Shanti Cooper-Tronnes and David Tronnes

0:00 Hi. I'm Tina, and I'm Rich. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife, and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Rich, Hey Tina. How are you pretty good? How are you excellent? It is a beautiful day here in southeast Michigan. It is really beautiful. That's not There was some tornadoes, but in southwest Michigan. Did you hear about that? I did, yeah, and it looked really scary here. We had a tornado watch and it looked really ominous for a while. Yes, but we did not have a tornado. We did have a tornado like twelve years ago or thirteen years ago.

0:50 We did, and we got a lot of new things at our house. I brought you a snack. Oh good, So we had a delay. We were supposed to record like an hour ago, but you had something you needed to do. And I had the snack here on the table and someone, some four legged friend of ours. When I brought you it was a smoothie and I came in a few minute end of the smoothie was all over the floor like then tire it. Yeah, and it's pink and we have white carpets, so that was a mess. Yeah, and I think he dumped it over to get to the cheese. It doesn't even really eat cheese. Today's case was a recommendation from our friend Ali from ann Arbor, and Ali, thank you for recommending this case. But Allie also recommended a snack. Do you know what it is? It's a sweet potato crackers.

1:46 That's why I brought the cheese and the smoothie, because I was like, well, I know he's not gonna like the crackers, but there's sweet R. W. Garcia sweet potato crackers, three seed, flax seeds, poppy seeds, chia seeds. They're gluten free. It's a Delicio just blend of corn and sweet potato. Rich does not like sweet potato. They don't really taste like sweet potato. Well I will. I'll try them because it's the podcast and I feel obligated to try. All Right, Okay, you're going to be shocked to hear this, but I actually like those crackers. Quick are really They're actually really good. Oh I'm glad you like I didn't.

2:27 I didn't taste sweet potato. Sweet potato is not the first ingredient. The first ingredient is corn. I thought they tasted like a less salty free doo. Yeah you see, that's the corn. But you like them? Yeah? I did, And I brought you your favorite Tillamook white Cheddar. Love the Tillamok white Cheddar love the Yeah. Today, I'm going to tell you a story about a home renovation gone very wrong. On April twenty fourth, twenty eighteen, eight year old Jackson Cooper was waiting for his mom, Shanty Cooper Tries thirty nine, to pick him up after school in Orlando, Florida. Shanty was never late. Jackson grew concerned as his friends were picked up by their parents one by one. He went to the school office to call his mom, but she didn't answer. At four p m. The school called Jackson's dad, Jim Cooper, to pick him up. Jim was surprised that Shanty was late picking up their son. She was a responsible, doting mom, a type a personality who was never late for anything. Jim picked Jackson up and drove to the house Shanty shared with her husband of one year, David Tranis, forty nine. The couple resided in the upscale Delaney Park neighborhood of Orlando, Florida. The historic neighborhood is known for its beautiful, unique, stately homes, manicured lawns, and sidewalks lined with majestic oak trees.

3:46 Shanty and David were massively renovating their home and had temporarily moved into the small apartment above the garage. As Jim and Jackson neared the house, they were startled to see police cars and emergency vehicles lining the street with lights flashing. Yellow police tape surrounded the house. Jim asked a policeman what was going on, and he informed him that there had been a death inside of the house minutes before. David found Shanty dead in the bathtub of the apartment bathroom around three thirty pm, after he'd returned from running errands and doing chores around their property. He said Shanty was wearing her pajamas. She was partially submerged floating in the top. David claimed he attempted CPR, but it was too late. She was already dead. He called nine one one at three point fifty one pm. It was an eight minute call, but we're only going to play a couple of minutes, and as a warning, this is one of the most emotional nine one one calls that I've heard tried. Can you tell me what this? Okay? And who is this? This is Josh?

5:12 Your name is Dan Okay, your name is David? Okay, who is it's not breathing? Why your wife is not breathing? Take a SIMN. It's a paramedic. So we've been trying to get ourself help. Okay, don't hang up. Okay with the medical we're also going Okay, that's that's an emergency. Is tabloized? What's help from me from this? This is four o seven? It's the house. Fine, exactly what happened?

6:01 Okay? Try Okay, that happened and she passed away? I got I listen, listen, listen. Is she breathing? So I tried to do this the r I K I get her to freeze? Okay, can you get her out of the shower? Yeah? I fold her? Okay? Is she laying time on her back? The blue dumpster, the blue dumpster in the dogway. They have to turn in, and they if they can get past, if they have to dump past, and if they can't get past it they're tiny, they'll just find yeah, yeah, yeah, but we're at the bag where before. I'm so sorry to do that to everyone.

7:11 I hated to even play that, but I thought it was important that you guys hear that, and we did edit it. You could tell that we edit it. But part of the reason I wanted it include that last part of the call where his voice just he's in histrionics and then he goes to like, oh, it's by the blue humpster in the back of the Apartment's just bizarre to me that he's like sobbing and then he is able to, you know, speak in a normal voice. I thought it was interesting that David took the time to put their dogs in their crates before the police got there. So you know, in that situation you find your spouse and they're dead and you have to call in one one would you take the time to do I would think that would be the last thing you would think about, right, So that's in my thought, he must have done it before he called nine to one one because he didn't want the dogs in the way.

7:58 Emergency responders are arrived within three minutes of the call, and David told police when they arrived that Shanty must have slipped in the bathtub and hit her head, but Shanty's bruised and brutally beaten body told a different story. First responders noticed that David appeared to pretend to sob, the tears never reached his eyes. Police quickly scanned the crime scene and knew that David was definitely lying. This is one of those frustrating cases where I couldn't find a lot of background information about Shanty or David. Really, but Shanty was born in nineteen eighty. She was smart and hard working. She was a self made woman. She owned her own successful business, Process Improvement Solutions, which sold financial accounting software. She and her first husband, Jim, had tried to have a baby for several years before their son, Jackson, was born in two thousand and nine. Her first priority in life was Jackson. He was her whole world. But not long after Jackson's birth, Shanty became unhappy in her marriage and she had an affair. Jim wanted to stay together on things, but Shanty wanted to move on. The divorce was difficult, and Tim admits he didn't make it easy on Shanty. David Tranis grew up in Stillwater, Minnesota. He was raised by his mother. His father was not present in his life. He and his mother had a close relationship. He continued to live in Minnesota after college. He worked as an engineer for three M.

