wasn’t just a recipient of the drugs and that he was actually involved in coordination with other inmates to smuggle and implant the narcotics at the jail. In April of 2024, attorneys representing Wade filed a motion requesting a full psychological evaluation for their client. They stated that Wade had experienced significant psychological disturbances throughout his life and argued that a proper evaluation was essential for mitigation purposes.
By August of 2024, Wade accepted a plea deal, agreeing to plead guilty to his drug-related charges. In exchange, the prosecutors dropped the attempted escape and criminal mischief charges pending against him. Meanwhile, Wade’s murder trial officially began on June 10th, 2024. However, proceedings were soon delayed to allow time for a full psychiatric evaluation.
Dr. Mark Rubino did the brain scans on Wade. The scans showed clear signs of brain trauma, including impairment with short-term memory, along with cognitive and emotional problems in the setting of psychiatric disease. Dr.
Rubino also spoke to Wade about his childhood traumas. Wade reported that he was good until about age 11, until he told his parents that he thought he was going crazy. He further reported being involved in two car accidents as well as suffering two concussions during high school, one from football, another from baseball. There were additional incidents Wade described that may have caused traumatic head injuries over the years, potentially contributing to the mental illnesses later identified.
Although Dr. Rubino was unable to obtain any medical records to verify these claims, he stated that Wade’s reported injuries were likely true based on the abnormalities and trauma signatures visible in his brain scans. Dr. Rubino concluded in his report: “As a result of his head injuries, Wade sustained something in addition to psychiatric disease.
So his behavior is explained by his head injuries, his impulsiveness, his overwhelming emotion that gets acted upon without any kind of checks and balances by the frontal lobe. ”
Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Mark Mills and neuropsychologist Dr. Hyman Eisenstein also testified.
Wade was reported as chronically and severely mentally ill. Neuropsychologist Eisenstein reported that Wade’s brain does not function like that of a normal healthy person. However, the state’s rebuttal expert, forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Hirkoff, disagreed with the defense’s claims of psychosis.
He argued there wasn’t enough proof to show that Wade suffered from a genuine psychotic disorder. Instead, Dr. Hirkoff suggested that Wade’s long-standing, well-documented substance use history offered a likely explanation for his supposed delusions and ongoing pattern of criminal behavior. On August 27th, 2024, Wade finally received his sentence.
Despite the extensive mental health evidence presented in court, the jury and the judge concluded that the brutality and severity of his crimes far outweighed any psychological mitigation. For Christine’s murder, nine out of the twelve jurors recommended the death penalty. For Diane’s murder, that number rose to ten out of twelve. With those recommendations, the court sentenced Wade Wilson to death, making him one of the first individuals in recent Florida history to be convicted of capital murder and formally sentenced under the state’s updated death penalty laws.
In July of 2025, Wade was transferred to Sani Correctional Institution, which does not maintain a designated death row housing unit. On August 31st, 2025, he was relocated to Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida, where he currently resides on death row. After her death, Christine’s family made an online statement that read: “As the family of Christine Melton, we have decided to release a statement. Our hope is that it sheds some light on our beautiful girl.
For Monday, Christine was not a victim. She’s not a news story. She was the glue that held our family and friend group together. She was stunning, but her beauty paled by her character.
Above all, Christine was loyal. She’d been our support since the day she was born. She was a protector and loved fiercely. She was wicked funny, beyond words funny.
Her humor was dry and quick and witty. Anyone who ever sat beside her knows that. She was adventurous. She loved traveling, the mountains, and the beach.
She was a beloved daughter, sister, cousin, friend, niece, and aunt. The favorite aunt amongst our children. Her absence leaves a space that can never be filled. She was a precious soul and an irreplaceable force.
She was a once-in-a-lifetime person. Think of her that way. Please pray for us. Pray for the family of Diane Ruiz as we are living a nightmare you cannot fathom.
Please respect our privacy during this difficult time. ”
Christine’s best friend created a GoFundMe page to support her family and help cover the funeral expenses. On the page, she wrote: “Christine was my best friend and if you ever met her, even if only for a moment, you would have felt her amazingly spirited nature and kindness. She’s irreplaceable to so many, especially her mother.
They were two peas in a pod. They were confidants and best friends. Christine dedicated her life to caring for all of us, but specifically her mother. ” The fundraiser gathered a total of $4,730, contributed by people who loved her and by strangers moved by her story.
Christine was laid to rest on November 17th, 2019 at Coral Ridge Funeral Home and Cemetery in Cape Coral. As for Diane, her cremation services were held at Legacy Options Funeral and Cremation Services in Naples on October 10th. Later, on October 28th, members of the community gathered at the Moose Lodge, also in Cape Coral, to honor her life and share memories of the woman they adored. Jerry Stove, an administrator at the Moose Lodge, spoke warmly about Diane: “This is a major effect on all of us, but we are here to celebrate her life and move forward.
We are very blessed to have known her. Someone like that is never forgotten. We’ll have many times where we’ll have laughs and we’ll have tears, but we’ll remember that person that we lost here. ”
Diane’s son, Brandon, later created a funeral fundraiser where he expressed the immense grief and love felt by those who knew her.
“My mother was known and loved by hundreds. She was such a lively, caring, and loving mother, grandmother, wife, daughter, and friend. She worked at the Moose Lodge in Cape Coral as a bartender. She loved her job and her family.
I couldn’t have been more blessed with the kind of mother she was. ” Brandon also revealed that after Diane’s death, he had gained custody of his fourteen-year-old sister and desperately needed financial help to support her and move on during an unimaginably difficult time. Something worth mentioning here is the deeply unsettling social media frenzy surrounding Wade’s case. An alarming number of people have romanticized him simply because they find him good-looking.
After all the brutal crimes he’s committed against women, there are still people throwing money at him, writing him letters, thinking he’s going to pick them. Well, he’s not going to pick you. And that’s just weird. Not only is this disrespectful to the victims’ families, but also a gross reminder of how dangerously desensitized some corners of the internet have become.
But none of that changes reality. Wade Wilson is sitting on death row. And while he awaits the consequences of his actions, his victims have been laid to rest with dignity, surrounded by family and love.
