David Trones, 55, is on trial in Florida for the murder of his wife, who prosecutors say he killed because she refused to attend a real estate showing. Shanti Cooper Trones, 39, was found dead from blunt force trauma and strangulation in their Orlando, Florida, home in 2018. Trones claimed his wife had fallen while taking a bath, a claim police described as “bullshit.”
A Florida man is on trial for allegedly murdering his wife after she refused to appear on a reality TV show about flipping homes.
David Tronnes, 55, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the April 2018 death of his wife, 39-year-old Shanti Cooper Tronnes.
Cooper Trones, who had been married to Trones for about a year, was found dead in the bathtub of their Orlando, Florida, home.
According to prosecutors in the case, Trones told investigators that his wife “lost consciousness” and fell into the bathtub a week after she left a meeting with a contractor for the reality TV show “Zombie House Flipping.”
Flipping is a strategy of buying homes, renovating them, and then selling them for a quick profit.
Prosecutor Michael Smith said the TV show was a “lifeline” for Trones and that she relied on it to keep her home safe, according to the Huffington Post.
Prosecutors in the case say Tronnes, pictured, told investigators his wife “passed out” and fell into the bathtub. His wife's murder trial began earlier this week, with Tronnes shown in court. Prosecutor Michael Smith said the TV show was a “lifeline” for Tronnes and he relied on it to save his home. Tronnes, pictured, is shown in court.
The outlet quoted Smith as saying emergency responders had also had doubts about Tronnes's account from the start.
They said Cooper-Tronnes was the victim of a “violent attack” and suffered multiple injuries, including facial cuts and bruising to her neck.
The coroner determined Cooper-Tronnes died from blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation.
Trones bought the 4,000-square-foot home in Orlando's Delaney Park neighborhood for $600,000 in cash but did not put his wife's name on the title deed.
Ryan Vescio, who led the Tronnes investigation, previously told 48 Hours that he was obsessed with the renovations.
He said: “This house became more than just a project for David Tronnes. It was his life.”
Prosecutor Smith said Trones believed the home's value would increase if it featured on “zombie house flipping.”
Prosecutors allege that Cooper-Tronnes killed her because she wasn't keen on appearing on the show.
Tronnes was initially found incompetent to stand trial because he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, but a judge overturned that decision last year and allowed the trial to go ahead. Cooper Tronnes (right) was the victim of a “violent attack” that left him with multiple injuries, including facial scars and bruising to his neck.
In court this week, jurors heard testimony from friends, family and others who knew the couple.
Lori Kuchar, who worked with Cooper-Tronnes, told the court that Tronnes failed to inform his wife's family of her death, Wesch said.
She told the court: “I asked David if he had permission to notify his clients and he said he did.”
“But he said it would be rude to inform customers before informing Shanti's family. So I said, 'Have you informed Shanti's family and friends?' And he said, 'No.'”
According to Fox News, retired police officer Steven Wilson was the first to arrive on the scene.
“I wasn't crying, in this case I was just pretending to be sobbing,” he was quoted as saying by the media.
Tronnes denied any involvement in her death, claiming he had returned home after doing household chores to find her face down in the bathtub.
The two met on Match.com in 2013, and a few months later he moved to Florida to be with her.
Cooper-Trons has an 8-year-old son from a previous relationship, who was also present at the trial.
But investigators and prosecutors have characterized his story as a egregious cover-up since his wife was found dry despite her claims that she had taken a bath.
Tronnes, in his previous mugshot, denied any involvement in her death and claimed he found her face down in the bathtub after returning home from chores. The two met on Match.com in 2013, and a few months later he moved to Florida to live with her, and Tronnes with her son from a previous relationship.
During police questioning, he claimed that his wife had slipped and fallen when she was trying to get into the bath.
In an audio recording obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Detective Teresa Sprague can be heard telling Trones that his story didn't match any of the evidence at the scene.
Detective Sprague can be heard saying, “Common sense would tell you that if you pull a soaking wet woman out of a bathtub at 3 o'clock and call the police within six minutes, she should be completely soaked by the time the police arrive within those three minutes.”
“I didn't have the information they were looking for,” Tronnes is later heard telling detectives in the video, choosing to pretend he knew nothing.
He asked the detective, “So how did it all dry?” to which she replied, “That's our question.”
Tronnes described his marriage as happy and loving, but police made no attempt to disrupt it.
In an audio recording obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Detective Teresa Sprague tells Trones that his story doesn't match any of the evidence at the scene.
Mr Sprague called the defendant's account of the events leading up to Cooper-Tron's death “nonsense” and said the defendant failed to express any of the emotions expected of a man who had tragically lost his beloved wife.
She told him, “You've been fake crying for seven or eight hours today. Not a single tear came from your eye. Not a single tear.”
“Ever since we made contact with you you have been faking and crying over this woman's death. You have not shown the slightest bit of remorse for what you did to this woman.”
WFTV previously reported that Tronnes was a frequent visitor to gay spas, including the day after his wedding and two weeks before his wife was murdered.
Tronnes was initially deemed incompetent to stand trial because he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, his lawyer said.
The judge handed down the sentence in May and said the defendant had recovered after receiving treatment at a state hospital.