Key Art for 'Handsome Devil: Charming Killer', episode 3, season 1, streaming on Paramount+, 2026. PARAMOUNT+

A new documentary series detailing the story of a local man who murdered two women is set to air next week.

Paramount+ announced “Handsome Devil: Charming Killer,” will be a three-part docuseries on Southwest Florida murderer Wade Wilson. The first installment is set to air on Jan. 20.

Wilson, a Fort Myers man who was found guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of two Cape Coral women, Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz, in 2019, was sentenced to death in August of 2024.

Paramount+ officials state through police bodycam footage and chilling first-hand accounts from those closest to the case, the series explores how a man who committed these heinous crimes ended up with a devoted online following.

Director/Producers Brian Ross and Rhonda Schwartz said the idea for the series sprung from the trial’s airing.

Wade Wilson's 2019 arrest mugshot.

“We broadcast the trial on the Law & Crime network, and we started to notice huge interest on social media,” Ross said. “And as we dug into it deeper, we thought, ‘This is an amazing story.’

“Not only was the crime horrific –and they did a great job of local police and prosecutors going after him — but in the midst of this, once his mugshot was posted online, there were thousands of women who sort of became big fans of his, adored him. Women in the end were planning to have his baby, trying to get married to him, and there was a huge social media event. We thought this really speaks to what’s going on in our day and age, with the intersection of social media and criminal justice.”

Creators of the series state Wilson’s mugshot ignited an “online frenzy among people drawn to his “bad boy” bravado, surprising tattoos and seductive smile.”

Dubbed as the “Deadpool Killer” due to having the same name as the Marvel character,

Wilson became an object of fascination for online fans, creators stated, even as the details of his crimes grew more disturbing.

A courtroom photo of Wade Wilson. He was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to death.

Melton, 45, was found dead in her home on Oct. 7, 2019, the same day Ruiz, 43, was reported missing. On Oct. 12, 2019, Ruiz’s body was found in the area of Northwest 4th Avenue and Northwest 1st Street in Cape Coral.

According to the State Attorney’s Office, Melton was strangled to death by Wilson who attacked her as she slept in her bed. He then stole her car from her Cape Coral home and went to see his girlfriend and attacked her. She immediately contacted law enforcement.

Details from the SAO stated a short time later, Wilson saw Ruiz walking along a street in Cape Coral. He pulled over and lured her into the car as he asked for directions. He then beat and strangled her, eventually pushing her out of the car, and repeatedly ran her over.

Local law enforcement officials share their testimony in the docuseries, including State Attorney Amira Fox, prosecutors Sara Miller, Andreas Gardner and Rich Montecalvo. Lead detectives Patricia Fox and Nick Jones are also featured in the series.

Ross and Schwartz said the title of the three-part event, which drops all at once, plays into not only the appearance of Wilson, but how he used his looks and personality to commit these crimes.

“He used his charm, and he talked about it,” Ross said. “He used his charm to get his way to seduce women, and then ultimately, two of the women he had come across, he killed.”

Of Wilson’s online following, Ross and Schwartz said they were “stunned.”

“We talked to a number of the women who adored him, only later to learn the real details of what had done and abandon him,” Ross said. “We had the former girlfriend, Mila (Montanez), who very courageously came forward and talked about the fact that she was his girlfriend at one point. She thought they had a future, and then he tried to kill her in this murdering spree that took place in Cape Coral.”

Wilson’s following was so polarizing, a group of women he spoke to while in jail were dubbed “Wade’s wives.”

Ross and Schultz speak to one of the “wives,” Alexis Williams, who told them she was at first charmed by their phone conversations, and at one point was going to marry Wilson.

“(Things) changed when she began to hear some of the testimony at his trial, particularly the testimony of the son of Diane Ruiz. After she saw that, she said she was through with Wade Wilson.”

While the docuseries is focused on Wilson and his actions, Schultz said the program is also a story of the women involved in his life, and those that face similar circumstances with an abusive partner.

