State Opening Statement: FL v Wade Wilson, Strangled Women Murder Trial

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Christine Milton was 35 years old when she died she was found in her South Cape Cole residence wrapped in some bedding tied with some shirts and leggings and the bathing suit top her face was black and blue her fingernails were broken she had marks around her neck as she lied on the floor between her bedroom and kitchen area of her residence Diane Ruiz was 43 years old she was found on an empty lot under some shrubs there's a tree just lying there her nose had been broken her hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage had been broken she had suffered multiple rib fractures not only front but also in the back now what you're going to learn during the course of this trial ladies and gentlemen is that mr. we's and miss Milton had three things in common both of them died on the 7th of October of 2019 both of them had been strangled in both of them for their forever silenced last person that they encountered was mr. Wade Wilson now the investigation into their deaths begins a little bit later on on the 7th of October of 2019 midday it begins with a 911 call from a gentleman by the name of Joshua Lukach ran a business known as Mateo's graphics he describes his contact with mr. Wilson when he sees him mr. Wilson the only thing he had on his pair of pants no shoes no shirt blood on him and he wanted help he was frantically looking to get out of town because he told him that he killed some people he wanted mr. Lukach's his help well mr. Lukach doesn't make that 9-1-1 call kind of spooked him a little bit Cape Coral Police Department arrives on scene. They search the building. They search the exterior of the buildings. Mr. Wilson had since fled. They come across a black Nissan Versa, which is the car that Mr. Lucas says that Mr. Wilson arrived in. They look inside. You see bloodstains. They're scared. For concern of the well-being of another, they go ahead and break into that car for fear that the person whose car that is is actually in the trunk of that car. They search. No one's there. They do a records check. They find out that this car belongs to a young lady by the name of Christine Melton. They also find out what her phone number is. They find out where she works. They find out where she lives. They go to these locations. She is nowhere to be found at that point in time. They contact her emergency contact that she has. The young lady by Samantha. Samantha directs law enforcement to another young lady, Christine Melton's best friend, Stephanie Johnson. And this, ladies and gentlemen, is where it all begins. Stephanie Johnson was Christine Melton's best friend. They've known each other for years. They came down here from Illinois. The night before the 7th of October of 2019, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Melton had decided to go out that night. They were going to go to a place called the Buddha, which is in Fort Myers. It's a live music venue. It's a bar. They left around 10 o'clock that night. They get there. They're drinking. They're socializing. They meet Mr. Wilson. Another young gentleman by the name of Mr. Jason Shepard. Except Mr. Wilson was introducing himself as JR that night. So what winds up happening is Mr. Wilson proceeds to socialize with Ms. Melton. And as the night winds down, bar begins to close. Their socialization didn't end there. So Mr. Shepard, Ms. Melton, her friend Ms. Johnson, and Mr. Wilson all decide to get into a car and go to Mr. Shepard's residence on Sunbury Drive. When they get there, they all go inside. Mr. Shepard's mom's there. She's not exactly excited that, you know, Mr. Shepard's bringing people home. It's late. Nonetheless, they go back towards Mr. Shepard's back bedroom, which leads out to a backyard. And Ms. Melton and Mr. Wilson become intimately acquainted. Ms. Shepard, or Mr. Shepard and Ms. Johnson go out back. They're just talking, hanging out, whatever, while Mr. Wilson and Ms. Melton are getting along. There comes a point in time when they're then asked to leave. There's too much noise going on. You know, it's getting late. Mr. Shepard's got to get up that morning. So what they opt to do is they try to get back into that car, which is a Dodge Hellcat. And it's also a stick shift. Mr. Wilson tries to get in. He can't drive that car. He's making a lot of noise. He keeps revving the engine, can't get it in reverse, can't get it to drive. They opt to call an Uber. And Ms. Melton, her friend Ms. Johnson, and Mr. Wilson all go back to Ms. Melton's residence on Tudor Drive in Cape Coral. A little bit later on in the morning, Ms. Johnson has to get to work. She's got a kid that she needs to get to school. So she leaves and asks Ms. Melton, "Are you okay?" Yeah, there's no warning signs, no red flags, no nothing. So Ms. Johnson leaves. Ms. Melton is left alone. Mr. Wilson. You know how that morning ended. Ms. Melton, once again, had broken fingernails. Her face was black and blue. She had marks around her neck. She had been strangled. She then proceeds to wrap