Serialously with Annie Elise - 188: HORRIFYING Madeline Soto Docs Released, Man Fakes Death to Evade Rape Charges, Wade Wilson Gets Death, Teacher Sexually Assaulted Pre-K Student?

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

Today’s episode dives into everything happening this week in true crime. From new cases to updates on existing ones and more. Ghost Bed:  GhostBed.com/AE with code “AE” for 50% off sitewide. Beam:  Head to https://www.shopbeam.com/ANNIEELISE  and use code ANNIEELISE for an additional 40% off. Don’t forget supplies are limited and you can only shop it through my link. We're going on TOUR!! Come see one of our episodes LIVE in a city near you! Head to https://annieelise.com/blogs/events for dates and ticket info! Shop the Merch: www.annieelise.com Follow the podcast on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@serialouslypodcast   Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/       Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise     All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_    SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/    About Me: https://annieelise.com/   For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] Sources:  WFTV9 WESH2 Fox35 Orlando Stl Tribune CBS News NBC News Dallas News Audio Sources:  Law&Crime 

Hey guys, it's me, your true crime bestie Annie, and I am so excited to share with you that Serialistly is officially hitting the road and coming to you live in a city near you. That's right, we are going on tour. We've got shows planned in Orange County, California, San Diego, California, Salt Lake City, Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, and more. We're going to be discussing all new exclusive cases. I have some surprise guests planned, but I can't tell you who. It's a surprise. At the end, we'll do a meet and greet, so I finally get to meet so many of you. We've got exclusive merch and just so much more. It is going to be a show that you definitely do not want to miss. But space and tickets are very, very limited, so grab your friends, grab your co-workers, or come on your own and hang with

me while we talk all things true crime together. All of the information, including dates, cities, and links to purchase tickets, can be found at AnnieElise.com and then just toggle over to the events page. So grab them now before they're gone. I can't wait to meet all of you, and I will see you on the stage. Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. Today we are going over headline highlights, everything that is going on this week in the true crime world. And I know I'm going to sound like a broken record guys, but we have a lot to talk about today. It just, it never ceases to amaze me how much happens week to week related to true

crime. It's pretty disheartening, if I'm going to be quite honest. Now, before we get into the cases we're talking about today, I do want to give a quick reminder. We are almost out of tickets for the live tour. We're coming to a bunch of different cities. We're going to, where are we going? I can't even remember. Let me think. We're going to Colorado, Salt Lake City, a couple shows in California, Orange County, California, San Diego, California, Phoenix, Arizona. I've also got some surprise guests and some guests that I have announced over on my Instagram, which is at underscore Annie Elise. But anyways, my point in all of that is tickets are going fast. So if you wanted to catch one of these episodes live, which it's more of a Monday type episode with like a deep dive on a case, then make sure you get them now because they're going

to be gone. Now, anyways, I talked about the Madeline Soto case a little bit last week. However, I have even more updates for you guys today because we seem to be getting new information about this case every single week. And I want you guys to let me know if you want a full deep dive about all these new updates and everything so far. I've done a deep dive on this case from where we were in the past to current, so I will link that. As a recap, she was reported missing by her mom. It ended up being the mom's boyfriend who was charged with her murder. of sexual abuse material on his phone, which he tried to like wipe and do a factory reset, which did not work. And there's been a lot of, I would say, speculation and thoughts that possibly the mom

either was complicit in the sexual abuse that had been ongoing for years or was part of the coverup in the murder of her daughter. It's a pretty disgusting case, but if you do want the full deep dive, either the start to finish of the full case or the deep dive of all of these new updates, because there are a lot and we could be here literally for hours, let me know either in the review section or the Q&A section on Spotify. But I do want to go over some of the

highlight details of what's been going on in the last week. So new documents from the police department ended up revealing that Madeline's body was found in a locked and fenced-in area. Now, this is near the area where a witness also reported seeing Stefan, the boyfriend, on the side of the road back on February 26, 2024. Stefan likely had to dump Madeline's body over the fence before then climbing over the fence himself, dragging her body then even further away, and then covering her up with grass and hay. Now, the reason I say that is because when her body was found, the bottom of Madeline's shoes were clean, so she couldn't have walked it to that area herself. She had to have been taken there and placed there.

