Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide, which some readers may find distressing
A 50-year-old inmate on death row ended his life earlier this week despite being under prison supervision.
Matthew Caylor died by suicide in prison on August 19, while already serving a death sentence.
The exact method of his suicide has not been disclosed, and it remains unclear why correctional officers were unable to prevent it.
State Attorney Larry Basford confirmed Caylor’s death while speaking to the media and remarked that Caylor had ‘saved the taxpayers of Florida a lot of money’ by ending his own life.
Basford further commented: “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 executed in Florida on August 19 via lethal injection, marking the state’s 10th execution this year.
Caylor had been sentenced to death for the 2013 murder and rape of a 13-year-old girl, Melinda Hinson, in a Panama City motel room.
Hinson’s family was staying at the Valu-Lodge Motel on July 8, 2013, when she went missing. Her body was discovered two days later, hidden under Caylor’s motel bed.
Court documents reveal that during the time of her disappearance, Caylor was dealing drugs from the motel room, having escaped felony probation in Georgia for molesting a 14-year-old child.
Alarmingly, court documents reportedly provide insight into Caylor’s motives.
Believing the accusations against him in Georgia were unfounded, he decided he would make his actions ‘worth it’ when Hinson knocked on his door.
He stated that since 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 subsequently choked Hinson out of hatred and anger stemming from his conviction in Georgia, according to the documents.
In a 2020 interview, Hinson’s mother, Rhonda McNallin, spoke about the pain of losing her daughter.
She stated: “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.”
In a Facebook post that same year, she expressed her ongoing grief and longing.
She 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.
“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 experiencing a mental health crisis, support is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.