A police case involving Wade Wilson took an unexpected turn after DNA evidence reportedly came back after investigators had already closed the file.

According to reporting from WFLX/WPTV, DNA evidence had been collected during an investigation involving allegations made by Kelly Matthews. Detective Louis Potter closed the case just 34 days later — before the laboratory results were returned.

When those results eventually came back, Wilson’s DNA was reportedly identified in the evidence.

But according to a later internal affairs review, the result did not lead to additional investigative action at the time.

🚨 THE EVIDENCE ARRIVED TOO LATE

Matthews had reported serious allegations against Wilson and described injuries she said resulted from the encounter.

Investigators collected evidence connected to the case, including evidence from a vehicle associated with the investigation.

The subsequent internal review reportedly concluded that Matthews’ account was supported by physical evidence and that additional investigative steps should have been taken.

The review also found that Potter failed to pursue an arrest for dating violence and did not conduct what investigators considered a sufficiently thorough sex-crimes investigation.

Yet there was another side to the case.

Wilson denied the allegations, and an arrest could not simply be based on an accusation. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office has emphasized that detectives must establish probable cause before referring a case for prosecution.

That tension — between the evidence investigators had, the evidence that arrived later, and the decisions made before those results were available — is at the center of the controversy.

🧬 THEN THE DNA RESULT CHANGED THE TIMELINE

The significance of the evidence became even more complicated because of what happened afterward.

Wilson was later convicted in the deaths of Kristine Melton and Diane Ruiz and sentenced to death in 2024.

Those later convictions have caused renewed scrutiny of the earlier Palm Beach County investigation, particularly because the investigation involving Matthews occurred before the murders.

But looking backward can create difficult questions of its own.

The later crimes do not, by themselves, establish what investigators could have known or predicted at the time of the earlier investigation.

Instead, the controversy centers on whether the original investigation was handled appropriately based on the information and evidence available then.

⚖️ WHAT DID THE INTERNAL REVIEW FIND?

The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office later conducted an internal investigation into Potter’s handling of the case.

According to the review, Potter exercised poor discretionary judgment and failed to follow established procedures.

He was reportedly suspended without pay for 120 hours and reassigned to administrative duties before eventually retiring.

The department has maintained that the disciplinary and internal-review process addressed the concerns surrounding the investigation.

🎬 NETFLIX BROUGHT THE STORY BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT

The controversy has received renewed public attention following Netflix’s “Worst Ex Ever.”

The second season includes an episode titled “Dating the Deadpool Killer,” which revisits Matthews’ relationship with Wilson and the events surrounding the investigation.

The series uses survivor accounts, police interviews, body-camera footage and reenactments to examine cases involving dangerous relationships.

For viewers discovering the story for the first time, the most striking detail may not simply be what happened years later.

It may be the timeline.

Evidence was collected.
The case was closed.
Then the laboratory results came back.

And according to the later internal review, those results were not followed up on.

🔎 THE QUESTION THAT STILL LINGERS

The case now sits at the intersection of evidence, police procedure and hindsight.

The DNA result became known only after the investigation had already been closed. Years later, after Wilson was convicted in two separate killings, that earlier investigative file received renewed scrutiny.

But the chronology matters.

The later convictions cannot automatically determine what should have happened in the earlier case, just as the DNA result alone does not establish every disputed allegation surrounding the investigation.

What the record does show is that the evidence arrived after the case was closed — and the failure to follow up on that evidence became a major issue in the later internal review.

That single detail has now become one of the most closely examined parts of the Wade Wilson story.