'He needed her more than she needed him,' neighbor said of man accused of killing wife

ORLANDO, Fla. — Money, a troubled marriage and allegations of extramarital sex are what detectives focused on while interviewing those who knew a woman who was killed in April at her home near Delaney Park.

David Tronnes is charged with murder in connection with the death of his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes.

"Have you ever had any reason to believe that their marriage was on the rocks or was having trouble?" a detective asked Kishian Matani, Cooper-Tronnes' father.

"Honestly, in my mind, I believed there was something wrong," Matani said.

Relatives and friends said the couple seemed distanced from one another.

"I've never seen them affectionate. I've never seen them touch," said Alaina Pathic, who knew the couple.

Cooper-Tronnes, who owned a successful consulting business, was perceived to be the couple's primary provider.

"I just felt like he needed her more than she needed him," Pathic said.

"I didn't think that Dave worked," neighbor Jacqueline Spence said.

Cooper-Tronnes' late mother's husband told police that Tronnes seemed focused on money when Cooper-Tronnes' mother had a heart attack in November 2016.

"The first words that I recall that Shanti asked me with Dave by her side was, 'What about mom's life insurance?'" Norman Daugh said.

Daugh said he thought the question originated from Tronnes.

"He always claimed that he had millions, but Shanti bought everything," Daugh said.

Detectives said they uncovered allegations of extramarital sex.

Arthur Adams, a worker at a gay gym and spa in Orlando, told police he witnessed Tronnes having sexual contact with men at the gym at least twice.

"For a while there, he was coming, like, at least twice a week," Adams said.

Detectives said in interviews that they have been trying to track down surveillance footage recorded in the neighborhood to use as evidence in the case.

Tronnes is being held at the Orange County Jail in lieu of bail.

Cox Media Group