 The story of Grace Holland is bizarre. The mother of four was raising her children alongside her long-term boyfriend, Robert Douse, the local fire captain. But in July of 2020, their world would be changed forever when Grace unexpectedly lost her life. The official report claims that Grace Holland ended her own life right in front of Robert. But some investigators and detectives, well, they're not so sure. See, Grace was right-handed, but the wound came from her left side. Robert says that Grace was incredibly depressed, but her family and friends say otherwise. Grace left a handwritten note behind at the scene of the crime, but many people say that anyone with eyes can tell that this handwriting isn't hers. But the most mysterious aspect of all is just three years after the tragic loss of Grace, Robert's new girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Sweeney, also lost her life right in front of him, just like Grace. Robert insists that this is all a misunderstanding, but recent advancements in the investigation only cast the situation into a whole new light. I hope you guys are ready because this is a strange one. In 2020, Grace Holland was living in Crevcore, Missouri, alongside her boyfriend, Robert Douse. Grace was known for being a fairly perky woman with lots of energy. When she and Robert first met sometime around 2016, Grace had just gotten out of a rather tough marriage that doesn't seem to have ended particularly well, though the two did stay on civil terms after their marriage was called off, mostly for the sake of their children. Funny enough, when Grace met Robert for the first time, she was impressed by his car more than anything. Driving a Porsche up to and from work, Robert was a man that certainly caught a lot of attention. He was a man who was very well known in the local community for being an incredibly upstanding citizen, a guy who'd fight for justice and peace any chance that he could. Considering he was the local Maryland Heights fire captain, he had quite a reputation to uphold, and he seemed to have been doing a great job at it. Everyone in the Maryland Heights area knew of Robert. Everyone looked up to him. He was a guy that many young boys and girls in the area aspired to be. Robert wasn't only involved in the local fire department, though, but he also had deep ties to the local police department as well, mostly due to the nature of his job, but also just through traditional relationships with locals. What's really impressive is that Robert wasn't the only person from his family to dedicate their lives to helping others. He actually came from a family of first responders, and his own father was the former fire captain of Maryland Heights, passing the title down to Robert when he retired. If this isn't enough to convince you of the character of Robert Douse, his family also owns a small company known as Liberty Artworks, who makes memorials for local police officers and fire officers who've passed on, with this business being an endeavor that Robert's father launched in his free time to help out families of those who've lost loved ones in action. When Robert met Grace, it was basically love at first sight. The two had some baggage from previous relationships, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. Grace brought along her four children from her previous marriage, and Robert had a son from her previous relationship, too. For Grace, Robert was the total package. Grace was known for having a remarkably deep respect for first responders, police officers, detectives, firemen you name it. From a very young age, she dedicated her life to helping others find justice. She even became a member of the police explorer program when she was just a teenager, a program for teens that want to learn more about the inner workings of a police department, how investigations play out and how officers track down suspects and bring them to justice. When Grace finally graduated high school and moved on to college, she decided to pursue a degree in criminal justice, and after graduating, took every chance she had to give back to her local community and help out the local law enforcement whenever she could. As far as I can tell, Grace was never given the chance to put her criminal justice degree to work because no sooner than she got her degree, it seems as though the first of her children came along, and before long, she was spending the bulk of her time raising her four kids. As years passed by, and she met Robert, Grace was given the opportunity to become what her sister dubbed as a police wife, becoming a full-time stay-at-home mom for the most part while Robert helped provide for the family financially, fighting fires and solving crimes. For Grace, this seems to have been a dream come true. She loved her kids more than anything and couldn't imagine being anywhere else than with her children. But that's when tragedy struck. We don't know the specific dates, but sometime in 2020, Grace was hit with the most awful news any mother could ever imagine. She'd encountered a miscarriage. She and Robert have been trying for several months to have a child of their own. In no sooner than they found out they were pregnant, they unfortunately lost the baby. I'm not even going to pretend to understand the heartache, the grief and the crushing emotions that come from a situation like this, but it was very clear that after this loss, Grace was suffering severely. The once happy-go-lucky woman had seemingly overnight turned into a shell of her former self. She found herself caught up