Did Matthew Lee Caylor kill Melinda Denise Hinson?

[Jaded]

PANAMA CITY - Guests and permanent residents of the Panama City Valu-Lodge stood in the oppressive heat Thursday watching detectives walk in and out of hotel rooms as they tried to piece together the killing of 13-year-old Melinda Denise Hinson.

The hotel's housekeeping staff found Hinson's body shortly after noon Thursday. Investigators said the medical examiner's office will determine how she was killed and declined to talk about where the body was found.

The killer, investigators said Thursday night, already could be in the Bay County Jail on unrelated charges.

"At this point I can only tell you that we have several persons of interest," said Capt. Robert Colbert of the Panama City Police Department.

One of those is Matthew Lee Caylor, 33, a registered sex offender from Georgia, Colbert said. The Bay County Sheriff's Office arrested Caylor on Wednesday and charged him with home invasion robbery, two counts of aggravated assault, two counts of false imprisonment, fugitive from justice, failure to register as a sex offender, fleeing and attempting to elude, and felony driving with license suspended or revoked.

Caylor, who is being held in the Bay CountyJail on a $115,000 bond, is accused of attacking and attempting to rob two women in a beach condominium.

Investigators said Thursday that Caylor, 1569 Wynfield Court, Auburn, Ga., had been staying at the Valu-Lodge since June 28.

Hinson was living at the hotel with her parents. She was reported missing at 6 p.m. Tuesday after failing to show up at a family friend's room to walk the friend's dog.

Panama City officials said they arrived shortly after 7 p.m. and began an investigation into the disappearance. Detectives searched the area and contacted other law enforcement agencies about the missing girl, Colbert said.

At 1 a.m. Thursday, they issued a news release declaring Hinson a missing person. Colbert said the timing was so morning television news programs would have it before going live at 5 a.m.

Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators arrested Caylor after one of the alleged victims of the condominium incident called Caylor and convinced him to meet her at a local supermarket, according to the Sheriff's Office incident report. When deputies attempted to arrest him, Caylor reportedly fled in a blue Pontiac Grand Prix and was pursued him westbound on Front Beach Road.

Deputies used spike strips to disable the car and arrested him.

"In light of this new information, we are actively and aggressively trying to find out everything we can about him," said Capt. Jimmy Stanford of the Bay County Sheriff's Office. "We want to be sure there are no other victims ... between Georgia and Panama City."

After he was arrested, Caylor cooperated with Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators about the home invasion, Stanford said. He told them he needed money to pay off a drug debt and that he had moved into the Valu-Lodge on June 28.

Stanford said Caylor was convicted of child molestation in Pickens County in 1999 and was classified as a sex offender then. He had been arrested on several other felony and misdemeanor crimes, about one each year, for nearly a decade, Stanford added. Those crimes included aggravated battery, failure to appear, theft, hit and run and making terrorist threats.

Another person of interest, a truck driver named Vince Wallace, whose age and address were not released Thursday, has been cleared, Colbert said. Wallace checked into the room where Hinson was found at 12:30 a.m. Thursday. According to investigators he went to sleep, checked out the next morning and never knew that Hinson's body was in the room.

Witnesses to the maid's reaction said she reported finding the girl under a bed in the room. Investigators did not confirm that, however.

Matthew Caylor


http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/hinson_9370___article.html/caylor_thursday.html

 

[SNOOKIE]

sick mother fucker:rant:

 

[Unamused Cat]

Mathew Caylor, sex offender, kills a girl

...

 

[Jaded]

I posted this one earlier today....
But thanks for the info that he confessed.
Asshole....

http://www.dreamindemon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6235

 

[Unamused Cat]

Odd, i did several searches. Ah, I see... didn't use his middle name in the search. It is all running together now. argh...

 

[Jaded]

This guy should have never been unleashed on the public.

No...with a record like his, he should have been taken out.

 

[Jaded]

She was raped and strangled.....

A 13-year-old girl found dead in a Valu-Lodge hotel room this week was raped and then strangled, according to the probable cause affidavit filed by the Panama City Police Department.

Matthew Lee Caylor, 33, a registered sex offender from Georgia, told Detective Melanie Law that he had "vaginal sexual intercourse" with Melinda Denise Hinson between 6 and 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 140.

He told Law he put his hands around Hinson's throat and choked Melinda while she struggled and attempted to get away. Caylor then grabbed a telephone cord and wrapped it around Melinda's neck and strangled her to death, according to Law's report, filed at the Bay County Jail.