9:22 He eventually left engineering to work in sales at three M. David and his first wife, Carol, had been married for fourteen years before divorcing in twenty thirteen. He earned about one hundred and forty thousand dollars a year before he quit his job in two thousand and eight citing burnout. Carol's friend said that David was controlling, especially of her diet. Allegedly, she filed for divorce because she wanted children and David did not. When being questioned by police about her marriage after Shanti's death, she invoked spousal privilege through her lawyer. I didn't know you could do that. I didn't either, because they're no longer married. I didn't want the personal details of her marriage to become public.

10:03 In my opinion, something seems a little off about their relationship. She defended him. She said he would never kill anyone, and they had this bank account together that was a joint bank account. After their divorce, that had over three hundred thousand dollars in it. Shanty and David met on match dot Com in March twenty thirteen. Shanty lived in Orlando, where she was a successful freelance financial analysist before she started her own company. The romance between David and Shanty bloomed slowly over email. Shanty had been through a difficult divorce and was nervous to date again, but David was patient and kind. He seemed different. They were both excited about the deep connection they'd quickly made over email and text. Here's what Shanty wrote in one email, Dave, I will have to say this will be a delicious detour, amazing, magnificent, life changing detour if the planet's aligned. I feel lucky to have these emails.

11:00 They are a very healthy distraction for me. I guess we will have to see how this will all work out. I will keep it simple, like you said, or try to. I will start to pull in the reins a bit. But I can't say that I didn't wake up with a smile on my face when I saw your emails. I have had a pep in my step since we started this little email affair. Don't trust those emotions you have in the first six months of a relationship. It's all chemical. I know. Just reading that it is funny, you could just totally see like, oh, early early stage relationship. Just yeah, yeah, you want to believe that this is this person is amazing, but this person hasn't showed you who they really are. Right after twenty years of marriage, that's that's when you know someone. Do you remember our early days? Oh, yes, Verily, we were, Yeah, we were gross. David tilt Shanty.

11:50 He had inherited about five million dollars from his father's estate after his death, and he didn't need to work. When they met in person, they hit it off and began seeing each other every other weekend, taking turns flying to each other's state. Do you remember that sounds familiar? That sound Vera, We did the same thing. We didn't fly that, we drove. After just a few months, David relocated to Orlando. They were head over heels in love. He proposed a Shanty with a beautiful, custom made diamond engagement ring, valued at fifteen thousand dollars. She loved the ring and proudly showed it off to everyone. Shanty told friends how great David was He doted on her and made her feel like a princess. Their friends were very happy for them. They seemed like the perfect couple. One friend described them as nauseating at times for their excessive affection. Do you think any of our friends would have described us as nauseating in those early days? I'm so like, I can think of one time, and I bet you know which time.

12:46 I mean, I think about it, and we should we owe the whole entire city of Chicago and apology. I don't know what time you're talking about, you don't. We went to some like blues Fest or something. Oh don't need to say anymore, but we were a lot of public display of affection going on. I guess yes. In twenty seventeen, Shanty and David were married at the Courthouse in Orlando after four years together. No friends or family attended the wedding. After Shanti's death, her grandmother Mary and Perry, who said they were very close, didn't know they were married. That's strange, That's very strange, missus, Perry told KFTV nine Orlando quote. I suspected him from the minute they told me he wouldn't look you in the eye when he spoke to you unquote. Marion described Shanty as a hard worker, dependable and roll on the floor funny. She enjoyed traveling to Europe with her granddaughter and going on cruises after their wedding. Friends and family said that they worried that David was controlling. They saw Shanty much less and she had lost some of her sparkle and sense of humor. Two months before her death, Shanty was struck with a burst of pay Her recovery from the surgery had been rocky. Shanty had been in pain ever since, forcing her to slow down.

14:07 She didn't want clients or her son to know the extent of her pain. She hadn't been able to keep much food down for months, including after the surgery, when she should have felt better. She eliminated alcohol and subsisted on very bland foods. Her friends said she'd lost a lot of weight. Appendicitis and poisoning can have similar symptoms. By the way, why do you mention poisoning? There? After her death, Shanti's assistant asked David for permission to notify their clients. David agreed, but told her he still needed to contact her family and friends about her death. It took him several days to do so that's very strange, too, super strange. Shanty's friends and family were shocked and devastated by her death. They couldn't imagine what had happened, but many of them pointed to Shanti's first husband, Jim Cooper. Police interviewed him and could see a clear motive. He was their first viable suspect.

15:03 However, Jim had been at a job site at the time of Shanti's murder. Coworkers corroborated his whereabouts and he was quickly cleared. David and Shanti lived at two eighteen East Copeland Drive, in a four bedroom, five bathroom forty five hundred square foot colonial revival built in the nineteen twenties. If you go to Zillo dot com and you put that address in, there are still pictures of I believe when David bought the house. Okay, David bought the house in twenty fifteen for six hundred and seven thousand dollars in cash. The realtor who sold him the house described him as intense, and she told forty eight hours she was glad when the deal was over and she no longer had to deal with him. The house was. The house was actually really nice, upscale neighborhood. It's one of probably the best places to live in Orlando, and that was said to be a really good price. It's a lot of money, but for that neighborhood, it was a very good price. The house was put in a trust between David and his mother, Beverly. It was a beautiful home with a tile roof, spa pole, enlarged lanai in the historic Delaney Park neighborhood just south of downtown Orlando. The neighborhood is architecturally diverse, adding to its charm, although many homes are in the Mission style.

