Sonia Exelby, 32, from Portsmouth, was found in a shallow grave in Marion County, Florida last month after reportedly travelling with the intention of being killed by 53-year-old Dwain Hall
A British woman who allegedly flew to the US to be murdered by a man from a fetish website had previously tried to arrange for someone to kill her, it has emerged.
Sonia Exelby, 32, from Portsmouth, was found in a shallow grave in Marion County, Florida last month after reportedly travelling with the intention of being killed. Dwain Hall – who she had met on an online fetish chatroom – was later arrested and charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder. He was denied bail earlier this week.
Hall, a 53-year-old father of two, is alleged to have sexually abused and tortured Sonia before killing her in the remote Airbnb the pair were staying in. Here is a timeline of all the events leading up to her death:
Pair met on fetish website
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), Sonia and Hall met online on a fetish website two years before she died.
Ms Exelby, who was experiencing mental health issues, is reported to have said she was looking for someone to abuse her – an offer taken up by Hall.
Hall later told investigators that Sonia was suicidal and wished to be killed, but claimed he had been a mentor figure who simply wanted to help her.
There had been a previous incident in 2024 where Ms Exelby planned to travel to the US to be violently killed by an unnamed person she met online, according to the FDLE court documents citing INTERPOL and a police force in the UK. On that occasion, the attempt was thwarted and she received mental health treatment back in Britain.
Sonia gets on plane to Florida
Sonia landed in Florida on October 10, 2025, where she was picked up by Hall from the airport and taken to an Airbnb in Reddick, Marion County.
There, Hall is said to have had sex with her multiple times, tortured her, and recording a series of videos which he later deleted.
One video recovered by police showed by a clearly distressed Sonia “looking dishevelled” with a string of bruises across her face, neck and breasts.
Hall can be heard asking Sonia why she is in the US, to which she replies: “Because I am an awful person… I’ve crushed everyone who ever loves me.” Eventually Sonia says she wants “to be stabbed”, before Hall says: “This is how you wanted to die, right?” Hall also asks if Sonia is doing anything against her will, to which Sonia shakes her head. Sonia’s family, including her boyfriend Steve Hunt from Portsmouth, reported her missing when she failed to board her return flight on October 13.
Sonia’s b
Sonia Exelby’s body was found in shallow grave in a wooded area in Marion County, Flordia in mid-October. A post-mortem examination carried found she had been fatally stabbed four times with a knife.
Detectives went on to discover a shovel allegedly containing her DNA in Hall’s garage, and police also found a knife with traces of her blood and DNA.
Hall was arrested by police the same month after reportedly attempting to use Exelby’s credit cards. He has since been charged with kidnapping and first-degree murder, and a judge denied Hall bond at his first court appearance earlier this week.
Judge Laurie Cotton told him: “Under these circumstances, that there is no bond that would assure your presence in court, keep the community safe. And the facts of this case – there is a large amount of evidence against you.”
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