A Florida sadist accused of killing a suicidal British piano tutor in an Airbnb last year was found by police to have numerous vile photos on his cell phone of women and children being sexually tortured, beaten, murdered and dismembered, a
court has heard.
Police claim they uncovered the trove of sickening images after Dwain Hall, 54, was arrested for allegedly stabbing Sonia Exelby, 32, to death in a secluded cabin near Gainesville in October last year – just days after she flew over from the UK, seeking a violent death after the pair met in an online fetish chatroom. He has pled not guilty.
Among the bloody photos too grotesque to describe in detail here, investigators claimed they also found a one-minute video of Exelby that police testified was likely filmed minutes before she was knifed to death.
In the video, which was played during a Tuesday hearing before Hall's murder trial gets underway later this month, Exelby was seen sitting on a couch, staring straight ahead as if looking into emptiness.
Hall, investigators claim, can be heard from behind the camera, asking her: 'What are you consenting to today?'
At times, an apparently shell-shocked Exelby looks into the camera for a few seconds and speaks briefly with some difficulty.
Her once beautiful face is covered in large bruises under her right eye, as well as on her cheek and chin, according to the difficult-to-watch images shown in court.
When Hall, a married, father-of-two, asks her why she looked like that, Exelby says calmly after a long pause: 'You're beating me.'
Sonia Exelby, 32, was found dead in a shallow grave in Florida in October last year - just days after the suicidal British woman flew from the UK to meet 54-year-old Dwain Hall, seeking a 'violent death' (Source: Facebook)
Hall, a tow-truck operator from Ocala, Florida, is accused of stabbing Exelby to death after the pair met on a fetish website. Early indications from the police probe into her death suggest Exelby had paid Hall to take her life. He has pled not guilty (Source: Facebook)
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Asked if she is consenting to what's happening, Exelby eventually nods yes. Hall then asks how she wants to be killed. At first, Exelby's face makes it seem that she cannot understand the question. Hall repeats his question.
Barely audible, Exelby looks at the camera from the corner of her eyes without turning her head and says: 'Be stabbed!'
But the longest sentence that Exelby says on video may be the hardest one to hear.
Asked why she wants to die, Exelby responds: 'I am an awful person. I've crushed everyone who ever loved me.'
Exelby, who police say had left her home in Portsmouth, England, just two days before the video was filmed on Hall's cell phone, appears wearing a flowery dress that hangs low on her chest – revealing dozens of disturbingly vivid thin purple marks across her breasts.
Egged on by Hall, who asks her why she is there, Exelby speaks her final words before the video stops: 'I needed to be beaten and to suffer, because I'm such a piece of s**t.'
Sitting next to his lawyer during the hearing, a bearded Hall remained stoic as he watched the video in his faded red-and-white jail stripes, his face blank as he peered over his thin eyeglasses.
Hall has pleaded not guilty to murder in the first degree and kidnapping.
Exelby, who had well-documented mental health issues, flew to Florida on October 10, 2025, and had a return flight booked for three days later. Her family, as well as boyfriend Steve Hunt (pictured), reported her missing when she failed to board the return flight (Source: Facebook)
Hall, a father-of-two, allegedly sexually abused and tortured the vulnerable British woman before killing her in a remote Airbnb (pictured above) where the pair were staying, according to prosecutors
Police told the court they uncovered a trove of sickening images on Hall's phone after he was arrested for allegedly stabbing Exelby to death near Gainesville in October last year. He has pleaded not guilty (Source: Facebook)
The young woman's body was found in a shallow grave in remote woodland near Ocala on October 17, 2025, shortly after her family and boyfriend in England reported her missing.
Posting several pictures of Exelby on Instagram at the time, her boyfriend, Steve Hunt, said: '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.'
It turns out Exelby, who reportedly suffered from serious mental problems, had quietly booked a flight to Florida after allegedly agreeing to have Hall kill her.
She left her home country on October 10 and had a return flight scheduled three days later, but never got on that flight.
Instead, police say, she spent at least two days at Hall's mercy.
The hearing before Fifth Judicial District Judge Timothy McCourt on Tuesday was the last before Hall's murder trial is slated to start with jury selection on November 16. The proceedings are expected to last five days.
Following his arrest, Hall told police he had met Exelby on a fetish website two years ago and that she had had told him how she wanted to be killed (Source: Marion County Sheriff's Office)
Exelby's body was found in a shallow grave in remote woodland near Ocala, Florida, on October 17, 2025, shortly after her boyfriend in England reported her missing (Source: Family Handout/PA Wire)
His lawyers plan to claim that Hall showed compassion for Exelby's depression when he stabbed her and then dumped her body.
