The Renovation, The Ring and The Double Life

and the Double Life. The house at to East Copeland Drive was almost square feet. It had a pool, a garage, apartment, a fireplace, and five bathrooms. Located just a mile from downtown Orlando, Florida, in the upscale neighborhood of Delaney Park, it was known for its great schools and expansive gardens. The property should have been any couple's dream home, but for Chanty and Dave Tronas, the Spanish style mansion became

a place of secrets, lies, and unimaginable terror. Five years before the tragedy that would transpire, Shanty and Dave were mere strangers who began chatting on match dot Com. Shanty was thirty four and living in the Orlando area. Dave was ten years her senior and located up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Despite their distance, the pair fell to connection. Shanty was a hard working, dedicated single mother who cared deeply about her eight year old son. Dave was intelligent and charming.

The couple also bonded over the shared experiences of complicated divorces. Dave and Shanty fell hard for each other fast with In just months of meeting, Dave packed up and moved to Florida to be with Shaunty. One email she wrote to him sums up the early days of their relationship well, quote, Dave, I will have to say, I think this will be a delicious detour, an amazing, life changing detour. I've had a pep in my steps since we started this little

email affair. In February, Shaunty and Dave got married with the stunning fifteen thousand dollar diamond ring. Here's Stephanie. So here's what we know about them when they first met. Within months of becoming a couple, Dave moved hundreds of miles to Florida. He loved the area and bought a house at two hundred and eighteen East Copeland Drive for six hundred and seven thousand, five hundred dollars with cash.

According to the real estate agent who sold him the house, Dave was like a child when you bought the home. He was desperate and wanted to get the deal done. It was sort of off putting to her that he was so pushy, but also anyone who bought a home can relate to the feeling of just wanting to close that deal. But that said, paying cash for a house is pretty difficult. Jeff, what did the couple do? Shaunty

and Dave were both very successful. She ran a fruitful financial software business and was able to work from home, and Dave had recently inherited between four and six million dollars from his father, so that would explain why he was able to pay cash for the house. And so I think because they were both maybe business minded, they decided to keep their finances very separate. Dave paid for the house and didn't end up putting Shaunty on the deed.

And while at first this worked, it became kind of a hot button issue because Shaunty actually moved into the home and that's not all. The couple started an expansive remodel on the home, and because David paid for the home and cash, Shaunty agreed to flip the bill for the remodel under the guys that she would eventually be added to the deep Dave asked his neighbor for her advice on the remodel. Take a listen. He was asking me specifically about raising the floor in the living room

to match the kitchen. And I thought, that's a major, major problem because the doors back there you'd have to bring you'd have to replace all those doors, You'd have to bring those all up to the right height. And I thought, why would you do that? I mean, I could understand. I told him, I said, if you want your kitchen bigger, bring the kitchen floor out further and make the breakfast area smaller. But to raise the whole floor up, to me seemed a little ludicrous. I mean,

it just seemed crazy. Did it seem as you're looking around the house and he's explaining what they want to do, that it was going to be expensive. Oh, I mean I could tell it was going to be expensive. I mean there was no that was not And at that point, um, I mean, that's where they were already was like a two dollar renovation minimum. When you hear that, it just seems like Dave didn't care about the cost. He was

on a roll. If the neighbor, who didn't really know the specifics of the job could tell it would be that expensive, it must have been pretty bad. I can't imagine Shanty, a hard working single mom, would have loved that not only was her home such a mess, but that she was also paying for all of it at the same time. It would ultimately turn into a life altering redot. Shanty and Dave had big plans for the house. They wanted to open up the main living space and

redo every bathroom and bedroom. The house was torn down to the studs and the budget ballooned. Like many homeowners who attempt a renovation, Shanty and Dave found themselves in over their heads. Here's Jeff, So, like we said, since Day paid for the house, Shanty fronted the costs for the HNO, but that again became a problem when the costs for the remodel reached two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

