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

ORLANDO, Fla. — The man accused of killing his wife in their Delaney Park home admitted to a jailhouse informant that he is guilty, according to court documents.

David Tronnes is charged in the 2008 murder of his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes.

The informant, a registered sex offender named Edward Gismondi who was in Orange County Jail with Tronnes in 2018, told prosecutors Cooper-Tronnes discovered an app and text messages on Tronnes’ phone involving relationships he was having with other men.

She became irate and said she was going to tell everyone, the informant said. That’s when Tronnes blacked out, hit her and accidentally killed her, Gismondi told police.

Medical examiners said Cooper-Tronnes died from strangulation and blunt trauma to the head. Investigators said she was killed in the bedroom.

Read: Man accused of murdering wife at Delaney Park home may have found attorney to represent him

Inside the home, Tronnes told investigators he returned to find his wife bleeding in the shower, but police said when they interrogated him that “most of it” is not true.

After Tronnes was arrested, court documents revealed he had been a regular at a gay men’s club, and several witnesses said they had seen him having sex with other men.

Prosecutors also said they found suspected child pornography on his phone.

Gismondi, the informant, is now registered to live in the Fort Myers area. He did a recorded interview with prosecutors. Channel 9 has requested a copy of that recording.

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