WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT. It’s believed Sonia Exelby, the British woman who flew to Florida with the intention of being killed, changed her mind as the time drew near. But by then, it was tragically too late to save her.
Sonia Exelby’s body was found in a shallow grave just a week after she touched down in America on October 10. The alarm was raised when the 32-year-old from Portsmouth failed to catch her return flight home three days later. But it has since been claimed that what looked like a tragic murder was anything but.
The horror story first unfolded in 2023 when Sonia – who friends say suffered from mental health issues – reportedly started chatting to a man on a fetish website. The conversation is said to have turned from bondage and suicide to Sonia’s desire to have someone on the site kill her.
Police allege that that man was American Dwaine Hall, 53, and that last month, Sonia flew over to be violently killed by him. After she left the UK, one frantic friend begged for help, telling her Instagram followers that Sonia had entered “into an extremely vulnerable situation”. They wrote: “Sonia is such a vulnerable person and really struggling with her mental health. We believe she got on a plane on Friday and made her way to Tallahassee, Florida, from the UK. We believe she has arranged to meet someone there and has got herself into an extremely vulnerable situation. That’s all I can really say on that.”
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After her body was discovered in a shallow woodland grave in Marion County, northwest of Orlando, an autopsy determined that Sonia died after being stabbed four times with a knife. Officers arrested Dwain Hall after connecting him to transactions allegedly made using Sonia’s credit cards, and claim he collected Sonia from the airport before driving her to a Reddick Airbnb cabin. He has been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder, but denies both.
An affidavit – a document in the US that serves as evidence in legal proceedings – claimed Hall initially denied knowing Sonia before he reportedly admitted to picking her up and driving her to an Airbnb. Other records obtained by Fox32 include licence plate readers that picked up Hall’s vehicle at the airport in Gainesville around the time Sonia arrived.
Arrest documents said Sonia “left evidence on her computer indicating she was suicidal and travelling to the United States to be sexually abused, tortured and possibly murdered.” Hall is alleged to have admitted during a police interview that he and Sonia “discussed bondage, suicide, and her desire to have someone kill her.”
Hall was apprehended on October 17 after he allegedly attempted to use Sonia’s credit cards to withdraw $1,200 (£918). When questioned about Sonia, he reportedly told officers he had been the last person to see her alive and said he would help her.
Hall, who has admitted to having violent tendencies, claimed Sonia had been suicidal and wanted to be killed. According to the affidavit seen by PEOPLE, she wrote in a suicide note that she would be “mutilated and disabled for the rest of my life” if she “managed to get to him”. Hall reportedly described himself as a mentor who would help and not kill the troubled woman.
The affidavit states that Hall said that if he was forced to help Sonia die, he would take her to Alligator Alley, where the wildlife “would have taken care of her.” When asked whether he killed Sonia, Hall refused to answer, but said “she’s happy now because she got what she wanted.”
Now, a harrowing picture has been pieced together of her final days. Hall reportedly claimed he and Sonia had sex multiple times, describing it to police as ‘vanilla’. According to the Daily Mail, it was Sonia’s idea, not his, as he didn’t want to have sex with her because he would “feel bad about his wife, Ginger Stein, according to an arrest affidavit.
Social media posts suggest that he and Ginger have been together since 2014, and they have reportedly been seen with two children. In Instagram posts, Ginger wears a breathing tube, and Hall is said to have told police that when she fell ill in August this year, his previous violent tendencies ‘went away’.
However, his jail intake form reportedly indicates that he is legally single, but referred to Stein as his wife during the interview with police.
Bank records and surveillance footage allegedly showed Hall arrived at a Walmart on October 10 where he purchased gun cleaner, rope and Lume spray. Moments later, he returned to the same store to buy a shovel. At that point, Sonia is believed to have still been alive.
Footage obtained by police allegedly shows Hall trying to get her recorded consent. It reportedly shows Sonia covered in bruises while Hall questions why she is there and asks her how she would like to die. She says she wants to be stabbed.
Picking up on Sonia’s demeanour in the video, detectives noted that she appeared hesitant and visibly upset. Heartbreakingly, it appears that Sonia changed her mind about the warped plot but couldn’t find a way out. Investigators found messages sent by Sonia to a friend through the online messaging platform Discord on October 11.
“I’m sorry he keeps taking my phone, he doesn’t trust me with it. He made it clear there was no way out unless I shoot him. I was questioning it last night,” one reportedly read. Adding that the previous night had been ‘so bad’, she is said to have written: “I can’t kill anyone… He’s in the shower but I’m locked in and there is no singal [sic] in the middle of nowhere. I thought he’d do it quick and not give my mind time to stew and realise this is the last thing I’ll ever day [sic] to anyone if I don’t take his offer of shooting him. He showed me how to use it and where to aim.”
The last messages reportedly read: ‘I’m so scared I’m so broken and in so much pain all I can do is lay here and doing what gee [sic] wants. Makes him respect me enough not to do the things I really hate. Everything but some are. I’m sorry I don’t even know what I’m saying and I’m trying to be quick and my times up.”
Hall – who police say changed his story several times – allegedly claimed she had promised to pay him $4,000 (£3,000) to help pay off his IRS debt, but that he got angry when she arrived in the US without the cash. He took £900 out of her UK bank account.
He made her record three disclaimer messages and write a letter to her family because he thought it was ‘funny,'” per the affidavit. Investigators have stated that the messages “showed that Hall was controlling her, that she was afraid, and had made a mistake.”
Investigators learned that, after Sonia died, Hall sent a package to a friend in Ohio, where authorities found a seven-inch Tanto blade with Sonia’s blood on it. A shovel found in Hall’s garage also had traces of Sonia’s DNA.
During his first court appearance on Monday (November 17), Fox 35 Orlando reports, Judge Laurie Cotton told Hall: “Under these circumstances, that there is no bond that would assure your presence in court, keep the community safe. And the facts of this case – there is a large amount of evidence against you.”
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email [email protected], visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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