in a depression that is incomprehensible. She was seeing a doctor for this, but the medications just couldn't seem to keep the dark thoughts at bay. Several sources say that this was basically the beginning of the end for Grace and Robert seems to have suggested this as well, but no one in Grace's family could have ever expected just how right he would be. If you're into true crime stories and unsolved mysteries as much as I am, you're gonna love what I'm about to show you. June's Journey is a hidden object game, but with a pretty interesting story involving a murder mystery. It takes place back in the 1920s, and each new scene and level takes you through a different chapter of the story with June Parker, as she works to solve the murder of her sister. This game is completely free to download, and the basic idea of the game is hunting for clues and hidden objects that may help bring June one step closer to solving the case. You can customize and remodel your mansion as well as your garden island along the way. It's super relaxing to play and easy to pick up when you have a few free minutes here or there throughout the day, and the story is pretty engaging. You can click the link below in the description to download the game on iOS and Android devices, but it's also available on PC through Facebook games. So if you're ready to dive headfirst into a captivating murder mystery and help June solve the mysterious case surrounding her sister, just click the link below to download June's Journey. Thanks to June's Journey for sponsoring today's video. It was July 22nd, 2020. Laura Holland, Grace's twin sister, woke up to a Facebook message she couldn't believe. Whenever friends asked her, is it true your sister is dead? Laura was taken aback for a moment. She had no idea what was going on, nor what the friend was talking about. The friend who messaged her was a teacher at Grace's daughter's school, Laura's niece, and this teacher had heard the news from the school's resource officer. Just like that, the relationship Laura had with her sister was over, gone without so much as a single word from Grace herself. Laura says that when she heard the news, she was in complete shock. She called everyone in her family, and one by one, they each learned the terrible news of Grace's passing. One of the most heartbreaking details about this whole ordeal is that when the news broke, one of Grace's four daughters was anxiously awaiting her mother to come home so that the two could go on a shoe shopping spree together. But that trip would never come. Grace never showed up, and none of her children ever saw her again. The news first came through at about 5.10 a.m. that morning. Without any sort of warning or lead up to the tragedy, Robert Douse called 911 and very calmly identified himself as the fire captain of Maryland Heights. Without so much as a stutter or a sigh, he told the dispatcher that Grace had used a weapon to end her own life right in front of him after battling depression for months. When first responders arrived, they quickly learned that Robert hadn't attempted any form of resuscitation nor made any attempts to save Grace's life and the off chance that she'd survived the blow. This was the first red flag. A coroner then learned that Grace took a single round to her left side temple with a slight downward trajectory, but Grace was right-handed. So if she were going to take her own life, wouldn't she be holding the weapon in her right hand? This was the second red flag. Rather strangely, immediately after police arrived at the scene of the crime to collect evidence, Robert decided to call his attorney. Before saying a single word to any of the officers who showed up at the crime scene, Robert ran everything past his attorney with his attorney telling him what he should or shouldn't say to the investigators. This was the third red flag. Investigators managed to find two notes left at the scene of the crime, both of which were determined to have been handwritten by Grace on the same day she lost her life. In the first note, she addresses her daughters, tells them how proud she is of them and how they're each going to do amazing things throughout their lives. In the second note, she addresses Robert, saying she wishes he could understand that there's more to life than things and money. She signs this letter off by saying goodbye, my love. In the days and weeks that followed this, Robert wasn't really investigated much at all. The case is basically open and shut. Grace was listed as having taken her own life due to depression and that was that. After all, everyone in the area knew Robert as one of the most upstanding people in the community. If anything, they felt bad for him, not suspicious of him. But as soon as Laura heard the news about Robert deciding to lawyer up before ever even being considered a suspect, she knew something was wrong. As it would turn out, in the months leading up to her unexpected passing, Grace had confided in her sister, Laura, that Robert wasn't the man he portrayed himself to be. According to Grace, Robert was incredibly abusive and as time went by, this abuse only got worse. It grew to such a degree that she decided to start keeping logs of everything, even going as far as recording Robert's abuse so that she would have evidence to use against him in court if the need ever arose. Laura recalled witnessing several bruises on Grace and it was clear that the violence was getting out of hand. One evening, Grace actually made the mistake of playing one of her recordings for Robert, hoping