Local

Officials claim man who allegedly killed wife inside Delaney Park home held on to evidence

ORLANDO, Fla. — A major development has come to light in the case of an Orlando man who allegedly murdered his wife inside their Delaney Park home.

The former defense team for David Tronnes claims he held on to bloody sheets from the home for a year after the murder before recently turning them over to police.

Tronnes claimed he found his wife, Shanti Cooper-Tronnes in the shower where he said she had been beaten and strangled.

Police beleive Tronnes killed her on the bed before moving her body in an attempt to clean her up.

Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said that typically attorneys will not take possession of physical evidence from their clients because it must be turned over and that it's a "nightmare" trying to get it over to law enforcement because they don't want to be called as a witness against their own client.

In Tronnes' case, the defense team cited a conflict of interest in asking to withdraw from representing him.

"Although it was a long period of time before an attorney turned that evidence over, it was turned over in enough time for the state to evaluate whether or not the evidence has any evidentiary value," said Shaeffer.

Tests are being conducted on the sheets to determine if the blood on the sheets belong to Shanti or if it's connected to the murder in any way.

The Orlando Police Department released a statement on the evidence:

It's of tremendous concern when potential inculpatory evidence is withheld from the police prosecution of a homicide suspect by his defense attorneys and those they employ, especially for as long as it was withheld, almost a year.  This matter is currently under active criminal investigation.

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Jeff Deal

Jeff Deal, WFTV.com

I joined the Eyewitness News team as a reporter in 2006.