What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
What we lose in the Shadows (A father and daughter True Crime Podcast)
The Depravity of Wade Wilson
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In this episode, we navigate through the heinous acts committed by Wade Wilson in 2019, shedding light on his disturbing murders in Fort Myers. We delve into the heart-wrenching confession to his father and the moral quandaries faced during his testimony. Additionally, the episode exposes the troubling mishandling of a survivor's assault case, which foreshadowed Wilson's crimes. Through this discourse, we confront the broader issues within the justice system, the nuances of consent, and the contentious debate over capital punishment. Join us as we tackle these heavy topics with empathy and critical insight, aiming to foster a deeper understanding of these complex issues.
https://people.com/wade-wilson-murdered-women-inside-case-murderer-crimes-8683634
https://www.news-press.com/story/news/crime/2024/07/08/wade-wilson-murders-florida-killer-arrest-steve-testasecca/74308734007/
https://www.fox4now.com/news/local-news/lee-county/not-staying-silent-ex-girlfriend-of-wade-wilson-speaks-on-her-reported-attack
Contact us at: whatweloseintheshadows@gmail.com
Background music by Michael Shuller Music
Good morning and welcome to what we Lose in the Shadows a father-daughter true crime podcast. My name is Jamison Keys.
Speaker 2I'm Caroline. Hello, how you doing? I'm doing well, how are you?
Speaker 1Very good, good. Hello, how you doing? I'm doing well, how are you? Very good, good. So happy, happy summer August. My goodness it's hot, oh my goodness it's so hot that yesterday I did not leave my apartment at all.
Speaker 2Wow.
Speaker 1Yeah, not at all. I didn't have to, and so I didn't.
Speaker 2I would get. I don't know. I need to leave the apartment every day. I can't just stay inside. It makes me anxious. I'm old, You're old, I'm old. I've been saying that too much to you. You've now adopted it into your identity.
Speaker 1Well, I don't necessarily look terribly old or act terribly old, but I am old, genealogically, physiologically speaking, I am. Have you been watching the Olympics?
Speaker 2No, I need to catch up.
Speaker 1Very good, that's a good. That's a good, very, very warm evening kind of a thing to do, true, so, but yeah, you know, I dig, I dig the swimming. Yeah, I like to watch women's gymnastics oh, it's so beautiful, I also like to. I also like to watch boxing and things like that. But but there's just something about some of those sports. Um, katie ledecky, uh, is doing well, I don't know who that is. Katie ledecky, she's the most decorated us swimmer of all time. Oh, swimmer, yeah, I should know who that is. She's the you. She was actually at a meet you were at at one point really yeah when you were still swimming and that's so crazy.
Speaker 1it was a regional meet. She's from maryland you, wow. I think she's from maybe Bethesda or something like that, but she's the most decorated woman swimmer of all time Wow. And she's in the longer lengths.
Speaker 2That's impressive.
Speaker 1She's the Terminator. And she did the mile swim, the 1,500-meter swim, oh yeah. And when she touched the wall at the end there was no one in sight. They were still coming back. So she's that dominant, but she's wow. This has been a third or fourth, Maybe their third Olympics, I want to think. But that's so cool. But yeah, I just remember she was in a regional event. You were in and you weren't competing in this, you weren't competing with her head to head, because it was a medley relay or something like that. So you were doing the backstroke and she was doing Wow, wait, I had no idea.
Speaker 2Yeah, she's 27. That's crazy. That's so cool.
Speaker 1But the thing I remember most about her is people were talking about her. She was trying to get some sort of a time established because she was trying out for the Olympic teams Already At that stage, oh my gosh, even though she was young. But at that point she was like tall like I. I remember her walking in, I was close and I was like she's taller than I am. She's like not that I'm tall, but I mean for a young girl I mean whoa she's, she's a tall one. I think she's six foot or there about wow, wow.
Speaker 2So anyways, and they're swimming in the scene right they, they did.
Speaker 1The triathlon was was conducted in the sen river, yeah, and people were super complaining because the day before the E coli levels were so dangerous that they wouldn't let them swim. And you know, swimming in open water like that, you're going to ingest some of that water. It's just the way it is. And the Seine has been polluted for a long, long time, forever, for a long time.
