Land O' Lakes man accused of shooting estranged wife

Neighbors knew there was trouble in the house at 5439 Julia Lane.

The couple who lived there had argued for years and the situation escalated after they began divorce proceedings about a year ago, but continued to live on the same property in separate houses.

So neighbors were saddened but not surprised when Rhonda Sue Diller, 58, was found dead Wednesday in the backyard of her home and the Pasco County Sheriff's Office reported that her husband, Theodore Diller, 57, was the sole suspect.

"She was scared," said Lily Lopresto, who has lived near the Dillers for 16 years. "I know she was scared."

On Thursday, Hillsborough sheriff's deputies arrested Theodore Diller on a Pasco County sheriff's warrant for the first degree murder of his wife.

According to the warrant, Theodore Diller allegedly waited under his wife's car for two hours Wednesday morning and when she let her dogs out, he shot her in the chest with a .357-caliber revolver. He then stood over her body and shot her again, the warrant said.

He covered her body with a blanket and returned to his house and consumed numerous prescription pills. A friend of Theodore Diller found him later Wednesday morning in Diller's house. The friend went to check on Rhonda Diller, found her body and called 911.

Theodore Diller was held under the state's Baker Act and taken to a hospital in Hillsborough County by Pasco Fire Rescue. The Baker Act allows law enforcement officials to take people into custody for a mental health evaluation when they are considered a threat to themselves or others.

Deputies responded to the house near Lake Thomas after the sheriff's office received a call at 11:23 a.m. Wednesday that a body had been found on the property at the end of Julia Lane.

Lopresto said that Rhonda Diller had come to her house many times seeking safety. When ever Lopresto hadn't seen Rhonda Diller for a few days, she would walk over to check on her, she said.

"She would come to the back door; she would never come to the front door," Lopresto said.

The situation between the Dillers was bad before the divorce proceedings began, but grew worse afterward, she said.

"We just all knew it was going to come to an end," Lopresto said.

The sheriff's office confirmed there was a history of unrest at the Diller home.

Deputies were called to the home nine times over the last eight years, with four of those calls being classified as domestic disputes, according to the Pasco County sheriff's office.