her up in some bedding. Ties the bedding. Ties it with her shirts, her jeans, her leggings, her bathing suit top. And tries to pull her out of the bedroom. Except at this point in time, the sun's beginning to come up. It's getting light outside. [00:09:32] Speaker ?: She's heavy. [00:09:33] Speaker 1: He wants to get rid of the body. He thinks the better of it. And then decides he's going to leave her there. He gets her keys to the black Nissan Versa. But before he leaves, he gets Ms. Melton's iPhone. Proceeds to hold it up to Ms. Melton's face. So that way it has a face recognition ID. So that way he can utilize the phone. He leaves Ms. Melton's car. He leaves with that phone. He proceeds to call the girlfriend that he'd gone to the Buddha with earlier this morning. After that night. And wanting to know where she was. He repeatedly calls. She tells him to meet her at her spa. Which is located right on 1st Street. Her name is Ms. Melissa Montanez. He arrives at Ms. Montanez's business called Mia Spa. In that black Nissan Versa. When he arrives, he makes contact with Ms. Montanez. It's not nice. He's trying to pull Ms. Montanez into the car. Ms. Montanez tries to fight him off. [00:11:23] Speaker ?: He gets out. [00:11:24] Speaker 1: A car rolls back. Hits another car. Physical altercation takes place between him and Ms. Montanez. Ms. Montanez isn't anything but 5'2", weighs barely a hundred plus pounds soaking wet. She's trying everything she can to fend him off. Comes a point in time when he punches her in the face. Blood flies everywhere. There's also a point in time when he holds her up against the wall. [00:11:58] Speaker ?: His hand. [00:12:00] Speaker 1: His hand. She can't move. People see this. People in the next building that she shares his business with see this. One of the ladies was bold enough to come out and confront him. Ms. Montanez was able to get away. He thinks the better of it. He then proceeds to get back in that black Nissan Versa and leave. While that's ongoing, law enforcement is called. The Fort Myers Police Department arrives. They conduct an investigation on the battery and assault that happened in front of Mia's spa. Meanwhile, Mr. Wilson decides he's going to go to Cape Coral. Goes over the bridge. Heads over into one of the neighborhoods near Hector Cafferata Elementary School. Who does he encounter? Diane Ruiz. Diane Ruiz works at the Moose Lodge. She was a bartender there. She didn't live very far away from that particular location. So she always opted and chose to walk to work. She was wearing a light blue shirt. Jeans. Black shoes. She also had a very colorful purse she was carrying. Mr. Wilson in his black Nissan Versa comes across Mr. Ruiz. We don't know exactly how Mr. Ruiz ultimately wound up getting into that particular car. But if you believe how Mr. Wilson tells it, she got in willingly. But remember, Mr. Ruiz had a broken nasal bone. She had multiple fractures, her ribs, and she had broken thyroid and neck cartilage injuries to her. We know that Ms. Ruiz lost her purse because it was ultimately found and turned into that elementary school. We know that Ms. Ruiz was actually in that vehicle because of the blood stains that were found in that vehicle. Because we know that DNA forensics that was conducted on that blood stain came back to Ms. Ruiz. What we learned is that we know that Ms. Ruiz was in that car. And what we know also, and that you'll learn, is that she was then taken to an area off of Northeast 4th Avenue, whereby her body was dumped. And there was a neighbor that just happened to live directly behind where her body was dumped. And he didn't think anything of it that morning because he was having breakfast with his wife, and sees a car going backwards and forwards, backwards and forwards, and then ultimately winds up leaving that location. It wasn't until the next day when he sees crime scene tape all over the place, and he realizes, "Oh, that was the one in the same car." What we know is that Ms. Ruiz had been strangled. And what we also know is that she died as a result of blunt force trauma because of the multiple rib fractures. If you want to believe what Mr. Wilson told law enforcement was that he had driven over her repeatedly and tried to make her look like spaghetti. You'll learn from the medical examiner's office testimony that when one drives over a body repeatedly, you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:40] Speaker ?: you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:40] Speaker 1: and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:41] Speaker ?: and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:42] Speaker 1: and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:45] Speaker ?: and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, [00:16:48] Speaker 1: and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office, and you'll learn from the medical examiner's office. When she was missing, there was a frantic search for her that was being conducted, okay? And after that search was being conducted, Ms. Melton, her search was being conducted right