Speaker 2I don't understand why they wanted to do that. And then they were all those protests of like going to the bathroom in the river. Remember that? Oh god, oh, it's so bad, I hate it, I hate it. Um, also, apparently someone one of the swimmers lost their wedding ring in the scene. Do you know? Yeah, no, no, no. And they were like, oh, like, maybe, like you know, my wife can just throw her wedding ring in and then we'll get new ones, and I'm like you could never convince me to throw my wedding ring in the river because you lost yours in the river. Why are you wearing it? Why are you wearing it when you're in the Olympics?
Speaker 1So I lost a wedding ring In the river. No, no, in a snowstorm. Oh yeah, we were. Did you ever find it? No, no, it was. We were stuck on the highway. The road ahead was closed. So we were literally stuck on the highway in North Carolina, in the mountains, and it had snowed so much that they closed the highway down and we had to get out. Um, so we got to stretch our legs because the cars were not moving, wow, and I was throwing snowballs, because I'm a juvenile and always happened. And uh, and at that point, um, my fingers, you know, shrank because of the cold on the on my hands and I just saw the glint of the thing flipping in the sunlight and I'm like, oh, my god, and like the people I was with, they're all down on the ground trying to find it. And just then the traffic started.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1I don't think to this day your mother believed how I lost it.
Speaker 2So that's so funny, that's horrible. My gosh Trigger warnings today are sexual assault, violent descriptions and murder. Today I'm going to tell you about a case of a murderer who has the same name as a marvel villain. You're kidding nope, I personally don't watch any of the superhero villain movies, but I thought it was interesting how life mimicked art this time, instead of the opposite, um, so I wanted to bring that up. Can you guess the name of the real life villain?
Speaker 1Now I've I've watched a lot, I've watched all the Marvel movies, then you should know, honestly, I mean, I mean.
Speaker 2Throw out a guess.
Speaker 1Let's see, there's Magneto, there's, there is. They all have, like they don't have just normal names.
Speaker 2Well, this one does.
Speaker 1Okay, what is it I give up?
Speaker 2Wade Wilson.
Speaker 1Oh, wade Wilson? Yeah, he was. Yes, you're right, wade Wilson, he was not Deadpool, but no, what's the other one.
Speaker 2It says someone in Deadpool or something.
Speaker 1It might be Deadpool. There's two marvel and and oh boy, I'm getting really nerdy here marvel and dc comics have similar villains they were talking about deadpool in the articles deadpool. Okay, so I just.
Speaker 2But I don't think he is deadpool. I think he said someone in the deadpool or something no, he is okay okay okay, well, this guy's really bad too, so interesting. So this case takes place in a city called Cape Coral, florida. Have you been?
Speaker 1No, I've never been to Cape Coral.
Family Tragedy
Speaker 2So Cape Coral is a city that's known for its beautiful water canals. It's home to over 200,000 people, and the inhabitants of Cape Coral enjoy spending their time outdoors, at the beach or kayaking in the waterways. Nice Cute outdoors at the beach or kayaking in the waterways Nice, cute. Wade Wilson, who was 25 at the time, went out to a bar on the night of October 7th 2019. The bar was called Buddha Live in Fort Myers. Interesting, he started talking to two women at the bar named Christine Melton, who was 35, and her friend, stephanie Saylors. The three of them and another man named jason jason shepherd all started talking and when the bar closed down for the evening, they went back to jason's place to continue hanging out drinking. Whatever, wade, christine and stephanie all went back to christine's home and when they got there, stephanie left soon thereafter.
Speaker 2Wade then attacked Christine while she was sleeping. He strangled her to death in her own bed oh my God and stole her car. In the stolen car of the woman he just brutally murdered, wade drove past another woman named Diane Ruiz, who was 43 years old, and he asked her for directions to a local school. He lured her into the car under some false pretense about the school, and when she tried to get out he terrorized her. This is a little brutal, so listen with care. Wade beat and strangled Diane in the back of Christine's car. He then pushed her out of the car and ran over her multiple times back and forth some sources say up to 20 times.
Speaker 1Oh my God, so he's a monster.