that he would hear himself on the recording and realize just how cruel he was being. Unfortunately, he didn't. Hearing the accusations from Grace and his own voice on the recording only made things worse and Grace's family admits that this would prove to be a tragic mistake. Grace was so overwhelmed by Robert's increasingly erratic behavior that she went as far as contacting the Maryland Heights Fire Deputy Chief Medical Officer, hoping he may be able to explain why Robert had been so aggressive lately. Best I can tell, her calls and requests for answers were pretty much ignored by this man and the whole situation was brushed off. According to Laura, Grace truly believed she could help Robert. She thought there was something she could do to get him the help that he needed and she even attempted to enroll the two in counseling but this obviously didn't work out. As time passed by, Robert just grew angrier and angrier and if Grace's family is to be believed, he eventually snapped. Grace's family says that Robert's behavior towards Grace was simply unacceptable. He'd begun to control every aspect of her life, even going as far as telling her who she could spend her time with and how she could spend it. He controlled how much gas money she could use in her car and would even go as far as telling her when and how often she could see her own children. When Grace's sister Laura spoke about Grace's funeral, she commented that no one even showed up. She says not a single one of Grace's friends appeared at her funeral because Robert had forced her to burn bridges with everyone she knew. Her best friend had even cut ties with her in the weeks leading up to her passing after particularly bad experience when having dinner with Grace and Robert, though the exact details of what unfolded at this dinner have never been fully revealed. Laura says that Robert went as far as forcing Grace to quit her job and work for his company, Liberty Artworks. But strangely, he refused to have her name appear on the payroll. Instead, all of her payments were considered under the table, meaning she wouldn't be able to reap any benefits from this job nor show any income on the couple's taxes, making her solely dependent on Robert for pretty much everything. He was even the guy that wrote her under the table checks each month. According to Crime Scoop, as soon as Grace lost her life, Robert wasted no time. He packed his bags and moved out of the couple's home immediately. He now lives in a new home that he and Grace actually picked out together just weeks before the tragedy, a home in which Laura says Grace picked out every last light fixture, the details of the fireplaces, everything. Just days after this move took place, Robert was sort of telling people around town that he had quote, one foot out of their relationship for months before Grace lost her life, explaining that this was how he was able to move on so quickly. This is a statement that for all the obvious reasons just rubs me the wrong way. Rather than seeming like a grieving partner who just lost the love of his life, Robert was coming off to most people as generally being a jerk who couldn't have cared less. Based on his statements to friends and acquaintances, he didn't really show any signs of grief or remorse. If anything, he seemed almost satisfied that the relationship had ended so abruptly and so quickly. When speaking about Grace, he didn't paint her as being a victim of her own mental health, a victim of his abuse or anything else. Instead, as Crime Scoop puts it, he painted her as being nothing more than desperate and delusional. But here's where things just get downright crazy. We've all heard true crime stories that have sudden and unexpected twists. Well, this one is just wild. When police were collecting information about Grace, the events leading up to her passing and many of the aspects of Robert's life that took place after Grace was gone, they learned some very interesting news. Robert hadn't been faithful to Grace for a very, very long time. I mean, go figure, an abusive husband who cheats on his wife, never. But that's not the crazy part. The crazy part is he wasn't just seeing other women, he was seeing other men as well. And this is a proven fact. The information was revealed to police through redacted text messages that were pulled by Robert's own lawyer. Around the same time, Robert cut all ties with Grace's family, including her four daughters that he'd helped raise for the last few years. Like turning off a light switch, he just shut down and opted out, never speaking another word to them. He never asked to be a part of Grace's funeral and I haven't even been able to confirm whether or not he attended the funeral. He also went as far as directing the Maryland Heights Fire Department to never speak to Grace's family again. Immediately after this, in the eyes of Grace's loved ones, Robert basically ceased to exist. In the blink of an eye, he just disappeared from their lives. Interestingly, some time around this point, detectives with the Krevkor Police Department decided to reach out to Robert to take his statement and interview him about the loss of his wife's life. He was taken into an interrogation room where he was asked to give a handwritten and a verbal statement with the entire event being recorded for evidence. But as soon as he left the room that day, that recording was deleted. The Krevkor Police Department says this was nothing more than a simple mistake, a digital error. But I'll be honest, I'm not so sure. Considering the ties that Robert