Realcent.org

Home invasion victim on life support; murder investigation continues
GONZALES, LA -
After a brutal attack left her husband and son dead, Shirley Marchand, 72, remains on life support Monday. Ascension Parish deputies found all three victims inside their Gonzales home, with their throats slashed Saturday night.

Sunday, neighbors said they wanted to know why someone would kill such a quiet family. Neighbors say the Marchand's kept to themselves, but were giving people.

Co-workers of Shirley Marchand's son say they too are shocked.

"We just kind of going thru the motions today," said Scott Millican, who worked with Douglas Dooley, 50, at Arco Electric Company in Baton Rouge. "You go home expecting to come back Monday, see everybody's face that you left Friday. And to have one of those people taken like Doug was, it's really hard to get over."

Dooley's wife, who lives in Tennessee called deputies in Ascension after she hadn't heard from her husband on Saturday. When deputies checked his mother and step-fathers home in Gonzales, they found Dooley, Robert Irwin Marchand, 74, and Shirley Marchand, 72, with their throats slashed and puncture wounds on their bodies.

"The hardest part is I spoke with him on Friday. Talked to him, thinking bout going fishing this weekend," said Nelson Velasquez. Velasquez says he worked with Dooley for three years, but the two also were friends outside of work. “He'd come over and cook for me and my kids and my wife because we're not from here."

Sheriff Jeff Wiley says there's no doubt this home invasion was planned. There was no forced entry. Leading investigators to believe the person or persons possibly knew the family.

Wiley also says no TV's were taken, no cell phones or laptops. Only a safe. "We think they knew valuables were in house and they knew something about Marchand's," Sheriff Wiley said. Inside the safe was a collection of gold coins, dating back to the 1890's and 1900's worth about a half million dollars.

Starting to look like you can't have a known safe and stay safe.

This one is a little personal for me. I had dealt with the father in about 20-25 face to face transactions. He was a really nice guy. He was a little quirky....in the same collector way each of us here are. The funny thing is that the transactions weren't coin related and I had no idea that he was a collector.

i read this the other day. Truely awful and made me sick to my stomach. Don't ever let your guard down. i think we'll see that the animals responsible for this also knew the vitims in some way. Stay safe and never flaunt what you have to anyone.

Same thing happened in southern Minnesota. Husband killed and wife and two daughters severly beaten. Masked man just came into their home and did this. Makes you not feel safe in your home. And it is only going to get worse.

I have had casual conversations with one of my neighbors about my coin collecting hobby. These days its best not to mention such things.

PS To the silver tiger......roll tide!

We are in a precarious situation. Many of us may feel obligated to teach our friends and neighbors about honest money, however in doing that we may inadvertantly give away too much information about our own holdings and put ourselves at risk. This is particularly true for those who deal professionally with coins. I will make sure that my regular coin guy knows about this story.

Yah this is a tragic situation.....all over money.....i just bought a big safe mostly for my metals...but i also plan on sticking a bennelli tactical shotgun in it for situations just like this...you can try and steal my [shucks]...but you will leave with multiple holes in your body.

I NEVER want to shy away from telling anyone what I am doing and why!... However, I always make sure that I always tell the person that you need to have a saftey deposit box, which is where I keep ALL of my valuables.

OtusLotus wrote:However, I always make sure that I always tell the person that you need to have a saftey deposit box, which is where I keep ALL of my valuables.

Good answer. I tend to keep very little of my hoard in the house.

Yep, All mine in that safety deposit box

No82s wrote:Yep, All mine in that safety deposit box

That is the only way to go IMO. I only keep what is coming in or going out within the week at home, rest is at the bank.

For those with large stashes I think private self storage should be considered. They are relatively secure and the owners won't be locked out during a bank holiday.

Silver Addict wrote:

No82s wrote:Yep, All mine in that safety deposit box

That is the only way to go IMO. I only keep what is coming in or going out within the week at home, rest is at the bank.

+1 b ank safe deposit box is the way to go.When the owner of LCS pointed at my 15 yr old son and said " If they point a gun at his head you"ll open that thing in a heart beat. He##, you;ll even help them carry it out!"

I opened a box at my bank that day. I Love that Kid way too much.

If you have something worth taking you need to be prepared to defend it. Sadly, the definition of "worth taking" is pretty open. People get killed for their shoes. Don't be a sheep among wolves, be a sheepdog.

These are things to consider IF i ever were to own any precious metals.

I keep mine at the local coin show. I just go there and look at the stuff from time to time.

I pick it up, admire it, and hand it back to the curator.


......ahhhh news just in. I was informed that the stuff at the coin show IS NOT mine and they are not curators, they are coin dealers. Well that just shattered my dream.

Silver Addict wrote:

No82s wrote:Yep, All mine in that safety deposit box

That is the only way to go IMO. I only keep what is coming in or going out within the week at home, rest is at the bank.

yep......SDB are cheap and secure (I use the heck out of mine). Also if you have it..... use an off site location that has a safe and a sequrity system.

dan53 wrote:PS To the silver tiger......roll tide!

Yeah, I hear ya yapping!
Just kidding! Both teams had equal talent, but you may have noticed a "bit" of a coaching disadvantage on our sidelines!!!!

WOW. I was being sarcastic and hope you guys are too!! The if the gov't ever goes after your PMs those supposedly safe SDB are the first place they'll go.

No82s wrote:WOW. I was being sarcastic and hope you guys are too!! The if the gov't ever goes after your PMs those supposedly safe SDB are the first place they'll go.

Sarcasm? Not at all.

Who says you have to be truthful about where you keep anything valuable?

However. If you read FerFAL's blog, you will know that typical home invaders don't know and don't care the specifics of what you have of value. They will torture you until you come up with something for them to take, or until you die.

Speaking of the criminal mind; Do you think muggers have x-ray vision? They cannot know if you have any money or anything else of value. They also tend to hold their victims in great contempt and are very likely to kill, to get rid of the witness if nothing else.

OX6603 wrote:If you have something worth taking you need to be prepared to defend it. Sadly, the definition of "worth taking" is pretty open. People get killed for their shoes. Don't be a sheep among wolves, be a sheepdog.

i dont have a whole lot to defend, but i carry at all times - even when relaxing in my recliner

some call it paranoid - i call it smart

What about burying your stash somewhere hidden in your yard? I know of some people who bury FOOD STORAGE in the ground in their backyard!

this is the exact reason I sleep with a pistol next to my bed.

Tragic what happened! All this crime going around and the way the Gov. is being run kind of makes me happy that all my silver, gold and firearms were lost in the Atlantic ocean the other day while deep sea fishing at the Big Rock! Boat started taking on water and we had to throw every thing over board that had weight to it (always take my precious metals and firearms with me fishing (might meet a mermaid)! Barley made it back to harbor, so for all you divers there is a dump of precious metals and firearms east of the Big Rock.

aloneibreak wrote:

OX6603 wrote:If you have something worth taking you need to be prepared to defend it. Sadly, the definition of "worth taking" is pretty open. People get killed for their shoes. Don't be a sheep among wolves, be a sheepdog.

i dont have a whole lot to defend, but i carry at all times - even when relaxing in my recliner

some call it paranoid - i call it smart

I'm the same way but...all someone has to do is snatch my precious boy playing in the street.

They will own may a$$.