Minn. Man Who Fatally Stabbed His Wife at Bible Study Learns Fate

Corinna Woodhull “thought she could save him,” her mother said after the sentencing

A Minnesota man with a history of domestic violence has admitted to repeatedly stabbing his wife at their Tuesday night Bible study while there was an active warrant for his arrest.

Robert Castillo, 41, was sentenced to 33 ? years behind bars on Friday, Sept. 13, after pleading guilty as charged to the second-degree murder of his wife, Corinna Woodhull, in 2023, according to plea and sentencing records obtained by PEOPLE.

The couple had been seated on Castillo’s sister’s couch holding hands and “acting normally,” that Tuesday, March 21, 2023, night according to the statement of probable cause by investigators who interviewed the Bible study participants.

Castillo kissed her and whispered into his wife’s ear – although no witnesses heard what he said, per charging documents obtained by PEOPLE.

After Woodhull shook her head to what her husband had said, Castillo pulled out a six-inch hunting knife, which he typically carried, and stabbed her an estimated 20 times.

Castillo’s sister grabbed Castillo by the hair, and multiple family members tackled him, pulling him off his wife, holding him down and disarming him.

“Don’t let me die,” Woodhull told one Bible study participant, according to the statement of probable cause.

When officers arrived at the St. Paul, Minn., residence, they found Woodhull “lying on the floor bleeding from injuries to her torso, chest, and arms,” while several people held Castillo to the floor, per the probable cause statement. His bloodied hunting knife was on the armrest of the couch.

“Is she going to be okay?” Castillo asked an officer on his way to jail.

Woodhull was pronounced dead at the hospital at 9:39 p.m., per her autopsy, which was cited in the charging documents and notes that she died of multiple sharp force injuries.

Castillo’s sister told officers that Castillo had previously beaten the mother of his child with a hammer in her home, cracking her head open and breaking her arm, per the probable cause statement. She told authorities that the “incident with the hammer was a long time ago and she thought Castillo was getting better.”

At the time of his wife’s stabbing, the Department of Corrections had a warrant out for his arrest, as well as a warrant for failing to appear at a pretrial assault hearing, where he was accused of inflicting bodily harm on a prison guard while in prison for a previous conviction, according to charging documents.

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Castillo had eight prior felony convictions for multiple assaults and possession of firearms, among other convictions, per the statement of probable cause, which notes that he had been convicted in a case in which he “repeatedly stabbed a sometime roommate's back, head, and neck with a knife,” and had also “beat the purported mother of his child with a hammer, breaking her left ulna.”

Castillo’s brother told officers that Castillo and Woodhull had broken up due to marital problems, per the charging documents.

In interviews with police right after the stabbing, Castillo said, per the statement of probable cause, that he did not want to talk about the stabbing or the reason for the couple’s separation, which he said had occurred about a month earlier.

Following his sentencing, Woodhull’s mother, Linda Castle, described her daughter as a woman who wanted to help others, per WKRC. Her family said she ignored their concerns over Castillo’s violent criminal history.

“She thought she could save him,” Castle said, per the outlet. “That her love would help them live a life together.”

After her daughter’s murder, divorce papers were recovered from Woodhull’s car, which Castle believes was the motive behind her daughter’s slaying, per WKRC.

“She knew it was time to walk away, and that’s why she’s dead,” her mother said.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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