An American police officer guarding a crime scene after the suspected murder of a suicidal British woman described the tragic victim as a 'crazy freakin' lady', the Daily Mail can reveal.
Unseen bodycam footage shows the officer making the flippant remark to his mother after she called him to say happy birthday while he was protecting the burial site where Sonia Exelby's body was discovered.
Ms Exelby, 32, was reported missing from her home in Southsea, Portsmouth, on October 12 last year, but it later emerged she had flown 4,000 miles to Florida to meet a 'sadist' who she had paid to torture and kill her.
The 'vulnerable' digital content creator, who had long struggled with mental health problems, made the fatal journey 'seeking a violent death' from the man she met in an online fetish chatroom.
Sonia's body was found buried in a shallow grave in remote woodland in Marion Oaks, a neighbourhood in Marion County, near Ocala, Florida, on October 17 last year.
Dwain Hall, 53, a father-of-two, has been charged with Sonia's murder and kidnapping, having allegedly sexually abused and tortured the Brit before killing her in a remote Airbnb the pair were staying in. The roadside mechanic is set to face trial in November.
The Mail has now obtained a tranche of bodycam footage from the Marion County Sheriff's Office, including videos of Hall being arrested and quizzed by detectives.
However, in one video shared with us, a Marion County police officer can be heard brazenly revealing key details from the case with his mother in the early hours of October 18.
Sonia Exelby (pictured), 32, boarded a plane from Portsmouth to Marion County in Florida where she was found dead on October 17 last year
Officers say Dwain Hall (pictured) made a video to protect himself from the consequences of 'kidnapping and murdering' his victim
This is the moment an American police officer guarding a crime scene after the suspected murder of a suicidal British woman described the tragic victim as a 'crazy freakin' lady'. He was on the phone to his mother
In footage taken shortly after Sonia's body was discovered, the officer is seen driving a blue-light police car up to a cordon of traffic cones.
But while he is sat in his police car, he receives a call from his mother who says: 'Happy birthday... we just wanted to call and say happy birthday.'
'Well, thank you,' the officer replies. 'How y'all doing today, you doing anything crazy?'
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Still on the phone to his 'ma', the officer steps out the vehicle and walks up to the police cordon, where he closes a small gap between the traffic cones blocking the road.
When he returns to his vehicle, he continues: 'We've got FDLE [Florida Department of Law Enforcement] here, we've got Interpol here, we've got all kinds of people here.'
After his mother asks 'what happened?' he replies: 'This crazy freakin' lady from the UK was talking to this dude online from Marion Oaks.
'She told him all her sexual fantasies, and he was like, 'I could facilitate that.' And she was like, 'At the end of it I wanna be killed.' And he facilitated that too.
'It's an international thing because she's from UK. I guess he was using her credit cards afterwards and stuff too.'
'Wow, in Marion Oaks,' his mother replies. 'Yep,' he responds.
Police found Sonia's body in a woodland at Marion Oaks, while Hall was being questioned and she was identified via her fingerprints – a shovel found at his home had soil in it which matched the burial site.
Blood was also found on the handle, and it was later confirmed to be a positive match for Ms Exelby and an autopsy on her performed a week later showed she had been stabbed four times.
In other footage obtained by the Mail, Hall is seen being detained after he was pulled over while driving with his wife, Ginger Stein.
Staring out the window of the police car, he appears to spot a Fugitive Task Force vehicle.
'Fugitive Task Force? What the f***. What did I do? What could I possibly have f***ing done?'
He adds: 'What the f*** is going on? I haven't done anything. Are they at my house too?'
Hall is also adamant that police assist his wife, who he says has recently had a double lung transplant.
In other footage of Hall being taken in for questioning, he cuts a more relaxed figure.
He jokes with an officer that he was 'taken away' from his morning coffee by police.
Laughing and joking, he then says: '[You] gotta make sure I don't hop the fence.'
Other police bodycam footage shows Hall moaning about back pain while he waits in a police interview room.
Hall, of Ocala, has been arrested on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping by the FDLE.
He had already been detained on charges of fraudulently using Ms Exelby's credit cards.
The Daily Mail last week obtained unseen transcripts of Hall speaking to his wife of 28 years, Ms Stein, from Marion County Jail in Ocala as he awaits trial.
