Netflix "Worst Ex Ever" - Wade Wilson
Courtesy of Netflix
Netflix’s hit true-crime series Worst Ex Ever returned for its second season this week, delivering four new episodes about relationships that seemingly started innocently but quickly turned sinister.
The docuseries, directed by Cynthia Childs and Jason Blum (Worst Roommate Ever), is told through the perspectives of survivors, weaving together body camera footage and police interviews to illustrate how the perpetrators deceived their partners through betrayal, secerts and escalating violence.
The Season 2 premiere, “Dating the Deadpool Killer,” focuses on a man dubbed the Deadpool Killer because he shares a name with the Marvel superhero. Viewers first meet Kelly Matthews, a woman who first met Wade (then going by his middle name, “Steven”) on a dating app in the West Palm Beach area in 2018.
What began with Wade pawning her laptop and seducing a close friend quickly spiraled into a nightmare; he eventually kidnapped, beat, and sexually assaulted Matthews in her own vehicle. While she sought help from the authorities, police dismissed her accusations due to insufficient evidence, allowing Wilson to remain free to commit even more heinous crimes.
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As you watch the first episode of Worst Ex Ever, here’s everything viewers need to know about Wilson’s crimes, including his 2019 murder spree, his high-profile trial and sentencing and where he is now.
Wade Steven Wilson was born in 1994 to teenage parents who eventually gave him up for adoption. He was raised in Tallahassee by his adoptive parents, Cindy and Steve Wilson, and eventually reconnected with his biological father.
"Wade was a joyful child. Loved his parents,” Wilson’s adoptive parents said in a latter addressing the court that was read by one Wilson’s attorneys during his sentencing. They said that Wilson became delusional after becoming addicted to drugs. “The system failed him on that fateful day in 2019,” they wrote, adding, "Please see it in your heart to not take our son."
Throughout his adolescence, Wilson accumulated a list of criminal charges dating back to 2012, including sexual assault, burglary, child cruelty and firearms offenses.
In 2015, he was acquitted of sexual battery and kidnapping charges in Tallahassee. He was also suspected of involvement in the murder of Mike Williams, although he was never charged. In the months leading up to the 2019 murders, Matthews accused him of battery and strangulation, and he eventually pleaded guilty to pawning stolen property, according to the News-Press.
In October 2019, Wilson was living in the Fort Myers area with his girlfriend. He met his first victim, 35-year-old Kristine Melton, at Buddah LIVE, a Fort Myers bar, along with Melton’s friend, Stephanie Sailors.
After the bar closed, the three went back to Jayson Shepard’s home in Cape Coral, Florida. Wilson, Melton and Sailors then went to Melton's home. According to interviews featured in Worst Ex Ever, Kristine left the residence, leaving Melton and Wilson alone. Wilson later confessed to strangling Melton in her bed. After the murder, he stole her car and fled to his girlfriend’s workplace in the morning.
Upon arriving at the spa where his girlfriend worked, Wilson assaulted her and attempted to pull her into the car. Bystanders who witnessed the incident quickly alerted the authorities, and body camera footage later captured police confronting Wilson in a parking lot before he managed to flee once again.
Wilson then randomly encountered 43-year-old mother Diane Ruiz, who was walking to work. According to the docuseries, Wilson asked Ruiz for directions to a nearby high school. She entered the vehicle to assist him, but he refused to let her out. Wilson confessed to strangling her and, upon realizing she was still alive, pushed her out of the car and ran her over with Melton’s stolen vehicle. According to People, a medical examiner testified during the trial that Ruiz’s injuries, including strangulation and blunt-force trauma, were consistent with being struck by a vehicle.
Following the murder of Ruiz, Wilson remained in the area and broke into a home that had been vacated by a couple the night before. From there, he called his biological father, Steven Testasecca, and confessed to killing both women, providing graphic details of the crimes.
According to the docuseries, Wilson’s father contacted the police and successfully obtained his son's exact location by tricking him into believing he was ordering an Uber to help him flee. Following his arrest, Wilson was booked into the Lee County Jail in Fort Myers, where he remained in custody until after his sentencing, according to the News-Press.
Between his arrest and trial, Wilson drastically altered his appearance by adding several tattoos to his face and neck. A&E Investigates reported that these markings included white supremacist symbols and a swastika, alongside references to various comic book films such as The Dark Knight and Deadpool.
In 2020, while awaiting trial, Wilson was identified as the primary mastermind behind a foiled escape attempt from the Lee County Jail. According to the News-Press, Wilson and his cellmate allegedly tampered with their cell window, and Wilson reportedly went as far as attempting to arrange a getaway car for their exit.
He was also involved in a June 2023 drug-smuggling incident at Lee County Jail and was hospitalized while in jail for a fentanyl overdose. His charges for the attempted escape were dropped as part of a 2024 plea agreement involving the drug-related offenses.
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In June 2024, a jury found Wilson guilty on six counts, including two counts of first-degree murder, grand theft, burglary and battery. The jury recommended the death penalty with a 9-3 vote for Melton’s murder and a 10-2 vote for Ruiz’s. The judge sentenced Wilson to death in August 2024.
He is currently serving his sentence at Union Correctional Institution in Raiford, Florida, a facility designated for the state’s male death row population. In accordance with death row protocols, he is living under high-security restrictions and isolation, according to People.
While Wilson awaits execution, his legal team has filed several appeals with the Florida Supreme Court. One challenge began in early January 2026, with the defense arguing that because the murders occurred in 2019, the case required a unanimous jury for a death sentence rather than the 8-of-12 threshold established by 2023 legislation. However, the challenge was halted in February after his attorney acknowledged that recent judicial rulings had invalidated the arguments he intended to present, according to ABC’s Gulf Coast News Now
Worst Ex Ever Season 2 is streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.
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