A 39-year-old Missouri doctor suddenly died, making her the second woman in three years to be found dead at a firefighter's home in the St. Louis suburb, according to her ex-fiancée's family.
Dr. Sarah Sweeney, a West Virginia native who recently opened her own practice in St. Louis, had her funeral home listed in her online obituary.
Her “sudden death'' is being investigated by Frontenac Police Corporal. Tim Duda told Fox News Digital.
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Dr. Sarah Sweeney (left) and Grace Holland (right) were found dead in Robert Dowse's home. (The Sweeney Family | Grace Holland/Facebook)
Sweeney completed his surgical residency in Miami before moving to Port Arthur, Texas, according to his obituary. When she was six years old, she was diagnosed with a rare and painful disease called Perthes disease.
Frontenac police said they found Sweeney dead at 6:39 a.m. on Jan. 13. The department said in a statement that Sweeney had “no obvious signs of trauma.”
Her mother, Teresa Sweeney Wright, told Fox News Digital that doctors also diagnosed her with mast cell activation syndrome. The condition could be life-threatening, but her daughter managed it with medication and carried an EpiPen.
“We wish we could have her back,” she said. “We just want closure and we want it to be true and fair, but we're still in shock at this point.”
A Frontenac police report names Robert Daus as the 911 caller. His mother said the firefighters met Sweeney while he was working in an emergency room shortly after he moved to St. Louis. The two began dating, but Sweeney's family never met him, Wright said.
read accident report
Creve Coeur police found another woman named Grace Holland dead in the firefighter's former home in 2021. She had a single gunshot wound to her head.
Sweeney's family learned of Holland's case and sent her some of the news articles. However, by November 2021, she stopped responding to text messages from her mother and stepfather.
“She was an adult, a doctor, a woman,” her mother said. “We didn't know what to do.”
Duda declined to speculate about her daughter's death, saying the family is awaiting the results of the autopsy and toxicology report, which could take another three to five weeks.
“I'll leave it to the investigators, I'll leave it to the coroner's office, and I hope they do a good job,” Wright told Fox News Digital.
As for the Holland family, they are suing Daus, accusing him of causing her wrongful death by killing her and encouraging her to commit suicide.
Grace Holland and Robert Daus are pictured in a 2020 photo posted on her Facebook page. (Grace Holland/Facebook)
Holland was the mother of four children. Investigators declared her death a suicide. However, her family is skeptical of that conclusion, and local media outlets KMOV-TVobtained text messages depicting a volatile relationship between her and the firefighter.
A 911 recording provided by Holland's family shows a man responding to the call telling a dispatcher that Holland shot him in the head right in front of him.
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“Brothers in blue aren't going to do anything to me. I already solved that. You crazy girlfriend.”
“My fiance just shot himself,” he said, adding, “It was a fatal wound.”
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Holland's family identifies Daus as the caller. According to court filings, the two dated and were engaged for two years. Calls to her listed phone number went unanswered Monday, and his attorney did not immediately respond to repeated attempts to reach her.
Holland was found dead in Dawes' home on Fairway Circle. At the time, she had spent several months working on a renovation project at her new home, where police discovered Sweeney's body.
Read the wrongful death lawsuit:
Daus controlled Holland's finances, according to the family's wrongful death lawsuit. Her parents had suspected domestic violence in the months before her death, and relatives said Ms Dowse said: “My brothers in blue are not going to do anything to me. I've already dealt with it. You're a crazy girlfriend. He is said to have been heard saying, . ”
According to text messages included in the lawsuit, the couple fought frequently and Dauss repeatedly told her he wanted to end their relationship.
“I can never scold you,” he wrote in shorthand. “I won't marry you.”
Holland's family argued in the lawsuit that the circumstances surrounding her death were suspicious. She was shot in her left temple, although she was right-handed. Her $20,000 engagement ring was visible in crime scene photos, but she is now missing. Seven hours before her death, she was smiling in a selfie of her with Daus at her home in Conway.
Grace Holland is pictured in a selfie in May 2020. She was engaged to firefighter Robert Dowse when police say he shot her in the head. Her family questions that explanation. (Grace Holland/Facebook)
The wrongful death lawsuit is still ongoing. Mr. Daus has not been charged with a crime.
Anyone with information regarding Mr. Holland's death is asked to contact St. Louis County Police at 314-615-5400. The investigation into Sweeney's death is being handled by the Frontenac Police Department (314-373-6509).
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When contacted by Fox News Digital on Monday, Holland's father deferred to the family's attorney, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