And remember, Shanty wasn't even on the d to the house, so while she was investing all this money into the home, it wasn't even hers. So the deed to a house staff correct me if I'm wrong, is really just states who the owner of the home is. So if something were to happen to Dave, let's say, Shaunty, would have no steak in the property because she's not on the deed. Or moreover, I believe that if Dave decided overnight that he wanted to sell the property, he wouldn't need her

permission to do so. And suddenly she's put two hundred and fifty thousand dollars into a home that she could frankly be asked to leave or not benefit from the sale of the house. Right So she's investing to make this property worth much more than it already is and not going to see any of the returns. A neighbor spoke about the dynamics of the relationship. What was your observations with Dave and jacks Um, Dave was always very nice to Jackson. He treated like his own son. He

seemed very concerned with his well being. UM like, I know that he They didn't like Jackson's teacher this year. I don't know if it was so much Shaunty, I don't know, but Day would always say you don't like Mrs. It's not the right fit for Jackson. I think Mrs was more free form. He needs structure, you know. And and for Dave to be that concerned about Jackson, I thought was unusual, you know, because it's not your child, but he talked to him as if it was his

own child. We were also never able to figure out what Dave did. By all counts, he was unemployed and seemingly living off of the big inheritance he said his dad left for him. It's interesting, though, that the impression the couple was giving was that Shanty was the sole provider and supporting Dave. I suppose I could see how it would seem that way, since Shanty worked all day and Dave just sort of hung around. After three years of construction and many contractors later, the house on East

Copeland Drive was no closer to being completed. It had become so unlivable that Shaunty and Dave began sleeping in the garage apartment. According to their last contractor, the rehynot was causing a strain on the couple and things were tense. Shanty was displeased with the time and money being spent, and the fact that her husband would not change the deed. But on Aeen at three fifteen PM, all of that would seem irrelevant. Nine one one operators in Delaney Park

received this call. Hello, tried to do can you get her out of the shower? Okay? Is she laying from on the back? Okay? And you don't know what happened here or when anything happened? Okay. Through guttural sobs, Dave told paramedics he had found his wife unresponsive in the bathtub. When the police arrived, Shaunty was dead. Dave told the detectives that he had been out for a walk with the dogs and when he came home, he found Shaunty in the tub. Oddly, police noticed there were no signs

of a struggle or fourth entry. While five thousand dollars in cash and Shaunty's beautiful fifteen thousand dollar engagement ring, we're missing. Many other valuables such as computers, watches, and phones were not taken. With very little to go on, police turned to Dave for answers. Davis brought in for questioning and it began what would turn into a marathon fourteen hour interrogation. Very quickly, he refused a lawyer, so the cops were free to ask him anything and everything

they wanted and asked him. They did listen to Dave describe what he found when he discovered Shaunty in the bathtub. She's submerged partially, but she's also partially not submerged and kind of sticking up a little. And it's just extremely it's awful and it doesn't look natural. Obviously she or something happened. They try to pick her up, she's she's it's hard to pick her up. She's met stick a sack of potatoes. It's easy. It just to me sounds so methodical and cold. I mean, at one point he

describes her as a sack of potatoes. To me, that seems like a very odd way to describe your now deceased wife when you find her in the tub. That's not the only thing that was odd. The cops also found it strange that, despite telling them he found her in the bathtub and immediately calling them on one, the bathroom was completely dry when they arrived, and Shanty was only damp, not wet, So then that just didn't that up. Yeah, that was a big piece to this case. There was

also some blood found on the bed frame. Dave theorized that it could have been from Shaunty's menstrual cycle, so the question would have been who would possibly want to hurt the compassionate and successful mother. The detectives just decided to ask Dave outright, have a listen, any problems? Yeah, okay, anyone that want to do her home? At the talent of the interrogation, the cops tried to coax a confession out of Dave, but he continued to deny murdering his wife.

You either man a mistake, you're cool boy kill which may We also know that Shaunty had a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy and that Dave was the beneficiary, But the missing ring in the cash was always sort of odd and didn't completely add up. Meaning, if day I've wanted to hurt Shaunty, why would he take that? There really would be no reason other than if he was looking to stage it or make the

scene look as though it was a robbery. Right, But if he was really trying to make it look like a robber, you think he would have taken the cell phones or the computers, or the watches or the earrings. But it seems very pointed to me that just this large amount of cash and the ring were taken. I

mean to me. You know, we talk a lot about whether you should lawyer her up or not law your up, and it seems like whether or not you did something or you didn't do something, having a lawyer is always a smart move, especially when you know the cops are looking at you for talking to you for fourteen hours. You're bound to say something that will frame you in a bad light or give something up that you don't

want to give up. I mean, obviously the cops thought he was the lead suspect at this time that they're talking to be fourteen hours. They had nothing else to go off of at this point, and he refused a lawyer because in some cases that does look bad if you're suddenly feeling as though you need counsel to discuss a scene that you just walked into. I can see both sides of that, right, I mean, for fourteen hours. If he doesn't crack after fourteen hours, perhaps he really

doesn't have anything to hide. And of course he wants to find the murderer, so theoretically he's going to say everything and anything he knows so that the police could get off of him as a main suspect and onto finding the person who is still at large with Dave A. Freeman. The police looked at other suspects. First was Shanty's ex husband. They had a bitter divorce and shared custody of their son. Could he have killed her to get control of their child?

