Corinna Woodhull believed she could help her husband, just like she’d turned her life around and helped so many others.

“She thought she could save him, that her love would help them build a life together,” her mother said in court Friday.

She flushed his drugs down the toilet, but he didn’t stop. When Woodhull’s family retrieved her belongings from her car, they found divorce papers.

“She knew it was time to walk away and that’s why she’s dead,” said Linda Castle, Woodhull’s mom.

Robert Castillo, 41, admitted in March to the second-degree intentional murder of Woodhull in St. Paul during a Bible study at his sister’s home. On Friday, he received a prison sentence of just over 33 years.

Woodhull, 41, was a mom of five. “She had a very kind heart, she was very soft with her heart,” Castle said after court. “But she was loud and vibrant because she wanted the world to hear her and that I think they did.”

‘Don’t let me die’

Castillo’s sister told police they hosted Bible study at her home in the 1000 block of East Maryland Avenue in the Payne-Phalen area every Tuesday night. On the evening of March 21, 2023, the couple was sitting on a couch when Castillo whispered something in Woodhull’s ear. After she shook her head “no,” Castillo pulled out a hunting knife and stabbed her multiple times, until his own family disarmed him. She was pronounced dead at Regions Hospital.

Woodhull’s last words were, “Don’t let me die,” which she said as her sister-in-law, who was one of her best friends, held her and she struggled for her last breath, according to Castle.

“These (words) were to people she was surrounded by who loved and cared for her as they celebrated fellowship, but it wasn’t to her husband because her husband is the man who killed her,” said Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Dan Rait. “What has always bothered me most about this situation is the fact that (Castillo) has a history of hurting people who care about him” he said of his past convictions.

Castillo had eight prior felony convictions, including second-degree assault for hitting another woman on her head and arms with a hammer in St. Paul in 2014. At the time of the knife attack, Castillo was on intensive supervised release and wanted on a Department of Corrections warrant after he failed to show up at a court hearing on charges that he assaulted two correctional officers at the Stillwater prison in 2020.

Members of both Woodhull’s and Castillo’s families urged her not to marry him, telling her it wasn’t the right time and he was still using drugs.

“It’s a testament to the kind of person she was that she went through with it, thinking she could help him,” Rait said. “I can’t believe that she knew her wedding vows would ultimately be her death sentence.”

Castillo’s last memory as a free man was from the early morning of March 21, 2023. He got high with a friend and ingested so much “he doesn’t recall what happened afterward,” said his attorney, Mark Austin, in court Friday.

Speaking in court, Castillo apologized to Woodhull’s children and her family and friends.

“I’m taking full responsibility for my actions, even if I don’t recall anything that happened that day due to my … drug-induced psychosis,” he said, adding that he’s struggled to forgive himself for taking the life of his wife and best friend.

Castillo had a traumatic childhood, Austin said in arguing for a shorter prison sentence, which Judge Richard H. Kyle Jr. denied. He was exposed to drugs by older siblings when he was less than 8, he was abused, and he fell into a gang, Austin said. But his attorney said he made some progress by walking away from the gang and getting his GED after dropping out of school in fourth grade.

‘Angel among angels’

Castle called Woodhull her “miracle child,” saying they both almost died during her pregnancy. She was 17 when she had Woodhull.

“We literally had to grow up together, side-by-side, so trying to explain the impact her death has had upon my life, it’s impossible,” Castle said in her statement to the court. “I don’t know how to live life without her. She did leave me some beautiful grandchildren, and that helps a lot.”

Woodhull’s children range in age from 11 to 24, and three attended Castillo’s sentencing. One previously lost a father.

Woodhull “faced many of her own struggles, and that eventually led to drugs in her life,” Castle said. She put herself into treatment and with the help of many friends who were in the courtroom’s seats, “she changed her life and started following Jesus,” her mother said.

“She did this passionately and with all of her heart, and became a voice for the hopeless that they too could change their lives,” Castle said. “This is where Robert comes into her life and our lives.”

Castle said she’s been filled with deep sadness and hadn’t been angry until a probation officer conveyed that Castillo wanted to communicate with Woodhull’s five children, “as he claims he has bonded with them.”

“My question is, did he bond with them when Corinna was flushing his drugs down the toilet, or maybe the first time he took a knife to her throat, or is it the first time he stabbed her, or the 22nd time he stabbed her?” she said. “He still feels a sense of entitlement, and that angers me.”

Each of Woodhull’s children told their grandmother they never want to see or speak to Castillo again, she said.

“There is no justice that will be served here today, and the only ones who were dealt with a life sentence are my grandchildren,” Castle said. “… They will never be able to call anyone ‘mom’ for the rest of their lives. Mom didn’t see them play football, volleyball or run in track. Mom won’t be at graduation. Mom won’t dance at the mother-son dance at one of their weddings. Mom won’t hold them when they cry.”

She also leaves behind “many, many family members” who miss her and are “affected by this senseless tragedy,” her father, Randy Kirscheman, said in his victim impact statement. “If there ever was a good reason for the death penalty, this would be it. But unfortunately, we don’t have the death penalty.”

Kirscheman called Woodhull, who was his first-born child, “an angel among angels now.”

As he walked back to his seat in the courtroom, he turned toward Castillo and said, “Rot in hell.”

Outside the courtroom, Castle had a message to the community about domestic violence: “There’s so many women out there that take this as normal, that maybe someday they’re going to change, that their love can change them, and it doesn’t, and they could be the ones laying in that casket. … Women need to understand: Don’t accept this kind of behavior. It’s not OK.”