It was also previously reported that Madeline's official autopsy will not be released. However, the documents released from the police department now give a summary of the report and they list Madeline's cause of death as strangulation. Now in another detail that has quite a lot of people in the public in uproar, if you will, last week the police department said that they don't plan on filing charges against Madeline's mom, Jennifer Soto. As I said, many people have been wondering if Jennifer will face any charges because her behavior has been a little sketchy, to say the least. It really does seem like she may have known more than what she has let on. And the police report that was just released also makes Jennifer look even more suspicious, if I'm being honest. And the report details an interview that the detectives had with

Jennifer on March 1st, shortly after Madeline went missing. The report makes it very, very clear that during this interview, Jennifer was continuously protecting her boyfriend, Stefan. Also, that she seemed to prioritize him over her missing daughter. Now, mind you, this interview was after, after, after, after the police found images of Stefan sexually assaulting Madeline. However, Jennifer denied knowing what Stefan was doing to her daughter. She again mentioned that the two of them slept in the same bed together. This is a detail we've talked about before on the previous episodes in Deep Dives, where she said that Madeline had trouble sleeping alone, so she would often sleep with Stefan, that sometimes as the mom, the parent, the girlfriend, she would be the one sleeping in the guest room, which, hello, that's a red flag, right? However, in this interview, she stated that she had a, quote,

rule that Stefan and Madeline couldn't sleep in the same bed, but that she only allowed it because Madeline asked for what she was calling sleepovers with Stefan. As though this young girl is asking for a sleepover with her mom's boyfriend? Even if she was asking for that, it's your job as a parent to first and foremost shut that down. But also, I would argue, take it a step further and ask why she wants that sleepover. It's my opinion, and this is just my opinion, that if Madeline was in fact expressing that she wanted to have that sleepover,

was she groomed to say that? Was Stefan forcing her to say that? I can't imagine that she was just willingly asking for that, especially knowing what we know now about the imagery, the video content, the abuse. So it's my opinion that it's your job as a parent, first and foremost, to not allow that to happen, but also get to the root reason of why that would even be asked.

I'm not trying to like shame her mom in any of this, but there is a lot of red flag behavior that makes me wonder if she did know more. And the fact that she was so adamantly covering up for him and defending him in this interview, and like I said, prioritizing him, quite frankly, above her own missing daughter, it's disgusting. It is absolutely disgusting. But then things get even worse because during this interview, Jennifer said that the quote sex stuff that Stefan did to Madeline was not evil. You heard that right. She said it was not evil, but then she said that the murder of Madeline was evil, which I'm sorry, but you have got to figure out your different checks and balances and what you are scaling different things. If you're trying to say that sexual abuse on a minor is not evil, but murder is, it's time to like get a reality check, okay? Now, the detective wrote in the report that Jennifer

did not show any emotion when it came to Madeline's assault and also seemed to just readily accept that it all had happened, like she was already aware of it before the detectives even told her. This is another detail that's making a lot of people think she knew what was going on. She wanted to keep her boyfriend around, though. She didn't want to lose him, so she just let it happen. She wanted to make him happy. Again, that's just the allegation. But in the report, it does say that it seems as though she already had readily accepted that it happened

and that she was already aware of it before the detectives told her. The report also details an interview with one of Stefan's ex-girlfriends. This woman said that Stefan often had a hard time getting and maintaining an erection whenever they would try to be intimate and have sex. She even said that in one instance, Stefan asked her to lay flat, face down, on the bed. Basically, like she was dead. This woman said that this was the only time that Stefan did not have performance issues. When she lied there, limp, as though she was a dead body. This woman was also aware of the very weird sleeping arrangements between Jennifer,

Madeline, and Stefan, because apparently he wouldn't sleep over at her house, but claimed that Jennifer and Madeline, quote, needed him to fall asleep. She apparently ended the relationship with him soon after finding this out, because it obviously made her very uncomfortable, like it would any normal person. The police report also states that Stephan did that factory reset I mentioned on his phone on February 26th, 2024. Previously, Stephan had said

that he accidentally did this reset, right? That he, you know, accidentally factory reset his phone while he was trying to update it. But the report goes into detail about all of the steps that you actually have to go through before performing a factory reset on your phone. So it wasn't something that Stefan could just do by accident. And when they recovered the data, Stefan had over 1,000 sexual images on his phone. He also had searched for a very specific anesthetic on two different occasions.

