Man charged in murder of wife, whose body was discovered at Orlando home

ORLANDO, Fla. — A 50-year-old man faced a judge Thursday after he was arrested and charged with the murder of his wife, whose body was discovered in April at their home near the Delaney Park neighborhood, the Orlando Police Department said.

Police said David Michael Tronnes was denied bail Thursday.

Tronnes was arrested Wednesday on charges of first-degree murder in the April 24 death of Shanti Cooper-Tronnes, 39.

Cooper-Tronnes' relatives said detectives told them she was beaten to death in a shower at her home on East Copeland Drive near South Orange Avenue and West Gore Street.

Marion Perry, Cooper-Tronnes' grandmother, told Channel 9 that she had not met David Tronnes until after her granddaughter's death.

"I suspected him from the minute they told me," she said. "He wouldn't look you in the eye when he spoke to you."

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Perry said she had been living in fear for the past four months.

"I was afraid to go to bed at night," she said. "When I'd go to bed, living here alone, I'd stack chairs up on all my doors, so if anybody tried to open it, it would fall out on them."

Perry said her final memory of Cooper-Tronnes was cooking a meal for her to take home.

"I said, 'Just take it with you and have it at home,'" she said. "That was the last meal she ate. I mean, that's hard to take."

Cooper-Tronnes leaves behind a young son.

Tronnes remains in the Orange County Jail.

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