David Tronnes ruled competent, expected to face new lawsuit in wife’s death

ORLANDO, Fla. — It has been four years since prosecutors said a man murdered his wife in their home in an upscale Orlando neighborhood.

That man is expected to face a new lawsuit on behalf of his wife’s son after a hospital found him competent.

In April 2018, investigators said Shanti Cooper-Tronnes was found beaten and strangled in her home in Delaney Park.

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Her husband, David Tronnes, was later arrested and charged with first-degree murder.

Since then, the trial has been pushed back time after time, most recently because Tronnes was ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.

In January after Tronnes was found incompetent and was sent to the state hospital, Cooper-Tronnes’ son, Jackson, told Channel 9 that he believed Tronnes was faking being devastated.

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“He’s just trying to get out of it because he thinks he’s going to a mental hospital and play around,” Jackson said.

This week, a judge has ordered Tronnes back to the Orange County Jail after the hospital found him competent.

When Tronnes gets back, he will be served with a lawsuit.

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Jackson’s father, who is overseeing Cooper-Tronnes’ estate for their son, filed the suit on his son’s behalf. The suit claims Cooper-Tronnes had a right to at least some of upscale Delaney Park home where they lived.

Documents show Tronnes put the house in a trust in his name and his mother’s name but left Cooper-Tronnes off.

The new lawsuit shows how she was the one putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into the home and claims she and now her estate should have ownership of the home.

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The suit claims it was more than $208,000, “all of which was paid exclusively by Shanti Cooper-Tronnes.”

It also alleges Tronnes committed fraud by telling Cooper-Tronnes that he would include her as a beneficiary on this property and not doing it.

Tronnes is set to return to court next month to determine his competence and see if they can proceed to the murder trial.

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