One time he had searched for it on February 12th, 2024, and another on February 14th, 2024. Just a couple of weeks, and actually days really, before Madeline had gone missing and subsequently was murdered. Now the specific anesthetic that he was searching for is commonly used in pediatric surgical procedures. Stefan also googled whether this drug would show up in a drug test or not, which it's unknown why he would want to know that detail because he wasn't attempting to get a job. He also didn't have any children that were having surgery. So this is strictly my opinion, but it looks as though he was shopping for different medications to either subdue Madeline as he continued inflicting all of this horrific sexual abuse on her. Perhaps it was

to dose Jennifer with so that she wouldn't know what was going on. I don't know. I don't know the reason. Or even perhaps because, as his ex indicated, he preferred when you are laying still, flat, not moving. So did he want to dose Madeline or whomever with this so that it would almost replicate that of a dead body? I don't know. All I know is it's weird and I've never searched for any sort of anesthetic and I would imagine most of you have not either. But again, there have been so many updates about this case

and it can be very confusing to keep up with all of them. So please let me know if you guys want me to do a full deep dive going over everything that we know so far in this case. I'm just skimming the surface right now with this update. There are thousands of pages to go through, so much information, hours of interviews, so let me know. Now, shifting gears, I want to talk about this other case and this guy, I should say, named Nicholas Rossi.

Back in 2021, Nicholas Rossi was arrested in Scotland after fleeing from the United States. Nicholas is accused of raping a woman back in Utah in 2008, and in 2018, the DNA evidence was matched to another sexual assault case in Ohio. However, get this, to outsmart the police and to avoid arrest, Nicholas not only fled, no, no, no, he faked his death and even published an obituary online. And in his self-published obituary, he stated that he died from late-stage non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Then he fled to Ireland and eventually fled to Scotland. But family and friends didn't think that Nicholas actually died, so the police began a worldwide manhunt for him. While he was living in Scotland,

Nicholas claimed to be this Irish orphan by the name of Arthur Knight, but he was eventually arrested while hospitalized for COVID. Now, since his arrest, he has been insistent that he is not Nicholas Rossi, that he is Arthur Knight, and that all of this is a conspiracy, that he's being framed by the authorities, that they are framing him and painting him to be this Nicholas Rossi guy who had DNA evidence linking him to sexual assaults, and they think fled the country, but no, no, no, that's not him. It's kind of wild, right? Feels like a Lifetime movie.

Well, it gets worse, because during any single hearing that was happening, if somebody referred to him as Nicholas Rossi, Nicholas, or Arthur, would immediately interrupt them and insist that his name was Arthur Knight. His preliminary hearings were this past week, and for the first time ever, he actually didn't insist that he was Arthur Knight. However, there is the possibility that he will still make those claims during his official trial. Who knows? He's expected to be back in court in October. But this is a wild one.

I feel like as I was like going through the details of this and researching this, I felt like I was on Mr. Toad's wild ride. Honestly, I felt like it was just too crazy to believe. And when you see photos of this guy, too, you'll understand what I mean. Like he is really trying to like work this angle hard. So again, not to sound like a broken record, if you want the deep dive on this case, let me know that as well. Just say, yes, deep dive for Nicholas Rossi. And that will be a very interesting episode, but we'll see what happens. Feels like a movie. All right, now let's talk about a case that is breaking in Texas. And

I want to give a little bit of a trigger warning here, guys. This one is especially foul and very difficult to hear. Two parents from Texas have released details of an investigation involving their son's old preschool teacher. Rockwall Independent School District is located just outside of Dallas, Texas, and the parents, Corey and Tim Booth, believe that their son was sexually assaulted by his teacher last August. Police launched an investigation into these claims, but a Rockwall grand jury had decided not to charge the woman after hearing the evidence. Corey and Tim believe that the investigation into these claims was flawed, and they've now taken to social media to tell their story, like so many people do. So Corey posted a very long statement to Facebook, and I'm going to read part of it to you, but again,

