A DeSoto Parish woman who was featured along with her family in a 2012 reality TV program was the victim in murder-attempted suicide Monday afternoon in Shreveport.
Valerie Dowden Wells, 47, of Frierson, was shot multiple times while sitting in her car in a restaurant parking lot by a man who then turned the gun on himself. Wells was pronounced dead at University Health Hospital.
The shooter, 46-year-old Robert Gaddy, was found in the parking lot suffering from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was transported to University Health by the Shreveport Fire Department, where he later died.
Wells’ parents, Kitten and Gerald Dowden, acknowledged their daughter’s death on their personal Facebook page this morning.
“This is really hard on us and her children. It is out of order. No parents should have to go through this,” the post reads.
The shooting took place in the parking lot of McDonald’s at the corner of Mansfield Road and West 70th Street. Wells’ car rolled into West 70th before coming to a stop.
Detectives believe Gaddy and Wells had been involved in a relationship in the past.
Wells, her parents, and her three siblings were part of a short-lived CMT reality show called “Bayou Billionaires.” The show capitalized upon the Dowden’s financial fortune from the Haynesville Shale natural gas development.
The family, including Wells’ three children, were portrayed as various scenarios after “mailbox money” from mineral royalty checks allowed them to explore a lifestyle beyond their somewhat modest means.
Wells was employed with the public defender’s office in Mansfield.
Her funeral service will be at noon Friday at Rose-Neath Southside Chapel, with interment in Forest Park West Cemetery. Family visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the chapel.
In addition to her parents, Wells is survived by her daughters, Jessica and Nikki, and her son, Devyn Metcalf; husband, Robert Wells; brothers, Gerald Dowden Jr. and wife Peggy and Thomas Dowden and wife Mallory; sister, Chantel Mynes; and maternal grandfather, Jim Roy.
