A criminal investigation that was closed in Palm Beach County in March 2019 has resurfaced as a major point of scrutiny in the case of Wade Wilson — largely because of what happened just months later.

The earlier investigation began after Kelly Matthews reported Wilson to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. According to records later reviewed by investigators, Matthews accused Wilson of serious misconduct, including physical violence, threats and sexual assault.

Detective Louis Potter was assigned to the case. Investigators conducted interviews and collected a DNA sample from Wilson as part of the investigation.

But the case was closed approximately 34 days after it began — before the laboratory results from that DNA testing were reportedly available.

That decision later became a major focus of an internal review.

According to records cited in later reporting, investigators concluded that the investigation had not fully followed recommended procedures for a sexual-assault case and that additional follow-up should have occurred after DNA results were received. The review also examined whether further action should have been taken regarding allegations of dating violence.

Potter’s original report offered a different explanation for why the case was closed. He documented that there were no witnesses, that he believed there was not enough evidence to establish probable cause at the time, and that Wilson denied the allegations.

Those records have become especially significant because they show the difference between what investigators believed they could establish in 2019 and what later reviews concluded should have been pursued.

Then came October 7, 2019.

Authorities say Wilson killed two women in the Cape Coral and Fort Myers area: 35-year-old Kristine Melton and 43-year-old Diane Ruiz.

Wilson was arrested the following day.

The investigation that followed ultimately led to his conviction on multiple charges, including two counts of first-degree murder. In 2024, a judge sentenced him to death. His legal team has since challenged the death sentences, while the convictions themselves have not been the primary focus of the most prominent appeal discussed in later reporting.

Years later, the Palm Beach investigation has received renewed public attention through Netflix’s “Worst Ex Ever” and reporting based on investigative and internal-review records.

The story has raised difficult questions that go beyond one individual case:

How should sexual-assault allegations be handled when forensic testing is still pending?

What happens when an investigation is closed before potentially important laboratory evidence becomes available?

And how should investigators and the public evaluate decisions made years earlier when later events provide information that was not known at the time?

The timeline is what makes this case particularly striking:

An allegation.

An investigation.

A DNA sample.

A case closure.

A later laboratory result.

And, only months afterward, two murders that would change how the earlier investigation was viewed.

For Matthews, the events remain deeply personal. For investigators and legal observers, the case has become a broader examination of evidence, procedure and the difficult role of hindsight.

The records available today contain far more information than investigators had when the original decision was made in 2019. But the central questions remain tied to what evidence was available at each stage — and what actions were taken before the case was closed.

That unresolved chronology is one reason the Palm Beach investigation continues to draw attention years after the murders.