MOSCOW MILLS — It was early morning this past Christmas Eve when off-duty St. Louis County police officer Robert J. Woods walked out of his parents' Lincoln County home to retrieve his daughter.
The girl's maternal grandfather, Luis Velazquez, had driven seven hours overnight from Iowa, as he'd done for months, to hand off the 18-month-old girl in a child-custody exchange.
Freshly wrapped presents waited inside, and Woods had made holiday plans for his only child. Woods met Velazquez in the driveway.
As his granddaughter slept in the car, 70-year-old Velazquez stepped out and pulled a revolver. He fired several shots, taking time to reload his gun, and killed Woods. Then Velazquez killed himself.
Robert J. Woods was a St. Louis County policeman from June 2017 until Dec. 24, 2022, when he was killed while off-duty.
Inside Velazquez's back pants pocket, police found a handwritten note marked "To the Police." Investigators won't release the contents of the note. But the gist of his message, according to a Lincoln County sheriff's captain, was: Nobody could protect my daughter. I had to protect my daughter.
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Velazquez's daughter is 33-year-old Sarahi Velazquez-Guzman. She is the little girl's mother, and she was embroiled in an ugly custody fight with Woods.
Though it's more than four months old, the story behind this murder-suicide has never been told. The Lincoln County coroner and the sheriff's office had refused to release Velazquez's name, and they would not explain any other information surrounding the death, including that it involved a child-custody battle.
In their only public statement about the crime in December, Lincoln County sheriff's officials did not disclose where exactly the crime happened, saying only that it was in an unincorporated part of the county. The Post-Dispatch obtained details of the case through interviews with family members, surveillance video of the shootings and an open-records request for the 52-page police report.
Custody fight
Velazquez, a native of Cuba, was drafted into the country's military and trained to shoot guns when he was in his early 20s, his daughter said. He worked as a biology professor at a university in Holguin, a province in eastern Cuba.
After moving to the United States in 1996, Velazquez worked in shipbuilding for the Navy. When he returned to Cuba to visit friends, his daughter said, he brought medicines and books for them, and he would sneak articles on a USB drive so they could talk about politics.
He had no criminal record.
His daughter, Sarahi Vazquez-Guzman, met Woods through a dating app about three years ago. They dated for a few months before Velazquez-Guzman got pregnant with her daughter, Amelia.
The couple never married. They lived together on and off, first in the basement of Woods' parents' home in Lincoln County and later at an apartment on Eager Road in Richmond Heights.
Several times, Woods and his parents welcomed Velazquez into their home west of Highway 61, about two miles south of Moscow Mills. He came to their family gatherings, first for the baby shower, then for Easter and Christmas after Amelia's birth. At their Christmas together in 2021, Velazquez got emotional when the Woods family sang Christmas songs.
Robert J. Woods (center) holds his daughter Amelia Woods on Christmas Eve 2021 at the Woods family home south of Moscow Mills, Missouri. On the far right is Luis Velazquez, who is the child's maternal grandfather. On the far left is Mayra Guzman-Infante, the child's maternal grandmother. The woman standing next to Woods is the child's mother, Sarahi Velazquez-Guzman.
According to a Lincoln County police report of the shooting, Velazquez-Guzman claimed several times that Woods sexually and physically abused her during their off-and-on relationship. Those allegations, police say, were Velazquez's motive for killing Woods.
As Velazquez-Guzman and Woods' relationship soured, they lived apart. They complained about each other's parenting skills and had a rift over custody. In addition to accusing Woods of rape, Velazquez-Guzman said Woods once kidnapped the child. But because Woods had joint custody, she said, police told her it was not a kidnapping.
She wanted full custody, and Woods questioned her stability and the child's safety. While Velazquez-Guzman was away on a trip, Woods cleaned out their apartment in Richmond Heights and took his daughter back to his parents' basement, threatening to let Velazquez-Guzman see the child only through video chats.
Velazquez-Guzman, in a phone interview Sunday from Sioux City, Iowa, said her father had been angry "and definitely affected by everything I was going through." He knew details about the April 2022 rape allegation because he sat in on meetings she had with her attorney, she said.
Richmond Heights police investigated her allegation last spring, according to an incident report obtained by the Post-Dispatch. No charges were filed for lack of evidence, said Richmond Heights police Chief Gerry Rohr.
The Bureau of Professional Standards for Woods' employer, the St. Louis County Police Department, also investigated Woods. St. Louis County police this week refused to tell the Post-Dispatch about the bureau's findings or any actions taken. Lincoln County police said they were told the allegation was unfounded.
