Philip J. DeSantis Woodbine Police Department August 6, 1973 Police Chief Phil DeSantis, 54, just eight months away from retirement, was stabbed to death early on a Monday morning while attempting to apprehend a local 23 year old man, who robbed and fatally stabbed a gas station attendant a half hour earlier. Woodbine's Chief for nineteen years, he became the second police officer in Cape May County killed in the line of duty. Local Woodbine youth described the Chief as a fatherly figure who helped solve some of their problems and often loaned them money. His wife, Sonya, survived him. Close Window