After she was dead, Caylor pushed Melinda's body under the bed "and placed the bed frame on her head," Law wrote.

Melinda's body went undetected from 7 p.m. Tuesday night until housekeeping found her about noon Thursday.

Two hours before he killed Hinson, Caylor attacked two women at a Panama City Beach condominium, investigators said. The women fought Caylor off and screamed for help, forcing him to flee the area.


At 6 p.m. that same day, Hinson went missing. Panama City police officials said they were notified of Hinson's disappearance shortly after 8 p.m. and arrived within minutes.

http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/caylor_9422___article.html/hinson_melinda.html

 

[mo.armymom]

That truck driver has to be freaked out, by the fact that there was a dead child under his bed while he slept. OMG!!! note to self: make Mr mom check under the bed, anytime we stay at a motel, from now on.

The last time we stayed at a motel was when we went to see my son off to Iraq. There were some unsavory men staying in 2 rooms next to us. Anytime my daughter or myself had to go to the car or the lobby, my son went out and kept his eye on us. My dd is 26, and she was not out walking around by herself. I'm not trying to blame her parents, but I would not have let her go out by herself.

 

[Nell]

This is so sad I can't even make a joke about the movie "Four Rooms" like I want to. But if you know the movie you know what I mean.

 

[mo.armymom]

This is so sad I can't even make a joke about the movie "Four Rooms" like I want to. But if you know the movie you know what I mean.

I've never heard of that one.

 

[w8ng4msrgt]

[ame="http://youtube.com/watch?v=RaxWds4CQH0"]A trailer[/ame]

 

[SoUncool]

Suspect charged in girl's rape, slaying (UPDATED)

http://www.newsherald.com/news/abuse_66997___article.html/jury_battery.html

PANAMA CITY — Grand jurors on Thursday afternoon indicted Matthew Lee Caylor of first-degree murder in the rape and killing of a 13-year-old girl.

Jurors heard testimony most of the day before indicting Caylor, 33, of Auburn, Ga., in the death of Melinda Denise Hinson on July 8 at the Valu-Lodge motel in Panama City. The indictment charges him with first-degree premeditated and felony murder, sexual battery with great bodily force and aggravated child abuse.

Caylor, whose case originally was assigned to Circuit Judge Michael Overstreet's court, probably will be arraigned before Circuit Judge Dedee Costello sometime next month. The four circuit judges in Bay County rotate the capital murder cases between them, and Costello is next on the list. (Lucky Judge Dedee Costello huh?)

Caylor has a lengthy criminal history as well as pending criminal charges from an unrelated incident. He was convicted of child molestation in Pickens County, Ga., in 1999 and was classified as a sex offender. He has been arrested for aggravated battery, theft, hit and run and making terrorist threats.

He's accused of attacking two women at a Panama City Beach condominium the afternoon of July 8. The women said they fought Caylor off and their screams ran him off. Caylor was arrested when one of the women, working with authorities, agreed to arrange a meeting with him at a Panama City Beach supermarket.

Investigators said Caylor confessed to attempting to rob the women to pay off a drug debt.

 

[MadeaBecBec]

New trial date set

BAY CO., FL - NEWS 25 has learned a trial date has been set for a man accused of killing a 13-year-old Henderson girl in a Florida motel.

The Bay County Prosecutor's office confirmed to us that Matthew Caylor's trial is scheduled for October 26th. Caylor is accused of killing Melinda Hinson, 13, last year. The prosecutor's office also told us they will be pursuing the death penalty.

http://www.news25.us/Global/story.asp?S=10665346

I'll be watching.....(Posted on FP : http://www.dreamindemon.com/2008/07/14/matthew-caylor-raped-strangled-melinda-hinson/ )

 

[Bay]

Jury Selection begins Monday:

Bay County, Fla:
The man accused of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl last July is ready to go to trial Monday.

Melinda Hinson was killed at the Value Lodge motel on 15th Street. Her body was found two days later.

Public defender Walter Smith and prosecutor Larry Basford said Wednesday in court that they are ready to present the case for and against Matthew Caylor, 33.

He faces the death penalty for charges of first degree murder, sexual battery with great physical force, and aggravated child abuse. He was also a registered sex offender in Georgia.

Police say he has confessed to the crime. Coincidentally trial will fall one day after Melinda’s birthday.