around the same time. Mr. Wilson leaves Ms. Ruiz on that empty lot, underneath those shrubs, underneath that tree. He gets back in that Nissan Versa, he leaves, he goes back across the bridge, and he goes to a place called Joe's Crab Shack, which conveniently enough is just right across the street from Mia's Spa. Law enforcement gets there, and the reason why he goes to Joe's Crab Shack, is because he and Melissa Martinez were communicating. She was trying to get him to a particular location, so that way the law enforcement could make an arrest. So when he arrives at Joe's Crab Shack, you're also going to learn that law enforcement gets in contact with him there. He plays dumb. He has absolutely no idea as to why he's being asked about any type of battery. He doesn't know why, about anything. But what he does do is he does manage to get away from the officer who had tried to go ahead and block him in. He wasn't snaking around. He stays in his car, and then he backs out and leaves Joe's Crab Shack's parking lot. And you all know where he headed there. He heads to Mateo's Graphics. He needs to get out of town. So now we're back to where we began. At Mateo's Graphics, when he leaves, before law enforcement gets there to search that building, he proceeds to go off into a neighborhood behind Mateo's Graphics. He goes to place Northeast First Avenue, which is actually the residence of a young couple by the name of Fanny Amlin. And the Amlins, conveniently enough, had just left their house the day before to go to Ohio. It was empty. He'd broken in through the back. Helped himself to some food. Helped himself to some clothes. Helped himself to some drink. While he was there, he needed help. He calls his dad. I need to get out of town. I need your help. Send me an Uber. While that was happening, law enforcement is conducting an investigation. They knew who he was. They were researching, trying to figure out whose next point of contact would be. Hittery reached out to his dad. They needed to know where his whereabouts are. Dad tells him, you know, he's conflicted. It's his son, right? But, he starts describing what he had done. He describes it in such a way, where he's bragging. He wants his dad to feel that excitement. He made his dad sick. His dad gets the address. He tells him, yeah, I'm going to send you an Uber. Passes that information along to you. The marshals. The marshals descend on that particular location. Mr. Kent Amlin and Ms. Fanny Amlin are contacted and asked, hey, is this guy supposed to be in your residence? They're like, absolutely not. You give us permission to go in? Absolutely. His dad is encouraging Mr. Wilson to come outside. He finally does. He's subsequently arrested. Now, ladies and gentlemen, during the course of this trial, you're going to hear from various witnesses. You're going to hear what they saw and what they heard. You're going to hear about the investigation that ensued. You're going to hear about the autopsies. You're going to hear about the crime scenes. You're going to hear about all of the admissions that he made, not only to Mr. Lukic, not only to Ms. Montanez, not only to his father. You're going to hear what he told law enforcement. And you're going to hear that when they asked him why he killed Ms. Melton, he said, I just wanted to do it. And then, they asked him, well, what about Ms. Ruiz? His response was, F it. You should kill her. I already got one down. You're also going to have DNA analysis for you. You're going to find that those shirts, those leggings, a curtain rod, all the ties. DNA comes back to Ms. Melton, of course, also comes back to Mr. Wilson. That blood sand in the car? That's Mr. Ruiz. You're also going to find that there were two phones in that car. Guess who those were? Ms. Melton's. Second one, Ms. Ruiz. You're going to have phone records. Those phone records are going to show you that Ms. Ruiz's number and Ms. Melton's number were also on Ms. Montanez's number and her phone records. You're going to hear the confession from Mr. Wilson about the method of the killing, ladies and gentlemen. And you're also going to hear his admission to the actual killing itself. You're going to have photos. You're going to have videos. You're going to have exhibits to examine. And when you take all of that and you put it together, the state wants you to return the only verdict that the evidence is going to support. And that is guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for the strangulation and killing of Ms. Melton. Guilty of grand theft of a motor vehicle for taking Ms. Melton's black Nissan Versa. Guilty for battery on Ms. Melissa Montanez. Guilty on first-degree murder of Ms. Diana Ruiz for strangling, killing her, and running her over with that car. Asking you to also find him guilty of burglar of a dwelling, of breaking into Mr. Kent and Ms. Fannie Amlin's residence. And lastly, ladies and gentlemen, I'm asking you to return a guilty verdict for Pettit theft for helping himself to the food, the drink, and the clothing inside of that residence. The defense is going to reserve, Judge. Okay. Very well.