William Wells | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 7, 1975 [1] Florida, U.S. |
| Convictions | First-degree murder (x7) [a] Attempted murder [b] Constructive possession of Contraband |
| Criminal penalty |
|
| Details | |
| Victims | 7 dead, 1 alive |
| Date | May 12, 2003 – July 5, 2019 |
| Location | Florida |
| Imprisoned at | Union Correctional Institution [1] |
William Edward Wells III (born October 7, 1975), dubbed the Monster of Mayport, is an American serial killer and mass murderer convicted of murdering seven people in Florida from 2003 to 2019. Wells first committed the 2003 murders of his wife and four other people (including his father-in-law and brother-in-law) over an 11-day period in Mayport. Wells pleaded guilty to all the five murders and was sentenced to five consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. [2]
During his incarceration, Wells attempted to kill an inmate in 2008, and committed two murders of his fellow prisoners in prison, one in 2011 and another in 2019. For the 2008 attempted murder and 2011 murder of Xavier Rodriguez, Wells was handed an additional two terms of life imprisonment, while for the 2019 case, Wells and another prisoner were both sentenced to death for the murder of convicted burglar William Chapman. Wells is currently on death row awaiting execution, for which a date has yet to be scheduled. [3]
Between May 12, 2003, and May 23, 2003, William Edward Wells III, then 27 years old, committed the murders of five people, including his wife, father-in-law and brother-in-law, all at his home over an 11-day period in Mayport, Florida.
Wells first killed his wife, 30-year-old Irene Wells, although he claimed that he did so accidentally by firing a gun at her head, under the mistaken belief that it was unloaded. Three days after Irene was killed, her 32-year-old brother John McMains came to the Wells family home, only to find his sister dead and he thus flew into a rage, and Wells shot him three times. Bill McMains, the 60-year-old father of Irene, came around the same day as his son, and he was similarly shot to death by Wells after finding his son and daughter dead, and Wells covered his body with dirty clothes and sealed the room with tape. [4] [5]
After the murders of his three family members, Wells would further kill two of his acquaintances. One of them was 39-year-old Richard Reese, who allegedly had an affair with Wells's wife (based on Wells's confession). Reese was reportedly called to come over to Wells's house, after Wells said he wanted to discuss with him over his wife's relationship with Reese over some marijuana. The fifth and final murder took place on May 23, 2003, when Wells killed 20-year-old James Young, who came to his house to deliver cocaine. Coincidentally, the date of Young's murder was his 20th birthday. [6]
After the murders, Wells's father-in-law was reported missing to the police. The police were called to the house of Wells, where he held his son hostage while in a standoff with police for 12 hours, before he finally surrendered shortly after midnight on May 25, 2003. [7] [8] Wells was taken to the hospital after he told police he had taken an overdose of prescription drugs. [9]
After Wells's arrest, it was reported that Wells had called a newspaper and confessed to the killings, claiming that his wife's death was an accident and it incidentally led to the other four murders. In the phone call, Wells claimed he was willing to plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter for his wife's death and first-degree murder for the other four homicides, and he hoped to be sentenced to death and ultimately executed. [10] [11]
After his arrest, William Wells was charged with five counts of murder. [12] [13]
Originally, before his trial was set to commence, Wells requested for permission to fire his lawyers and he hoped to be executed after pleading guilty. Eventually, on October 31, 2003, Wells changed his mind and decided to keep his lawyers. [14] [15]
On September 30, 2004, Wells pleaded guilty to all five counts of first-degree murder pertaining to the 2003 Mayport murders. [16] As a result of the guilty plea, the death penalty was taken off the table and Circuit Judge Henry Davis sentenced Wells to five consecutive terms of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. [17] [18]
On May 17, 2011, eight years after he committed the 2003 Mayport murders, William Wells killed a fellow prisoner while serving his sentence.