I just want to warn you, what Corey claims this teacher did to their four-year-old child, it's so, so very disturbing. So here is what part of this statement reads. If you have had a student attending Springer Elementary, please take a moment to read this personal account. We apologize for the length, but this is an urgent and time-sensitive situation. I want to begin with some background information in order for you to have context and a better chance at recognizing these signs in your own child. In October of 2023, our four-year-old came home on a Thursday afternoon telling us that his teacher showed him her boobs and her penis, but that it, quote, didn't look like daddy's, but that it looked like mommy's. So in shock and

confusion, our first question was, really, buddy? Are you being silly? He repeated the same story. In disbelief, I asked what color her bra and underwear were. Black, mommy, black. Then he ran off and we processed. We were trying to figure out why he would say something like this. He's in pre-K. Was there another student talking about their sister?

Our minds went a million different directions. At bedtime, I asked him again, buddy, were you telling mommy a story? Because if that's true, tell mommy. We can't make up stories like that. Then he went on to tell me the exact same story as above. We were disturbed to say the least, but we weren't exactly sure what to do with it. He went to school the following day, which was a Friday. He came home that afternoon, bouncing off the walls, overstimulated beyond anything that we have ever seen with any of our children. We couldn't get him to focus, we couldn't get him to calm down to any normal degree, and he was not his normal self all weekend, and we didn't know why or what had caused this

overstimulated behavior. Monday comes, he goes to school, and he comes home erratic and scared. Mommy, mommy, check my folder. My teacher said that I was in trouble and that she sent you a note. I checked the calendar and there was no note, no smiling face, no sad face, nothing. He was so upset. She is a liar, mommy. She is a liar. I attempted to console him, but he was very upset.

This was the second time that he had come home asking me about a note from his teacher that was on his calendar. The next day was Halloween. As our family was sorting through all of the candy, he starts sharing, saying that his teacher goes into the bathroom with him and then closes the door, that she touches him and then touches herself and smiles. He goes on to share many more details, and he shared that his teacher keeps him in from recess because he is, quote, special. November 1st, we contacted the Rockwall Police Department, who then pushed it to the Sheriff's Department, which then led to a meeting with the Child Advocacy Center. Our son was interviewed. After they are finished with the interview, the investigating sheriff

tells us that the resource officer from the school was reviewing the video footage that showed what looks to be two boys being held back in recess, one of which looks to be our son. She then proceeds to tell us verbatim, quote, the interview didn't go as expected. We were hoping it was the teacher's aid, not the head teacher, end quote. That day, both teachers were put on administrative paid leave. That night, our son divulged that this teacher put her fingers inside his butt four times, and he articulated the noises to match. We shared everything that he shared with us with the appropriate officials. And on March 27th, the DA took our case before the special counsel, but without the video from the school,

as Rockwall ISD conveniently deleted it. The teacher received a no bill due to the quote totality of the case. According to the DA, the video and other pertinent facts wouldn't have made a difference. From November 1st forward, the sheriff's department, the school, and the DA told us to stay quiet and that speaking up would compromise the case. The teacher is teaching again this year, and as a family, we are dealing with the repercussions of this teacher's disgusting acts against our son. She moved quickly, having him in her classroom for less than three months, so we are confident that he was not her first victim. We asked the administration to give us a heads up if they were going to bring her back to the school

because we had other students in attendance. The principal assured me that she would. Tuesday after Easter, I drop my children off at school and my oldest sees said teacher in the cafeteria. Knowing all that his little brother shared and all the changes that he witnessed in his brother, he was beside himself. He walked into the office and asked if he could call me, but the principal's response was, quote, the past is in the past. It's time to move on, end quote. So after the parents posted this information to Facebook, Rockwall ISD held an emergency school board meeting. There was a huge, huge crowd at this meeting. The school board members started by telling the crowd that they needed to trust the investigative process, that four agencies reviewed the case and they determined there was insufficient evidence to move forward with prosecution, and they also denied that any security camera footage was ever deleted.

