Featured Image Credit: Orlando Police Department
A man has been sentenced to life behind bars for murdering his wife over a TV show dispute.
Florida man David Tronnes’ six-day trial concluded on Wednesday (18 October) following the death of his 39-year-old wife Shanti Cooper-Tronnes in 2018.
The jury took five hours to deliberate ahead of Tronnes’ guilty conviction, with the judge giving him a life-long prison sentence.
Ahead of Cooper-Tronne’s untimely passing, her spouse had expressed hopes of going on the TV show Zombie House Renovations after splashing the cash on doing up their home.
But Cooper-Tronnes didn’t want to go on the show, which sparked issues in their marriage.
Their fallout led to the pair sleeping in different beds while renovating the home.
They were living in a one-bedroom studio apartment while the work was being carried out.
The tensions continued to rise between the married couple, with Tronnes, 55, going on to beat and strangle his wife – ultimately leading to her death on 24 April 2018.
Evidence during the trial showed that Tronnes had tried to clean up prior to the police coming to the property.
After Cooper-Tronnes’ murder, he ‘claimed he found his wife in the bathtub after spending the day cleaning and walking his dogs’, as per a news release from the State Attorney of the Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida.
However, a medical examiner went on to argue that facial injuries, blood evidence and bruises on the victim’s eyes proved Cooper-Tronnes’ real cause of death.
Investigators with the Orlando Police Department noticed inaccuracies with Tronnes’ story.
They also said that Tronnes ‘showed little remorse’ during his interrogation and ‘never shed a tear over his wife’s death’.
He went on to be arrested and charged with murder four months later.
Over five years on from Cooper-Tronnes’ murder, her family have finally got justice.
As per WESH 2 News, her son Jackson said: “It’s five years of struggle and pain lifted off our shoulders.
“It feels good inside that [Tronnes] finally where he is and now that we can move on knowing that he’s where he’s supposed to be and where he’s meant to be.”
Tronnes will spend the rest of his days behind bars in the Florida Department of Corrections.