Who is ‘Pretty Boy Floyd?’ Escaped killer has violent criminal history in Mississippi
The hunt for Michael “Pretty Boy Floyd” Wilson is now in its second day, as the Mississippi Department of Corrections and Rankin County sheriff’s deputies continue their search Monday for a man convicted of killing two on the Mississippi Coast.
Wilson broke out of the prison near Pearl on Sunday, MDOC said on Facebook.
This isn’t the first time Wilson has escaped from correctional facilities in Mississippi. He broke out of the Leakesville prison in Greene County in 2018 and was captured in Jackson County a few days later.
Who is “Pretty Boy Floyd?” Here’s a look at Wilson’s criminal history and past convictions.
Murders on the Coast
In 2015, Wilson pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison for murders committed the year before in Biloxi and Gulfport, according to Sun Herald archives.
Carmen Dale Edwards, 63, of Biloxi, and Kenneth Gibson, 76, both were struck multiple times in the head and died of blunt-force trauma, District Attorney Joel Smith said in 2015.
Edwards was hit with a glass ashtray, and Wilson used a hammer to kill Gibson.
Prosecutors said Wilson told the court he had been a guest in Edwards’ apartment a couple of days before the killing.
After the murders, Wilson threw the glass ashtray used to kill Edwards in Biloxi’s Back Bay.
Before the two murders, Wilson had faced charges related to a carjacking and an attempted rape reported by a woman on the Coast.
Wilson was sentenced on multiple felonies after those arrests.
He received a 16-year sentence in Jackson County for a firearm violation, and a judge in Harrison County sentenced Wilson to 18 years for a burglary and firearm violation.
The first MS prison escape
“Pretty Boy Floyd” eluded authorities for three days in 2018 after escaping from the South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville.
A Greene County newspaper editor and others in the community would end up giving Wilson rides, and the escaped prisoner would eventually get dropped off in Jackson County.
Facebook was abuzz with rumors of Wilson sightings until his capture near Ocean Springs.
Wilson was sentenced as a habitual offender for felony escape in 2020, telling a judge he had escaped at the time because he feared for his life behind bars.
Wilson’s attorney, Chris Dobbins, said then that the threat against Wilson’s life forced him to do what any “reasonable person” would do and escape from the Greene County prison on July 5, 2018, to avoid “serious violent injury or death.”
Assistant District Attorney Carolyn Lewis pointed out that Wilson refused to tell prison staff who made the threats, so the corrections officers had nothing to investigate.
Judge Kathy King Jackson sentenced Wilson to life in prison without parole for the escape and ordered the sentence to run consecutively to two life sentences Wilson was already serving.
How did he escape the first time?
SCMI officials noticed that Wilson was missing from the Greene County Prison around 12:45 p.m. on July 5, 2018. The Sun Herald later reported he scaled the prison fence to escape and sustained minor injuries.
MDOC has not released how Wilson escaped from the Rankin County prison on Sunday.
What’s next?
Rankin County sheriff’s officials told the Sun Herald that MDOC is the lead investigator on the case.
If you see Wilson or know of his whereabouts, contact the MDOC at 662-745-6611 or your nearest law enforcement agency.
Sun Herald reporters Margaret Baker and Jesse Lieberman contributed to this report.