Jury selection begins Monday. Basford says the state should wrap up their case on Wednesday.

http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/teen_murder_trial_begins_monday/mbb7719479/

 

[Dakota]

Matthew Caylor Guilty On All Counts

Jurors ... convicted Matthew Caylor of 1st degree premeditated murder.

Hinson's family members were in tears when the verdict was read. Caylor was also found guilty of sexual battery causing great bodily harm and aggravated child abuse.

During this entire trial, both sides agreed Caylor killed 13-year-old Melinda Hinson at the Value-Lodge motel back on July 8th, 2008.

Caylor confessed to police that he first strangled Hinson with his hands then used a 15-foot long telephone cord. He then stuffed her body under a bed a fled the scene.
[...]

During closing remarks Thursday, prosecutor Larry Bedford hammered in the point Caylor planned to kill Hinson.

"She did not attack him. There was no need to kill him. I don't care if he was mad at the world like he may have claimed in his statement. That doesn't justify him taking the life of Melinda Hinson. This is not second degree murder," Basford said.

All this pent-up rage and anger, bitterness surfaced that day. This is the very essence of what the law defines as a depraved mind," Walter Smith, Caylor's Public Defender said.

We tried to get reaction from the Hinson family, but they told us they are going to wait until after the penalty phase. They aren't going to have to wait long. That trial begins tomorrow morning at nine.

At that time, the jury could recommend the death penalty.

http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/67390412.html

 

[Dakota]

A Panhandle jury is recommending to a judge that a registered sex offender be put to death for raping and killing a 13-year-old girl.

The jurors voted 8 to 4 Friday afternoon in favor of death for Matthew Caylor after convicting him on Thursday of killing Melinda Hinson. The girl's body was discovered by a maid in July 2008 at a Panama City motel where she was living with her family. Caylor confessed to killing her in a videotaped statement played for jurors.

Earlier Friday, Caylor's attorney tried to persuade jurors to let him die in prison while serving a life term. Jurors listened to Caylor's mother who said she and her husband were frequent drug users and that he grew up in a violent and drug-filled home.

The judge will make the final decision.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/story/1307173.html

 

[Dakota]

Melinda Hinson’s mother, Rhonda McNallin, wouldn’t look in Matthew Caylor’s direction, even as she answered questions Wednesday from his attorney.

“I can’t forgive him right now,” McNallin said. “No words can describe the loss I feel.”
[...]

On Wednesday, Circuit Judge Dedee Costello heard from Hinson’s family and Caylor in the second phase of the death penalty process. Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 11.

Caylor took the stand and “filled in the details” of the events that led up to Hinson’s killing. He said he was involved in cocaine dealing and using the drug heavily. He had left Georgia a few days before, even though it violated his probation on a charge of molesting a 14-year-old girlthere, and was facing up to 10 years in prison.

Caylor said he pleaded guilty to the molestation charge, even though he felt he’d done nothing wrong. He said the allegation was that he brushed his hand over the girl’s clothed breast when he gave her a hug.

When Hinson came into his room the morning of July 8, 2008, he said he decided to have sex with her, to “make it count.” He insisted, however, that the sex between them was consensual.

“Before this sex act — I call it rape, you call it consensual,” prosecutor Larry Basford said to Caylor, “she told you she was 13. You knew she was 13 years old.”

“She initiated it,” Caylor said of the sex. “I went through with it.”

Caylor asked Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith to give Hinson’s family a book he had brought that he thought might help them with their grief.

“I’m so sorry,” Caylor said. “I can never say in words how sorry I am about what happened.”

He said he didn’t target Hinson in the attack and said he took out his frustration on her.

“It was more than just the situation,” Caylor said. “It was my whole life.”

He indicated several times during his testimony that he would not fight a death sentence if that was imposed.

“I’m willing to take whatever penalty needs to happen to me,” Caylor said.

Basford asked him what he was most remorseful about.

“When you say you’re sorry, are you sorry for murdering and raping Melinda?” Basford asked. “Or are you sorry they caught you?”

“I’m sorry to the family about what I’ve done to their family and Melinda,” Caylor said.

Basford asked him if that meant he wanted the death penalty, as he told his father shortly after his arrest.

“Of course I don’t want the death penalty,” Caylor said. “I’m not going to fight anything.”

http://www.newsherald.com/news/ready-79209-caylor-victim.html

 

[Dakota]

The family of murdered 13-year-old Melinda Hinson sat in the second row of the Bay County courtroom and wept softy in relief Friday as Circuit Judge Dedee Costello ordered Matthew Caylor put to death for the girl’s brutal rape and strangulation.
[...]

