A Missouri doctor was found dead in the home of her firefighter fiancé last week while facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of his last fiancée, who died at his old home three years ago.
On Saturday, Dr. Sarah Sweeney, 39, was found dead at the home of local fire chief Robert Daus in suburban St. Louis.
Frontenac police are investigating but said there were no obvious signs of a struggle and classified it as sudden death pending a medical examiner’s evaluation.
Her death comes as Daus fights a wrongful death lawsuit from the family of his previous fiancée, Grace Holland, who died of a single gunshot wound in July 2020 at his old home.
Holland’s family claims that Daus either killed her or that she “took her own life after years of being subjected to physical and mental abuse” by him.
Dr. Sarah Sweeney (pictured), 39, was found dead Saturday at the home of her fiancé, local fire chief Robert Daus, in suburban St. Louis
In 2021, 35-year-old Grace Holland (right) died of a single gunshot wound to the head at the home of Daus (left), her then-fiancé
According to his Facebook, Daus is a captain with the Maryland Heights Fire District and vice president of his family business, Liberty Art Works
Police at the time ruled Holland’s death a suicide, but her family believes the investigation was tainted because of Daus’ status in the fire department and ties to local police.
Following Sweeney’s death on Saturday, a lawyer for Holland’s family said: ‘We are saddened to hear of another death, especially of such a young person.
“We hope the Frontenac Police Department will do what the Creve Coeur Police Department and the County Medical Examiner failed to do in the past and fully investigate this tragedy.”
Both Holland and Sweeney were found dead early in the morning and Daus called 911 in both cases.
A native of West Virginia, Sweeney moved to Missouri to open her own podiatry practice in Creve Coeur.
Her mother, Teresa Sweeney Light, said: “We wish we could have her back. We just want closure, we want it to be truthful and honest, and right now we’re still in shock.”
According to her mother, Daus and Sweeney met while she was working in the emergency room, shortly after she moved to St. Louis.
‘Sarah was a lively and outgoing person who never met a stranger. She loved dogs and cats, and over the years rescued and owned several of them,” her obituary said.
‘Sarah was diagnosed with Perthes disease when she was six years old, which has left her experiencing a lot of physical pain throughout her life.’
Holland’s family claims he killed her or drove her to suicide through emotional and physical abuse
They claim that the police did not properly investigate due to his status in the fire department
Sweeney’s mother told Fox News that when the family heard about the Holland case, they sent Sweeney some stories, but she stopped answering their text messages.
She said: “She was a grown adult, a doctor and a woman. We didn’t know what to do.’
But she declined to speculate on the nature of her daughter’s death, saying, “I’ll leave that up to the investigators, and I’ll leave that up to the medical examiner’s office, to hopefully get this right.”
According to his Facebook, Daus is a captain with the Maryland Heights Fire District and vice president of his family business, Liberty Art Works.
Holland’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Daus in July.
‘Two things happened that night. “Either Robert Daus shot Grace Holland or Grace Holland took her own life after years of being subjected to physical and mental abuse at the hands of Robert Daus,” the lawsuit said.
“Regardless, Robert Daus Jr. is liable for the wrongful death of Grace Holland.”
According to the lawsuit, Daus and Holland had been dating for four years and were engaged for two years before her death.
The mother-of-four’s family said the relationship was rife with abuse and he pressured her to work for his family business so he could gain control of the Dutch money.
In June 2020, the lawsuit alleges that Grace reported that Daus “pushed, shoved and dragged her down the hallway while taking off her clothes.”
It goes on to say: ‘Following this incident, Grace’s mother noticed bruising on her arms, thighs and spine.’
They said the couple bought a house together, but because he controlled the money, Holland was left out of the deed. Public records show he bought his home on Conway Road, the same house in which Sweeney died, for $740,000 in 2020.
In one incident, the family claims Holland called her mother during an argument and when she told her daughter to call the police, Daus said, “My brothers in blue aren’t going to hurt me.”
The lawsuit alleges that Daus repeatedly offered Holland $600 to abort the child she was carrying.
In a lawsuit, Daus denied the accusation that he tried to pay the Netherlands for an abortion.
Sweeny’s mother, Teresa Sweeney Light, said she was diagnosed with mast cell activation syndrome, which can be life-threatening
Grace Holland’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Daus in July.
Reportedly, two days before Holland died, Daus texted Holland “I want you out of (my) life” and “You did nothing but ruin my first night in Conway.”
According to the lawsuit, Holland took selfies at the Conway home on the night of July 21, 2020, and was found dead about seven hours later at Daus’ property on Fairways Circle.
“Daus never provided any explanation as to what happened the night of Grace’s death, let alone explained how Grace went from bed in the Conway home to dead in the Fairways home seven hours later,” the lawsuit said.
“The gunshot wound is in her left temple. Grace is right-handed. When she trained to use firearms, she only used her right hand. A self-inflicted gunshot wound to the left temple is inconsistent with being right-handed.”
In a recording of Daus’ 911 call after Holland’s death, he sounds calm and repeatedly tells the operator that he is a fire chief.
Daus has denied that anything went wrong with Holland’s death.