Dennis Wood case on Who Hired the Hitman? - A detailed case overview

On April 16, 2004 in the normally quiet suburbs of Moorpark, California, Dennis Wood was found shot dead in the doorway of his home. A routine welfare check by deputies revealed a brutal homicide: Wood had been shot twice in the head and once in the chest, his body undiscovered for nearly two weeks.

The case quickly went cold, leaving investigators without clear leads in a murder tied to unpaid business debts. It wasn't until years later that the 20 year mystery unraveled with a shocking confession from an unexpected source, yielding a plot hatched for financial gain.

Antoine Nehme, a former business associate was accused of hiring a hitman to kill Dennis Wood, thus avoiding repaying a $28,700 loan from a failed business venture dealing with prepaid phone cards. 

This tale of betrayal and cold-blooded calculation featured in detail on the true crime series Who Hired the Hitman? In episode 5, titled The Genius and the Mastermind which premiered on December 5, 2025 on Investigation Discovery.

 Who Hired the Hitman?: The discovery of Dennis Wood, and initial investigation

On April 16, 2004, Ventura County Sheriff's deputies arrived at Dennis Wood's home on the 12500 block of Mountain Trail Street in Moorpark responding to a welfare check request. The resident who ran a prepaid phone card sales business had not been seen for about two weeks.

Inside, they found Wood's body slumped in the doorway, the victim of multiple gunshot wounds: two to the head and one to the chest. The scene showed signs of a targeted attack with no forced entry or signs of robbery, suggesting the killer knew Dennis Wood or had been let inside. Investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff's Office immediately launched a homicide probe. They canvassed the neighborhood, which bordered Moorpark High School and interviewed Wood's family and associates as per KTLA. 

He was said to be an industrious salesman, selling phone cards from door to door, and had just entered into a business arrangement that called for cash loans. Early leads seemed to focus on potential financial disputes, given that Dennis Wood had supplied money to partners for phone card inventory that never came through.

Forensic teams processed the scene for evidence, collecting casings and fingerprints; no immediate matches surfaced from the databases. Despite exhaustive efforts, including reviewing phone records and financial documents, the case stalled within months.

No suspects were named, and the tips from the public dried up. The murder weapon, a handgun was never recovered complicating ballistics analysis. Wood's family, devastated by the loss, urged detectives to keep searching, but resources shifted to active cases, according to KTLA.

The cold case stagnation and emerging leads

The Dennis Wood murder went unsolved for nearly a decade, collecting dust in the Ventura County Sheriff's cold case files. Detectives periodically dusted off the evidence but with no new technology or informants, little progress was being made. One of many connections made by Dennis Wood's prepaid phone card business was Antoine Nehme, a Newbury Park resident and owner of an Ojai gas station.

Nehme had taken about $28,700 from Dennis Wood for an investment that promised quick profits through phone card sales but the deal went sour when the cards proved worthless and left Wood out of pocket.

A turning point in the case came in 2010 in an unrelated homicide investigation in Los Angeles County, prosecutors said. A suspect in custody in the other killing told detectives that his co-defendant, Alex Bracamonte, boasted about killing a man in Moorpark at someone else's behest as the VC Star reported.

Bracamonte, 30 at the time was a pump attendant at Nehme's gas station and had a rap sheet that included drugs and theft. This tip led back to Wood's case and, at the time, Ventura detectives re-interviewed contacts and subpoenaed old financial records.

Bracamonte denied involvement and absent physical evidence, the lead went cold. In 2023, momentum in the case picked up when the cold case unit, under Sgt. Albert Ramirez began to review archived files with fresh eyes.

Data analysis strides led to patterns in Nehme's finances, indicating he had avoided paying Dennis Wood in the months leading up to the murder. Bracamonte, under pressure from legal troubles of his own, agreed to an interview on August 23, 2023 according to VC Star.

There, he confessed to the shooting providing specifics like the entry point and weapon type that only the perpetrator would know. This admission exposed Nehme as the orchestrator who had allegedly promised Bracamonte payment to silence the debt forever.

The arrests, confessions and path to trial

After Alex Bracamonte's confession in 2023, Ventura County authorities rapidly built a case against him and Antoine Nehme. On May 8, 2024, Bracamonte, then 44 and imprisoned for unrelated crimes in Los Angeles, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Dennis Wood's death.

In return for his testimony, he was sentenced to 15 years to life, to run consecutively with his existing sentence. Bracamonte described how Nehme came to him at the Ojai gas station with an offer of money to take care of Dennis Wood in exchange for eliminating the growing debt, as per KTLA.

He recounted how he had gone to Moorpark, had gained entry under a ruse, fired the shots, and then fled. Just days later, on May 14, 2024, deputies arrested 72-year-old Nehme in Victorville, to which he had moved after the 2004 murder.

Charged with murder, conspiracy to commit a crime, and solicitation of murder, Nehme was held on $2 million bail at Ventura County Jail. Prosecutors, led by Senior Deputy District Attorney John Barrick, were able to piece together a timeline showing Nehme's evasive maneuvers to dodge repayment, including relocating and changing businesses.

Phone records and witness statements from the gas station corroborated Bracamonte's account, painting a picture of calculated planning. Nehme was arraigned almost immediately after his arrest and was formally charged by the Ventura County District Attorney's Office, according to the VC Star.

As the case moved closer to trial, investigators had been tying up loose ends, confirming the financial motive through bank statements. Dennis Wood's relatives said they were relieved, but that the wait had been agonizing.

The trial, conviction, and road to justice

The trial of Antoine Nehme started in early 2025, with Ventura County Superior Court Judge Paul Baelly presiding. The prosecutors presented, over several weeks, the interesting narrative of a murder inspired by greed. Among the most important evidence included the detailed testimony of Bracamonte, financial documents proving the $28,700 debt, and forensic matches pointing to the crime scene during the era of Nehme's business dealings.

The jury was told that Nehme saw Wood's elimination as a clean way out after facing financial ruin over the failed phone card scheme. On March 17, 2025, after deliberations, the jury found Nehme, 73, guilty of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation. The special allegation of financial gain was upheld, with the jury noting the sophistication of the plot.

Nehme had chosen Bracamonte because he was loyal and gave directions to Dennis Wood's remote home. Judge Baelly affirmed aggravating factors, including the crime's violence and premeditation.
Sentencing followed on May 20, 2025, with Nehme receiving life without parole, according to KTLA.

District Attorney Erik Nasarenko emphasized the verdict's closure for Wood's family, who had endured 21 years of uncertainty. Barrick stated

 "Dennis Wood was a good and honorable man who didn’t deserve to die the way he did."

Nehme showed no remorse, maintaining his innocence, but the evidence proved overwhelming. The resolution brought validation to cold case efforts, reminding communities that justice, though delayed, can prevail through dogged investigation and witness cooperation. Dennis Wood's loved ones finally laid the tragedy to rest, honoring his memory beyond the violence that ended his life, as per  VC Star.

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