Caylor showed no emotion as the order was read and turned his head to confer with Deputy Public Defender Walter Smith, who said afterward that Caylor had expected the worst.
[...]

Costello also sentenced the 34-year-old Caylor on Friday to life in prison and five to 30 years, respectively, on two charges of sexual battery with great bodily harm and aggravated child abuse.

In her order for the death penalty, Costello noted the evidence showed Caylor’s acts to be torturous and his victim almost certainly had been terrified during the time it took for Caylor to strangle her, first with his hands and then a telephone cord.
[...]

Smith said Friday that he was confident the death penalty would be overturned on appeal and that Caylor likely would serve life in prison, given the jury had divided 8-4 in recommending the death penalty.
[...]

Costello also ordered Caylor, who has indicated several times he would not fight a death sentence, to pay Hinson’s $6,000 funeral costs and $1,077 in court costs.

http://www.newsherald.com/articles/penalty-79801-caylor-city.html

 

[Pene784]

This murderer grew up down the street from where I lived in Auburn, GA. He is 4 years older than I am so I never met him. I asked around and a friends sister knows his little brother and she said he is in trouble for child molestation and still lives in Auburn. Bad genes maybe?

 

[Sugar Cookie]

Name: CAYLOR, MATTHEW L

Current Release Date: DEATH SENTENCE

Offense Date	Offense	Sentence Date	County	Case No.	Prison Sentence Length
07/08/2008	1ST DG MUR/PREMED. OR ATT.	12/11/2009	BAY	0802244	DEATH SENTENCE
07/08/2008	SEX BAT/ WPN. OR FORCE	12/11/2009	BAY	0802244	SENTENCED TO LIFE
07/08/2008	AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE	12/11/2009	BAY	0802244	30Y 0M 0D

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously upheld the death sentence of a man who murdered a 13-year-old girl in 2008 in a Panama City motel room.

Justices rejected arguments by Matthew Caylor, who was convicted of first-degree murder and sexual battery in the killing of Melinda Hinson.

The girl’s body was found under a bed in the Valu-Lodge Motel.

The girl’s family had been living at the motel, and Caylor had stayed there before the murder.

The Florida Supreme Court in 2017 ordered a new sentencing proceeding for Caylor as an outgrowth of a U.S. Supreme Court decision.

During a 2021 sentencing hearing, Caylor waived certain rights, including the right to a jury, according to Thursday’s opinion.

Later, however, Caylor sought to withdraw the waiver of a right to a jury — a request that a Bay County circuit judge denied.

The judge sentenced Caylor again to death.

Caylor’s appeal to the Supreme Court, in part, challenged the decision to deny the request for a jury.

But the Supreme Court backed the circuit judge’s finding that the request was made in “bad faith” to cause a delay. “Because there is substantial evidence supporting the trial court’s findings, we conclude the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying Caylor’s request to withdraw his waiver of the penalty phase jury,” said Thursday’s opinion, written by Justice Renatha Francis.

MSN

 

[Sugar Cookie]

A Florida man sentenced to death for raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl did the state a favor last week — by killing himself before it could execute him, officials said.

Matthew Caylor, 50, had been on death row for 16 years for raping and fatally strangling Melinda Hinson in 2008.

Caylor attacked Melinda while on the lam after molesting a 14-year-old girl in Georgia, authorities said.

He was living out of a motel room in Panama City so he could sell drugs on the side while in hiding — and Melinda, who lived in that same motel with her family, dropped by his room one day to ask for a cigarette.

Caylor wanted to make the trade “worth it,” according to court documents.

Melinda tried to force him off her, and they eventually rolled off the bed and over a telephone, Caylor said. He then took the cord and strangled the flailing teenager with it until she died. Then he stuffed her body between the mattress and the bed frame, where motel cleaners found her two days later.

Caylor repeatedly tried to dodge Death Row through the courts, to no avail.

So he took matters into his own hands last week — a move that State Attorney Larry Basford claimed did a service to Floridians’ wallets.

It’s unclear how Caylor killed himself.

read more here...

Florida man on death row for raping, murdering girl, 13, does state a favor — by killing himself: ‘Saved the taxpayers a lot of money’

In 2000, it cost about $24 million for each execution via the electric chair, as reported by the Palm Street Post.

nypost.com