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Report Details History Of Slain Family

Wood Family Found Dead In Heathrow Home In June

POSTED: Thursday, November 5, 2009
UPDATED: 9:00 am EST November 6, 2009

Local 6 has uncovered new details in the Heathrow murder-suicide that left a family of four dead.

The Wood family was found dead in their home within the exclusive gated community in June. Investigators determined John Wood killed his wife and two children before turning the gun on himself.

Information about the couple's personal life gives insight into why the shooting occurred.

In the final report, Seminole County investigators detail the marital infidelity between the Woods, John Woods' gambling problem and crumbling personal finances that put the family in bankruptcy.

Investigators believe these factors led John Wood to use a Taurus 9 mm handgun to shoot each member of his family in the head and kill them the weekend of June 13.

"Was he a cold-blooded killer and he had the intent to destroy lives, or was he someone who was suffering from mental illness? We don't know that, we don't have the ability to make that discernment," Lt. James Clark of the Seminole County Sheriff's Office said.

According to the report, several of John and Cynthia Woods' friends knew of his gambling and the couple's former swinging lifestyle. They also knew John Wood had caught his wife talking to an old male friend.

A police sketch of the Wood family's home shows that 12-year-old Aubrey Wood was found lying in her bed, 40-year-old Cynthia Wood was found beside the bed in the master bedroom and 10-year-old Dillon Wood was found on the sofa in the sitting room. John Wood was lying on the floor next to his son with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The order of death is not known.

According to the coroner's report, John Wood has some alcohol in his system, but not to the point of total intoxication, and Cynthia Wood had a heavy dose of Prozac in her system, but the children were not drugged.

The couple had separated at one time and even though they were filing for bankruptcy and needed money, they still continued to spend.

"Apparently he had spending habits where he liked extravagant toys. Yes, we found that he had a gambling problem," Clark said.

Agents found several items in the home which were listed as "important," including a certificate from a fun range that was awarded to John for handgun safety, four shell casings from the gun he used and a card from his wife dated around one month before the killings.

In the card, Cynthia Wood wrote, "We will get through. This is just a stepping stone. Don't stop now. I believe in you."

Investigators also found several cassette tapes in the trash at the home. John Wood had been secretly recording his wife's phone calls. Two weeks before the shootings, Cynthia Wood told a girlfriend she came home and found her husband lying in the fetal position crying, asking for a hug and she said no. A week before the shooting Cynthia Wood told a friend she was contemplating divorce.

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