had with the local police, is it really so hard to believe that he may have slipped up and said something he shouldn't have and one of his friends at the police office helped make that tape disappear? Now, I always try to keep my own opinions out of cases like this and just share the facts and the evidence. But this is just beginning to be a bit too much to ignore. But if this isn't bad enough, there was also a recording of Robert arguing with his young son that was mysteriously deleted while in the police's possession. This tape could have been used against Robert in court to prove that he was, in fact, the abusive man that Grace claimed him to be. But now that this tape had also vanished, he got away scot-free. But if all this wasn't bad enough, things were about to get much, much worse. Laura Holland has reached out to various news outlets in the wake of her sister's passing. And it's shared a very extensive list of crimes and oversights that she believes were committed by the Krevkor Police Department. According to Laura, when investigating the scene of the crime, the coroner didn't correctly identify the entry wounds and exit wounds on Grace's body. Police misreported Robert's location when Grace passed away. By his own admission, Robert was standing right next to her, but some police reports suggest otherwise. They failed to remove friends of Robert from the investigation. They've closed the scene of the crime before ever speaking with family. They didn't investigate an engagement ring that was missing from the scene of the crime. They failed to collect forensic evidence from Robert's hands or Grace's hands to prove who was really holding the weapon that evening. They lost multiple video recordings, didn't document obvious bruising on Grace's body, failed to verify the handwriting on the letters that were found at the scene of the crime, and never bothered questioning Robert for 14 months after the crime occurred. Now, you may remember that I mentioned the notes found at the scene of the crime, as well as the fact that police never verified the handwriting on these notes. Well, Gavin Fish has done an excellent job compiling evidence for this case, and he managed to track down scans of the notes that were found at the scene of the crime, as well as other handwriting examples from Grace when she filled out paperwork or had written down notes in the weeks or months leading up to the crime. Take a look at this image here. The image on the left is taken from the note that Grace allegedly wrote to her daughters on the day she lost her life. The image on the right is taken from sticky notes that Grace left behind for one reason or another. Now, here's the thing. I've heard several people voicing their concerns that this handwriting simply doesn't match. Laura, Grace's sister, also seems to believe that the handwriting isn't a match for Grace. But I've gotta be totally honest with you here. If you look at the confirmed handwriting on the right side and compare it with the alleged handwriting on the left, I'm not seeing any major differences. Now, I've highlighted the words love and proud in both images so you can see a clear example of the same words written several weeks apart. And they don't really look that much different to me. It would certainly make for a more compelling story if the handwriting was different, but it's just not. Now, that certainly doesn't discredit Laura's allegations against Robert, not by a very, very long shot. But let me know if you guys see something I don't in this handwriting because it seems pretty clear to me that these notes were written by Grace. But now, here's where things take another turn and unfortunately so. I think it's pretty clear to assume based on Laura's allegations and her claims against Robert, she believes that Robert was involved in Grace's passing. Either he directly claimed her life or he led to her claiming her life by being abusive and manipulative. But I think I can pretty much debunk the theory that Robert took Grace's life outright. Now, unfortunately, because of the nature of the next few photographs, I can't show them in their entirety in this video or YouTube would pull it down so fast it would make your head spin. But during the police investigation into Grace's passing, they managed to get ahold of several text messages that Grace sent to her family or to Robert. And these texts and images, well, they paint Grace in a very different light. In one image, Grace sent a photo of the weapon that she would eventually use to claim her own life. This was coincided by texts that read, goodbye, you failed me, I loved you, tell the girls I loved them. You chose this. Detectives also uncovered another image of that same weapon likely taken around this same time. There was also a photo of Grace holding the contents of an entire bottle of pills in her hand with these pills being an anti-psychotic medication that was prescribed to her. Finally, there's a photo of Grace herself holding the very weapon that she would soon use to take her own life. The most shocking and concerning part about this image is that, well, she's holding the weapon in her left hand, even though she was right-handed, just as the wound was described in the coroner's report, which basically put that theory to rest. So here's the thing. Was Robert involved in Grace's passing? Well, I find it hard to believe he wasn't. According to Robert, after their miscarriage, Grace was known to fly off the handle at the most random of times. But how could you blame her? The grief she was experiencing