“This in many respects is a women’s story,” she said. “So many women, I think, have experienced that here’s, you know, the handsome guy with the charming eyes. He was described as somebody who would open the door, bring you flowers — and then to find out that there’s a murderous rage behind that.

“So many of the social media fans, of course, are only feeding off what they saw in the courtroom and what their imagining. So there were many layers to this. The women who spoke to us, this was several years ago that this happened in their lives, and they took some time. They have some perspective and insights, and they decided very courageously to share that with us. We have great respect for the victims in this case, who really just met Wade Wilson by chance. There were a lot of different layers that we wanted to examine here.”

Ross said the series also highlights the police work done by local law enforcement, as they worked to identify Wilson, track him down, and then prosecute.

“But for us, it was interesting that this intersection of social media and criminal justice and the effect it had on the trial and on the pursuit of truth and justice here,” Ross said. “Amazingly, as Wilson was in the county jail there, he had all these phone calls and video calls, all recorded by the sheriff’s office and provided to us under a Freedom of Information Act, that really reveals the true character of this killer.”

As for what stood out to the creators while going over the calls and video logs, a word that has been used often to describe Wilson and one that’s in the title of the series: charm.

“He’s a charmer, and he knows he’s a charmer,” Ross said. “He knows he’s handsome, and he talks in one of the interviews with detectives about how he uses his charm to get his way with women or anybody else. Whatever happened to him that night, when he began his murder spree, we don’t know. He claims it was drugs, but he was a charmer, and, you know, the charm is not character, we learned. He’s an evil man and a cold-blooded killer.”

The series takes viewers through varying points in the case, starting with the murders and attempted murder of Montanez. They then take the story to the social media sensation that Wilson became, talking to those that, like others, fell under his spell, before unfolding the trial and sentencing.

The creators also pay close attention to those who were hurt the most across each hour of programming.

“One of the focuses that is important is to talk about the victims,” Ross said. “There was such pain that he caused to the families of the two women he killed, and to the community. That puts in sharp contrast to these women who somehow thought he was a handsome guy that they wanted to fall in love with.”

Ross and Schultz said cases like these, a wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing type of case, happen all across the country. It hits different for law enforcement when it happens in their own backyard, and maybe not quite as hard as Wilson’s case did.

“I think local law enforcement told us working on this, that this was the first time they had seen this kind of outpouring of reaction,” Schultz said. “Even the phones were ringing off the hook at the prosecutor’s office and the cops. They had never seen this kind of social media reaction.

“And you know, whether we have crossed a line in this social media atmosphere, there was something about this guy that translated through the media that made this one different.”

Ross added, “There are people around the world who took up his cause, and there, of course, are some people who, you know, were supporting him because they were opponents of the death penalty. And I understand that. But overall, there were so many ‘wives,’ there were people who wanted to be his wives, they came to be called ‘Wade’s Wives’ by prosecutors and police and people online.”

Schultz said she hopes the series can serve as a beacon of courage for women to hear these testimonies from these women to know they’re not alone.

“That’s one reason why the women spoke with us after really biding their time and thinking about it,” she said. “They agreed to speak because they hoped in sharing their stories that other women, and anyone who’s on the dating scene, really would listen.

“At one point, Mila said something very chilling to me, but I think it gives you a sense of it. She said, ‘You know, I fell in love with those beautiful dark eyes, those eyes. But later, it was those eyes I realized were gonna try to kill me.’ That flip of the personality and the instinct to listen to your radar is something important that they wanted to get across.”

“Handsome Devil: Charming Killer,” is written by Ross, who also serves as producer and director with Schwartz for Law & Crime Productions. Dan Abrams, Rachel Stockman and Melody Shafir are executive producers. For See It Now Studios, Susan Zirinsky and Terence Wrong are Executive Producers and Aysu Saliba and Cara Tortora are Supervising Producers. The docuseries is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution outside of Paramount+ markets.

For more information, visit paramount.com.