A Florida man who was awaiting execution for the horrific murder and rape of a 13-year-old girl has died by suicide in prison.
Matthew Caylor, 50, took his own life on Tuesday, despite being on death row.
It is unclear how Caylor died or why it wasn’t prevented by corrections officers.
State Attorney Larry Basford confirmed Caylor’s death, and said by committing suicide ‘he saved the taxpayers of Florida a lot of money,’ WTVY reported.
‘Matthew Caylor was a sexual predator that had violated his parole in Georgia and came down here for a last hurrah in Bay County. After a trial and numerous appeals, he knew he was facing the same inevitable fate as Kayle Bates.’
Bates, who abducted a woman from an insurance office and killed her more than four decades ago, died earlier this week by execution.
Caylor was found guilty of the murder and rape of Melinda Hinson in a Panama City motel room.
On July 8, 2013, Hinson, whose family was staying at the Valu-Lodge Motel, disappeared, Fox 13 reported.
Death row inmate Matthew Caylor, 50, died on Tuesday night in prison by suicide
It remains unclear how Caylor died or why it wasn’t prevented by corrections officers. Pictured: The crime scene in 2013 at Valu-Lodge Motel in Panama City, FL
Her body was discovered two days later stuffed under Caylor’s motel room bed.
Caylor had fled felony probation in Georgia for molesting a 14-year-old and was selling drugs from a room he was staying in at the motel, court documents obtained by the outlet stated.
Caylor raped Hinson (pictured) before choking her with a phone cord and hiding her body under his motel room bed
According to court documents, Caylor felt his accusations in Georgia were false so he would make it ‘worth it’ when Hinson knocked on his door.
He said that if he was ‘going to be in trouble for having sex with this girl being in my room, I might as well have sex with this girl.’
Caylor choked Hinson due to ‘hate and rage’ from his Georgia conviction and a ‘recent break-up,’ documents stated.
Hinson then rolled onto the floor, at which point Caylor unplugged the phone cord and strangled her with it, the outlet reported.
He lifted the mattress and stuffed her body and clothes under it before plugging the phone back in, document stated.
Caylor was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery involving great physical force, and aggravated child abuse in October 2009.
Caylor was convicted of first-degree murder, sexual battery involving great physical force, and aggravated child abuse in October 2009 for the murder of Melinda Hinson, 13
Hinson’s mother Rhonda McNallin wrote: ‘There is not a second, minute, or hour that goes by that I am not thinking about you and how much I would do or give to see your beautiful smiling face and put my arms around you.’ Pictured: A young Melinda Hinson
Caylor had fled felony probation in Georgia for molesting a 14-year-old and was selling drugs from a room he was staying in at the motel
WUFT reported that Hinson’s mother, Rhonda McNallin, said in a 2020 interview: ‘I wish [the motel] was burnt to the ground a long time ago.’
‘But it’s kind of sad in a way because that’s the last place she was on Earth breathing,’ she added.
Caylor had promised McNallin that he wouldn’t put Hinson’s family through a lengthy court process, yet McNallin died of cancer in 2021 which Caylor said relieved him of his promise, the outlet reported.
In 2020, McNallin wrote on Facebook: ‘There is not a second, minute, or hour that goes by that I am not thinking about you and how much I would do or give to see your beautiful smiling face and put my arms around you.
‘I miss you so much. Just like the song I played at your funeral “I CAN ONLY IMAGINE” I can only imagine how much a beautiful young lady you would have grown up to be today, I love u and miss you so much.’
Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each.
The state uses a three-drug cocktail for its lethal injection: a sedative, a paralytic and a drug that stops the heart, according to the state Department of Corrections.
Experts say the uptick in executions around the country can be traced to aggressive Republican governors and attorney generals pushing to get through lengthy appeals processes and get executions done.
Also, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on his first day back in office to urge prosecutors to seek the death penalty, which may have also fueled the increase, according to John Blume, the director of the Cornell Death Penalty Project.
