CAPE CORAL
The man accused of brutally murdering two women in Cape Coral in 2019 is facing the death penalty, and now we are learning what witnesses in the case against him are saying.
Wade Wilson, 28, is accused of killing Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in Cape Coral just days apart in 2019. Investigators found Melton’s body in her Cape Coral home and four days later found they found Ruiz dead in a field.
Diane Ruiz and Kristine Melton (CCPD)
Court documents outlining the deposition of witnesses in the case revealed new details about what happened and how Wilson was caught.
Ryan Gentile told defense attorneys that in October 2019, he was leaving for work, but when he went outside to get in his car, he noticed something strange.
Gentile said to the left of his Cape Coral home, he saw Wilson getting into a car and pulling away from inside the bushes. The car had a branch stuck in the fender.
Gentile called the police, and the next thing he knew, five or six officers were asking him all kinds of questions. He had no idea that what he witnessed was part of a brutal murder.
WINK News spoke with Ruiz’s fiance, Scott Hannon, in 2019, the year the love of his life was killed.
“That monster was the last one to talk to her. If I could say anything to him. Just ‘I hope you rot in hell,’” said Hannon.
MORE: Ex-girlfriend says Wade Wilson is a ‘monster’
Authorities found Ruiz in the Cape Coral field the day Gentile called about the suspicious activity, which was four days after her 2019 murder.
One of the friends of the victims spoke in the depositions. They had been friends since high school. They had plans to go out and have a fun night, but it turned out to be quite the opposite of a good time.
The victim’s friend told attorneys there were no warning signs of what would happen.
The deposition lays out never before seen details of the moments leading up to the murder of 35-year-old Kristine Melton.
“Securing a successful prosecution. And ultimately, a conviction, in this case, is paramount. A hastily conducted investigation simply for the sake of speed, where steps could be missed benefits no one,” said Cape Coral police in 2019.
Cape police investigated the 2019 killing. Wilson is accused of the brutal murder of two Cape women.
While he awaits trial, defense and state attorneys got to questioning witnesses. In this deposition, we hear from Melton’s friend, who’s name is blacked out.
She tells attorneys that she was with Melton and Wilson just hours before her friend’s murder. She said they “planned to go out and have drinks together and took an Uber to the Buddha in Fort Myers.”
That’s where they met Wilson and his friend. All four stayed untill the bar closed. Throughout the night, Melton’s friend recalls seeing Wilson “Doing lines of cocaine and drinking,” but she “didn’t think anything suspicious of it.”
Eventually, the witness, Williams, and Melton returned to Melton’s home and spent some time there before the witness had to go to work, leaving the two alone.
That was the last time she saw her friend alive.
The witness said in questioning that she tried to text Melton but heard nothing back. Police called her later that day and told her they found someone dead at the residence.
WINK NEWS