16:22 Most homes were built between nineteen twenty and nineteen sixty, ranging in price from five hundred thousand dollars to one million dollars, with the largest homes valued at over two million dollars. Delaney Park is one of the most sought after neighborhoods in Orlando, known for its good schools, parks, oak lined, brick paved streets, and proximity to the hospital. Two gargoyles sit protectively atop the roof of the house. The house did need some updating, Shanty and David planned to make the house into an open floor plan, and David didn't have a job, so he spent his days exercising and swimming and doing yoga and taking care of the dogs. But soon the house became his job.

17:03 He became obsessed with the renovation and the vision he had for the house. In preparation for the massive renovation, he gutted the house down to the studs and dirt floors. The house was essentially just an empty, hollow shell of the house's interior, and it remained gutted for over two years. Oh boy, the house became a literal money pit. David hired and fired countless architects and contractors. He could not find anyone to complete his vision that he could work with. Shanty and her young son, Jackson. Jackson is like between six and eight. During this time, they lived in the apartment above the garage. Pictures of the apartment show a cramped, unorganized space. There was no functioning kitchen in the eight hundred square foot apartment, and Shanty worked long hours from home in the tight living quarters. David slipped with the dogs in the unair conditioned garage that he'd conred converted into this makeshift apartment. It was really just a garage that he put the couches in and all of their not all of their belongings, but a lot of their belongings. Can you picture this in your eyes? I can. And this is for two years.

18:14 I can't even two years and these I mean, these people have they have means, they have money, and I can't. I would go, you know me, I would. I would be crazy. David wanted their home renovation to appear on a TV show on the A and E channel called Zombie House Flipping. Here's a description of the show from the show's website. When a house has been left for dead, the Zombie House Flippers bring it back to life. Operating in Orlando, Florida, Justin Stamper, Ashley Casserly and Keith or have made a name for themselves flipping rotting abandoned properties zombie houses into beautifully remade homes for a top dollar. Hour long episodes show the inner workings of this high stakes world full of unexpected disasters, hidden costs, and quirky personalities that only Florida can provide. With budgets tight and timeline is short, it's a mad scramble to finish these flips and make bank for the team.

19:11 The show has been on for I think at least six seasons and there's about one hundred episodes, and I watched one and it's a good show. Yeah, I mean, I've watched way more home renovating shows than the Only time I ever watched home renovating shows is when I'm at my dentist because they always put they have a TV on the ceiling and that's all they play is home renovation show. It's a pretty neutral thing to play, but they probably don't. I mean, it's I watched an episode of it. It's a good show, but they're always like way more dramatic than they need to be. Yeah, I'm a little confused why the Trottises were going to be on the show, because normally they buy like it or maybe it's just for show. They just pretend that they're buying in a banded house, but it usually appears that they're buying, you know, a banded house like it says that's been left for dead and this house, you know, was owned right David and Shanti's Zombie House Flipping host Keith Orie said the Trontis house was structurally unsound near collapse. The support beams had been removed. An engineer confirmed that the only thing holding the house together was the two inches of exterior stucco. That's crazy.

20:19 I'm not a big home renovation guy, but I know you don't tear out supporting like beams. That's a bad idea, you don't. I will show you some pictures and we'll post some pictures. Here's a clip of keith Ory. When I met with Dave. I walked right through those doors there, and that's when sort of the enormity of the of the project hit me. I mean, it's holy cowed. There's no house on the inside of this house. This level of demo is unprecedented. Nobody ever does what they did. It wasn't structurally safe. I was trying to figure out what was holding the house up. Quite frankly, it was absolutely alarming. In all renovation, there's a few movies that are kind of touchdowns in our industry, and the movie The Money Pit is certainly one of them, and it's gonna be fun fixing it up. You'll see this house would be a prototypical money pit. It's not clear to me whether David did all the stripping down of the house or if they'd hired a demolition crew. Well, if the supports were taken out, I'm guessing David did it. I know, I can't imagine anyone who knew what they were doing would do that. Work had begun on the house, and the weeks before Shanty's death, interior support beams were added, making the house safer. But Keith was having a hard time meeting with a couple. He could sense the tension in their relationship. It was obvious that Shanty wanted nothing to do with the project. Reportedly, Shanty did

21:51 not want to appear on the show, which caused tension between the couple. I did hear one account of a friend of Shanty's who said that she did want to appear on the show, So there is a little contradictory information. But I don't know if every episode of the show was the same. But in the episode that I watched, there was no couple. It was just Keithori and his crew and the contractors. Interesting. Most of those shows are pretty formulaic, so I would think they would all be pretty similar, but maybe not. Yeah, and maybe their intent was just their house. They would fix the house and they would the house would appear, But not necessarily the couple. Among the issues Shanty and David were fighting over was the title of the house. Her name had never been added to the title, and she was fronting all of the money for the remodel. Ten days after Shanti's death, David removed his mother's name from the trust and he became the sole owner. Later at the trial, the defense claimed that Shanty's name was never added to the title because she had bad credit, which I don't think was true because she was doing very well for herself and she owned her own business.

22:56 I thought this guy was a multi millionaire. Why was she fronting the money for this That's an excellent question. I think Shanty wondered the same thing as did all her friends and family I could imagine. After Shanti's death, David voluntarily went to the police station for questioning. He did not call an attorney. He was very emotional, but cooperative. Detective Teresa Sprague and Detective Barb Sharp were in charge of the questioning. They were like Cagney and Lacy. Apparently, of course they're great. These two were a great team. They started the interview sympathetic and kind. First of all, on behalfy Land, the case of private. We want to say how sorry we are for your loss and also for everything that you're going through. I know this is very for you, David said. Shanty worked from home on the day of her death. She came downstairs around nine am, and that was the last time David saw her alive. And remember she's still recuperating from appendix surgery.