In them, he appears resigned to his fate, admitting: 'I don't think I'm ever coming home.
'It's a lot to deal with, I'm sorry,' he tells Ms Stein, 44.
In what appears to be a reference to the $4,000 he told police that Ms Exelby had agreed to pay him, he goes on: 'We needed money but we didn't need it this bad.'
Elsewhere, Hall seems furious at being portrayed as a 'monster'. He refuses to accept he has done anything wrong, instead blaming Sonia for her brutal demise. 'You don't know how worried I am about losing you because when all the s*** about this case starts coming out it is going to look so f****** bad,' he tells his wife.
'I was trying to help somebody and humans have a tendency to screw you over and that is basically what happened. I am not the monster that they are painting me out to be.
'But we all know what the end result was – it was just compassion and love – I tried to give Sonia what she wanted. I tried to do it in a sense that was compassionate and not being a freaking monster and just picking a victim and seducing them to do whatever and taking advantage of them in any way shape or form.'
Hall accepts that 'in simple terms there is no defence', but he adds: 'I don't believe I did anything wrong.'
Police have previously revealed Ms Exelby had recorded footage where she told Hall in graphic detail how she wanted to die.
In the video she can be seen sitting on a chair 'looking dishevelled' and with multiple bruises across her face, neck and breasts – after being tortured by Hall who told police he used the name 'alphasadist' on fetish websites.
Hall, who claimed Sonia had also asked for rough sex, can be heard asking her why she is in the United States and Sonia replied in tears: 'Because I am an awful person,' adding: 'I've crushed everyone who ever loves me.'
Sonia goes on to detail why she is an awful person before Hall asks her 'how' she wants to die and to 'describe it'.
Initially Sonia refused to answer but eventually said she wants 'to be stabbed'.
Hall then said: 'This is how you wanted to die, right?'
Bodycam footage shows Dwain Hall looking relaxed in the back of a police car after being arrested
Bodycam footage shows Hall complaining about having a bad back as he is questioned
In another clip, as he is led away, he makes a joke about escaping by 'hopping over a fence'
Hall is accused of abusing and murdering Exelby inside this Airbnb cabin (pictured) before dumping her body in a shallow grave
When asked if she is being forced to do anything against her will, she shook her head before Hall asked if she is 'happy' and getting what she wants – and she nodded.
Sonia's last moments were recorded in a 13-page indictment filed with the Florida Police Department investigating her murder.
Relatives of Ms Exelby last month paid tribute to the digital content creator – saying her death has left an 'emptiness that can never be filled'.
They said: 'Sonia was a truly beautiful person, inside and out.
'She had the gentlest soul - so gentle that she chose to become vegan, because she couldn't bear the thought of any animal suffering just so she could eat.
'That was who she was - kind, compassionate, and full of quiet love.
'She was incredibly talented. Sonia 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.
'Sonia was one of those rare people who made you feel completely safe to be yourself. She never judged, never criticised - she simply accepted people as they were and loved them for it. That is something so many of us will carry with us forever.'
Sonia Exelby (pictured with her boyfriend Steve Hunt) flew to Florida 'seeking a violent death'
Hall, who is married, claimed Ms Exelby initiated the interaction, and he had not wanted to have sex because he did not want to 'feel bad about his wife'
Social media posts indicate Hall has been with partner Ginger Stein (pictured, left) since at least 2014
Mr Hunt posted an emotional plea for help in trying to find his partner, describing how she had flown to Tallahassee
Ms Exelby, the youngest of six, was said to be 'deeply loved by all her siblings' – sharing an 'especially close and special bond with her sister Sara'.
She was also said to have 'built a life filled with that same love', in particular with her 'devoted' partner of 15 years, Stevie.
'Sonia had so many wonderful friends, who describe her as beautiful and caring. One wrote that they had 'never known a soul with a bigger or purer heart, and nobody made me feel seen quite like she did'.
'Sonia's siblings describe her as the 'softest most gentle soul.' She was softly spoken and always gave the best most intense hugs.
'She was the baby out of us that kept us bound together. We will never get over losing her which has left an emptiness in our lives that can never be filled,' the statement added.
Marion County Sheriff's Office has been approached for comment.
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