Five years after two Cape Coral women were viciously strangled to death, their murderer is officially sentenced to death. Judge Nicholas Thompson handed down two death penalty sentences for Wade Wilson Tuesday afternoon for the deaths of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz.
Prosecutors, families of the victims and Cape Coral Police Chief Anthony Sizemore gathered to share their thoughts after the long-awaited closure of the case.
"We saw justice served," State Attorney Amira Fox started off with. "These were two beautiful and wonderful women with their whole lives ahead of them. They were cherished and loved by family, friends and their community."
Fox introduced a representative from each family to share their thoughts on the judge's sentence.
First to the podium was Kristine Melton's cousin, Samantha.
"As a family, we have all been really quiet because it was so important to the integrity of this case," she said. "Wade supporters have not been quiet. But, we all know that the loudest ones are always the dumb ones."
Samantha thanked the prosecutors, who so fervently sought the death penalty, telling them, "this has been five years of agony and without them, I don't know that we would be here today."
Felix Ruiz, Diane's father, was next.
"I didn't even get to say I love her, and I miss her," Ruiz said while holding back tears. "I will let you know that this is not the end. The end is when the accused takes his last breath, and I will be there at the execution. That's a promise."
Following the family's comments, Fox returned to speak on the viral aspect of the case.
"It has not gone unnoticed," she said, "that this defendant is being idolized by some people who are somehow proud to mix their name with his through public comments... ignoring that he is nothing more than a vicious killer, and about the most poor representation of a man there could ever be."
Wilson will have to return to court at least one more time to resolve pending cases. A hearing is set for Sept. 16.
The two prosecutors who tried this case were the last to speak today: Sarah Miller and Andreas Gardiner.
"Behind every true crime show, every crime podcast and every criminal trial is a real victim with family and friends that love them and miss them dearly," Miller stated.
"This defendant's acts warranted the death penalty," Gardiner added. "Not because of that he killed or how he killed, but why he killed. He killed because he could. He killed because he wanted to. He killed because he'd already done it once, and he killed because he was going to do it again. It's that exhibition of callousness. It's that exhibition of consciousness, and it's that which determined that he didn't deserve to walk among us."