Sergeant Woody was shot and mortally wounded after stopping a vehicle.

On Sunday, November 9, 1924, at 2:00 am, Sergeant Woody and his partner were driving on patrol when another car, whose running board was on fire, passed them. The officers followed the car until the vehicle finally stopped at Fair and Penrose. The four occupants jumped out holding revolvers and fled. During the pursuit and shootout Sergeant Woody sustained a gunshot wounded in the stomach. He was pronounced dead at City Hospital the following day. The suspects were surprised by the officers while actually in the process of robbing Elmer Postel of St Louis in an alleyway near Fair and Penrose, with one of the suspects yelling "stick 'em up" to Postel just before the officers intervened.

All of the suspects were eventually apprehended, Nicholas Hare was apprehended at the scene and confessed. Clay Cratty, who had sustained a bullet wound to the hip, was also apprehended the night of the shooting. Gregory and Silvey were apprehended by Elvins town marshal William A. Black and a deputy sheriff in Bismark.

The four suspects, Albert Gregory (16), Edward Silvey (21), Clay Cratty (22) who was wounded, and Nicholas Hare (24) were indicted for the murder of Sergeant Woody and armed robbery. Hare admitted that he and Cratty were robbing Postel at gunpoint. When the police intervened, Hare stated Cratty fired three times at them until Sergeant Woody declared he had been hit and sunk to the ground.

Sergeant Woody had been with the agency for 25 years. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter. Interred: St Matthew Cemetery.