I first want to say some of the information I'm sharing with you tonight is considered confidential. Typically, the district would not be permitted to share it publicly. However, the employee, through her attorney, has given consent for it to be shared in hopes of addressing some of the issues and the questions raised by the public. Why did the employee return to the classroom? The district did not return the employee to the classroom until the allegation was fully investigated by the district, law enforcement, and other authorities. The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, CPS, on November 11, 2023, notified the district that

the allegation of sexual abuse against the teacher was, quote, ruled out, stating it was reasonable to conclude that the alleged abuse or neglect did not occur and that their investigation was closed with no further agency involvement. Subsequently, on March 27, 2024, the district was notified that the Rockwell County Grand Jury no-billed the case involving the teacher. A no-bill indicates the Grand Jury declined to indict or charge the teacher after hearing evidence regarding the allegation. Accordingly, no charters were filed and the investigation was closed.

The district completed its investigation reaching the same conclusion as the previous four independent investigations by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Rockwell County Sheriff's Department, Rockwell County District Attorney's Office, and the Rockwell County Grand Jury. Therefore, the employee was returned to the classroom on April 2, 2024, after four independent, thorough investigations determined the allegations were not supported by the evidence, and it was reasonable to conclude that the alleged abuse or neglect did not occur. One of the parents notified when an employee is placed on leave?

At the time the employee was placed on administrative leave, the district had immediately referred the matter to the appropriate authorities to determine whether the allegations were supported by the evidence. Had the allegations that other students were involved and or the district received any evidence indicating notification was needed, it would immediately notify parents. By placing the employee on administrative leave, the district immediately removed any potential threat from the classroom. However, as previously stated, four independent, thorough investigations determined the allegations were not supported by the evidence, and it was reasonable to conclude the alleged abuse and neglect did not occur why did the district not notify parents when the employee returned from administrative leave because for

independent thorough investigations determining allegations were not supported by the evidence it was reasonable to conclude the alleged abuse or neglect did not occur due to employee employee privacy rights, the district did not have legal cause to notify parents when the employee returned from administrative leave. Is the employee currently in the classroom? Due to the publicity given to this issue and for her own safety and to limit disruptions to the school environment, the teacher is currently on administrative leave. The teacher is not on administrative leave due to the prior and or any additional allegations of abuse or neglect. The district has not received any evidence contradicting the four independent thorough investigations

that determined the allegations were not supported by the evidence, and it was reasonable to conclude the alleged abuse or neglect did not occur. TEA reporting. Based on the evidence obtained by the district, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Rockwell County Sheriff's Department, Rockwell County District Attorney's Office, and the Rockwell County Grand Jury, the district did not have information requiring a report to the Texas Education Agency State Road for Educator Certification.

A mandatory report is required if an educator has reported criminal history or if misconduct results in termination or resignation. Reporting is not required if a district completes an investigation before a certified educator's resignation or termination and the investigation finds the educator did not engage in the alleged conduct. As I've explained, the district, along with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, Rockwell County Sheriff's Department, Rockwell County District Attorney's Office, and the Rockwell County Grand Jury all conducted investigations and found the conduct did not occur. Therefore, a mandatory report was not required. However, the parents have many

concerns with the investigation. They say that the teachers were not interviewed properly, that the police did not search the teacher's phone, and that their son was not examined by a nurse promptly following the sexual assault allegation. They also stated that their son told them that the teacher filmed everything that she did to him, but the police said that they would not search the teacher's phone based on the words of a four-year-old. Now, I will say this. I know every parent thinks that their kid is a genius, right? But my four-year-old, he's five now, he just turned five, but when he was four, he can remember things from literally two years ago, which blows my mind. I think he's super gifted, but I think I'm just saying this because I think we need to give more credit to four-year-olds

and five-year-olds and kids in general. I get it. They're not always going to be the most credible. Their imaginations run wild. They might see something on TV, have a dream about it, think that was real. But there are very specific allegations here. So at the very least, it's my opinion that it should have been investigated properly. More interviews conducted, comb through footage, comb through the phone footage. If this teacher has nothing to hide, why aren't they going through the phone? I get it, your rights, whatever. But I feel as though it's a little bit reckless with such serious allegations here to have that teacher back in the school around kids, right? I mean, err on the side of caution. So we'll see what comes out of this, but it is definitely an unnerving story to say the least.

