She had, says her heartbroken boyfriend, ‘deep brown eyes you could easily just fall in love with’.
And, indeed, the photos of Sonia Exelby, a talented musician, show her shyly smiling, those pretty dark eyes looking straight into the camera.
Devoted to her pet cat Meryl, she and her boyfriend of 11 years, Stevie Hunt – an artist and fitness trainer – lived in Fareham, near Portsmouth.
Stevie’s social media accounts show a busy, fulfilled life – his street-inspired graffiti-style portraits sold well, while he also ran marathons for charity – and, judging from comments online, the couple were adored by their family and friends.
The use of the past tense here is significant. For while a devastated Stevie is still in Fareham, 32-year-old Sonia is dead, murdered in circumstances so horrific as to almost defy comprehension.
Described by Stevie as ‘vulnerable’, Sonia, who had suffered mental health difficulties for several years, was found in a shallow grave in Florida last month.
She had been stabbed four times, after being beaten and abused. Her murder is thought to have occurred just hours after she landed in Tallahassee.
These details would be shocking enough for her traumatised family, who were too upset to speak to the Daily Mail.
Sonia Exelby had suffered mental health difficulties for several years before flying to Florida
Sonia’s boyfriend Stevie Hunt described the 32-year-old as ‘vulnerable’ in an online post appealing for information when he learned she had gone missing in the US
But what will undoubtedly make their grief infinitely more intense is the fact it appears Sonia voluntarily flew to Florida, having contacted her killer online, and asked him to abuse, torture and kill her.
What can possibly have driven the softly spoken Sonia to seek such a horrific end?
Clues, so far, are limited. From what Stevie has revealed online, Sonia sounds sweet and gentle. He described her in a ‘Missing’ post he put on Instagram as ‘slim’, then added ‘she would love me saying that’. Her treasured cat, he said, missed her dreadfully.
It’s a portrait a galaxy away from the shocking video discovered by Florida police on the mobile of the man who, it is alleged, is likely her killer.
They have arrested US mechanic Dwain Hall, 53, on suspicion of kidnap and murder – and if convicted, he will probably face the death penalty.
The four-minute video – which investigators found in the ‘recently deleted’ folder on Hall’s mobile phone – shows Sonia seemingly agreeing to her fate, after meeting him on a fetish website.
The Daily Mail has seen the 13-page arrest file detailing the case against Hall. Grimly, it says evidence found on her computer indicated she was ‘suicidal and travelling to the United States to be possibly sexually abused, tortured and murdered’.
The granular details of the video make for shocking reading as it describes footage where Sonia is seen sitting on a chair ‘looking disheveled’, with multiple bruises across her face, neck and breasts.
US mechanic Dwain Hall, 53, has been arrested on suspicion of kidnap and murder
Hall is accused of abusing and murdering Sonia inside this Airbnb cabin before dumping her body in a shallow grave
Hall – who uses the social media handle ‘alphasadist’ – incredibly told detectives he made the video to show Sonia was ‘not coerced or forced’ and had asked to be killed.
According to the document he can be heard asking her why she is in the US.
Sonia replies in tears: ‘Because I am an awful person,’ adding, ‘I’ve crushed everyone who ever loves me.’
She goes on to explain why she thinks she is an awful person – though no details are given – before Hall asks her how she wants to die and to ‘describe it’.
Initially Sonia refuses to answer, but eventually says she wants to ‘be stabbed’.
Hall then says: ‘This is how you wanted to die, right? You wanted to be beaten and made to suffer because you’re such a piece of s***.’
Sonia nods and then when asked by Hall to ‘say it’, replies harrowingly: ‘I needed to be beaten and suffer because I am such a piece of s***.’
When asked if she is being forced, or made to do anything against her will, she shakes her head before Hall asks if she is ‘happy’ and getting what she wants.
The video then shows her nodding her head.
According to the document, Sonia is subdued, exhales deeply and swallows hard – but it’s not clear if she is then actually killed on camera as no description is given in the police report.
Sonia had flown to Florida from Heathrow on October 10 and was reported missing by relatives in the UK three days later.
Police in Hampshire then alerted counterparts across the Atlantic – by which time it’s thought she was already dead. She had been due to fly home the same day her family contacted British police.
Her boyfriend Stevie posted a series of emotional pleas for help on social media: ‘It pains me to write this, never thought I’d be writing this.
Hall, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges, could face the death penalty if he is found guilty
‘The love of my life Sonia Exelby is missing. She’s struggling deeply right now with her mental health and we are terrified for her safety.’
He added: ‘I’m lost without her and our cat Meryl just wants her mum back for the best cuddles.’
Later, posting several pictures of Sonia on Instagram, Stevie said: ‘We believe she has arranged to meet someone there [Tallahassee] and has got herself into an extremely vulnerable situation.’
While in Florida, Sonia messaged friends in the UK on the platform Discord, in what police say was a ‘long and disjointed’ series of texts, made after she had met up with Hall.
The impression given in them is that she’s not in control of the situation.
She writes: ‘I’m sorry, he keeps taking my phone. He doesn’t trust me with it.’
Although she doesn’t name Hall, she then adds: ‘He made it clear, there was no way out unless I shoot him. I was questioning it last night. I can’t kill anyone.’
The next message says, in what is clearly a terrible moment of realisation for Sonia: ‘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 do to anyone if I don’t take this offer of shooting him.
‘He showed me how to use it and where to aim it.’