24:02 All right, she's not been feeling well. He went for a walk and then later took the dogs on a two hour walk at the park. He came home, cleaned the pool and did some yardwork before he went up to the apartment to check on Shanty. He heard the water running. He walked into the bathroom and found her face down in a filled tub with what he called rose colored water. The water's like ha full. She's submerged partially and it's just extremely awful. It doesn't look natural. Obviously she fell or something happened. It's never been more love. So David's story isn't making a lot of sense. He's saying that she's partially submerged and she's floating. But then later he said, like the stopper wasn't in the tub because remember, like he's it's just like running around running errands and stuff. And then he comes up and he finds the top running and had the stopper it would have been overflowing and for her to be floating. You understand where he I'm going here?

25:14 Yeah, it just doesn't all add up, does it. No. David was subjected to a body check, swabbing, and nail clipping by the police. There were no scratches or defensive wounds on his body. His clothes were taken from him. For most of the time David was at the police station, he sat in an uncomfortable paper suit with a blanket wrapped around him. I'm guessing a paper suit is just what it sounds like, like some kind of temporary thing that police give you if they have to take your clothes. Yeah. I think it's like a coverall type thing. Late in the evening, David agreed to take a polygraph, but the detectives couldn't find anyone to administer the test. That's a problem. As the hours ticked by the detectives became increasingly impatient and frustrated with David, they said the evidence did not fit his version of the events. Why was the bathroom dry? Why was shanty already in rigor mortis. Why hadn't Shanty moved her phone at all since the previous night. You're not a good liar. You're terrible at it, terrible. The evidence in her body speak for itself, and your story is bs. You fake cried for about seven or eight hours. Ay, not one tear came out of your eyes, not one. You screwed up, you made a mistake, whatever it is. I'm starting to believe it wasn't a mistake. I love that you're a terrible liar. I feel like I

26:45 missed my calling. You would be good at that, But as a mom, I really get to use those skills a lot as a mom. David was questioned for fourteen hours before he went home. The next day, he hired an attorney and a private detective to find the real murderer. David refused to participate in a polygraph test after that. I hope we're never in this situation where one of us dies under suspicious circumstances. Hope not to. But fourteen hours, I like the worst day of your life. You know you've lost your spouse. I just can't imagine being subjected to fourteen hours of questioning.

27:26 I can't either. He was. I think he was given a break for a couple of hours at what point and he was left in the room to doze for a little bit. Yeah, stiill a lot. We'll be back after a break. So you're still lunching on the sweet potato crackers during our break. I forgot to tell you that those were the ones that fell on the floor. Yeah, it's okay, the best wife. Law enforcement immediately began investigating the crime scene. David claimed that he'd found Shanty face down in the tub and pulled her out, yet the bathroom was dry. There was no sign the bathtub or shower had recently been used. There were no wet towels or rugs. Shanty's hair and the pajamas she wore were damp, but not soaking wet as if she'd been taken out of a tub. David was dry too. He didn't look like someone that had pulled his wife out of a tub filled with water, and Shanty's injuries were not consistent with the slip and fall. Her body was already in rigor mortis, and as we know, rigor mortis begins at about two hours after death and peaks at about twelve hours after death, there was blood found on Shanty's bed frame. David told the detectives that it was from her period, but the detectives knew better.

28:42 Shanty was most likely killed in her bed. Detectives disassembled the bed frame and found more blood on the wooden slats of the bed frame. Detectives told David that the crime scene did not support his version of events. David claimed that the house had been burgled. Dollars in cash was missing, along with Shanty's valuable engagement ring. However, there was no sign of forest entry, unknown fingerprints, DNA, or evidence of a struggle in the apartment. Jewelry, cash, Shanty's wallet, credit cards, electronics, and other high priced items left out in the open were not taken. How often do we have this in these cases? The people need to learn how to stage a fake boards. Well, I'm I'm glad they don't. Yeah, that's true.

29:29 David met with Shanti's father, Kish and Matani to discuss her death. David referred to the injuries to the left side of Shanti's head, which weren't visible or known until after the autopsy was conducted. According to The Orlando Sentinel, detective Sprague wrote a one hundred and twenty three page report that revealed some of the evidence against David Tranis, including that Shanti's DNA was found under his fingernails and the only fingerprints on the bathtub longed to him. Part of the report read quote the tub did not have water in it and was not wet, but there was a ring of dry, diluted blood around the tub. The floor outside the tub was dry, and the bathroom rug was also dry.

30:14 The carpet from the bathroom entrance to the area where the decedent was laying was dry. The descendent's clothing looked damp, but was not soaking wet, as if she'd just been removed from a tub full of water. The blood observed on her skin was also dried. End quote. Detective Sprague had a secret surveillance camera trained on the Tronti Striway to capture the comings and goings at the house. When neighbors were questioned if they'd seen anything suspicious in the neighborhood, several mentioned a transient in the neighborhood who looked like Woody Harrelson and it might have been with her, except Detective Sprague did track him down, interview him, and released him. She was confident there was no evidence linking Woody to Shanti's murder. Was his name actually, Wouldy? I don't think it was.

31:03 As the investigation continued into the couple, it was revealed that Shanty was paying for the costly home renovations out of her pocket. Where was David's multimillion dollar inheritance? That was my question, A very good question. It was causing her a lot of stress. Shanty asked David many times to put her name on the title, but he refused. Shanty had spent nearly two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on the house and it was still far from livable with no end date in sight. So for the two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, really all they'd done is got the place. Yeah, David didn't pay for anything, not even groceries. Shanti's friends called him miserly. At the time of Shanti's death, David had about one hundred and thirty thousand dollars in his bank account, Shanty had over three hundred and sixty thousand in her personal account, and they had a joint account that contained over four hundred and eighty thousand dollars, but there are no accounts with five million dollars, so that was that was a lie. What they did. They had enough money and I'm not sure there might have been more retirement type accounts. Were Shanty's only thirty nine years old. Mm hmmm, Yeah, she was doing pretty well, but she was doing great, Yeah, but not the five million dollars that David claimed to have. One day, Shanty called her friend crying over the state of her marriage. She said she was afraid of David. She said, quote, he knows I know too much and he won't let me go on quote, without any further explanation. Later the same day, Shanty called her friend back and said they had worked things out and she was okay.