Police also honed in on a local homeless man who was known to hang around to Leaney Park. Do you recognize her? No? Right? Have you ever seen her before? No? No? Okay? You ever spoken to her or nothing? No? Okay? Do you recognize this fan? No? I don't. All right, I'm showing him a picture of David Michael Old Churnis and have you ever had a conversation with him? For any reason?

I'm out here to something in the morning is because I needed to ask you whether or not, um you had been in her home or seen her or harmed her in any way. Have you ever been in her home? Have you ever harmed her in any way? Okay? Did you kill her? No? No? Would you have any reason to the police were very thorough with their investigation. We know they looked at Shanty's acts husband and a local homeless man, but they were ultimately able to clear them

both because they had airtight allillies. So naturally, the investigators look back at Dave and kind of what he has going on in his life, and when they started going through his credit card statements, they found one thing that struck them as strange. On his statement, he had a recurring thirty five dollar payment to a place called the Club or Lando. And it turns out the Club Orlando is a men's gym, but is known to host some

more toward activities than average twenty four hour fitness. Yeah, this is a very confusing topic because, on the one hand, we know that Dave is married, so why would he be paying for a membership at a men's hook up Jim. That said, it's also quite possible he was just going to the gym to work out that also happened to be a hook up Jim, he didn't necessarily have to partake in that. Yeah, it's interesting because you can look at these two things as separate issues or potentially related.

On the one hand, he might not have been doing anything, that's one possibility, or he might have been actually going and hooking up with guys, and that might not have to do with the murder of his wife. But it does tell us that maybe he's being deceitful to either the police because he didn't tell him upfront that he is cheating on his wife, or he's being deceitful to Shanti because he's lying to her about what he's doing

outside of their marriage. In any case, it is circumstantial evidence, but it does point to maybe his character and calls into question what he's saying. Is that because he's clearly not being truthful, that's exactly right. It does paint a picture of him that's simply not favorable. We're going to take a break. We'll be back in just a moment. So much of these cases are not necessarily about physical evidence, but what the police perceive as your character and the

type of person that you are. And whether he's lying to the police or he's lying to his wife, it certainly doesn't make him look like a good person, right, And to that end, the two don't necessarily go hand in hand. Just because he's maybe stepping out and either exercising at the gym or exercising at the gym and stepping out on his marriage. Again, that doesn't make him a murderer or a murderer of Shaunty specifically, as police looked at all the pieces to a puzzle, everything led

back to Dave. One he had motive. Financially he stood to gain with Shaunty dead personally, she might have been enraged over his extramarital activities. Two he had opportunity. Dave was admittedly the last person to see her alive. This was enough to make an arrest, and on August, four months after Shanty's death, Dave was officially charged with her murder. Dave had been staying at his mother's house, and when the police searched his things, they found the supposedly missing

ring in a suitcase. To them, it was the nail in Dave's coffin. Finding the ring was a very big deal and a break in the case, and as the prosecution built their case, detectives got a tip that would send them right back to where it all began. A former friend of Dave's in Minnesota said that Dave had been poisoning his ex wife, a woman named Carol. In Minnesota, detectives learned that Carol had in fact suffered from a

series of health issues. She always spoke about chronic pain and gut issues, and she also acknowledged to police that Dave cooked most of her meals. Listen to this, who cooked in the home? We both did? He primarily cooked in the home um in the early days. I I don't remember. I think he might have done a lot of the cooking. He's a better cook than I. You mentioned the chef thinks, so that makes sense that he was inspiring chef after that three m He did a

lot of the cooking early on. I don't know if we did a lot of it, but I mean he I honestly don't remember the meals. Okay, such an odd description. Now, listen to the cops when they asked Carol directly if Dave was poisoning her, would there have been any reason to believe that you could have been given something poisoned, given certain supplements, things along those lines that could have caused any of the medical issues. But how does this

all play into Shaunty's story. Eight weeks before her dath, Shahnty had an emergency appenducting me. As it turns out, appendicitis and poisoning have very similar symptoms, So the theory was that potentially Dave had been poisoning his ex wife Carol and his current wife Shaunty. He even admitted in his interrogation that Shaunty had digestion problems. She hasn't found since the appendant me that she can eat regularly and

