‘That monster was the last one to talk to her’; victim’s family speaks out against accused murderer

Loved ones are remembering the two Cape Coral victims of a man who is now finally standing trial for the 2019 murders.

Wade Wilson faces the death penalty if convicted in the deaths of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz.

Jury selection began Monday for Wilson’s trial.

• READ MORE: Jury selection underway for man accused of killing 2 Cape Coral women

The jury will have the ability to recommend the death penalty if they find Wilson guilty of just one of the first-degree murder charges he faces.

Ruiz was a mom of two who left for work one day and never came home.

On Monday, Oct. 7, 2019, Ruiz never made it to work at the Moose Lodge in Fort Myers.

“I’m still waiting for her to walk through the door, but I know in my heart that it’s not going to happen,” said Scott Hannon, Ruiz’s fiance.

The last text Ruiz sent was to Hannon, saying, “I love you.”

“That monster was the last one to talk to her,” Hannon said.

Hannon believes that the monster is Wilson.

Four days after her disappearance, the mother of two was found dead in a field just blocks from the Moose.

The morning Ruiz vanished, a neighbor’s surveillance video recorded a black Nissan in her neighborhood.

Cape Coral police later confirmed the black Nissan belonged to Kristine Melton, who was found dead in her home just hours after Ruiz’s disappearance. Detectives connected the killings to Wilson.

“They should torture him like he did to those girls,” said Donna Cosgrove, a friend of Ruiz.

A deposition revealed Wilson called his father three times that Monday, told his dad he saw Ruiz walking, picked her up and choked her.

When he went to dump her body, he realized she wasn’t dead, and according to Wilson’s father, Wilson told him, “He said to me that he got back in the car, and he ran her over multiple times until she looked like spaghetti.”

“Her poor daughter has to grow up without her mom. It’s terrible,” Cosgrove said.

Ruiz’s friends and fiance said she made everyone feel like they belonged, even if she had just met them.

“She was the light of my life. We had such a good time all the time. No matter what we did, we always had a good time doing it,” Hannon said.

The entire trial process is expected to last up to a month.