David Tronnes Sentencing: Verdict, Appeal, and Civil Judgment

David Tronnes is serving a life sentence in Florida for the first-degree murder of his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes. An Orange County jury convicted him on October 18, 2023, and Judge Jenifer M. Harris imposed the mandatory life term the same day. Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed the conviction on May 6, 2025.¹²

How Shanti Cooper-Tronnes Was Killed

Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, 39, was found dead in the couple’s Delaney Park home in Orlando on April 24, 2018. David Tronnes called 911 and said he had returned from walking his dogs and doing yard work to find his wife floating in the bathtub after a slip and fall.³

The scene did not match the story. Shanti’s body was almost completely dry. The tub, the bathroom floor, and the rug were dry too, as if the bathtub had not been used for hours.⁴³

Police interrogated Tronnes for 14 hours but released him. A grand jury indicted him on first-degree murder on August 29, 2018, and he was arrested that day.³⁵

Why Prosecutors Said He Did It

Money was the spine of the state’s theory. Tronnes had bought the Delaney Park house in 2015 for $607,500 in cash and placed it in a trust under his and his mother’s names. Shanti’s name was never added, despite what prosecutors said were repeated promises. Meanwhile, she was paying most of a renovation that cost close to $250,000, and by 2018 the main house was still unlivable. She and her eight-year-old son Jackson were living in an apartment above the garage.⁶³

Notes recovered from Shanti’s computer captured her frustration. She wrote that things were “getting worse” and worried David would own the home while she would “have nothing to it.”⁴

Tronnes was the sole beneficiary of her $350,000 life insurance policy. Investigators estimated he stood to gain close to $1 million if he was not charged. After her death, surveillance showed him moving money out of joint accounts.³

The reality show angle also drew attention. Tronnes had been working to get the house featured on A&E’s Zombie House Flipping. The show’s host, Keith Ori, testified that he met with the couple about a week before Shanti’s death and that she appeared “tense,” “intense,” and “mildly upset, annoyed, frustrated.” Prosecutors argued Shanti did not want to appear on the show, and that her refusal, layered on top of the money and the renovation, helped drive the killing.³⁷

A separate strand of the investigation touched Tronnes’s personal life. Records showed he held a membership at Club Orlando, described as a same-sex bathhouse, and had visited roughly 78 times between June 2016 and 13 days before Shanti’s death, spanning the couple’s March 2017 wedding.⁸ A former cellmate, Edward Gismondi, told investigators Tronnes said Shanti had found messages on his phone and that he “snapped.” According to Gismondi, Tronnes said, “I killed my wife.” Prosecutors acknowledged Gismondi had “credibility issues” as a registered sex offender, and investigators never located the messages he described.⁶

The Evidence That Convicted Him

The trial began October 11, 2023, and ran five days in Orange County Circuit Court. The prosecution built its case on forensic evidence, financial motive, and the gap between Tronnes’s account and the physical scene.⁹

Shanti’s blood was found on the bedframe, on the carpet near the bed, and on sheets, indicating she was killed in the bedroom and moved to the bathroom.
The dry tub, dry floor, dry rug, and nearly dry body contradicted the running-water story.
Shanti’s diamond engagement ring, valued at roughly $15,000, was reported stolen by a burglar along with $5,000 in cash, though other valuables in plain view were untouched. Police found the ring in a suitcase at Tronnes’s mother’s home. Detective Barbara Sharp said he had “clearly taken it off of her cold dead body.”
Financial records showed Tronnes moving money out of joint accounts and standing to collect close to $1 million.
Shanti’s own writings documented her fear of ending up with no ownership in the home she was funding.
Keith Ori described her agitated demeanor a week before her death.

³⁴

Detective Teresa Sprague called Tronnes’s grief “feigned” and testified she believed Shanti was already dead before Tronnes said he left the house for a park, and that the body’s position in the tub did not match his description.⁴

The defense called no witnesses, and Tronnes did not testify. His attorneys argued the state was leaning on weak circumstantial inferences. “If the strongest piece of your case is that he’s not crying enough or there’s not enough water on the floor, then that’s not proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” counsel told the jury. They also argued the engagement ring had simply been overlooked in the initial search rather than stolen.¹⁰³

Verdict and Life Sentence

After more than five hours of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict on first-degree murder on October 18, 2023.¹¹ Under Florida law, a first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence, and Judge Harris imposed it that same day.

Shanti’s son Jackson delivered a victim impact statement, describing her loss as “like a hole in my heart that I can’t fill or fix” and calling her a “good person” who “deserved the world.” Tronnes declined to speak, answering only “no” when the court invited him to address it.¹²¹³

The 2025 Appeal

Tronnes appealed to Florida’s Sixth District Court of Appeal under case number 6D23-4012, represented by public defenders Blair Allen and Nicholas Martino. On May 6, 2025, the court issued a per curiam opinion affirming the conviction, with Judges Nardella, Smith, and Brownlee concurring. The opinion carried the standard notation that it would not become final until the time to file a motion for rehearing expired.²

The $20 Million Civil Judgment

The civil case is separate from the criminal sentence and does not shorten or replace it. Shanti’s estate sued Tronnes on behalf of Jackson, arguing she had contributed more than $208,000 to the Delaney Park property and alleging fraud over Tronnes’s failure to add her to the trust that held the home.¹⁴ In September 2025, a judge found Tronnes liable for Shanti’s wrongful death and awarded Jackson a $20 million judgment.¹⁵

1
WESH. David Tronnes Trial Orlando
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Justia Law. David Tronnes v. State of Florida, 6D23-4012
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ABC News. Detectives Uncovered Florida Womans Murder Inside Fixer Upper
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Court TV. FL v. David Tronnes Bathtub Murder Trial
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Spectrum News 13. Orlando Man Charged With 1st Degree Murder in Death of Wife
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CBS News. Dave Tronnes Shanti Cooper Murder Case Florida
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KSBY. Man Convicted of Killing Wife Who Said No to Zombie House Flipping
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WFTV. Man Accused of Murdering Wife in Delaney Park Attended Gay Spa More Than 70 Times Records Show
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WESH. Tronnes Murder Trial
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Click Orlando. Murder Trial of David Tronnes Man Accused of Strangling Wife in Delaney Park
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Global News. Florida Man Guilty Wife Murder Home Reno Show David Tronnes
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Court TV. Bathtub Murder Trial Victims Son Delivers Emotional Victim Impact Statement
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Court TV. Bathtub Murder Trial Judge Sentences David Tronnes
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WFTV. David Tronnes Ruled Competent, Expected to Face New Lawsuit in Wifes Death
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Click Orlando. City of Orlando Seeks Foreclosure on Home Renovation Murder Scene