Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
ABC 20/20’s upcoming episode, “A Killer Renovation,” will revisit Shanti Cooper-Tronnes‘ murder by her husband, David Tronnes. The episode airs on the network this Friday, February 23, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET.
David was convicted of murdering Shanti in April 2018 over a home renovation that spiraled out of control. A jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, following which he received a life sentence. Prosecutors proved that he committed the crime in rage after Shanti refused to go on the home renovation show, reported The Guardian.
The outlet reported that David made a distressing 911 call on April 24, 2018, claiming that Shanti died after slipping in the bathtub in their Orlando home. However, medical examiners confirmed that Shanti died of blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation. Authorities later established that he fatally beat and strangled his wife and then tried to clean up the crime scene of the crime.
According to the Florida Department of Corrections, David Tronnes is currently serving his sentence in the Northwest Florida Reception Center Annex.
What was David Tronnes’ motive for murdering Shanti Cooper-Tronnes?
People Magazine stated that authorities believed David Tronnes killed his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, after she learned he did not have the millions she claimed he had. They alleged that she had also learned about David’s alleged penchant for going to bathhouses for “anonymous sex with men.” Prosecutors alleged he committed the crime over a home renovation that spiraled out of control.
David and Shanti first met on Match.com in 2013 and started a whirlwind online romance, following which David moved to Orlando and bought a house on East Copeland Drive in 2015. After moving, David paid over $600,000 for the house, and the couple married in 2017. Then, Shanti believed that David had inherited between $4 and $6 million dollars from his father, reported People Magazine. However, he did not mention her name in the deed, and they soon decided to have the house renovated.
CBS News reported that while David Tronnes did not work, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes ran a lucrative financial software business out of her home office upstairs. David was overseeing the refurbishments, and his wife paid all the bills. In 2017, the couple started fighting over their home renovation project. This caused a strain in their marriage, reported The Guardian. David used to sleep in a garage, while Shanti stayed in a one-bedroom studio on the property.
David then called a local house renovator who appeared on a reality TV show, Zombie House Flipping, in an attempt to minimize their losses. The renovator, Keith Ori, told CBS that filming was to start in May 2018 and that he met the couple one final time in mid-April. He said, “They both agreed and said, ‘Yes, we understand.’ And then she [Shanti] took off immediately. I got a sense that she was pissed off at him.”
A few days later, on April 24, David Tronnes made a distressing 911 call, The Guardian stated. He claimed to have found his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, dead in the bathtub after she apparently fell. However, according to CBS, police stated that they found the tub dry. Shanti’s autopsy report eventually revealed that she died of blunt-force trauma to the head and strangulation.
Following an investigation, authorities believed that David fatally beat and strangled Shanti Cooper-Tronnes in her bedroom. He then tried to clean up the crime scene and lied to authorities about having found her in the bathtub. The investigation continued for months until authorities arrested David in August 2018. They then charged him with first-degree murder.
Years later, in October 2023, a Florida jury convicted David Tronnes of his wife’s murder. They believed he committed the crime in rage after Shanti refused to go on the home renovation show. As per The Guardian and other sources, he received a life sentence following the guilty verdict.
ABC 20/20 will look into the case against David Tronnes in his wife Shanti Cooper-Tronnes’ murder on February 23, 2024.
