By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-10-19 20:01:34 | Updated at 2026-10-19 20:52:35
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A British music teacher was groomed by sick men on a fetish website before she flew to Florida and allegedly payed for a sadist to murder her, according to her family.
The body of Sonia Exelby, 32, was found in a shallow grave last October, just days after she traveled from her home in the UK to Ocala, northwest of Orlando.
Former pizza delivery driver Dwain Hall, 54, is due to go on trial next month for first-degree murder and kidnapping. He denies the charges.
Cops believe Exelby, who suffered from depression and body dysmorphia, paid Hall to take her life after they chatted online for months.
She was said to have left evidence on her computer which suggested she was suicidal and traveled to the US with the intention of being harmed by Hall, according to authorities.
However, her family believe she was groomed for two years on a website used by men in the US to murder women and that she was seeking to protect others and “shine awareness” on the sites.
“It is an important cause to us all to get these sites removed,” Exelby’s brother Barry Wilton, 39, told The Times of London.
“We want the maximum sentence and full extent of justice.”
Hall, a pagan who worships the Egyptian god of death Anubis, bought gun cleaner, rope, a shovel and paracord at a Walmart on Oct. 10, 2025 before picking up Exelby at Gainesville Regional Airport and driving her to an Airbnb in Reddick, police said.
The following afternoon, he transferred $1,200 from Exelby’s bank card and recorded a chilling 4-minute video of her on his phone.
In the footage, a heavily-bruised Exelby tells the camera that she had traveled to the US to die and was not forced to be there.
“I’ve crushed everyone who ever loves me,” she reportedly said in the video, which Hall is said to have deleted before authorities could recover it.
Exelby’s body was discovered in woodland near a highway in Marion Oaks on Oct. 17 last year and, 10 days later, Hall was arrested on credit card fraud charges related to Exelby’s bank account.
He was charged with her murder and kidnapping in November and held without bond.
Exelby’s sister, Gemma Isaj, started a GoFundMe page to raise money so the family can attend the trial.
“We all have to be there to tell Sonia’s story,” Isaj told The Times.
“This is about mental health [but also] there are websites and a bigger movement. We had our experience with our sister [and] we don’t know how big it goes.”