Speaker 2Yeah, obviously Like he's horrific.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2After he had murdered two innocent women under 24 hours. Wow, wade did a bizarre thing, can you guess? Yes, I'm making you guess a lot in this one. Hopefully he killed himself no, he called his father and confessed. It's so strange. I just I I don't know. I thought that was interesting. Um, his father said that he didn't believe him at the time. He said that he was at work and he would need to call him back later.
Speaker 1Oh, my god, yeah, I'm starting to see. Uh, maybe the father not all that uh attentive it would just wait.
Speaker 2After wade uh called back later that night, sticking to the same story, his father started to get really concerned that he did actually kill two women. Yeah, wade's father, stephen Tessaseca, ended up testifying at his son's trial. He gave some backstory to Wade's life that I'm going to share with you all. So when wade was born, his parents were only teenagers, and so they decided that it would be best to give him up for adoption. Wade did not have any contact with his birth parents growing up. When wade became 18, he was allowed to access his file, which contained the information on his parents. He contacted his dad and they had what steven describes as a sporadic relationship sporadic contact on and off.
Speaker 2Steven said that wade went into excruciating detail about the murders and his feelings about his actions and he said that he did not regret doing it. Wow, which is weird, because I'm like, why are you confessing if you're not regret, like? I'm like are you trying to convince yourself you don't regret it? It's a.
Speaker 1It's a cry for help, it's a cry for attention, isn't it?
Speaker 2I, yeah, I, I don't, I don't know. It's very strange to me. So for some reason, steven the father shared that he thought about helping wade cover it up, but then he started sympathizing with the victims and he was quoted saying what if it was my mom?
Speaker 2and that he would do it again oh my god so I have feelings about this comment, yeah, uh, but I want to mention that I think it's great that he helped put a murderer behind bars and I can't imagine how hard it would be to testify against your own child and I think it's amazing that he did that, and I don't think that he had any malice when he compared the victims to a relative. I do want to point out, though, that I find it interesting that some people can't sympathize with abused women until they picture a woman that they love in the situation. I think that that is kind of problematic. Not, I'm not saying he himself is, but I'm saying that concept. You know what I mean well, so.
Speaker 1So you have to have a certain amount of empathy right for people, people generally speaking. Like you know, after we've recorded I think we just recorded our 50th episode just recently and thank you for our listeners, for sticking with us.
Speaker 2Thanks guys.
Speaker 1But you know from recording these things with me, I will get so into a story, and if it involves, you know, a child or a woman, I'll often break into tears and have to stop, because it's sad, it's sad, it's sad, and if you don't have that sort of empathy or empathy in some capacity, maybe that's overly empathetic.
Speaker 2Yeah, we have to talk about what your star signs are.
Speaker 1My star signs, yeah it's probably your moon. Okay, that does that. We'll save that for lunch. But yeah, so I mean, if you don't have some level of empathy that suggests like a psychopathy or, you know, like a sociopath or psychopathic behavior, lack of empathy, that's one of the trigger signs.
Speaker 2Yeah, or if people are completely disconnected, what do they call it?
Speaker 1Oh, disassociative yeah.
Speaker 2They're having like a disassociation Very interesting. So I know the circumstances, extreme. But because it was his own child, but I think it's kind of like a good segue to discuss the issue. I feel like time and time again I hear the phrase like well, what if it was your sister? Or what if it was your mom? And it's like I don't understand why people are having a hard time sympathizing with abuse and murder victims. It's so strange to me. You know what I mean and I think we hear it a lot. Um, with sexual assault cases like imagine if that was your mom? But then the response can also be like more problematic than that.
Speaker 2You know, it's like my mom wouldn't be out that late, what my mom wouldn't wear, that crazy, crazy victim blaming, yes, so and I think it's like I think it's getting better, but I think it's still like really rampant, especially in the court, and it's just like like I just find it so irritating and like sexist, because it's like if someone steals your car, like they're not going to be like well, what were you wearing? Like um, you know. And no one's like well, we need to prove that they stole your car right. Like well, you could have just like agreed to give him your car, but then now you're just like taking it back. What?
Speaker 1yeah, why like?
