Brutal Murder Shocks Florida Community
A Florida man has been sentenced to death for the horrific murder of his pregnant lover, who was just one week away from giving birth to their child through a planned caesarean section.
Tania Wise, 23, was expecting her second child and had already named her unborn son Josiah when her life was brutally cut short in August 2018. The single mother, who already had an eight-year-old son from a previous relationship, had excitedly revealed the baby's name at her recent baby shower.
Deadly Affair With Married Man
Tania's relationship with Jose Soto-Escalera, 41, began after they met at the club north of Palm Beach where she worked as a dancer. The married father-of-four drove a garbage truck for a living and became increasingly concerned his wife would discover the affair when Tania fell pregnant.
Court evidence revealed that Soto-Escalera had given Tania $500 to cover abortion costs, but she later changed her mind and decided to raise the child alone. She gave the money to an ex-boyfriend instead, with her family promising to support her through the pregnancy.
On August 24, 2018, just days before Tania's scheduled delivery, a passerby discovered her body face down in a drainage ditch in a rural area of St Lucie County. The medical examination revealed devastating injuries.
Calculated Killing and Investigation
Tania had suffered significant blunt force trauma to her head that fractured her skull and injured her brain. Her throat and jugular vein had been cut with a 19cm wound that reached the bone. Either injury would have been fatal, and the violence also tragically ended the life of her full-term unborn son.
Police investigation quickly pointed to Soto-Escalera after a former co-worker of Tania's revealed she had heard conversations about the pregnancy and abortion money. When questioned, Soto-Escalera initially denied any romantic involvement with Tania, claiming their children were friends and they had spent minimal time together.
However, DNA testing proved he was the father of Tania's unborn child. His mobile phone provided even more damning evidence - despite deleting calls and texts, his internet search history included queries for "dead body in woods" and "wooded area body" shortly before the murder.
Witnesses reported seeing a truck matching Soto-Escalera's garbage truck near the crime scene, with video footage and phone records confirming his presence in the area at the time of the killing.
Damning Evidence and Trial
Recordings from devices installed in the garbage truck captured Soto-Escalera telling his nephew that Tania would "destroy his life" by exposing their affair. Combined with his internet searches for body disposal locations, prosecutors successfully argued the murder was premeditated.
A witness also testified that three days before the murder, Soto-Escalera expressed anger that Tania had "played him" by taking abortion money but not proceeding with the termination, and mentioned finding a "dirty gun".
Phone records confirmed Tania and Soto-Escalera spoke on August 23, 2018 - the day before her body was discovered. Prosecutors argued he could have simply confessed the affair to his wife rather than resorting to murder.
Despite the defence pointing to other men Tania had allegedly been seeing, the jury found Soto-Escalera guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in September this year and recommended the death sentence.
Heartbreak and Justice
During October's sentencing hearing, Tania's surviving eight-year-old son bravely read a statement about the milestones his mother would miss, including him meeting a girlfriend, expressing hope that she would be proud of him.
While the defence cited Soto-Escalera's difficult childhood and good behaviour in prison, the judge sentenced him to death for the murders of both Tania and her unborn child.
Tania Wise had been days away from experiencing the joy of giving birth, but instead found herself counting down to her own brutal murder at the hands of a man determined to hide their affair.