Woods' parents, Andrea and Robin "Rob" Woods, said the rape allegation was a lie in the custody battle between their son and Velazquez-Guzman. They said Woods spent five months on desk duty with St. Louis County police while he was being investigated, and he was returned to patrol shortly before his death.
One day, St. Louis County police sent officers to the courthouse in Clayton as extra protection when the couple had a hearing in the custody case, said St. Louis County police Sgt. Tracy Panus. Woods had been threatened in a phone message, and police suspected the threat had come from Velazquez-Guzman's father.
Velazquez-Guzman said her father supported her. "He gave up everything for me. He sold his house in New Orleans to pay for $30,000 in attorney fees to go to trial for the custody case," she said.
Velazquez-Guzman, who worked as a physician's assistant in St. Louis, decided last year to further her medical career in Iowa. She took her daughter there with the court spelling out terms for the child's biweekly visits. The custody agreement put Amelia with her father for two weeks, then her mother for two weeks.
Woods, 36, joined the St. Louis County Police Department in 2017. His most recent assignment was in the North County Precinct.
Before joining the police force, he worked in youth ministry with New Life Church of Jackson in Tennessee, traveling to Africa twice to participate in soccer camps. He served four years in the Marines as an infantry rifleman, with deployments to Japan, South Korea and Thailand. He was a huge fan of the pay-per-view and livestreaming wrestling event WrestleMania.
His mother, Andrea Woods, said Robert was a good father to Amelia, taking her to parks, setting up an inflatable pool in the backyard and having a bedtime routine with prayers. He also read to her from the Marine's Bible. He rearranged his work schedule so he could spend more time with her.
"Robert loved Amelia more than anything," Andrea Woods said.
As a mother of a police officer, Andrea Woods said she had long steeled herself to the idea that her son could be injured or killed in the line of duty. But she hadn't prepared for this.
Robert J. Woods and his daughter Amelia.
Velazquez-Guzman was living with her parents in Sioux City last year, and they took care of Amelia while Velazquez-Guzman went to work. Velazquez-Guzman said she graduated medical school and is completing her residency in family medicine in Iowa.
For the seven months before his death, Velazquez routinely drove the 14-hour roundtrip from Sioux City to Lincoln County. He would bring Amelia for a drop-off, and return two weeks later to take her back to Iowa.
After one of those handoffs, Velazquez complained that Woods seemed like he was exchanging luggage and showed "no love or any compassion" toward his daughter, Velazquez-Guzman said. "He was very indifferent, is my impression, toward Amelia."
Woods' family disputes that, saying Woods looked forward to his daughter's visits and doted on her.
The shooting
The long road trips never brought any trouble until the trip on Christmas Eve — the first time Velazquez-Guzman accompanied her parents.
It was around 6:30 a.m. — an hour before sunrise — and 12 degrees outside when Velazquez arrived at the home on Emerald Court, according to a Ring surveillance video from the home.
Luis Velazquez of Sioux City, Iowa, in a December 2021 photo when he came to visit the Woods family in Lincoln County for Christmas.
Velazquez-Guzman said she slept most of the drive and didn't know her father had brought a gun or was carrying a note meant for police.
According to surveillance video from the home, Robert Woods emerged from the home wearing a red hoodie and pajama pants. He stood near the car and there was a brief conversation. Then Luis Velazquez opened fire.
Woods shouted, "Luis! Luis!"
According to the Ring video, Velazquez fired four shots, then turned back to the car and said something. A woman responded by shouting in Spanish.
Jerry Jacko, a Clayton attorney who represented Woods in the child-custody case, is working with Woods' parents to learn more about his death. A paralegal for Jacko translated the audio to English, as did a linguist working with the FBI, Jacko said.
Their conclusion: Velazquez turned to the car where his wife and daughter sat and said, "It's done," to which a female voice replied, "Está seguro?" — which means, "Are you sure?"
The car then sped from the home with Velazquez-Guzman, her mother, and the child inside, leaving behind Velazquez and the fallen Woods.
Velazquez, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, reached into his pocket for ammunition to reload his gun. He walked out of view of the camera, to a spot where Woods had collapsed. More shots rang out. Velazquez walked behind a car, crouched down and shot himself in the head. The camera showed him slump over.
An autopsy determined that Woods was shot seven times in the chest, shoulder and neck. The weapon used by Velazquez was a 9mm revolver Velazquez bought in November 2021 at a gun outlet store in Metairie, Louisiana.
Woods' own firearm, police said, had been left inside the home.
A screen grab from a Ring video camera shows Robert J. Woods walk up to a car on his parents' driveway for a child-custody exchange early on the morning of Dec. 24, 2022, south of Moscow Mills, Missouri. Police said Woods, 36, was shot to death by the driver, who then killed himself.