was unlike anything you could imagine unless you've been through something like this. Not only was she naturally grieving, but her body was also flipping out on a chemical level because of the miscarriage. So there was only so much of her behavior she could realistically control. Robert's abuse added on top of this certainly wouldn't have made things any better. His hatred and mistreatment of Grace is so well-documented that it's pretty much irrefutable to say that he did play some role in Grace's claiming her own life. Not that he took her life with his own two hands, but his actions certainly pushed her there. But is that enough to see him convicted somehow? Well, I'm just not sure. Considering so much of the evidence against him has been deleted by the local police department, I don't think we'll ever see the day this man is put behind bars. But there's one more aspect of this story that we need to cover. What about Robert's most recent girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Sweeney? She too lost her life in front of Robert. Dr. Sarah Sweeney was a doctor and podiatrist, someone who specializes in disorders of the feet or ankles, who'd recently opened up her own practice in Crevcore, Missouri. When she was young, she was diagnosed with an illness known as Perth's disease, which affects the joints in your hips and can make it incredibly difficult to walk. We don't know specifically when she met Robert Dows, but the two had seemingly been dating for a number of months when, without warning, she lost her own life in Robert's home. According to the local police, she showed no signs of trauma and her lawyer claims that she'd been suffering from a life-threatening medical condition. But according to the coroner's report, the actual reason she lost her life was due to an overdose of pain medication, likely the same medicine used to treat her Perth's disease, but I haven't confirmed this part. Now, here's the thing. Officially speaking, there's no link between Sarah's passing and Robert, except that in the months leading up to her death, except that in the months leading up to her losing her life, she'd been outspoken against Robert, telling those close to her that she personally suspected he may have played a role in how Grace lost her life. His own girlfriend said this. Her friends say that she spent her days living in fear of Robert and she didn't know what to do to get out of the situation. Now, we know that Sarah had recently opened up her new podiatry practice in Missouri, but this came about after she filed a lawsuit for wrongful termination against her former employer. Claiming that she was subjected to gender discrimination, disability discrimination, as well as sexual harassment in the workplace. But if we look at the counterclaims filed by her former employer, they actually claimed that her employment was terminated on the grounds of her having issues with both her mental and physical health that prevented her from performing her job properly. In one of her other remarks, she mentioned that she'd been homeless, was feeling rather hopeless, and couldn't even get her car legally registered in Missouri because it had a broken headlight and windshield and she had no money to get either of the two repaired. With all of this in mind, pieced together with Sarah's unexpected passing due to an overdose, what are we to make of this? Is it possible that Robert played a role in her passing as well? Well, yes, certainly, especially since she claimed she was living in fear of him just like Grace had been. But if we look at this purely from an evidence standpoint, I just don't see what leg this investigation has to stand on. Sarah was obviously severely troubled in the months leading up to her passing, just like Grace was. The fact that she passed away due to an overdose, it really makes you wonder if she had just had all she could take. But it also makes you wonder if Robert could have played a role in the overdose. It wouldn't be that hard to do. If they lived together, he obviously had access to all of her medications. But in the end, there's just too many loose ends here to really be able to say for sure what happened. Personally, I find it awfully bizarre that both women, both of whom had very well-documented mental health issues, would pass away right next to this guy in his own home within such a short period of time. I also find it pretty strange that they both classified him as controlling, scary, and in Sarah's own words, capable of taking the life of his former lover. This is unfortunately just another one of those cases that doesn't have a silver lining or any clear ending. There's no lesson to be learned. There's just heartbreak and despair for both families who were involved in this. Thankfully, Robert is still actively under investigation and I hope the truth will come out one day. That is, if he really was involved in one or both of these cases. But for now, tragically, the story remains unsolved. Thanks for watching. Don't forget to click the link below to download June's journey and help June solve the mysterious case of her sister. Thank you guys for tuning in to another episode of True Crime Stories. If you enjoyed this video, check out this other interesting case I covered and don't forget to subscribe. It's totally free and keeps you up to date with all of my future videos. You can also click that join button below to show your support for the channel and see new videos long before everyone else does. But my name is Ty Nottz and I'll catch you guys in the next one.