32:36 Jackson's nanny revealed that she had sensed tension in the marriage and recently felt that Shanty had reached her breaking point. She had overheard Shanty yelling at David. She said, I can't live like this. You need to fix it. Yes, she was talking about the house, Oh for sure. The nanny also said that David played mind games with Jackson. He would hide his toys from him and then casually put them back days later. The police found an old, unplugged refrigerator that contained several of Jackson's toys. That's just bizarre and just yeah, just very mean. And Jackson is a sweet, adorable kid. Jackson loved his mother very much. He said that Shanty and David fought often, loudly screaming at each other. He was verbally abusive to Jackson when Shanty wasn't around, he threatened to break his toys or throw them away.

33:29 We're just going to go over the timeline briefly. Jackson was the last person other than David to see Shanty alive. Shanty and Jackson had dinner with her grandmother that night. Shanty dropped Jackson off at his father's house on April twenty third at eight thirty pm before heading home. Jackson is grateful he got to hug his mom and say I love you for a final time hours before her death. Shanty's cell phone was last used at eleven fifty eight pm on April twenty third. It was not used or even moved at all. The next day. She received a text at six fifty eight am on April twenty fourth regarding a work matter, but she never responded and she was known for her quick text backs. David claimed he saw her at seven am and again at nine am. On the morning of April twenty fourth, David took a long walk by himself, returned home, got the dogs, and took them on a long walk at the dog park. When they returned, he worked around the yard and cleaned the pool. The cameras at the park were broken, so this could not be corroborated. He went upstairs to check on Shanty at about three forty five and found her in the tub. He called nine one one at three fifty one pm. According to the autopsy, Shanty had PATIKII lacerations on her face, extensive bruising on her body and neck, scrapes on her knees, and clumps of hair missing. The attack was so brutal that Shanty's skull was cracked, and the attack must have been a surprise because she had notice defensive wounds. Shanty had a quote unusual linear mark on the

35:05 right side of her neck, with possible ligature markings on either side. On May second, twenty eighteen, the manner of Shanti's death was ruled a homicide and her cause of death was blunt forest trauma and strangulation. There was no evidence of drowning as David had suggested. Shanty was wearing one diamond earring before her death and the other lie on the bedside table next to her, along with her watch. Investigators believed she'd been attacked at the moment when she was removing her jewelry before bed, and the bed frame had several spots of blood on it, but oddly the bedding was clean and completely free of blood. Remember that there was a dispute over Shanty's remains between David and Jim Cooper, Shanty's ex husband, who was representing his son's interest. Jim filed an emergency petition to try to get possession of Shanty's body, citing a statue and it gives others possession if the victim's spouse is arrested for the crime. The judge denied the request, saying, quote, there is no evidence that the surviving spouse, David Tranis, has been arrested for committing against the deceased and an act of domestic violence that resulted in or contributed to the death end quote.

36:19 David and Jim agreed to have Shanty's remains cremated, and they held separate funeral services for her. Later, a judge ruled that Jim and Jackson Cooper should have possession of Shanty's remains and David would be responsible for the cost of the cremation. Shanty had a journal that showed signs of a strained marriage. Some of the entries read, why do you treat the dogs better than me? Is it because they don't question you? Do you love me anymore? People who love each other don't act this way. Maybe it is time for a change. I asked him why he is so cheap? And he keeps telling me how much money he has spent on this house and that we will almost have one million dollars into it. We are no further along into the renovation, and our relationship is getting worse. It was apparent that Shanty was very unhappy before her death. David met his first wife, Carol, on a blind date in nineteen ninety seven. They were married in April of nineteen ninety nine and divorced in twenty thirteen. According to The Orlando Sentinel, Carol said that David was attractive, smart, interesting, and energetic. She described their marriage as healthy and loving. However, friends and family said after their marriage, Carol changed and withdrew from them. They claim that David made her quit her job and played mind games with her. Carol said David was stubborn but not controlling. They remained friendly throughout the years since their divorce. After Shanti's death, she called to offer him her condolences. I didn't say this earlier,

37:52 but the time between his divorce from Carol to his romance with Shanty was pretty short. Okay, he wasn't single for long. Detective Spray Again prosecutor Ryan Veschio traveled to Minnesota to interview David's first wife, Carol. She didn't think David was capable of harming Shanty. She insisted that he wasn't a violent person. Carroll's friends revealed that during her marriage to David, about a year into the marriage, she had become mysteriously ill. She suffered from nausea, fainting spells, and severe stomach pain, similar to symptoms that Shanty had suffered from. Carol did not believe that David had poisoned her. He did do all of the cooking, but she said her stomach symptoms had continued after their divorce. Strangely, as investigators delved into David's finances. They found a joint bank account that he shared with Carol that held over three hundred thousand dollars.

38:47 After Shanti's death, David had access to her bank accounts and life insurance, which was worth over a million dollars. He formed an LLC for estate planning. He asked his ex wife Carol to join him, and she agreed. Prosecutors have accused him of setting this up to hide money. Interesting very confusing. Investigator has also found that David joined a gym and bath house called Club Orlando for gay men. Nothing wrong with joining a bath house, but you should probably tell your wife yes. Here's a description of Club Orlando from its website. Located only minutes from downtown Orlando, the Club Orlando is the perfect place for those looking to explore their fantasies away from the mouse. Flax in the hot tub, dive in the pool, blow off some steam in the steam room, watch a movie in our video loune, or socialize in your own private room. We've got it all covered. The gym is available to all Club Orlando members who have a fitness or weight loss goal. Club Orlando is a unique and that we are able to serve as a community testing site for std in HIV in a place to distribute condoms and valuable safe sex information to both members and non members, whether you're gay, bisexual, or straight.

