A jury has found a Florida man guilty of killing his wife because she refused to appear on a home renovation reality TV show.
David Tronnes was convicted of first-degree murder on Wednesday and given an immediate life sentence in the case in which he claims he found his wife, Shanti Cooper Tronnes, dead in their bathtub in 2018.
Prosecutors said Tronnes and his wife were having marital problems at the time, particularly over money and a home they had bought together that needed repairs.
Notes detectives obtained from Cooper-Tronz's computer showed her despising the project and showing the damage it was causing to the couple and their bank account, Court TV reported.
“He keeps mentioning how much this house cost and that it will soon be worth $1 million,” the note read. “The renovations are not progressing and our relationship is deteriorating.”
Jurors were told Trones had spent thousands of dollars renovating their home in the hopes of appearing on the Orlando-based reality TV show “Zombie House Flipping,” but his wife refused to appear on the show, which prosecutors said infuriated Trones “enraged him to the point of murder.”
Photo evidence
On the day Cooper Tronnes was killed, officers noted that his responses were “rehearsed and insincere” and inconsistent.
Trones told authorities he pulled his wife out of the bathtub after seeing her head “submerged” in the still-flowing water, but officers on the scene noticed she was in a dry bathtub with her clothes on and the area around the bathtub was also dry.
“The victim's clothing appeared to be damp but not soaking wet as if she had just been removed from a bathtub full of water. There was also dried blood on her skin,” the police report said, according to Court TV.
Cooper-Tronnes' death was later ruled a homicide after the coroner determined she died from strangulation and blunt force trauma.
Torronnes was arrested four months after the murder and continues to maintain his innocence.