“Monster or Man?” Jury Recommends Death for Florida Father Who Killed Pregnant Mistress and Unborn Son
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In a case that has left an entire community reeling, a Florida jury has recommended the death penalty for Jose Soto Escalera, the man convicted of brutally murdering his eight-and-a-half-months-pregnant mistress, Tonya Wise, and her unborn child, Josiah. The shocking verdict ignites fierce debate across the nation: should a man who slaughtered both a woman and her unborn baby be put to death—or does even a killer deserve to live?
The crime was as chilling as it was calculated. On August 24, 2018, Tonya’s lifeless body was discovered face down by the side of a road. She was just weeks away from giving birth. DNA testing confirmed what many suspected: Jose, a married father, was the biological father of the unborn child.
Prosecutors revealed that Jose had offered Tonya $500 to terminate the pregnancy. When she refused, he resorted to violence to silence her forever. For the state of Florida, this was not simply a crime of passion—it was a deliberate execution meant to erase the truth.
The jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding Jose guilty of double murder. What followed was a wrenching penalty phase where families on both sides took the stand. Tonya’s mother, Elizabeth Doyle, fought back tears as she told the court:
“I’m relieved justice has been served. But no sentence can ever bring back my daughter and my grandson. That hole in our lives will never heal.”
On the other side of the courtroom, Jose’s family pleaded for mercy. Relatives painted him as a loving father, a dependable brother, and a man who made one catastrophic mistake. But prosecutors countered with a searing argument:
“This was not a mistake. This was cold-blooded murder. He planned it, executed it, and left two bodies behind. A good man does not kill his own child.”
Florida’s death penalty law has recently shifted. Once requiring a unanimous jury vote, it now allows an 8–4 decision to impose execution. Legal experts warn this could set the stage for years of appeals, but in this courtroom, the decision was decisive: the jury recommended Jose’s death.
The case has ignited a storm of controversy. Supporters of capital punishment argue the verdict is fitting for a man who extinguished two innocent lives, one of them an unborn baby just days from entering the world. Opponents say even killers retain a right to life, and execution only perpetuates violence.
Online, debate is raging. Was this justice for Tonya and Josiah—or vengeance disguised as law? Should unborn children always count as murder victims under the law? And if so, does this reshape the abortion debate in America?
As the nation argues, one truth remains: Tonya Wise and her son Josiah are gone forever, their futures stolen in an act of monstrous betrayal. Whether Jose spends his final days on death row or behind prison walls, the chilling question lingers—what kind of man kills the woman he loved and the baby they created?