Surveillance video provided by Andrea and Robin "Rob" Woods shows the driveway of their home near Moscow Mills, Missouri, on the morning of Dec. 24, 2022. Their son Robert J. Woods (in the red hoodie) was killed there in a murder-suicide. The brief videos clip freezes at times but the audio continues.
Velazquez-Guzman said in an interview that she didn't recall what was said after the initial gunshots. She recalls the look on her father's face, though.
"He just stood there," she said. "I felt he was taking a last look at me."
Velazquez-Guzman said she and her mother drove away because they were afraid the shooting would continue and that Woods might retrieve his own gun from the house. The women drove to another part of Lincoln County, with Amelia still in the car seat. They parked and called 911, then returned to the scene, according to a police report. Velazquez-Guzman's mother did not return a message seeking comment for this story.
Woods' parents insist that Velazquez-Guzman is manipulative and invented stories of abuse to improve her chances of getting full custody. Rob Woods, the father of the slain officer, said he doesn't blame his son's death solely on Velazquez. He said he suspects Velazquez-Guzman coaxed her father to act.
"The only thing he did was pull the trigger," Rob Woods said of Velazquez. "I think she did everything else."
Velazquez-Guzman was adamant, in an interview, that she never asked her father to harm Woods.
"No," she said. "Never."
Velazquez was cremated and his ashes were spread in Cuba.
Woods' funeral featured throngs of police in dress uniforms at the Cathedral Basilica, and he was buried at St. Charles Memorial Gardens.
'Biggest act of love'
Woods' parents and two brothers, in interviews with the Post-Dispatch last week, were critical of the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office for what they consider an incomplete probe of Woods' death.
Police said they are still tracking leads. They've sought a day's worth of Ring surveillance footage from the home-security company to see if it is better quality than the Woods family's footage, which has audio but glitchy video. So far Ring has balked at their request, saying it was "too laborious," police said.
Jared Woods, the oldest brother of Robert Woods, stops by the police station to seek updates from detectives but said he considered the investigation so far to be lacking. He was happy to learn last week, though, that detectives still consider it an active and open case.
Robert J. Woods' brothers David, left, and Jared, join their father Robin "Rob" Woods, center, as they talk with a reporter at the Woods' family home near Moscow Mills, Missouri, on Thursday, May 4, 2023. They are critical of the police investigation into Robert's death.
The youngest of the three Woods brothers, David, claims police put "no effort" toward anything beyond determining what, on its face, appeared to be a murder-suicide. He said he wants more information about Velazquez's motivation.
Velazquez-Guzman said her father was "a good person." She described her father's actions this way: "It's the biggest act of love. In his mind, I don't know if it was justice or he felt like he needed to do the best for his family — basically me and Amelia."
Velazquez-Guzman has had full custody of her daughter since Dec. 24. Once Woods died, their custody battle ended. Amelia will turn 2 in June.
Andrea Woods yearns to see her granddaughter again. She hasn't seen Amelia since early December. Police recommended the Woods family have no contact with the girl while the case is being investigated, Andrea Woods said.
"There was an assumption, our opinion, that things would move along, and the investigation is not moving at all," Rob Woods said.
Andrea Woods added, "So we get to see her eventually. I just didn't think it would be this long."
Andrea Woods, mother of Robert Woods, wears a necklace modeled after her son's St. Louis County police badge. She and her husband Robin "Rob" Woods spoke at their home near Moscow Mills on Thursday, May 4, 2023. Their son Robert was fatally shot Dec. 24, 2022, by Luis Velazquez as Velazquez dropped off Woods' daughter in a custody exchange. Velazquez then killed himself.
Jacko, the Woods family's attorney, said his office calls weekly to talk to Lincoln County sheriff's investigators. He wants to pass along information from the underlying child-custody case, he said, but police seem uninterested in hearing him out.
"I was shocked by their cavalier attitude," Jacko said. "They told us we had nothing to add to the case. We got rebuffed many times — rebuffed or ignored."
Lincoln County Sheriff's Capt. David Hill said the case is time-consuming and sensitive, with "a tremendous amount of external pressure" because there was a child involved.
"Regardless of outside pressure, we're going to continue down an investigative path. And if that leads us to additional suspects, that's what we're going to do," Hill said. "Our ultimate goal is to bring both truth to the case and justice for the victims. At this point, we are not sure that we have the whole truth."
St. Louis County police officers line up outside the Cathedral Basilica on Jan. 7, 2023, for the funeral of St. Louis County Police Officer Robert J. Woods.
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