For years, the public story surrounding Wade Wilson centered primarily on the two women he was convicted of killing in Cape Coral. Now, renewed attention has shifted the timeline backward — to a Palm Beach County investigation involving Wilson’s former girlfriend and a detective whose handling of the case later became the subject of an internal review.

In February 2019, Kelly Matthews went to law enforcement and reported that Wilson had ᴀssaulted, kidnapped and raped her, according to WPTV’s reporting. Matthews described injuries she said resulted from the incident and later told the station that she wanted investigators to arrest Wilson. Detective Louis Potter handled the investigation. He interviewed Wilson and obtained a DNA sample.

The investigation ultimately ended without Wilson being arrested in connection with those allegations. According to the Palm Beach Post report and later WPTV coverage, Potter closed the case after 34 days, before the laboratory results from the DNA collection had been returned. His report stated that there were no witnesses, that evidence was insufficient to establish probable cause and that Wilson denied the allegations.

Years later, an internal-affairs investigation revisited that decision. According to WPTV, investigators concluded that Potter had failed to conduct a thorough Sєx-crimes investigation. They also found that he had closed the case before reviewing the DNA results and did not follow up when those results later showed Wilson’s DNA in evidence related to the investigation. The internal review also considered physical evidence and Matthews’ reported injuries.

The difference between the original ᴀssessment and the later review is one of the most important elements of the story. The original investigation concluded that there was not enough evidence to establish probable cause. The later internal investigation concluded that substantial evidence existed that warranted greater investigative attention. These are not merely two versions of the same event; they reflect different ᴀssessments made at different points in time.

The State Attorney’s Office provides another important piece of context. Former State Attorney Dave Aronberg told WPTV that the case did not reach his office in 2019. He said prosecutors would have looked at the circumstances had the matter been referred, while also warning against judging the original decision entirely through hindsight.

Then came October.

According to authorities, Wilson murdered Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz in Cape Coral on Oct. 7, 2019. He was arrested the next day. Nearly five years later, in June 2024, a jury convicted him of both murders and he received a death sentence. The chronology is now impossible to separate from the Palm Beach County investigation, even though the available reporting does not establish that an earlier arrest would necessarily have prevented the later crimes.

The internal review eventually resulted in disciplinary action against Potter. WPTV reported that PBSO found he had exercised poor discretionary judgment and failed to follow established procedures. He was suspended without pay for 120 hours and reᴀssigned to administrative duties. He later retired from the agency on July 31, 2026.

The renewed public interest intensified after Netflix’s Worst Ex Ever included Wilson’s story in its second season. The documentary has placed the earlier Palm Beach County investigation before a national audience and brought renewed attention to interrogation footage that many viewers had never seen.

For Matthews, the documentary also changed the public visibility of her allegations. She told WPTV that she had not previously known what Potter had said during his interrogation of Wilson. Her comments illustrate another dimension of the controversy: the difference between what investigators, victims and the public knew at various points in the timeline.

PBSO has not announced that Potter would face further employment consequences as a result of the documentary’s renewed attention. The agency said its internal process had already resulted in discipline and that Potter’s retirement was effective at the end of July.

The case therefore raises a broader question about investigative responsibility without requiring a simple answer: how should law enforcement decisions be evaluated when later events dramatically change the context in which those decisions are viewed?

The official record supplies several concrete facts. A complaint was made. Evidence was collected. A DNA sample was obtained. The investigation was closed before the laboratory results arrived. The results later identified Wilson’s DNA in evidence. An internal investigation subsequently criticized the handling of the case. Months after the original complaint, Wilson killed two women. Years afterward, he was convicted and sentenced to death.

Everything else requires careful distinction between evidence, official findings and hindsight.

That distinction may be the most important part of the story now that millions of viewers are encountering it through television. The documentary can reopen questions, but the underlying record is what allows those questions to be examined.

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