Speaker 2people talk about that all the time too. I just think it's really strange.
Speaker 1Um believe victims, believe women, but also believe all victims of crimes it doesn't sound like this father was connected enough to have any idea like like, hopefully, as a parent, that you would see some signs right yeah, um, like and I don't know if this kid, like you'll notice that, like in sociopathic behavior, that there's like some trigger signs, like like a lack of empathy, there's like torturing or killing of small animals. Three, yeah, the big three.
Speaker 2It's what Killing animals Right Arson and bedwetting Right Right. So interesting. I don't understand the bedwetting right, right, so interesting, I don't understand the bedwetting right and interesting.
Speaker 1Both sociopaths and psychopaths have a lack of uh of empathy but that's the killing animals and arson.
Speaker 2That's true. You know what I mean. Like the killing animals, I think, is just like the scariest trigger sign.
Speaker 1That's just I mean, well, that's just a hop skip and a jump away from people. That's a little cavalier, that's a, that's really a close. You know, that's just a hop skipping, a jump away from people. That's a little cavalier, that's a, that's really a close. You know, that's just a short jump to, to, to people?
Speaker 2I think so too. I mean, like I know that like hunting is a thing and this and that, whatever. And some people like disassociate from animals, but still like, if you enjoy, like killing the act, it's kind of crazy, you know, right, like hunting is its own thing, but like I don't know, there's just something like up, up, close and personal killing an animal is very scary to me, like knives, like right right, there's a certain distance, like when you're like hunting deer, which you know is a gun unfortunately I've done and um and that sort of thing.
Speaker 1So there's a, there's a space there yeah um, but but yeah, up close and personal, especially the night that's, that's really really different I don't understand I think I think I've said this on the on the podcast before, but I went on my first deer hunt and, yeah, you saw bambi two weeks, two weeks later burst into tears.
Speaker 2I would too. That sounds so dramatic. And you were young, you were like six I know it's eight or nine.
Speaker 1Oh, eight or nine, but still that's you saw it in theaters, right in a theater, and I'm like oh my god, and you know, I mean I'm trying not to weep, you know, but but it wasn't working you were young enough that it just hit you. That's true. Listen I wasn't the only one crying Adults. Adults are crying when.
Speaker 2Bambi's mother, you know, gets spoiler alert when.
Speaker 1Bambi's mother is uh, it's like 50 or 60 years old.
Speaker 2I don't think that's a spoiler alert. Nice try, though, using the slang.
Speaker 1When, uh when Bambi's mother, you know, gets killed. You know, I think there were adults that were weeping in the, in the theaters. Was grandma, grandma, I don't remember.
Speaker 2I don't remember. I feel like she probably teared.
Speaker 1Oh yeah, she's pretty, yeah, but now my father, I don't know, I don't, I don't. I never saw the man cry.
Speaker 2That's crazy, wow, crazy, wow, um. So back to the story. While awaiting trial, wade did try to escape prison through his through the window of his cell. The guards found that he and his cellmate were able to remove the grate from the window. How, which is terrifying, I don't know, but I'm like, what like?
Speaker 1what was that thing where the guy just kind of moonwalked up the side of the wall and oh my gosh, what the hell that was like in a gym. Yeah, oh yeah, there's another one that escaped through the skylight in the gym.
Speaker 2It's craziness too so they were trying to break the glass, but they couldn't thank god thank god. Like what that is crazy. In j June of 2024, wade Wilson was found guilty by a jury of his peers. Nine to three. The jury recommended the death penalty for his heinous crimes. In August of 2024, this month we'll hear about his sentencing and the judge will decide if he gets life or death.
Speaker 1What state? Florida, florida, florida state, oh, florida, yeah, florida, florida, florida does have the death penalty.
Speaker 2Yeah, I imagine Wade also has a very intimidating appearance that I wanted to add. He has multiple face tattoos, which you know, some face tattoos. They're getting more normalized, like it depends on what it is but but the face tattoos are swastikas and around his mouth he has like a Joker style, like kind of smile that extends up past his. I'll show you a picture and you can describe it to the listeners. How about that?
