Mystery as death row inmate dies by suicide whilst awaiting execution for heinous crimes
Gerrard Kaonga
Featured Image Credit: Florida Department of Corrections
A 50-year-old man on death row took his own life earlier this week despite being in prison custody.
Matthew Caylor died by suicide in prison on August 19, despite already being on death row.
The manner in which he killed himself has not been revealed, and it is not clear why it was not prevented by correctional officers.
State Attorney Larry Basford confirmed Caylor's death when speaking to the media earlier this week and even added that he had ‘saved the taxpayers of Florida a lot of money’ by taking his own life.
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He added: “Matthew Caylor was a sexual predator who 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 was put to death in Florida on August 19 by lethal injection and marked the state’s 10th execution this year.
Caylor was on death row for the murder and rape of a 13-year-old girl, Melinda Hinson, in a Panama City motel room in 2013.
Hinson’s family was staying at the Valu-Lodge Motel, on July 8, 2013, when she disappeared. Her body was found only two days later, stuffed under Caylor’s motel bed.
Court documents state that at the time of the abduction, Caylor was selling drugs from the room, having fled felony probation in Georgia for molesting a 14-year-old child.
Most disturbingly, court documents reportedly detail Caylor’s motives.
He felt his accusations in Georgia were false, so he would make it ‘worth it’ when Hinson knocked on his door.
He added 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.’
He proceeded to choke Hinson due to his hate and rage from his Georgia conviction, according to the documents.
Hinson’s mother, Rhonda McNallin, has spoken about the anguish of losing her daughter during a 2020 interview.
She said: “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."
Writing on Facebook, she also spoke about the grief she felt.
In a post that same year, she said: “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.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741