Also, I understand that what I read verbatim may cause some confusion as far as the four-year-old coming home saying that the teacher showed him her boobs and her penis, but that it quote, didn't look like daddy's, but that it looked like mommy's. My guess in all of that is that a four-year-old doesn't know what a vagina is called.

And so they think all private parts are called a penis. That's just my guess. I have no idea. They haven't really released any information on this teacher since they haven't been charged with anything. So I can't say what the exact scenario is, but that's what I'm inclined to believe. There's nothing else that indicates otherwise,

but I just wanted to at least address that because I'm sure that that would stir up some questions and some confusion. Now let's go into an update that just happened this week. And it has to do with Wade Wilson. You know him. He's the guy with all the tattoos on his face. The jail calls are literally all over the internet.

Every single day, it seems like there's a new phone call released where they're like, what are they calling them now? Like his kiosk girls, where it's new people, men and women alike calling him. He's, you know, this is him. He's like, baby, baby, baby, baby, this. Can you put some money on my books?

Baby, baby. Like, sweet talking all of them, talking about how much he loves them, how he wants to, like, have sex with them. He has some very, very vulgar descriptions of what he wants to do to men and women in a sexual way. So listen to those calls at your own risk. But anyway, you guys know who I'm talking about, right? If you don't, I will definitely link the previous episode on him. But he basically was convicted of killing two women. He has shown absolutely zero remorse, in my opinion. He

actually, in turn, is claiming that he's innocent, that he was set up by the cartel, which, okay. But he was sentenced this week, and it was going to either be life in prison without parole or the death sentence. So he walks into the courtroom and he has got the most smug look on his face. I mean, I watched this whole thing go down. He's smirking the whole time and it's my belief that he's looking like this and smirking and smiling because he knows everybody is watching. This case has received so much attention and so many women specifically have been reaching out to him who think he's attractive, think he's hot. He has a whole innocence campaign and camp who believes he's innocent. And it's my belief he was, you know,

acting the part because he clearly sits down. He has absolutely no remorse, no emotion on his face as the judge hands down his sentence, which was death. In reaching this decision, the court is mindful that because death is a unique punishment in its finality, its application is reserved only for those cases where the most aggravating and least mitigating circumstances exist. The law never requires the imposition of a death sentence. In this case, the totality of the circumstances indicates the defendant, with premeditation, beat and strangled Christine Melton in her home before stealing her vehicle and driving to meet his girlfriend, Melissa Montanez. After Montanez refused to get into the car with him, the defendant battered her in broad

daylight. The defendant told law enforcement, I'm sorry, when Ms. Montanez managed to flee from the defendant, he fled the scene and drove back to Cape Coral where he decided that he would murder another person. He saw Diane Ruiz walking to work and pulled over, pretending to ask for directions. She got into the car to provide directions, but the defendant strangled her when she tried to exit. He then drove to an empty lot, strangling her into unconsciousness at least one additional time on the way there. When she tried to flee from the car, he drove over her at least one time, inflicting mortal injuries to her spine, ribs, and neck. The evidence showed that both murders were heinous, atrocious, and cruel, and that the second murder was cold, calculated,

and premeditated. The defendant inflicted serious physical and emotional pain to the victims. Moreover, the defendant committed murders while on probation for prior felony convictions, and he committed two first-degree murders contemporaneously with each other and with grand theft of motor vehicle, battery, and burglary of a dwelling. There were no statutory mitigating circumstances that were established, but the court considered the non-statutory mitigating circumstances presented by the defendant. Out of 13 enumerated non-statutory mitigating factors, the court found that 10 had been established. Out of those established, six were given little weight.

The totality of the mitigating circumstances indicates that the defendant suffers from drug use from a young age, along with undiagnosed and untreated mental health issues of some kind. He felt abandoned by his biological parents, but had a devoted adoptive family who raised him in a supportive and loving environment. Defendant did not resist law enforcement when arrested and confessed fully to both murders. The court has further considered the given and giving great weight to the advisory verdict of the jury, which who recommended that the death penalty be imposed by a vote of 9 to 3 on count 1 for the murder of Christine Melton and a vote of 10 to 2 on count 4 for the murder of Diane Ruiz.