40:01 The Orange County Health Department offers free testing every fourth of the month. Amenities include a full gym, whirlpool, heated pool, sun deck, clothing, optional, video lounges, lockers, free Wi Fi, and private dressing rooms. With the exception of the eighteen to twenty four year old price special, we will not be honoring any other discounts, coupons or previous time of day specials. Not legal to give a price discount to people because of their age. I wouldn't know. David had been a member since twenty sixteen. Members interviewed admitted to having hookups in the gym with David as recently as the week before Shanti's death. He went to the clubs seventy eight times in two years, including the day after his wedding to Shanty, According to KFTV nine Orlando, Arthur Adams, a worker at Club Orlando, told police he witnessed David having sexual contact with men at the gym at least twice. Once in the locker room and once behind the building, he said, quote for a while there he was coming like at least twice a week. Friend said it was impossible that Shanty knew and tolerated David's double life and membership to the club.

41:12 But is it possible that Shanty discovered David's double life and that led to an ugly fight that escalated into her murder. We'll never know what was the motive for Shanty's murder. She had a life insurance policy valued at three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. David was the sole beneficiary. She had other investments valued at over a million dollars that he would gain control of. David had been living a lie. He was not worth millions of dollars as he had claimed. He was angry that Shanty didn't want to appear on Zombie House Flipping, but was he mad enough to kill her? And then there was his penchant for going to bathhouses. Shanty's friend Melissa Berzinski told law enforcement after her death, quote, we all thought we knew David Tranis, come to find out what we knew was a facade. He was living a total lie.

42:04 On August twenty ninth, twenty eighteen, one hundred and twenty seven, days after Shanty was murdered, David, fifty was arrested for her murder after a grand jury had sent down a secret indictment. He was arrested without incident at his mother's house, where he had been living. He pleaded not guilty and was denied bail. He had no previous arrest history. After his arrest, Missus Troness's house was searched, Detective Sprague found Shanty's engagement ring among David's things, the ring that he claimed had been stolen. David was being represented by a public defender because he claimed to be indigent, until it was discovered that he'd been hiding money. The prosecutor found an account David had opened as an LLC in the weeks before he was arrested. The account contained over one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. David was stripped of his public defender and forced to hire an attorney using his resources. At a pre trial hearing a month before the trial was set to begin, the judge became frustrated with David when he hadn't yet hired an attorney. He was accused of trying to delay the trial.

43:09 A former cellmate of David's, Edward Gizmondi, came forward to alert authorities that David had confessed to him that he had killed Shanti. Gizmondi was in prison for sexual assault. He's out now. The two became friends after David told Edward he recognized him from Club Orlando. David claimed that he remembered fighting with Shanty, but then blacked out and when he woke up, she was dead. David said Shanty was angry over lude text messages he'd received from a man that she had found on his phone. She allegedly told David that she was going to reveal his secret hookups to all of their family and friends. Gizmondi told investigators that David said he loved his wife and continued to wear his wedding ring while in prison. David and Gismondi both had an interest in psychedelic drugs told him about SAPO or combo, which is a deadly tree frog sap.

44:05 David said that SAPO was undetectable when placed into foods like salsa, and wasn't apparent in toxicology screenings. Although David stopped short of admitting that he poisoned Shanty. Remember that Shanti had recently undergone an appendectomy. Detective Sprague, who was working the case, called the hospital to see if they had retained Shanty's appendix so they could test it for poison The hospital had the appendix, but it had been soaking in a solution that made it unable to be tested. The DA decided it wasn't the good move to pursue David for poisoning because there was little to no evidence to support the charge. Two months before the start of the trial, the prosecutor, Ryan Veschio, received a call from David's attorney, Robert Mandal. He said he'd been up all night worrying about failing to turn over some evidence. He said some potential items of evidence had been overlooked by law enforcement during their investigation of the Trontis house. Detective Sprake instantly knew what he was referring to. Do you have any guesses? You probably don't know. I gave you a hint earlier, but when the crime scene was first investigated, she recalled thinking the bed looked too neatly made, and remember there was no blood and the sheets at all. She asked if the defense attorney had the bloody sheets, and he did boy remember the secret surveillance camera Detective Sprague had placed on the house, while Robert Mendel likely found out about the camera and was concerned that his private investigators were caught on camera carrying

45:38 the sheets out of the house. Photos of the linen closet were taking during the first two searches of the apartment, a set of balled up sheets were visible on a shelf. Investigators had returned for a third search and again had taken pictures of the linen closet, and when compared with the previous two pictures, there was a space on the shelf where the sheets had been. The defense tried to defend their withholding of evidence by saying they didn't know if there was menstrual fluid or blood on the sheets, and they'd intended to have the sheets tested but had forgotten to do so. How convenient, David had told them that Shanda had been having her period the previous previous weekend and they'd gotten blood on the sheets during intercourse. The state considered charging the defense attorneys with tampering with evidence, but I believe they decided not to. The sheets were eventually tested and blood from both Shanty and David was found on the sheets.

46:35 Prosecutor Ryan Veshio told forty eight Hours that he called Robert Mandel and told him that he needed to immediately turn over any other evidence that he might be withholding. He said he might have one more thing. He handed over a green plastic cord that had been hanging in the rafters of the main house. David's attorney had told the prosecutor that David attempted suicide with the cord, but Vascio thought the chord may have been used to strangle Shanti, remember that was one of her causes of death. After the chord was sent to the lab for testing, none of Shanti's DNA was found on it. In fact, no DNA was found on it, which was strange. Investigators believe that David cleaned the chord in the weeks after Shanti's death. The start of the trial was delayed several times, first because of COVID but then because David's attorney claimed that he wasn't competent to stand trial. He had received a diagnosis of schizophrenia from two psychiatrists. Schizophrenia is usually diagnosed in the late teens or early twenties and men. Laid onset schizophrenia is a diagnosis that happens between ages forty and sixty.