Speaker 1Well, so I know that the history of the Joker. Unfortunately, nerd alert again. It was a cut, there were cuts on his face because he had been all, he had been splashed by acid or something like that. So the plastic surgeon didn't do a great job and that's why his smile is kind of slits on the side and they were geez, yeah, terrifying. Why would you get in the car with this dude?
Speaker 2I don't think he. I don't know if he had these tattoos before. These may be prison tattoos. Yeah, you know they get prison tattoos. Looks like he has 666 also on his. He's crazy. He looks terrifying.
Speaker 1Yeah the whole like zombie-esque kind of thing with the, with the stitching on the side of the face. You know, yeah, that's craziness super scary.
Speaker 2I would not let this dude in my car yeah, but no victim blaming. And also we don't know if he had those tattoos to begin with.
Speaker 1Well, you know, that's the terrifying part. There's no outward appearances like um a lot of times feeling right and a lot of times they're like there are certain physical characteristics of a serial killer which he is one, even if he killed just two people, he's a serial killer three or more well, I consider him a serial killer. Like you'll notice that they they stare and don't blink like unblinking, just kind of locked on predatory kind of look. They say that's a sign as well lack of blinking.
Speaker 2So scary. So a reporter named Caitlin Knapp from Fox started her own investigation into Wade's background and found quite a bit of alleged abuse that had not surfaced and found quite a bit of alleged abuse that had not surfaced. Wade had multiple girlfriends in his young adulthood somehow, and many of them claim that he physically and mentally abused them. One woman who dated wade back in 2019, only months before the murders, described her experience with him on tiktok, which is another cool like aspect of like social media like victims get to like in their own words, like describe what happened to them and like raise awareness without like having to go to court, you know, which I think you know definitely serves its purpose, but like if victims you'll find out more. Like why she didn't. But like if victims um are able to do that, I think it's like it raises awareness and I think it's good like for them to, like you know, take back their power and not be ashamed of that.
Speaker 1Right.
Survivor's Ordeal Leads to Murder
Speaker 2So she said they met online and he seemed charismatic and polite, so I'm guessing he didn't have the tattoos, but even if he did, who knows whatever. Um, they dated for a few months and their relation relationships started to change when he started using drugs. Uh, she said that he would volunteer to go to rehab, like he would be like yeah, I'm willing, I'll go, but then change his mind. Um, at one point they were arguing and when she got into the car they were driving, she was driving him to rehab, but when she got back into the car he choked her several times to the point where she was losing consciousness. Then he shoved her into the back of the car and sexually assaulted her. He, she said that he tied a shirt around her face and tied her hands and feet up with a garbage bag. Terrifying, Wow, and this is her boyfriend. Scary.
Speaker 2Um, she said that he untied her, drove some way, got out of the car, left the keys in the car and got into another car with an with way, got out of the car, left the keys in the car and got into another car with an with an unknown woman. Terrifying, she was traumatized and shocked and she drove home. She said that she didn't know what to do in the moment. She was in shock, um, and she thought about going to a gas station asking for help, but she didn't think anyone would believe her. I know it's so sad. Um, when she arrived home she told her mom and they called the police. So they went to a hospital and had a sexual assault kit done. She had bruises, cuts on her face, her body, marks everywhere. The police questioned Wade and obviously he denied it. Uh, the police then dropped the case due to lack of sufficient evidence.
Speaker 1Whoa, whoa, whoa. I know Cuts bruises On her face, face obviously signs of a struggle. Yeah, the the rape kit the rape kit, which is undeniable yes, I I think.
Speaker 2I wonder um, though, if it was taken. I I don't think it was taken as seriously because they were dating, which is so problematic. It is especially because she had all those signs of abuse right like.
Speaker 2You know what I mean? It's crazy. And no means no, absolutely absolutely. And I think that's like a big point and I think that's something that has kind of like turned with the. The turn of the century is, you know people understand that. You know that even if you're dating, if you're married, spousal rape is a thing. It's important to discuss that issue and make sure that you're checking in with your partner and stuff. Just because you're with someone doesn't mean you are owed their body.
Speaker 1True, true. I mean, I know some people have Some people well, and I don't want to get into this whole topic, but some people have safety words, right? Oh yeah, yeah, and I think that's important.
