The man who killed a 9-year-old boy in an Oceanside public restroom thirteen years ago this week has committed suicide in San Quentin.
Many San Diegans will never forget the brutal crime on Nov. 14, 1998.
Matthew Cecchi, 9, was traveling through Oceanside with his mother Sharon and father Lou when they stopped at the public restroom at Oceanside Harbor.
The boy's mother would later recall, "He said 'Mom can I go into the men's room, I don't want to use the women's room.'"
Once the child was alone inside the restroom, he was attacked and killed.
Brandon Wilson, 20, would later confess in open court that he grabbed the child inside the restroom, slashed his throat and left him to die.
The outburst during Wilson's arraignment shocked observers.
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"I did it. I'm guilty. I want to talk myself. I did it. I killed him. I killed the little boy," Wilson said.
Following the outburst, Wilson underwent psychological testing.
At his sanity trial in 1999, Wilson listened as a psychiatrist described him as delusional and grandiose.
Wilson believed God had called him to be His special emissary the psychiatrist testified.
Moments before Cecchi's killing, Wilson passed up two potential victims on the beach because he believed they weren't pure enough. Then, he heard little Matthew say he needed to go to the bathroom.
Wilson felt that Matthew's soul was offering himself to him and this was the person he was supposed to kill and sacrifice the psychiatrist testified.
Wilson was given a death sentence for first-degree murder with special circumstances.
The 33-year-old Wilson was on death row in San Quentin when he was found hanging in his cell Thursday, Nov. 17.
Cecchi's murder led to the Matthew Cecchi Public Safety Act passed in San Diego which allows the parks division to plan for family restrooms in all renovated or newly constructed county parks.
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