47:45 It's rare, but not unheard of. Symptoms tend to be milder and older individuals, which makes diagnosis harder and less likely for the patient to seek treatment. The most common symptoms of schizophrenia are delusions and halloo ucinations of any of the five senses. Other symptoms include a lack of emotion, jerky or repetitive movements, lack of personal hygiene, and avoiding interpersonal relationships. State prosecutor Will Jay said quote. Both doctors have agreed in their reports that the defendant is incompetent to proceed and recommended he be committed. In January twenty twenty two, the judge found David incompetent to stand trial and sent him to a state mental institution. A year later, David's doctors declared him competent to stand trial.

48:36 The judge set a trial date for October of twenty twenty three. He had considered pleading guilty by reason of insanity, but changed his mind, and finally, more than five years later, the trial began on October eleventh, twenty twenty three. At the trial, David appeared disheveled and scruffy. He'd grown a beard, and his hair was long, unkept and pulled back an a messy bunn which is surprising because normally a defendant, you know, is presented clean shaven, and so I don't know if that was attacted by his defense team. Yeah, I'm going to show you a picture really quick, Okay, So he looks remarkably different. Yeah, for sure, we'll post those pictures. When Jackson Cooper, now thirteen, saw David and court, he said, quote, it's good because I know he's not doing good at all. The state of him. He looks horrible. The defense declined to give an opening argument. Jackson attended the trial deally with his father, seeking justice for Shanty. Throughout the proceedings, he clutched a photograph of his mom tightly and breaks. Merit keith Or from Zombie House Flipping testified to the precarious nature of the house. Shanty's friends testified to David's miserly ways. They said, for the entirety of their relationship, he'd never paid for anything. Before they bought the big house, they had been renting a smaller house, and David would only pay one third of the rent because he didn't think he should

50:06 have to support Jackson the guy. David's secret sex life was not allowed as evidence in the trial. The defense did not call any witnesses. They were confident that the state had not proven their case. The trial lasted six days. On October eighteenth, twenty twenty three, David was found what do you think guilty? Guilty after the jury deliberated for only five hours. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Shanty's family requested for the death penalty to be excluded from consideration. At david sentencing, Jackson and Jim Cooper both read victim impact statements. You honor. My mom was the best person I ever knew. She worked a lot, but she never put her family over work. Early twenty eighteen, she was taken from me and my family. It's like a hole in my heart that I can't fill or fix. She didn't die peacefully. She did not deserve anything that happened to her that night. My family and I have been waiting for about five years for justice. I miss her so much. I would have never thought the day before was the last time I would see my mother alive. I missed the times where we would go to universal or just the simple times like walking the dogs or going to the park. She was the best mom I could

51:39 ever ask for. That's it your honor. When Shanty and I were married, we tried for years to have a child, no success. It was an extremely difficult time for us, and we were about to give up when we got the wonderful news in early two thousand and nine. We did our best to raise him together, but as you know, in life, it is not without its curveballs and heartaches. And when we divorced, as difficult as it was, one thing we never fought or wavered on was raising Jackson the best we could. He's tall like his dad, but he got his brains, his compassion, and his outlook on life from his mother and Er and I moved forward and continued raising a wonderful son. When this parasite came into our lives, he took something from us, and most importantly, from Jackson. And what he took is not replaceable. It is something that I struggle with every day. He lost a good parent. It is still unfathomable to me what he did to her and what he put Jackson through. He

53:13 knew when he saw firsthand how special their bond was, and he still tortured him and brutally ripped her from this world, our lives and Jackson's. As I struggled to understand to this day, the only word I come back to is evil. Only evil would do what he did to her and Jackson when he had the choice not to do what he did. It's a heartbreaking to listen to that poor kid. How old was Jackson when his mom was killed again? He was eight when she died in thirteen during the trial, But yeah, that's it just seems like such a sweet kid. Yeah, Jackson now lives with his father, Jim. Jim said he was feeling quote exhilaration and a little bit of peace after the guilty verdict and sentencing. He said, the only word I come back to is evil. Only evil would do that to her. Now we're going to wake up tomorrow a little bit brighter.

54:12 Jackson told wk MG Orlando, quote, It's like a weight has been lifted off of our shoulders. Feels good that he's finally where he is. We can move on knowing that he's where he's supposed to be where he's meant to be. David Tranas is appealing his conviction. Ryan Vescio left the States Attorney's Office and now works in private practice and he represents the state of Chanti Cooper Tranis, and he is determined to recoup all the money that he can for Jackson. David Tranis is serving his sentence at the Northwest Florida Receptions Center Annex. Do you know what the basis of his appeal is. I'm not sure, but I have to guess it has something to do with his defense.

54:52 I mean, his defense didn't do anything. You know, they didn't even give an opening statement and they called no witnesses. Yeah, so what do you think do you think that David was guilty? Yes? What do you think his motive was? It's a good question. I think it was either money or it was like you mentioned that maybe they had a fight. She had found out maybe about his affairs with other men, and that they had had a fight which led to her death. I don't know for sure, but either way, I am pretty confident that he's guilty. Me too. Definitely, just the state of their house for two years, just the stress that that must have had all of them. Yeah. I can't imagine living like that for two years when they lived in Orlando and it's just really hot and humid all the time, right, and he lived in the garage.

55:44 That must not have been fun. Yeah. Rest in peace, Shanti. She was a beloved daughter and mother. She was smart, funny, kind and beautiful. I wanted to talk about Susanne Morrifhew for a minute. This might be a little outdated by the time this episode airs, but Suzanne's manner of death was ruled a homicide just this last week. Her cause of death was listed as undetermined means. According to the autopsy report released by the Chaffee County Attorney's Office, a cocktail of drugs that are used to tranquilize wildlife was found in one of her bones, and there was no indication of trauma.

