Wade Wilson (Convicted Murderer)

About

Wade Wilson, also known as the Deadpool Killer, though he has no relation to the comic book character Deadpool apart from sharing his name, is a convicted murderer found guilty of killing two women in Florida in October 2019. Online, he attracted a controversial fandom and following, as some women romanticized or thirsted after him with fancams on platforms like TikTok, drawing discourse and criticism from other social media users. In late August 2024, he was sentenced to death for his crimes, resulting in a wave of media coverage that bolstered his virality in additional posts and memes over the following days.

History

On October 7th, 2019, Wade Wilson strangled Kristine Melton, 35, and Diane Ruiz, 43, to death in Florida and also ran over Ruiz with his car.^[1] He was taken into custody in Lee County on October 8th.

In September 2020, Wilson was accused of attempting to organize an escape from prison. In April 2023, Wilson was then caught with drugs in jail. He is notably associated with a white supremacist group in the prison called "Unforgiven." Wilson's face is heavily tattooed, including a tattoo of a swastika near his right eye. The face tattoos were done while he was in jail.

On June 27th, 2024, he was found guilty on all counts in the murders of the two Florida women.^[2] The jury recommended the death penalty for Wilson. On August 27th, the judge in the case, Nicholas Thompson, sentenced Wilson to death.^[3]

Online Presence

Wilson began growing notable online around the time of his trial in June 2024 through his sentencing in August of that year, thanks largely to a series of TikToks that romanticized him. For example, a TikTok posted on July 13th, 2024, by TikToker @hahahaha98433^[4] romanticizing Wilson's hands in the trial gained over 1.4 million views in six weeks (seen below).

On August 2nd, 2024, TikToker @Julsy posted a TikTok^[5] about hoping Wilson "never loses his smile," gaining over 69,000 views in one month (shown below).

Additionally, the subreddit /r/wadewilson^[8] was created on June 30th, 2024, for the purpose of petitioning to stop Wilson from receiving the death penalty. It has over 1,300 followers as of August 28th, 2024. A Fundly^[9] campaign to spare Wilson's life has raised over $72,000 as of the same date (seen below).

The thirsty TikToks led to intense discourse on social media as many took issue with the posts being made about him. For example, on June 28th, TikToker spiritual_af^[6] posted a TikTok theorizing about why some people were romanticizing Wilson, gaining over 78,000 views in two months (shown below).

A June 27th, 2024, post by TikToker countryclub.mom^[7] asking other TikTokers to stop romanticizing Wilson gained over 934,000 views in two months (seen below).

Search Interest

External References