David Tronnes (pictured) has been indicted on a murder charge after allegedly killing his wife and lying to police about how she had died
Police slammed a man charged with his wife’s murder for ‘fake crying’ and his ‘hogwash’ account of how the 39-year-old died in newly released interview recordings.
David Tonnes, 50, was indicted on a first degree murder charge after he called police to his Orlando home in April, claiming he had found his wife of only a year, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, dead in a half-full bathtub.
During his interview with police, he suggested his wife slipped and fell while trying to get in the bath – though an autopsy showed she had died of strangulation and blunt-force trauma to the head.
When police arrived, they found the bathtub and Cooper-Tronnes’ body were both dry.
Detective Teresa Sprague is heard in an audio recording, obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, telling Tronnes his story did not match any of the evidence at the scene.
Tronnes told investigators he’d found his wife dead in a half-full bathtub, and hypothesized she’d fallen while getting in. But police say Shanti Cooper-Tronnes was dry – as was the bath – when they arrived minutes later
‘Common sense would tell you if you pull a woman — soaking wet — out of a tub at 3 o’clock and call the police within six minutes, that everything will be soaking wet when police arrive within three minutes of that,’ she said.
‘That’s common sense.’
Tronnes, who later told detectives he ‘didn’t have the information’ they were looking for, chose to play dumb.
‘So how did everything dry out?’ he asked.
‘That’s our question,’ the officer responded.
The avid renovator met his wife on Match.com in 2013, and moved his life to Florida to be with her just months later.
Cooper-Tronnes had an eight-year-old son from a prior relationship.
Tronnes married her a year ago, and told investigators they were in the process of renovating their home.
Tronnes said the pair had been renovating their home, and had been married for a year after meeting on Match.com in 2013
Cooper-Tronnes was found dead in her home (pictured), which she and Tronnes had been renovating
While Tronnes painted his marriage as happy and full of love, police were not having a bar of it.
Sprague, who had called his account of events leading up to Cooper-Tronne’s death ‘hogwash’, said the accused had failed to portray any emotion expected of a man who had tragically lost his beloved wife.
‘You’ve fake cried for about seven or eight hours today,’ she said.
‘Not one tear came out of your eyes – not one.
‘You have fake cried over this woman’s death since we made contact with you … There is not a lick of remorse for what you did to this woman.’
Tronnes was charged on August 29, and is being held without bond at the Orange County Jail.
Investigators said Tronnes’ account of events was ‘hogwash’ and claimed he didn’t show ‘a lick of remorse’