Wade Wilson — the convicted double murderer infamously nicknamed the “Deadpool killer” due to sharing his name with the Marvel antihero played by Ryan Reynolds — looks drastically different in new photos taken behind bars.
The 31-year-old from Florida was sentenced to death on August 27, 2024, in a Lee County courthouse for the brutal killings of Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, in Cape Coral in 2019.
During sentencing, Circuit Judge Nicholas Thompson called the crimes “heinous, atrocious, and cruel,” describing the second murder as “cold, calculated, and premeditated.” Prosecutors said Wilson murdered “for the sake of killing,” underscoring the depravity of his actions.
A Brutal Crime That Shocked Investigators
According to WFLA, prosecutors revealed that even veteran detectives were shaken by the sheer savagery of Wilson’s crimes. Evidence presented in court showed that Wilson strangled Melton inside her home before stealing her car and fleeing the scene. Hours later, he lured Ruiz into that same vehicle under the guise of giving her directions, only to strangle her as well.
Assistant State Attorney Andreas Gardiner described the attack as barbaric, recounting how Wilson “threw her out of the car and ran her over multiple times — repeatedly trying to make her look like spaghetti.”
In court, Wilson made a disturbing confession, coldly stating:
“I choked her out until she couldn’t breathe anymore… It came across my mind to murder, just kill, kill, kill.”
The jury took just two hours to convict him of two counts of first-degree murder, along with charges of burglary, grand theft, and battery. Ten out of twelve jurors voted for the death penalty.
The ‘Deadpool Killer’ on Death Row
Wilson now awaits execution at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida — one of 256 inmates currently on death row in the state. Despite the shocking nature of his crimes, reports have surfaced of Wilson attracting an unsettling cult-like following.
According to the New York Post, women have sent him nearly 4,000 messages, including explicit photos and letters claiming he was “misunderstood.” State Attorney Amira Fox expressed outrage at the bizarre fascination, saying:
“I have never seen someone as evil as Wade Wilson… and I have never been so stunned to see people actually support somebody that evil and monstrous.”
Unrecognizable Behind Bars
Between 2023 and 2024, while incarcerated in Lee County Jail, Wilson was given a prison-issued tablet that automatically photographed inmates each time they logged in. The images, later shared by crime vlogger Melissa Jade, reveal a shocking transformation.
Gone is the groomed figure who once appeared in court wearing a suit and concealing his tattoos with makeup. In his place stands a bloated, disheveled man with tangled hair, missing teeth, and his once-notorious Joker-style tattoo still etched across his mouth.
In some photos, Wilson appears pale and swollen, with a bandage wrapped around his head — a stark contrast to his earlier appearance as a defiant, confident killer.
A Chilling Legacy
Wilson’s crimes remain among Florida’s most disturbing in recent memory — fueled by sadism, manipulation, and a complete lack of remorse. His dramatic decline behind bars offers a grim portrait of a man once obsessed with power, control, and notoriety — now reduced to a hollow shadow of the self-styled “Deadpool” persona that once captivated headlines for all the wrong reasons.