In December 2018, a concerned neighbor's inability to reach 72-year-old Walter Joseph Gotreaux and his 70-year-old wife, Darlene Cecilia Gotreaux, led to a grim discovery at their Lacassine home in Jeff Davis Parish, Louisiana. Responding to a welfare check on December 16th, sheriff's deputies found the couple fatally shot multiple times in their bedroom. The motive for the double homicide was determined to be robbery.
The investigation into the deaths of the beloved couple led authorities to identify two primary suspects: Javari Wayne Guidry of Houston, Texas, and Jordan Alexander Legros of Welsh, Louisiana. Investigators determined that the pair had a connection to the victims through mutual associates. In late December 2018, both Guidry and Legros were apprehended and taken into custody. A third individual, Kyra Todriana Shillow of Lake Charles, was later arrested in September 2021. Her involvement was determined to be after the murders, and she faced charges of accessory after the fact to second-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
Initially, both Javari Guidry and Jordan Legros were charged with first-degree murder. However, a grand jury later indicted them on the lesser charge of second-degree murder in March 2019, to which they both pleaded not guilty. After years of legal proceedings, the two men reached a plea agreement with prosecutors. Guidry pleaded no contest to manslaughter and aggravated burglary, while Legros pleaded guilty to manslaughter and obstruction of justice.
As a result of their pleas, Javari Guidry was sentenced to a total of 60 years in prison, receiving 30 years for manslaughter and another 30 years for aggravated burglary, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Jordan Legros was sentenced to 35 years for obstruction of justice and 20 years for manslaughter, with his sentences to run concurrently. The resolution of the case brought a close to a long and difficult chapter for the Gotreaux family and their community.