56:29 The report said. To her remains, I think were skeletal remains. How long had she been missing for before they found her? I believe it's four years four years, but her remains were found this past September. Two of the drugs are You that were found are used to immobilize wildlife, and a third is an opioid nasal spray used to treat migraines. Her remains were found in a remote area more than forty miles south of their home. I believe it was I think everyone thought, oh, it must be her remains would be in the mountains, but I think this was like a field or forested area. If you remember, Barry was in jail for a while, and right before the trial was set to begin, he was set free because they didn't think they had enough strong enough case against him. He is suing the state for fifteen million dollars for malicious prosecution. Barry's lawyer made a statement and accused the state of looking at the case with blinders. He said that the evidence suggests that Suzanne Morphew was abducted, drugged, and killed by someone else. I strongly disagree. The attorney also claimed, at the time of Suzanne's disappearance, Barry's tranquilizer gun wasn't working, so it couldn't have been hippened.

57:45 Oh and he was not in possession of any of the chemicals that caused her death. This case is one of the ones that we covered that you stays close to. It sticks with me and I really went justice for Suzanne. Yeah, me too. I mean, in my opinion, he's so clearly guilty, and you remember the daughters still defend him and support him. It's super heartbreaking. Yes, but before we go, I think this is our one hundredth episode. I think it is our officially, we've done more than one hundred, but some of those are patrion I know, but we've we passed that up and we haven't acknowledged it. But it's a big deal and we should one. I asked me at the beginning if we would get to one hundred episodes, I would have said no way. Yeah, initially our intent was just to get to ten. Well didn't we even have like ten recorded before we even released one? We may have had, Yeah, we had definitely close to that. If not ten, Yeah, crazy, that's great questions for you. We just talked about a case that sticks with me. Is there a case that sticks with you? Oh, there's a few of them that definitely stick with me. I think the one the one is the Ben and Linley rednick case that he was the one that was a snake breeder. I think that one sticks with me a lot because I talked to his brother who was the one who found his body, and that one just really resonated with me, and also Aaron Corwin. That was the one Aaron's mom reached out to us, and that just she's just a lovely lady

59:16 and the fact that she reached out to us was it meant a lot. Yeah. Yeah, We've had a few things like that happen, and it's always kind of shocking when you know, we realize that people are listening that we don't think are listening. Right, It's been great. One of the cases that sticks with me is Sarah and Ryan Widmer, which I did very early on, and I almost want to revisit it because I think I'm a little better at research now and I remember I read the book. I think the book may have been a little biased. A lot of people are convinced that Ryan is guilty, but my opinion is I don't think there is enough evidence. Yeah, in that case, but I don't. Maybe we would revisit some of these cases someday, Yeah, I think so. Those are some of the most interesting ones are when they're when it's really not clear.

1:00:07 You know, you want to have like a conclusion, you want to have a definite understanding of who did it at the end, but sometimes you just don't get that. Do you have a favorite episode or a favorite case? I would have to say, like when people ask me if I'm going to listen to one episode, which one should I listen to, I steer them to the Liz Gallier, Carrie Farvar Dave Krupa case, because that one is just so crazy, so insane, such a wild story that I just I find that one really interesting. Oh. One of my favorite episodes, I don't know if I could say one was Kim Wall and Peter Madson, which wasn't really a love Mary kill case as much, but she just was such an awesome lady and it was so horrible what happened to her. Yeah.

1:00:50 Yeah, Do you have any episodes that you would like to do over? You're like, oh, I flubbed this up. I could do better now or most of them. No. The only thing I would say is our early episodes, our sound quality was not great. It still may not be ideals. I feel like I'm learning every day of how to do better editing, but probably our first ten ten to fifteen episodes, I think the sound quality was a little rough. I think I might want to do Chris wats over someday. We've had a lot of sweet people that have told us that despite my emotional nature, that I think they felt like I was very invested in the case, but I was super Oh yeah, you were totally Yeah.

1:01:31 So anyway, a favorite snack A favorite snack I can only go based on recency, but the Reese's peanut butter ice cream sandwiches that was very recent. That was very recent, but it's top of mind for me. Yeah, how about you. I mean, the Garrett's popcorn is always good. I remember one of our sweet listeners, Allison, sent us a box of chocolate. Oh yeah, that was a really good box of chocolate. So anyway, Happy one hundred episode, Happy one hundred. Last thing we've talked about before we go is we've been watching a show on Netflix called Everyone's Watching a Lot. It's very popular right now, called Baby Reindeer. It's not a true crime documentary, but it is apparently based on real events. This guy who is a comedian, a terrible comedian, but he has this stalker who comes into the bar where he works, and she will not leave him alone, and she comes off as completely insane. Although he does not come off well either in this show, because no, he doesn't. He's an idiot and just makes a lot of really dumb decisions. Yeah, are you enjoying it? I'm enjoying it. Yeah, I really like the first episode.

1:02:42 Whatever, since I just I'm not in love with it. But we have one episode left to go. But if you haven't watched it, you know, watch episode one. Yeah, and then we'd say, if you don't like it after episode one, don't watch anymore. Yeah. I think I like it. I'm enjoying it, but I'm curious how true it is. Well, I was just to say, the real life Martha who is the stalker in the show. Her name's not really Martha, but she is going to be on Pierce Morgan's show tomorrow Thursday night, so it'll be already aired by the time we published this episode, and she apparently is going to tell the real story from her perspective. Yeah, I mean, I don't know her side of the story, but if she is innocent, I do feel not innocent, but if he makes her look bad, I feel kind of bad for her. I do too, But I can't imagine that her name got out there, and I guess I feel I mean, if she is like a rapid stalker, but obviously this is her entertainment purposes, and this guy was trying to get his career going right. And I don't know how her name got out there, but I am curious to hear her side of the story. But I can't imagine that she did not do some things that were pretty bad to have gotten him to write this story. So I think they're both a little bear some of the blame for what happened. Or sure, well, I think that's all we have for you today. Please rate, review, follow, and subscribe us, find us on social media, or send us an email at lovemarykillat gmail dot com. Please consider supporting

1:04:14 us on Patreon dot com slash Lovemrykill. We only have one tier five dollars a month for early add free access and a monthly bonus episode until next time. Don't kill your husband and don't kill your wife a bank to