GRAPHIC CONTENT WARNING
A Florida man who allegedly murdered a suicidal British woman was involved in a love triangle with her and his own wife, according to an arrest affidavit.
Sonia Exelby, 32, was reported missing by her loved ones in the UK after arriving in Gainsville, Florida, in search of a violent death last month.
Days later, her body was found in a shallow grave. Dwain Hall, 53, has now been accused of abusing and murdering Exelby inside an Airbnb cabin before dumping her body.
In an arrest affidavit seen by the Daily Mail, Hall told investigators he and Exelby had sexual intercourse inside the rental in Reddick prior to her death.
According to Hall, it was Exelby who initiated the interaction, and he had not wanted to have sex because he did not want to ‘feel bad about his wife,’ Ginger Stein.
His Marion County jail intake form indicates that Hall is legally single, however he referred to Stein as his wife throughout his interview with detectives.
Social media posts indicate they have been together since at least 2014. The couple have been pictured together with two children on multiple occasions.
Stein was described in the document as being ill, pictures show her constantly wearing an oxygen tube, sometimes with a loaded gun near her.
Hall told investigators that while he loved his wife, he engaged in sexual activity with Exelby anyway. He described the intercourse as ‘vanilla’.
The affidavit also pointed to their interactions online dating back to 2023 when they first met on a fetish site.
Hall said they discussed bondage, suicide and Exelby’s desire to have someone kill her on the site.
The affidavit also detailed a message Exelby sent to an unnamed individual through private messaging app Discord.
The message was dated October 11, the day after she arrived in the US, and was described by officers as ‘long and at times disjointed’.
It appeared to show Exelby saying that Hall was refusing to let her go unless she killed him.
Police say it also displays a reluctance to go through with her original suicide-by-murder plan.
It said: ‘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. I can’t kill anyone’, adding that the night previous was ‘so bad’.
She continued: ‘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 realize 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 message ended with Exelby saying, ‘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.’
Exelby also said that the person she was with, believed to be Hall, made her record three disclaimer videos and write a letter to her family because he thought it was ‘funny.’
A raid on the Airbnb after her disappearance uncovered receipts that indicated Hall had purchased paracord, gun cleaner, 50 feet of rope and a shovel on October 10.
During his police interview, Hall told investigators that he previously had violent tendencies and discussed helping Exelby carry out her morbid plans.
According to Hall, he told Exelby that he had no interest in any of it after Stein fell ill, claiming she got sick in August and that his violent tendencies ‘went away’.
When investigators asked what he would say to Exelby’s family, he replied that he would tell them the last time he saw her, she was happy.
Hall backtracked on his story twice, according to the affidavit.
What’s more, he is said to have claimed that he and Exelby fabricated a cover story, before telling police that an agreement involving $4,000 was struck between the two.
According to the affidavit, Hall told police that Exelby had offered to help him pay off an IRS debt, but she arrived in Florida without the money, which upset him. He managed to raid $1,200 from her UK bank account.
Per a four-minute video taken inside the Airbnb and found on Hall’s phone, officers said Exelby told Hall that she wanted to be stabbed to death.
An autopsy conducted on Exelby’s remains, which were exhumed from a shallow grave in a wooded area, determined she died from four sharp force injuries.
DNA evidence found on a knife that Hall mailed to a friend out of state in Ohio indicated that the seven inch Tanto blade was used to kill Exelby, police said.
Hall is facing charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping, credit card fraud and unlawful use of a communication device.
He has pleaded not guilty and demanded a jury trial in the case. The Daily Mail has contacted Stein for comment.
