Family to discuss father’s mysterious death on ‘Dr. Phil’

By ZACHARY FITZGERALD
zfitzgerald@daily-review.com
PATTERSON — The family of Glenn Lemoine, the 60-year-old Patterson man who was found dead in August 2010 in the Charenton Canal, is going on “Dr. Phil” to tell their story of the event that has torn the family apart.
Denise Bailey, one of Lemoine’s daughters, said “Dr. Phil” wants the entire family to go to Los Angeles for a taping of the show Tuesday.
Lemoine’s body was found in the Charenton Canal Aug. 9, 2010, two days after his abandoned car was found in a ditch on U.S. 90 East near Cypress Bayou Casino in Charenton. He was last seen leaving the casino in Charenton shortly after 3:30 a.m. Aug. 7, 2010.
Lemoine’s manner of death and cause of death were originally ruled undetermined by St. Mary Parish Coroner Dr. F.H. Metz after the autopsy was performed in Jefferson Parish.
Lemoine’s family had his body exhumed in January to have a second autopsy performed. Board certified pathologist Dr. Adel Shaker performed the second autopsy in Jefferson County, Ala. In the autopsy report, which Bailey provided to The Daily Review, Shaker ruled the manner of death a homicide and cause of death was violence of undetermined means.
The family paid $10,000 to have a microscopic examination and autopsy performed, Bailey said.
In April, Metz said he reviewed the original autopsy results and found no reason to change the cause or manner of death.
The St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office continues to investigate Lemoine’s death because the coroner’s report indicated an undetermined cause of death, St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office Spokeswoman Traci Landry said. “We have and will pursue any new information or leads we receive. Because this is an ongoing investigation, the sheriff’s office cannot publicly comment on particular evidence or the details surrounding the case,” Landry said.
A camera crew from “Dr. Phil” is supposed to come to the area to film today and Saturday for pre-interviews with family members, Bailey said. Filming will take place at different locations in Patterson and where Lemoine’s body was found in the Charenton Canal, she said. They plan to fly out either Saturday night or Sunday morning, and the show will be recorded Tuesday.
On Monday night, Bailey was going through paperwork from her father’s case, and pulled up the autopsy photos of her father’s body. “It just brought everything back up,” Bailey said.
Bailey said her other siblings needed to see the photos to see why she is still fighting “to find out who did this to him.”
Bailey emailed “Dr. Phil” several times with no response, but on Tuesday, her sister Kristen Lemoine Sigue sent an email to the show after she saw that one of the upcoming shows would be about unsolved crimes.
Sigue got a call back Tuesday afternoon asking the family to appear on the show, Bailey said. “It’s been rolling since,” she said.
However, the anticipated appearance on “Dr. Phil” has caused more tension in the family, and two of the siblings may back out of going on the show because they think the show is going to focus on how the family is falling apart and not on the investigation into her father’s death, Felicia Lemoine, one of Lemoine’s daughters who plans to appear on the show, said Thursday.
About three months ago, Bailey met with state police in Lafayette, but since that meeting neither she nor private investigator John Abdella of Lafayette have been contacted, she said. The family hired Abdella in October 2012 to conduct a separate investigation from the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office investigation of the case.
Trooper Stephen Hammons of Louisiana State Police Troop I said the district attorney’s office and sheriff’s office asked state police to look into the case. State police found “nothing out of the ordinary” in regard to the case, Hammons said. “We didn’t find anything else that they could have done,” he said.
Hammons said state police did meet with one of Lemoine’s daughters to answer questions or concerns she had with the case. “We were never asked to contact them back … because we’re not the investigating agency,” Hammons said.
Bailey said she spoke to the detective who originally worked the case, and he told her the sheriff’s office did everything it should have done.
All 11 of Lemoine’s children and his ex-wife, Ellen Lemoine, are supposed appear on “Dr. Phil.” Glenn and Ellen Lemoine were divorced at the time of Lemoine’s death, Bailey said.
Bailey said some of her siblings just want to be done looking into the case. “The ones that are still investigating it can’t move on,” she said. The name of the episode of “Dr. Phil” will be “Cold Case Mystery: A family divided,” Bailey said.
As of Thursday, Bailey was waiting to get confirmation that all 11 siblings and their mother have agreed to go on the show.
The show agreed to pay for the eight oldest siblings and Lemoine’s ex-wife to make the trip, Bailey said. Show producers told the family that the youngest three siblings could still sit in the audience if the family paid to fly them out to Los Angeles, Bailey said.
“We’re so glad to be taking this out of state, and to be taking it nationally just to see what we’re going through,” Bailey said. Abdella is going to be “skyped” during the “Dr. Phil” appearance, she said.
Bailey said the investigation has not been progressing with the law enforcement officials that have worked the case so she is hoping the national appearance will help “get the word out.”
The Daily Review sent an email to “Dr. Phil” for comment about the family’s appearance on the show, but had not received a response as of this morning.
The family is still offering a $10,000 reward for the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Lemoine’s death. Anyone with information surrounding his death is asked to contact Abdella at 337-235-0270. Callers can remain anonymous.