Jailhouse informant: Delaney Park man accused of killing wife says he doesn’t remember it happening

ORLANDO, Fla. — The former cellmate of the man accused of killing his wife said his wife’s death was an accident and that he doesn’t even remember it happening, according to new evidence.

The cellmate who became a jailhouse informant, Edward Gismondi, said David Tronnes admitted he was there the day his wife died but was blacked out.

“Word for word, he said, “I’m in here for murder, but I’m not a murderer, is what he told me,” Gismondi told investigators in a jailhouse interview from July 2019 obtained by Channel 9.

Read: Jailhouse informant says man admitted to killing wife in Delaney Park home

Gismondi said he had conversations with Tronnes on subjects ranging from untraceable poisons to psychedelic drugs.

When Tronnes was moved into his cell in late 2018, Gismondi said Tronnes looked out of place, but familiar. He learned they were both patrons of the same private gay men’s club.

Gismondi said Tronnes recognized him from Club Orlando, which Gismondi had been going to “for quite some time.”

Gismondi told investigators that Tronnes still wore his wedding ring and that he still loved his wife Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, whom prosecutors said he killed.

“He was talking about what happened with her, was an accident,” Gismondi said in an audio interview with investigators.

Read: Confusion over assets delays trial of Orlando man accused of killing wife in 2018

According to the medical examiner, Cooper-Tronnes died from strangulation and blunt head trauma. Tronnes first told police he found his wife bleeding in the shower. Gismondi said Tronnes never mentioned his wife by name but said Tronnes told him, on the day she died, she discovered an app on her husband’s phone with text messages from other men and became irate.

Gismondi said Tronnes told him that his wife “was flipping out, screaming and cursing and yelling in his face. She was waving his cellphone and claimed that she was going to tell everybody.”

Gismondi said he told investigators the defendant gave no further details.

Gismondi, now a registered sex offender, agreed to a plea of lewd and lascivious conduct in 2019. He is registered to live in Marion County. He has agreed to be a state witness if called. Gismondi also said Tronnes would spend hours a day meditating in jail.

When investigators asked him about Tronnes’ mental health, he said that Tronnes “seemed sane to me, not insane.”

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