Long before Wade Wilson became known nationwide as the so-called “ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Killer,” his name had already appeared in a Palm Beach County criminal investigation that would later become one of the most closely examined parts of his story. In February 2019, former girlfriend Kelly Matthews reported allegations of ᴀssault, kidnapping and rape to Palm Beach County authorities. According to later internal-affairs findings and reporting by local television station WPTV, Matthews described physical injuries and told investigators she wanted Wilson arrested. The case was ᴀssigned to Detective Louis Potter, who interviewed Wilson and collected his DNA. What happened next has become the subject of renewed scrutiny following the release of Netflix’s second season of Worst Ex Ever.

The investigation did not end with an arrest. According to records reviewed by The Palm Beach Post and later reported by WPTV, Potter closed the case 34 days after it was opened, before laboratory results concerning the DNA evidence had returned. His report reportedly cited the absence of witnesses, insufficient evidence to establish probable cause and Wilson’s denial of the allegations. The later internal review reached a different ᴀssessment of how the investigation had been handled, finding that the detective had not conducted a thorough Sєx-crimes investigation and had failed to follow established agency procedures.

The DNA issue became especially important in retrospect. WPTV reported that when laboratory results later came back, Wilson’s DNA was found in evidence ᴀssociated with the investigation, but the internal review concluded that Potter did not follow up on those results. Investigators also examined other evidence, including injuries described by Matthews and items collected from a vehicle. The internal report, according to WPTV, concluded that there were factors supporting probable cause and that the investigation should have received greater attention.

Months later, on Oct. 7, 2019, Wilson killed two women in Cape Coral, according to authorities. He was arrested the following day. In June 2024, a jury convicted him of murdering Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz, and he was sentenced to death. The connection between the earlier Palm Beach County investigation and the later murders has therefore become one of the most disturbing questions surrounding the case, although it is important to distinguish documented facts from hindsight: no report establishes that an arrest in the earlier case would definitely have prevented the later killings.

That distinction has become particularly important because the renewed attention is not simply about a television program. It is also about an official internal investigation conducted years after the original events. According to WPTV, the internal-affairs investigation concluded that Potter exercised poor discretionary judgment and did not follow established procedures. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said Potter was reᴀssigned to administrative duties and disciplined with a 120-hour unpaid suspension. He later decided to retire from the agency effective July 31, 2026.

Former Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg also offered a caution against judging every decision solely through the lens of what happened later. He said the case never reached his office in 2019 and noted that hindsight can change how earlier decisions appear. At the same time, he told WPTV that, had the matter been referred to prosecutors, his office would have examined the circumstances more closely. That tension — between hindsight and the responsibility to investigate evidence thoroughly at the time — sits at the center of the controversy.

The Netflix series has now brought the entire sequence to a much larger audience. Rather than presenting the Palm Beach County investigation as an isolated administrative dispute, the documentary places it in the timeline leading toward the murders that ultimately made Wilson internationally notorious. The result is a renewed public examination of what investigators knew, what evidence existed and what decisions were made before anyone could know what would happen months later.

The case also illustrates why criminal investigations are often judged not only by their final outcomes but by the procedures followed along the way. A decision that seemed limited to one investigation in early 2019 became dramatically more consequential after Wilson was arrested later that year. Years afterward, official records, interviews and documentary footage have allowed viewers to reconstruct those earlier moments and ask questions that were not fully visible at the time.

For Matthews, the renewed attention has carried a deeply personal dimension. WPTV reported that she said seeing the documentary gave her a sense that the story she had been trying to tell was finally receiving broad public attention. For the Sheriff’s Office, however, the official position remains that the detective’s conduct was reviewed, disciplinary action was taken and the matter was handled through the agency’s internal process.

What makes the story particularly compelling is therefore not a single unanswered mystery, but the sequence of documented events: an allegation, an investigation, evidence collection, a case closure before laboratory results were available, later internal findings, two murders months afterward, a capital conviction years later and, finally, a documentary that reopened public attention to every decision in between.

Source: https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/crime/2026/08/12/netflix-show-details-ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool-killer-failures-in-palm-beach-county/91147812007/