DISTRESSING CONTENT Dwain Hall, from Florida, was arrested following the death of Brit Sonia Exelby, whose remains were discovered in a shallow grave last month
Police investigating the death of a Brit woman who travelled to the US with the intention of being killed by a man she met on a fetish site made a grim discovery in a parcel sent by her alleged killer.
The Brit woman, named in US reports as Sonia Exelby, from Portsmouth, travelled to Florida with the intention of being killed, according to authorities, who said she had planned to meet with “online individuals who would be willing to kill her violently”. Ms Exelby, who was known to be suicidal and have struggled with her mental health, was reported as missing and endangered by British officials via INTERPOL on October 13.
Her remains were recovered from a shallow grave a matter of days later on October 17, and Florida man Dwain Hall was arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder following her death – and the recovery of a grim package addressed to his wife from a friend.
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Hall, 53, from Ocala, was arrested by deputies from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) after Ms Exelby’s remains were recovered in Marion County. FDLE has accused him of taking her up on an request she had posted on an undisclosed fetish site to abuse and then kill her.
He was arrested in October for allegedly using the Brit’s credit cards, with a judge stating there was a “large amount of evidence” against him while denying him bail in court. Among the evidence referenced by police are alleged phone calls from jail, including one in which Hall is said to have told his wife to look out for a package from a friend in six months.
Detectives said they found Facebook messages he had sent from jail to the friend, who was based in Ohio, regarding the package. When they went to retrieve the item, police said they found a knife – the blade later tested positive for traces of Ms Exelby’s blood, investigators said.
Police said Hall and Ms Exelby spent time at an Airbnb property on the weekend of October 10 and had sex multiple times, with investigators saying they had later recovered a video featuring the Brit which showed her covered in bruises as she was made to answer disclaimer questions about her wish to be beaten and killed. The affidavit goes on to add that the video shows Ms Exelby appearing “subdued” and at points “becomes visibly upset with tears in her eyes”.
It states: “Throughout the conversation Exelby is subdued, rarely looks up towards the camera where Hall would be positioned, becomes visibly upset with tears in her eyes, exhales deeply, swallows hard, and very hesitant to answer Hall’s questions.” Also amongst the evidence, authorities added, was a label for a shovel matching a brand Hall had purchased before October 10.
Police say they later found a shovel of the same brand to one from which the label had come in Hall’s garage, and that it also had traces of both his and Ms Exelby’s DNA.
An autopsy conducted following Ms Exelby’s killing found she had been fatally stabbed four times with a knife. Following her death, UK police said Ms Exelby had tried once previously to hire someone to kill her in 2024, but that the attempt was foiled and she received treatment.
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