During the hearing, Hall's lawyer and prosecutors battled it out over the cruel photos police say were found on the tow-truck operator's cell phone – including some that showed women and children with injuries similar to those suffered by Exelby.
Marion County Assistant State Attorney Richard Buxman wants to show some of the images to the jury because, he claims, they would establish a motive for the murder.
The hundreds of photos of tortured women and children that Hall allegedly downloaded to fuel his passion for pain, says Buxman, prove he agreed to kill Exelby for his own dark gratification.
'The images of sexual torture and murder… establish his motive in killing the victim,' Buxman wrote in his motion for admission of the evidence.
Hall, whose murder trial is slated to get underway later this month, has been charged with first degree murder and kidnapping in Exelby's slaying. He has pleaded not guilty (Source: Florida Department of Law Enforcement)
'The images… explain his sexual interest in masochistic torturous sexual activity, which is relevant to explain the reason why the defendant murdered the victim and to refute any claims… that he murdered the victim for altruistic reasons such as to fulfill her desire to be killed.'
Meanwhile, Hall's defense lawyer Junior Barrett is fighting against the release of the photos – arguing, in part, that they don't show the accused killer engaged in those activities.
'Images of torture, murder and dismemberment of women are themselves extremely prejudicial,' Barrett wrote in his motion to prevent the photo's exhibition. 'A picture is worth a thousand words.'
At the hearing, Buxman handed the judge stacks of photos for his consideration.
Judge McCourt didn't want them to be published but described to the courtroom what he was looking at.
'Here is a woman being set up to be hung from a scaffold,' the judge said dispassionately. 'There is a noose around her neck. She is naked. You can see her vagina. This is sexualized hanging… If [Hall's] motive is to obtain sexual gratification through the act of murder, why are these photos not relevant?'
McCourt later said his inclination is to allow the photos to be shown to the jury, although he hasn't made his final decision.
Hall, who was known on violent sado-masochist websites as 'Alphasadist,' had met Exelby online nearly two years prior to her death, according to case records.
Hall, who is married, told detectives he met Exelby on a fetish website two years earlier and she had told him how she was suicidal and wanted to be killed (Source: Facebook)
At the time, Exelby's boyfriend posted an emotional plea on social media in an attempt to find her - describing how loved ones feared she had arranged to meet someone in the US but had gotten herself into an 'extremely vulnerable situation'
According to police, Hall told them he had informed Exelby that he was willing to torture and kill her if she visited him in Florida and paid him $4,000.
He planned to use the cash to settle late taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service, according to court papers.
As their relationship unfolded, Exelby at one point sent Hall photos of herself in various stages of undress, according to testimony during Tuesday's hearing.
In one, she posed with a knife vertically between her breasts, a police computer forensics specialist told the court.
Another image showed her holding a knife to her own throat.
After her body was ultimately discovered, detectives uncovered evidence on Exelby's computer that indicated she was 'suicidal and traveling to the US to be possibly sexually abused, tortured and murdered by unknown individuals,' according to court documents.
Police used mobile phone records and bank card transactions to establish that Hall was at Gainesville Regional Airport when Exelby landed and took her to the Airbnb, which she had paid for using bank cards as she waited to take off from London's Heathrow airport just hours earlier.
Following his arrest, Hall told police he had met Exelby on the fetish website and that she told him how she wanted to be killed – but he insisted he had tried to talk her out of it.
He told investigators that he and Exelby had sexual intercourse inside the Airbnb before her killing.
Hall insisted Exelby initiated the interaction and that he had not wanted to have sex because he did not want to 'feel bad about his wife.'
As the probe unfolded, police said they found a shovel at Hall's home with soil on it that matched Exelby's burial site, as well as the victim's blood on the handle.
Even though Hall's case would have been eligible for the death penalty, prosecutors have agreed to seek life in prison in a deal with British authorities.
UK investigators agreed to cooperate with their US counterparts only if the death penalty was not sought here.
Exelby's relatives in England, meanwhile, have been raising money to travel to Florida for the five-day trial.
Her five siblings have said the victim was the 'softest, most gentle soul' who spoke quietly and gave the most intense hugs.
They described her as kind, compassionate, full of love and talented.
'Sonia was incredibly talented. She could play the piano so effortlessly, and when she sang, she had the voice of an angel. Being around her felt special. She brought a calmness and warmth that made everything feel a little lighter,' one of her sisters said.
'Sonia was one of those rare people who made you feel completely safe to be yourself. She never judged, never criticized. She simply accepted people as they were and loved them for it. That is something so many of us will carry with us forever.'
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