The court recognizes that there is no mathematical formula for considering the aggravating and mitigating factors. It is not enough to weigh the number of aggravators against the number of mitigators. The court carefully considered the nature and quality of each aggravator and mitigator. Having reviewed all of the aggravating factors proven beyond a reasonable doubt and all of the mitigating circumstances reasonably established by the evidence, the court finds that the aggravating factors greatly outweigh mitigating circumstances. Given the facts of the case, nothing in defendant's background or mental state would suggest that a death sentence

is inappropriate. This court's review of other reported capital cases has led the court to conclude that the death penalty is not disproportionate in this case. Under the totality of the circumstances and evidence, the court finds no basis to override the jury's verdict. The totality of the circumstances warrants that the defendant, Wade Stephen Wilson, be sentenced to death for each count first degree murder. Accordingly, it is ordered in the judge that the defendant, Wade Stephen Wilson, be sentenced as follows. Count one, first degree murder of Christine Melton. The defendant is hereby sentenced to death. Count two, grand theft of a motor vehicle.

The defendant is sentenced to five years imprisonment in the Florida Department of Corrections. Count three, battery. The defendant is hereby sentenced to 364 days in the Lee County Jail. Count four, first degree murder of Diane Ruiz. The defendant is hereby sentenced to death. Count five, the burglary of a dwelling. The defendant is hereby sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in the Florida Department of Corrections. Count six, petty theft. The defendant is hereby sentenced to 364 days in the Lee County Jail. During a press conference immediately following his sentence, the state attorney said, quote,

I've been doing this for 34 years, and I have to say I have never seen someone as evil as Wade Wilson. And I have never been so stunned to see some people in the community that actually think that it's a good idea to support somebody so evil and monstrous. The family members of the victims also were given the chance to speak right to Wade Wilson's face during the sentencing. However, they decided not to. They stated that they had said everything that they needed to say during the trial. Wade Wilson was also asked again if he wanted to address the court, but he said no. Now, based on some conversations that I have had with people in his camp who believe he's innocent and are campaigning for his innocence. And I can't get into too much detail, but stay tuned for that. It's my belief that he is going to file an appeal, which I don't think is going to surprise anybody. He is citing ineffective counsel, saying that his public defenders didn't really have his best interests at heart, that they didn't put up a

good defense, that they didn't call any witnesses, that he had all this evidence that would have proven that he wasn't the one responsible. And in fact, he was the fall guy and he was threatened in order to take the fall. And that's why he had all these false confessions. Believe what you want to believe, but more to come on that. But yeah, he doesn't address the court. He just sits there smug. And again, I think it's because he knows everybody's watching and he wants to look like a cool guy. To me, I believe he is a narcissist through and through 1000% without a doubt. You can hear it just in his tone of voice in these phone calls. It is crazy to me, like listening to these calls where he is just like, baby, baby, baby, this like, oh, yeah, you look

great, baby. Like you can tell he is working these people because he wants money. And he's like thriving off of this attention, literally like drooling, foaming at the mouth, like freaking Beethoven, or what's that dog's name from the Sandlot? The Beast, which actually feels more accurate if I'm gonna be honest. Beethoven was a sweet dog. Let's go with the Beast from Sandlot,

but just like salivating at all this attention he's getting. And so then he strolls into the courtroom, legs apart because he likes showing his junk off to the camera and he like grabs it and smiles. It's honestly foul. So let's stop talking about that guy. Now let's move into another case in New York. In New York, a 59 year old named Joseph DeLuca murdered his three siblings and his niece after he thought that they were going to sell the family home after the mom

had died. We always hear about sibling rivalry and especially when it comes to what's left in a will, what somebody's going to get as inheritance, that it can stir up a lot of bad emotions, right? Sometimes ending up deadly. Now Joseph lived in this home with his 95-year-old mother, and he killed all of these four people just minutes before they were meeting with the realtor to talk about selling the house. While they were waiting for the realtor to arrive, Joseph went and got a shotgun, and he shot it 12 times, killing all four of them. Then he ran out onto the front lawn just screaming, so that prompted a neighbor to call 911. Before the police could arrive, though, Joseph shot himself in the chest and killed himself. Joseph had a very long history of mental illness and mental health

