Missouri fire captain Robert Daus ‘physically and psychologically’ abused his first fiancée who was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head and giving ‘demonstrably untrue’ statements to police

The Missouri fire chief whose fiancee was found dead in his home gave “contradictory” and “demonstrably untrue” statements about the circumstances surrounding his first fiancee’s death in 2020, DailyMail.com can reveal.

This is just one in a series of allegations against Robert Daus, 50, by the family of Grace Holland, who are demanding the “justice” they believe she was deprived of when her death was ruled a suicide.

This week, the family’s feud hit the news again when it was revealed that while Holland was the first woman to meet an untimely end during her engagement to Daus, she was tragically not the last.

On Saturday, Daus’ current fiancée, 39-year-old Missouri doctor Sarah Sweeney, was found dead in his home in suburban St. Louis.

Police in Frontenac, 15 minutes west of downtown St. Louis, found no signs of a struggle and have classified Sweeney’s death as “sudden” pending a finding by the medical examiner.

Now a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Holland’s family and reviewed by DailyMail.com has laid bare a litany of psychological and physical “abuse” they claim his first fiancée endured during a “very volatile” relationship with the business owner and fire chief. lasted four years and ended with her death from a single gunshot wound to the head.

They allege Daus changed his story about the circumstances of her death, from the version he told to officers who responded to the scene to the account he gave later that same day when accompanied to the station by his attorney.

They claim Holland’s engagement ring – visible in crime scene photos – disappeared along with other expensive jewelry in the aftermath of her death.

And they present evidence that, they claim, “taken together” leads to the “reasonable inference that Daus shot Grace.”

Holland was right-handed, a woman trained in firearms and wielded her weapon only with her dominant hand, yet she was shot in her left temple.

According to her parents’ lawyers, this is “contrary to being right-handed (and) consistent with someone standing opposite her and shooting with his right hand.”

According to the lawsuit, Holland’s mother, Patricia, begged her daughter to leave the relationship that was allegedly marked by vicious verbal and physical attacks.

In one instance, in June 2020, Holland reported that Daus “pushed, shoved and dragged her down the hallway, taking off her clothes.” After this incident, “her mother noticed bruises on her arms, thighs and spine.”

Later that same month, Holland called her mother during an episode in which Daus “yelled at her and threw her stuff in the yard.”

As her mother urged her to call the police, the older woman heard Daus make the chilling threat: “My brothers in blue are not going to hurt me. I’ve already taken care of that.

“You’re that crazy girlfriend, remember.”

Throughout the relationship, Daus allegedly pressured Holland to quit her job and work for a company he owned.

Instead of paying Holland directly, the company paid Daus, who, the lawsuit states, “managed all the money.”

“By controlling the money,” it says, “Daus controlled Grace.”

Despite living together and choosing a house, Holland’s name was not on the deed, meaning she would have nothing if she walked away.

Holland’s four daughters from a previous relationship were reportedly afraid of Daus and witnessed numerous violent scenes between him and their mother.

According to the lawsuit, they told their maternal grandmother that Daus, now a captain of the Maryland Heights Fire District, was “pushing and always yelling” at their mother and that he scared them by “throwing the phone across the dining room table as they sat there.” .

They said he sometimes lost his temper over small issues, such as the couch touching the living room curtain or cutlery not being in place.

In a videotaped conversation, Daus railed against Holland about being in a “forced marriage” and discussed how he would do everything he could to “spend as little time with (her) as possible.”

Heartbreakingly, Holland responded by telling Daus she loved him. He told her: ‘F*** yourself. F*** you. Fuck your damn mother. Get the fuck out of my house.”

In text messages, Daus Holland repeatedly offered $600 to abort their baby, which she was carrying at the time. She later suffered a miscarriage.

In the days leading up to her death on July 22, 2020, text messages between the two swing wildly between the offensive and the mundane.

On July 17, 2020, a good-natured conversation about home furnishings and carpentry ended with Daus saying, “There’s no way I can give you a blow job… I’m not going to marry you… You and your damn kids. F*** (you) you.”

Two days later he texted her: “I asked you to leave. Several times. I don’t want you there. I don’t want you and your children. I want to go away. I asked you to leave. Take your Jeep, your gear, and leave. I’m ready.’

Still, they later had a conversation about taps they should buy for the new house.

On July 20, 2020, Daus turned around again and said, “I want you out of (my) life. You did nothing but ruin my first night in (the new house). The thought of you sleeping in that house makes me want to throw up. That’s how much I hate you.’

Two days later, the Netherlands was dead.

According to the lawsuit, “The only living person who knows exactly what happened… is… Robert Daus Jr.”

But on the morning of her death at Daus’ home in Creve Coeur, Missouri, he gave two very different stories.

According to the medical examiner, on July 22, 2020 at 7:25 a.m., a detective contacted their office and reported the facts as follows: “Holland came to the living room to give Robert a hug and she went back to the bedroom without speaking to him. .

“Shortly thereafter, Robert heard a single gunshot wound and located Holland in the bedroom with a gun and apparent blood under her head.”

The lawsuit notes that Daus was the only possible source of this information.

But later, accompanied by an attorney, Daus went to Creve Coeur police and gave a statement to police “that contained a completely different story.”

He then stated that he got up to go to work and stood by his closet stacking clothes. He claimed Holland left the bedroom, came back and hugged him.

He stated that he tried to hug her back, but his arms were full, so “she moved to his right side and hugged him by pulling his face toward her.”

He claimed she said “goodbye,” after which he heard a shot and saw her fall to the ground.

The following year, Daus was interviewed by police about the missing $20,000 engagement ring in the Netherlands and other expensive jewelry that had disappeared after her death.

Initially, Daus claimed that Holland returned the ring to him, but text messages revealed that he then returned it to her.

Daus then claimed that the ring was lost and that he had filed an insurance claim. When asked why it appeared in crime scene photos, he told police that the ring pictured was fake and made for travel, but he could not provide any documentation to prove that they had ever had a fake ring made or submit information about insurance claims, despite repeated requests from the Creve Coeur Police Station.

According to Holland’s family, this all adds up, along with “smiling selfies Holland took the night before her death… the countless times Daus demanded she leave the house… the omissions, contradictions and outright fabrications in Daus’ account of her death led to the reasonable inference that Daus shot Grace.”

And if he didn’t pull the trigger himself, they say, he “intended to aid or encourage Grace to commit self-harm,” through his “cruelty, including psychological and physical abuse.”

Shockingly, in one text, Daus even told his fiancée to kill herself.

Regardless, Holland’s grieving family is convinced that “Robert Daus Jr. is liable for the wrongful death of Grace Holland.”

Whether there will be further investigation into the death of Dr. Sarah Sweeney depends on the medical examiner’s findings.

But speaking earlier this week, her mother, Teresa Sweeney Light, made sure to echo the hopes and feelings of the Holland family, who grieved for them when she said, “We wish we could have her back.” We just want closure. We want it to be truthful and honest.”