Editors Note: This story has been updated to reflect new information from Knox County and substantial investigative material obtained from Florida authorities.
UPDATE (Jan. 1, 2018): The Florida man suspected of trying to electrocute his pregnant, estranged wife has had a court date set in Knox County next week.
32-year-old Michael Scott Wilson is scheduled to head to court for the methamphetamine possession and fugitive from justice charges in Knox County on January 8 for a preliminary hearing.
It's uncertain when he will be extradited back to Florida to face charges in the larger case he was wanted on warrant for, involving a bizarre plot he's suspected of trying to carry out to electrocute his estranged wife and their unborn child at her home in Flagler County.
You can read the elaborate investigation in that case below.
Original Story:
Knox County authorities arrested a man Thursday who was wanted in Florida on reports that he rigged his door to try and electrocute his estranged wife while she was pregnant.
According to the inmate report on the Knox County Sheriff's Office database, authorities took 32-year-old Michael Scott Wilson into custody and booked him Friday on a felony fugitive from justice warrant and a warrant for possession of methamphetamine with intent to sell.
Officers arrested Wilson in Knoxville around 12:35 p.m. at the Tennessee Career Center on 2700 Middlebrook Pike. According to the arrest report, officers responded to serve the felony warrant out of Florida for Wilson's arrest as he was sitting in a gray 2006 Chevrolet HHR.
When officers searched him, they said they found a small bag of meth in his shoe.
The report lists Wilson had been residing at a Blount County address at 4184 Conger Road in Louisville, Tenn. Knox County authorities set Wilson's bond at $50,000 for the methamphetamine charge, and his bonds issued in Florida total another $150,000.
According to deputies with the Flagler County Sheriff's Office in Florida, they issued the felony fugitive warrant for Wilson after his estranged, pregnant wife and her family discovered he intended to electrocute her with a rigged door trap and possibly hurt others.
According to the report, Wilson is suspected of barricading the front door of their home at 110 White Hall Drive in Palm Coast and rigging it with electrical devices to the top door lock and lower door handle to cause serious bodily injury or even death to whoever attempted to unlock and open it.
It all started before Christmas. The report said Wilson had been placed under the Florida Mental Health Act in late November for involuntary examination and had not returned to their Florida home since.
In his absence, Wilson's estranged wife told authorities she purchased cameras for the house so she could monitor from her phone. She also received a handgun for personal protection from her step-father.
A week prior to the incident, the wife claimed Wilson called her and apologized for his absence and behavior, saying he wished to be with her again. According to authorities, the two previously parented a child together and said he had knowledge that the wife was also currently pregnant with his child.
According to the investigation report, the wife said she invited Wilson to stay with her and her children in Knoxville while they were visiting the wife's father for Christmas starting Friday, Dec. 21. On early Saturday morning, the report said Wilson left her father's home without any explanation, later accusing her of cheating through texts.
The wife said she blocked Wilson's number and did not talk to him until late Sunday, who claimed he had left to visit family in Ohio. Deputies noted he was spotted returning to Knoxville at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.
The report then went on to say Wilson had made comments to her that led her to believe he had actually been in Florida when he claimed to have left for Ohio. She said she had also received an alert on her phone during his absence that her smart cameras at her Florida home had been disconnected from the internet.
When the wife asked Wilson about it, the report said she was alarmed when he told her in person to "make sure you use the front door because the garage door is not going to open," as well as asking her not to bring their child with her because he didn't want them "getting hurt."
The arrest report stated when Wilson's wife tried to travel back to Florida, he insisted that she let their child travel with him and that he would follow her. She said he became verbally aggressive, so she fled from a gas station and used the traffic on the highway to put distance between her and Wilson.
The report said before she left, the wife asked her step-father to check the Florida home for her. When he and his wife checked, they touched the rigged door but didn't complete the electrical connection between the lock and handle when they tried to open it, and were not harmed. They noticed something appeared to be blocking it, though, and notified deputies shortly after.
When the two went inside, they said they found the word "HI" written in what the step-father thought was lipstick with two eyes painted above a glass sliding door. The two also found the cameras that were turned off in the toilet and kitchen trash can, as well as a sonogram image on the kitchen counter.
After deputies conducted the initial investigation,they determined the door had been rigged up with household items to seriously shock someone if they put a key in the top lock while grabbing the door handle at the same time.
The trap had been made of exposed electrical cord from a plugged in lamp that had been wrapped around the handle and top lock in a circuit, as well as a secondary set of wires clamped on from an automotive battery charger.
Investigators had a lineman with Florida Power and Light examine photos of the door rig. The lineman said it was 80-100 percent likely someone would have been killed or seriously injured if that person had completed the electrical circuit by touching the door handle and lock at the same time.
Detectives said they also found a photo album opened to a page containing photos of Wilson with the wife when she was pregnant. A search confirmed the handgun the wife had received from her step-father had been stolen, as well.
On Dec. 27, a detective discovered what they believed to be Wilson's Facebook account, saying the paged indicated he had changed his profile status to being "widowed."
“This is one of the most bizarre domestic violence cases I have seen in my career,” Sheriff Rick Staly said. “Not only did this man plan to electrocute his wife, but he could have injured a deputy or any person attempting to enter this residence. Thankfully this man was found and taken into custody before he could cause the harm he intended.”
Wilson faces two counts of attempted aggravated battery on a pregnant person and one count of grand theft of a fire arm in Florida. He will be extradited back to Flagler County to face those charges.