problems, and the police were called to his home once before back in 2022. However, at the time, the police didn't think that he was a threat to himself or to others. It's believed that Joseph thought that he was cut out of his mother's will and that he would become homeless if they ended up selling the house, and that that is what triggered this entire horrific quadruple murder. I guess, well, it's not a murder when you kill yourself, so I don't even know what a five would be, but a quadruple murder plus then fifth killed himself. However, none of what he believed to be true was true. Joseph was in his mother's will, and there were stipulations to ensure that he would be cared for after her death. So none of this needed to happen.

It is like the textbook definition of senseless. Now, apparently before the incident, Joseph had gone around neighbors and told them not to call the police if they heard any gunshots, which I gotta say, if I was one of those neighbors, the first thing I would do after hearing that is call the police. I wouldn't even wait for the gunshots. I would be like, uh, we need to alert the police that something is about to go down. But for whatever reason, nobody did. And that's not to blame them. Maybe they thought he was just kind of talking. And I don't, who knows?

It's just horrible because it's like, now what? Your siblings and your niece are dead because you thought you weren't gonna get the money that you felt entitled to receive, yet you were going to get it. So now five people are dead for no reason. So that's what's going on this week in the true crime world. But also I need to remind you guys, if you did not listen to Monday's episode yet

about Ellen Greenberg, you need to go listen to it. We interviewed her parents as well. It's all in the episode. But she's a 27-year-old teacher who had her whole life ahead of her. She was engaged. She had a great career as a teacher. She was happy.

She had a beautiful family, beautiful friends. And she was stabbed 20 times to the back of the head, neck, and torso. Yet the police ruled it as a suicide. Now that's not it. There are a lot of red flags and a lot of shady stuff regarding this case. Her fiance came in and broke down the door. He said he was going to give her CPR, but then noticed the knife was lodged in her chest. Yet before he even called 911, he had called the family lawyers. There's a lot of really weird stuff here. But anyway, I broke it all down for you on the Monday lawyers. There's a lot of really weird stuff here. But anyway, I broke it all down for you on the Monday episode. Go listen to it. I put a poll up and let

me actually check it right now. I put a poll on Spotify on the episode asking, do you guys believe that this was suicide or do you believe that she was murdered? And last time I checked, it was like a landslide, but let me look right now. So let's see. Polls. Okay. Do you believe that Ellen did this to herself? 98% say not a chance. 2% say it's possible. So I'm curious to know what you guys think. Do you think once you listen to the episode that it's possible? I doubt it. I highly, highly doubt it. And like I said, there are a lot of other details. So go listen to that. Other than that, we are putting out a brand new episode this Friday. It is ad-free.

It's a bonus episode if you need a little true crime fix going into your weekend. And Monday, next Monday's episode, I have a very special guest on. She's a professional in the space. She is known for her hot takes, hot opinions. She's from Atlanta. You might know her. You definitely would recognize her hairstyle if you saw her on your TV. Not going to give you any hints, but that's enough hints.

You probably know where I'm going with that. But you won't want to miss this episode because we're talking about a wild case. And she has got a lot of opinions to share. So that's what I got for you this week. Grab your tour tickets before they're gone. I can't wait to meet so many of you. Let me know what you think about all these cases and which ones you want deep dives on, which ones you don't.

We've got Madeline Soto, Nicholas Rossi, if you want any of those deep dives. And let me know what you think about Ellen once you go listen to that deep dive. All right, guys. How many times can I say deep dive, right? Say it five times fast, Dani. All right. Thank you guys so much for tuning in with me today. I will be back on the mic with you first thing tomorrow with that all new exclusive bonus

episode. So check back over on Apple Podcasts to make sure you have access to that because unfortunately it's not on Spotify. It's only on Apple Podcasts. Thanks again and until the next one, be nice. Don't kill people. Stay safe. Don't join a cult. Don't be mean. All the things. Thanks again guys and I am signing off. Bye. Thank you.