Editor's note: This story originally published in February 2014. Since that time, Wilson had been convicted of murder in the two killings mentioned in this story.
Michael "Pretty Boy Floyd" Wilson faces a second murder charge in a week, this time accused in the killing of a 76-year-old Gulfport man.
Wilson, 43, now faces seven felony charges with maximum prison terms of three life sentences plus 60 years.
The charges include attempted rape, felony eluding and three counts of taking a motor vehicle.
The latest murder charge alleges Wilson injured Kenneth Gibson so severely in an assault Jan. 3 that Gibson died of his injuries more than two weeks later.
Police Sgt. Damon McDaniel said the men had an argument and Wilson hit Gibson in the head with a hammer.
Coroner Gary Hargrove said Gibson died Jan. 20 of blunt-force trauma. Investigators’ accounts paint a picture of Wilson as "a man desperate for drugs. That’s the general consensus," Biloxi police Detective Steve Schlicht said.
Wilson, of Melton Road in Gulfport, had recently spent four months in the Harrison County jail.
"Since his release Dec. 18, he has been going from place to place, using a ruse to borrow money or take money to get drugs and asking for rides and taking vehicles from his victims," Schlicht said.
The latest murder
Gibson lived on Joseph Avenue in Gulfport. He went to a neighbor’s home for help Jan. 3 with a bleeding head wound, court papers show.
He told medical personnel he had been hit in the head with a hammer.
His vehicle was missing from his front yard. Records show Slidell police, using a license-plate reader, saw Wilson driving Gibson’s vehicle in Slidell, where the car was recovered.
The first murder
Biloxi police believe Wilson killed Carmen Dale Edwards, 63, on Dec. 31 and stole his truck. Edwards also died of blunt-force trauma.
He was found dead at Maison D’Orleans apartments Jan. 2.
Police said they were unaware Edwards was dead when Wilson, driving Edwards’ pickup, led them on a chase Dec. 31.
They arrested Wilson on a felony eluding charge, but he was out of jail on bond before state probation officers realized he had a new arrest. He was on probation for burglary, felon in possession of a weapon and taking a motor vehicle. Federal marshals and others began looking for him.
Attempted rape
On Jan. 7, a woman told Harrison County sheriff’s investigators a man had tried to rape her, and stole her car. Court papers show the woman said she was at a Taco Bell in Biloxi when the man asked for a ride to get his gas can and gas for his disabled vehicle. She said the man directed her to an unmarked dirt road near Lamey Bridge and Hudson Krohn roads.
The woman said he pulled out a screwdriver and threatened to kill her if she didn’t have sex with him. She told deputies the man forced her out of the vehicle and tried to pull down her pants and underwear, but she broke free and ran.
"The woman was lucky to get away," sheriff’s Maj. Ron Pullen said.
After seeing news reports of Wilson’s capture Jan. 8, the woman told investigators he was her assailant.
The capture
Police said Wilson asked a man at Sherwood Village Mobile Home Park to give him a ride to a tire shop. At some point, the man got out of his vehicle. Police said Wilson led them on a pursuit on U.S. 90 in Ocean Springs, ditched the vehicle on Mississippi 57 and was later found in nearby woods.
Since then, he’s been sentenced to 17 years in prison for felon in possession of a firearm in 2008 and a burglary in 2009.
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