CHILLING video of a British woman appearing bruised and scared was allegedly filmed by her suspected murderer just days before her death.
Sonia Exelby, 32, from Portsmouth, cried as her alleged killer asked how she wanted to die, police documents have revealed.
She hesitated, before telling Dwain Hall, 53, she wanted to be stabbed.
Her alleged killer replied: “This is how you wanted to die, right?”
The haunting video, filmed on Hall’s phone, was obtained by police following his arrest for her murder.
Investigators were able to recover the deleted video which shows Exelby “hesitant” and “visibly upset” as Hall asks for consent to hurt her, police said.
Police described Exelby as looking dishevelled, with multiple bruises and abrasions to her face, neck and breasts.
In the four minute video, police said Exelby was subdued and never looked up towards the camera or at Hall.
Police believe it was taken inside the Airbnb Hall rented for Exelby’s visit.
On the same day the video was taken, Exelby expressed doubts about the situation to a friend and said Hall had given her a rundown on how to use a gun, it is alleged.
“He made it clear there was no way out unless I shoot him. I was questioning it last night,” Exelby wrote to her friend on Discord.
“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.
“I’m so 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.”
She also told her friend Hall had made her record three disclaimer videos and write a letter to her family because it was “funny”, police said.
Investigators said the messages “showed that Hall was controlling her, that she was afraid, and had made a mistake”.
Hall told authorities he met Exelby online two years earlier on the fetish website motherless.com where she revealed she was suicidal and wanted to be killed.
Police believe she boarded the flight to Gainsville, Florida, knowing Hall would violently end her life.
UK authorities reported Exelby missing via Interpol to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement when she failed to board her return flight home on October 13.
Her body was recovered from woodland in Marion County on October 17, with multiple stab wounds.
It was said he didn’t reveal the location of her body as part of a promise he made to Exelby to not have her death “burden” him.
Hall was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping, to which he pleaded not guilty.
Speaking to detectives, Hall described himself as her mentor who wanted to help her, not let her kill herself.
He also admitted to having violent tendencies, police reports reveal.
Hall allegedly told investigators he picked Exelby up from the airport on October 10 and took her to an Airbnb in Reddick where they had sex multiple times.
Investigators connected Hall to transactions made on Exelby’s credit cards, along with a label of a shovel found in her grave.
They said Hall purchased the shovel the day before he picked her up from the airport.
The shovel was later found in his garage with Exelby’s DNA on it, police revealed.
An autopsy found Exelby died from four stab wounds from a knife.
Authorities also searched an Ohio man’s house where they found a knife which tested positive to blood and likely contained Exelby’s DNA, they said.
Apparently Hall mailed a package containing the knife to his friend in Ohio.
He is being held in Marion County Jail without bond.
You’re not alone
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide
It doesn’t discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It’s the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it’s rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