She ends her messages writing: ‘I’m so scared, I’m so broken and in so much pain. All I can do is lay here and doing what he wants makes him respect me enough not to do the things I really hate.’
She also described how he had made her film three ‘disclaimer’ videos, as well as write a letter to her family because he thought it was ‘funny’.
Police know Hall picked Sonia up at Gainesville Regional Airport when she landed from the UK and took her to an Airbnb in Reddick, Marion County – which she had paid for using her bank cards as she waited to take off at Heathrow just hours earlier.
As she flew across the Atlantic, Hall was buying rope, gun cleaner and a shovel – as revealed by a receipt found at the Airbnb, while CCTV showed him buying the items.
In the hours after she arrived, it also emerged seven attempts were made to use Sonia’s bank cards but all failed, until an eighth went through on her Tesco debit card for $1,200.
The charge was for services to Solver Wolfs Roadside Assistance – Hall’s recovery firm. His van, complete with the business name inscribed on it, was spotted outside the Airbnb by a neighbour.
A married father-of-three, Hall works doing ‘car triage’, according to one of his family members who spoke to the Daily Mail, helping motorists by changing tyres or providing jump starts.
Hall’s associates appear to be in disbelief at the accusations against him. A friend of his told the Daily Mail: ‘I wouldn’t think Dwain could do this. He has three kids, three adult ones, two boys and a girl.
‘I couldn’t tell you what went wrong with him.
‘When I heard about it my reaction was ‘Holy s***!”
For all his friend’s shock, however, Hall was clear when he was questioned by detectives on October 14: he had met Sonia on a fetish site – which, it seems, is infamous for hosting rape videos and child sexual abuse – two years ago.
She told him she was suicidal and wanted to be killed. He insisted he had tried to talk her out of it.
But when he was arrested, Hall prevaricated, initially lying to police, telling them he had picked Sonia up from the airport and dropped her off at the Airbnb, where he saw her ‘hugging’ an unknown person.
He claimed he then drove off in his car.
At one point during his questioning, Hall admitted he had suggested to Sonia she ‘just walk into Alligator Alley’ – a stretch of road in Florida known for its alligators – and that ‘the wildlife would’ve taken care of her’.
However, after searching the property Sonia had rented, detectives searched woodland near the Airbnb, at a spot where Hall had earlier told them he had parked after he noticing he was ‘being followed’.
A patch of disturbed earth was then discovered in the woods. Police dogs then picked up the scent of Sonia’s body. She was later positively identified by her fingerprints.
Further forensic tests showed a shovel in Hall’s garage had soil on it matching the area where her body was found. DNA tests in blood stains on the handle were a match for Sonia.
Meanwhile, a trawl of Hall’s social media – where he also used the alias ‘Dark Wolf’ – showed him exchanging messages with a man called Rick Stoner. One from the suspected killer reads: ‘Might be a big storm coming for me.’
A day after Sonia was reported missing, Hall then sent a parcel to Stoner telling him: ‘Will need this back in six months if this storm passes over with no lingering fall out. Please for the love of shadows don’t lose this box. There’s no need to even open it.’
Postal records show the parcel was delivered on October 16. When it was recovered from a drawer in the friend’s bedroom and opened by police, it contained a knife, sheath and a small bracelet. It’s not known if the bracelet was Sonia’s.
Engraved on the blade was the phrase ‘Pointy end goes in the other guy’. Further tests showed blood stains on it also matched Sonia.
On Facebook, Hall’s profile picture is an image of the Egyptian god of the afterlife, Anubis, while another telling image shows a ‘message’ from ‘Satan’ addressing Hall – which raises serious concerns over the state of his mind.
It reads: ‘Dwain, you are just too good to be true! Ugh… do not get any closer to me or you might turn me into an angel! I’m sending you a restraining order.’
Understandably, Sonia’s family – her parents, sister in the UK, and another sibling in Australia – remain too upset to comment.
A family member of Hall’s, trying to make sense of his actions, told the Daily Mail: ‘I’ve never heard of him being into any of this fetish stuff.’
However, an online review of Hall’s roadside assistance business two years ago from a woman called Jessica M, perhaps reveals a different story.
She wrote: ‘This guy was SO rude. He seems like someone who can became irate and aggressive easily. He spoke aggressively over everything, including a single text I sent inquiring about the timing of his service.
‘As someone who has worked in mental health for several years and has a history of domestic violence victimisation, I was not comfortable being around this guy at all.’
Meanwhile, Hall’s lawyer Julia Williamson told the Daily Mail: ‘We have entered a not guilty plea and now we wait for the process to continue, with a grand jury to decide whether to proceed to formal charging.
‘It is possible the court could seek the death penalty if he is found guilty but that is not automatic. It is quite a lengthy process and we are trying to locate witnesses to help in our case.
‘Other than that, there is not much else I am at liberty to say other than his next court appearance will be in December.’
Mark Glass, from Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement, said: ‘This type of violent crime and disregard for human life will not be tolerated in our state – those who commit such heinous crimes will be held fully accountable.’
Words one can only hope will bring some comfort to Sonia’s devastated family.
Her stricken boyfriend, Stevie, is channeling his grief by competing in the Portsmouth Coastal Marathon in aid of a cat’s charity.
Online, he’s admitted: ‘I’ve been in such a horrible place losing the closest person in the world to me.’
This, he says, is a small way of honouring the woman he loved – and lost in such terrible circumstances.