At the Florida State Prison, Wells and another prisoner, Wayne C. Doty [c] , attacked a fellow inmate named Xavier Rodriguez, who allegedly stole cigarettes from Doty and even insulted him by calling him names. After obtaining a homemade knife from another inmate, both Doty and Wells attacked Rodriguez and they stabbed and strangled Rodriguez to death. [19] [20]
After the killing, Doty and Wells were both charged with the murder of Rodriguez. This was not the first time Wells attacked a fellow prisoner during his imprisonment. Back in 2008, Wells nearly killed another inmate (whose identity remains unknown) while he was imprisoned at the Everglades Correctional Institution in Miami-Dade. As a result of the incident, Wells was found guilty of attempted murder and sentenced to a sixth life term. [1] [21] [22]
On August 25, 2011, a Bradford County grand jury formally indicted both Doty and Wells for the first-degree murder of Rodriguez, and they faced the possibility of a death sentence as a result of the indictment, with State Attorney Bill Cervone announcing that he considered seeking it for the pair. [23] [24]
Wells stood trial in 2017, and was found guilty of first-degree murder by a Bradford County jury. On October 4, 2017, Wells was sentenced to life without parole a seventh time after the same jury recommended life in prison. [20] [1]
Doty was convicted of Rodriguez's murder and sentenced to death, and he reportedly requested to be executed by the electric chair, for which its use was discontinued since 1999 due to the botched execution of Allen Lee Davis. [25] [26]
Eight years after he killed Xavier Rodriguez, William Wells committed another murder of a fellow prisoner at Florida State Prison.
On May 3, 2019, Wells and another prisoner, convicted serial killer Leo Boatman, attacked a 32-year-old inmate named William Chapman, which they plotted to commit since the previous month. Wells believed that Chapman wanted to recruit him for sexual favours. [27] At the time of the attack, Chapman was serving a jail term for burglary and was slated to be released in October 2019. [28] Boatman, like Wells, was convicted of multiple murders before killing Chapman including one in prison. In 2007, he was sentenced to life without parole for the murders of Amber Peck and John Parker, who were killed by an AK-47 in the Ocala National Forest the year before. [29] While in prison, he killed fellow Ricky Morris in 2010. He was convicted of third degree murder for his death three years later and was given an additional 15 years. [30] At the time of the prison killing, Morris had been serving a life sentence for murdering his parents in 2008. [31] [32]
Shortly before the assault, Wells, Boatman, Chapman and several other inmates were taken to the dayroom, before both Boatman and Wells went into the bathroom one after the other, and later lured Chapman into a corner of the dayroom, which happened to be the blind spot of the room's CCTV camera. Upon doing so, Wells took out a concealed ligature from his clothes and began to strangle Chapman while Boatman started to beat up Chapman. Subsequently, Boatman would block the door to prevent corrections officers from entering the dayroom, while Wells continued to stab and beat Chapman. [27] [33]
During the stabbing and assault, Chapman managed to use his fingers to force the door open a little, but the correction officers could not open the door fully to enter, and despite throwing in a chemical agent, both Boatman and Wells persisted in the assault and were not affected by the agent. The entire duration of the attack lasted about 12 minutes, and the correction officers subdued the pair while they also brought the mortally wounded Chapman to a hospital. Chapman did not respond to the medical treatment and died shortly after. [27]
On November 4, 2019, a Bradford County grand jury indicted both Wells and Boatman for the murder of Chapman. [34] State Attorney Bill Cervone announced that he would seek the death penalty for Wells and Boatman, stating that the murder itself was "brutal, exceedingly brutal". [35] [36]
On December 3, 2019, a court order was issued to evaluate if Wells was mentally competent to stand trial. [37]
On February 26, 2020, Wells pleaded guilty to the first-degree murder of Chapman. Wells also sought and later granted permission to dismiss his lawyer and represent himself in court. [38] [39]
On May 25, 2021, Wells was sentenced to death by Judge Mark W. Moseley, who remarked that the aggravating circumstances in the case far outweighed the mitigating factors. [40] [41]
Leo Boatman was similarly sentenced to death in 2022 for his role in the murder of Chapman. [42] [43] He is currently incarcerated on death row at the Union Correctional Institution. [44]
On April 13, 2023, the Florida Supreme Court denied William Wells's appeal against his death sentence. [45] [27]
As of 2025 [update] , Wells is incarcerated on death row at the Union Correctional Institution. [1]