JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville man who promised to kill until the state killed him may get his wish.
A Bradford County grand jury indicted the so-called “Monster of Mayport” William Wells for first-degree murder Monday, and State Attorney Bill Cervone says he will seek the death penalty.
Convicted of the notorious mass murder of his wife and four others in his Mayport trailer in 2003, Wells was sentenced to five life sentences.
But his crimes continued behind bars. In 2008, he strangled and stabbed an inmate. That man survived, but a second inmate – stabbed and strangled in 2011 – did not.
Then, in July, Wells allegedly killed again. Billy Chapman, serving time for a burglary charge, was set to be released in October. Instead, his prison term became a death sentence.
Multiple prison guards tell First Coast News a video of the brutal attack was widely viewed by staff at the Florida State Prison in Raiford. They say Wells and inmate Leo Boatman pinned Chapman to a wall and beat and stabbed him until he died.
Cervone told First Coast News that given Wells’ extensive violent history and the fact that he has continued to kill behind bars, he sees no alternative to the death penalty.
“Sometimes there just is no other option,” Cervone told First Coast News. “This appears to be one of those times.”
Cervone will file the formal death penalty paperwork at Wells’ arraignment, which has not yet been scheduled.
“If you remove somebody from society because they have committed a crime like murder, and you put them in a prison setting, and they still continue to murder, I don’t know what other alternative can be left,” Cervone said.
Shortly before his arrest, Wells told First Coast News he was on a mission to get the death penalty.
In letters to the station since then, he promised to continue to kill until he got it.
Monday’s grand jury indictment follows a nearly four-month investigation by the Department of Corrections. DOC did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Criminal defense Attorney Curtis Falgatter, a former prosecutor, says the Department of Corrections failed to protect inmates from a known risk.
“Prison should not be a death sentence for other inmates,” he said.
According to DOC records, Billy Chapman is one of 15 deaths at Florida State Prison so far this year.