Florida | Death Row Inmate Died by Suicide Tuesday Night After Kayle Bates’ Execution

DOC records show that Matthew Caylor died Wednesday after over 15 years on Florida's death row

According to Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) records, Florida death row prisoner Matthew Caylor died Wednesday, August 20, while in DOC custody after serving over 15 years on death row.

Caylor was 50 years old at the time of his death.

Sources indicate Caylor died by suicide Tuesday night after Kayle Bates’ execution. State policy requires that an autopsy be performed for all deaths; however, those records would only be accessible through a public records request.

Background on Caylor’s Sentence of Death

Matthew Caylor was sentenced to death for killing “thirteen-year-old Melinda Hinson in Panama City, Florida” in 2008.1 The jury recommended a sentence of death by a vote of 8-4. On direct appeal in 2011, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Caylor’s conviction and sentence of death. His sentence became final in May 2012.

In May 2013, Caylor filed an initial motion for postconviction relief raising six claims. After the circuit court denied relief, Caylor appealed and raised five issues:

(1) trial counsel was ineffective for his investigation and presentation of mitigation evidence at the penalty phase; (2) trial counsel was ineffective for not ensuring that Caylor receive a reasonably competent mental health evaluation for mitigation; (3) the trial court erred in summarily denying Caylor's claim that counsel was ineffective for failing to challenge Juror Weaver; (4) the trial court erred in summarily denying the claim that trial counsel was ineffective for failing to ask any of the jurors about their views on mental health, addiction, remorse, rehabilitation, mercy, experts, or any other potential mitigation; and (5) cumulative error.

Caylor also filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus seeking Hurst relief. In 2017, the Florida Supreme Court granted Caylor’s petition for writ of habeas corpus and granted a new penalty phase due to the jury’s nonunanimous recommendation for death (Caylor v. State, 218 So.3d 416 - Fla. 2017).

On resentencing, Caylor waived his right to jury and to present mitigation.

The trial court resentenced Caylor to death in February 2023. In February 2025, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed Caylor’s sentence of death. TFDP covered that decision here. His petition for writ of certiorari was pending.

Source: fladeathpenalty.substack.com, Staff, August 21, 2025

"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

— Oscar Wilde

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