feel good. While it seemed very possible that Dave had a pattern of poisoning the women he supposedly loved, detectives just could never really prove it. Shaunty's autopsy was very clear. It said that she died of strangulation and blunt force trauma. And while this whole theory about the poison was creeping and very weird, it essentially took a backseat. While in Minnesota, detectives also made another discovery about Dave's deceptions. So we know that Dave had told Shaunty he inherited four to

six million dollars from his dad. It was how he paid cash for the house, But it turned out that was a lot. He never inherited any money, and he most likely used all his savings to pay for the house in cash. Why would he lie about that, Deshaunty? I wonder if it was because Shanty was successful and had her own money and Dave wanted to seem like he did too, and he didn't need her for her money. He wanted to appear independently wealthy. Eleven months after the murder,

another twist would shock investigators. Dave's former defense attorney, who made since replaced, turned in a set of bloody sheets and a green cord to the police. According to the lawyer, he had acquired the items from the garage apartment after the murder. However, he never turned them into police or the prosecution. Could the sheets prove Dave killed Shaunty in their bedroom, was the green cord the murder weapon? As the lawyer was investigated for withholding key evidence. Please got

another shocking phone call. Dave's cellmate came forward with quite a story. The cellmate told officials that they bonded over their love of obscure hallucinogens, including one that came from a frog. According to the cell mate, Dave said he could use frog poison to kill someone. He also said that Dave confessed to murder. The cellmates said that Dave told him Shanty found a gay hook up app on

his phone and completely freaked out. They had a big fight, he blacked out and then he killed her and While all of this sound plausible, including the whole frog thing, it couldn't be corroborated and there were no records of Dave having any app like that on his phone. So ultimately, while intr staying, the cellmate story was dismissed, let's stop here for another break. So will cops couldn't do anything

with the cellmate story. They still had these bloody sheets and the green cord to look out, So let's just talk this through. According to the police, what happened that night. Police think that Shanty is sitting there getting ready for bed, taking her earrings out as you would, and she had one earring out, one on the nightstand, and that's when Dave came up behind her and attacked her. The attack would explain the blood that was found not only on

the sheets, but also the bed frame. You know, the same bed frame that Dave thought was just her period blood on it. The sheets had way more blood which would not possibly be from a woman's menstrual cycle. So the cops think that he attacks are there's blood, and then at some point he starts to strangle over the green cord. Now the green cord had no DNA evidence on it, but police didn't find it for months, so Dave could have easily cleaned it up after the murder.

And if that theory is true, that meant Dave sat with Shaunty's body for hours before calling. Think about that. The cops believed that Dave passed the time doing very mundane chores like cleaning the house and literally walking the dogs, all while his wife was dead upstairs. We pulled some audio from a phone called Dave had with his mom while in jail to give you some insight into his frame of mind. Take a listen. You should be taking care of your own stuff. I can't shouldn't be in jail,

but you shouldn't be in jail. But we can't change that if that's not my fault. It's not your fault that you're in jail. No, I didn't do anything. It's not my fault. So why did they put you in jail? Then? Who? You understand? Because there's something we have to go through until we can done with it. We already talked about this, right,

I don't remember anymore. I didn't think that I would ever have to be that you would be in jail and I would have to be doing your Why didn't think I would either, So comm you should then that you're not doing you're really not doing. You shouldn't be there. I didn't do anyva. It's not my fault. Okay, then why are you there? Because sometimes you have to defend yourself. You can really hear the frustration and contempt in his mom's voice, and to me, it sounds like Dave's just

going through the motions when he denies any wrongdoing. As of late, the trial in which Dave pled not guilty, has been delayed several times due to COVID and other factors. However, in January, Dave was found incompetent to stand trial. A judge ruled that he was unfit to proceed after two medical experts conducted psychological all evaluations on him and determined

he was schizophrenic. Instead of facing trial for the savage murder of Shanty, Dave will be sent to a state hospital where he will receive treatment for his mental health. Shameless plug. If you're enjoying Crazy and Love, leave us a review and listen to season three of our hit series The Piked and Massacre. New episodes there every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts and don't forget to follow

us on Instagram at Katie Underscore Studios. Crazy and Love is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Jeff Shane, Chris Graves and me Courtney Armstrong. Editing and sound design by Jeff Twa. Crazy in Love is a production of I Heart Radio and Katie Studios. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Stay safe, lovers,