Speaker 2But that's discussed, it's consensual.
Speaker 1That's exactly right. That's the part.
Speaker 2And that's exactly right. We're talking about like kinks, like okay, like consensual is the whole point and there are ways to, like you know, do things whatever, but like it needs to all be discussed beforehand for sure and that's, that's the part that makes it, you know, just a sexual experience compared to like an assault.
Speaker 2Assault, yeah, I wonder, though I really I feel like if it had been random, like if they had been random strangers, the rape kit would have been sufficient evidence, and I think that's why they dropped it. But that's a problem, it's a huge problem, it's disgusting. Anyways, eight months later, wade would murder two women after that sexual assault of his girlfriend. Wow, it's frustrating how often we discuss the warning signs on this podcast.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2Things like previous abuse or sexual assaults in a perpetrator's past, and I just hope that as a society we can improve our response to sexual assaults and prevent more of these monsters from murdering innocent people. Right, and I hope he gets life without parole.
Speaker 1Well, I'm hoping for something else, but that's just.
Speaker 2Yeah, it's tough though with the death, death penalty, I just, I don't know, like it's not that, and here are my thoughts, like it's not that I think that he deserves to live, I don't right. But I think that the death penalty can be a really slippery slope, sure, and if we have, like, if we have, an extremely conservative government and you know, it starts not saying this is something that I foresee in the future, but like we start getting into gay people, like I don't know, it just scares me, like the thought that, like someone could murder you for a crime I think violent crimes. Yes, I can see it, I, I, but again, it's just, I think it's a really slippery slope like the death penalty.
Speaker 1Well, I mean so. So there are some people that are so dangerous, this guy being one of them. Yes, he must never be allowed to be near, he shouldn't be allowed to be near any humans. Honestly, honestly, yeah, ever again, and in that case, maybe the death penalty makes sense. But, yeah, it does. But you also have to like. I don't feel like some people say, well, they should have to serve life because they should be locked up in a cage. That's a little. They should be, you know, like, locked up in solitary for the rest of your life. That's a little. That's a little torturous as well. Now, it's true, but I still think that some people are so dangerous that they should never be let out or they should receive the death penalty. If you harm a child, in my estimation, no questions asked If you are a habitual pedophile rapist something like that, no problem.
Speaker 1I don't care what state you're in, I'm perfectly fine with that. If you're a serial rapist, no problem with that. And obviously if you're a serial killer, like this Gilgo Beach dude and things like that, oh gosh, no problem with any of that.
Speaker 2But then you get into when people go away, when they're innocent, and it's like oh, could you like? We've seen like cases not on this podcast, maybe I'll discuss one, maybe I'll discuss one but we've seen cases that the person goes away and they're convicted of a crime of murder typically, and then they are put to death and then later we find out that they were innocent.
Speaker 1True, but, like in this case, there's enough physical evidence. No, no, no, not in this case.
Speaker 2I'm talking about, like in other cases, older cases, when dna wasn't as like commonly used or wasn't even like around plus there was, there was a whole racial aspect to a lot of those absolutely, they were like you know, well, obviously this person couldn't done.
Speaker 1It must have been this guy, I mean that kind of thing. That's, that's, yeah, that's that's another reason.
Speaker 2exactly that's what I mean, yeah, especially with it's just. It's just, it's so sad. I don't know the death penalty is so tough for me, but that's the story of Wade Wilson Oof.
Speaker 1yes not the comic book character at all.
Speaker 2No, I don't know anything about the comic book character, but maybe just as bad.
Speaker 1True, it is the number one movie in the world right at the moment.
Speaker 2What? It is the number one movie in the world right at the moment. What, yeah, did it just come out? No, they did a new version.
Speaker 1Deadpool and Wolverine Interesting, yeah, yikes.
Speaker 2Follow the show on whatever streaming site you're listening on.
Speaker 1And remember. All of the source material will be available in the show notes.
Speaker 2And follow us on Instagram at what we Lose in the Shadows and let us know if you want to hear a specific case or if you just want to give us some feedback. Okay, join us in the shadows next Tuesday. Bye.
