The Bizarre Story Of David Tronnes

"He wanted to be a TV star. She wanted a divorce. And a bathtub full of rose-colored water became the center of one of Florida’s strangest murder cases." When police arrived, everything was dry — the body, the tub, the lies.In this bizarre true crime episode, we investigate David Tronnes, the 55-year-old Orlando man who murdered his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, after she refused to appear on the reality TV show "Zombie House Flipping" [citation:4][citation:8]. Tronnes had sunk nearly $1 million into renovating their Delaney Park home, keeping his wife's name off the deed while secretly visiting gay bathhouses — including the day after his wedding [citation:3][citation:7].When Shanti discovered text messages exposing his double life and demanded a divorce, Tronnes snapped. He beat her so badly her skull cracked, then strangled her [citation:4]. He attempted to stage the scene: placing her body in a dry bathtub and claiming she "slipped" [citation:6]. But detectives noticed the tub was bone-dry minutes after his 911 call. His fake crying fooled no one [citation:5][citation:6].A jailhouse informant later revealed Tronnes bragged about "blacking out" during the killing and researched using frog poison (kambo) to murder without a trace [citation:3]. In October 2023, a jury took just hours to convict him of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison [citation:4][citation:9]. Listener discretion advised.