Valerie Wells, who appeared on CMT’s short-lived reality seriesBayou Billionaires,passed awayyesterday at the age of 47. The former reality TV star was the victim of an apparent murder-suicide, after being shot to death outside of a Shreveport, Louisiana McDonald’s restaurant. She was shot multiple times while sitting at the wheel of her car, before the killer reportedly turned the gun on himself.
Louisiana news stationKSLAreports thatValerie Wellswas shot just after 4 PM on Monday, November 7 in the parking lot of the Shreveport McDonald’s in the 7000 block of Mansfield Road. She was taken to University Health, where she was laterpronounced dead. In a nearby parking lot, Shreveport police found 46-year-oldRobert Gaddy, who was suffering from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Gaddy was taken to University Health by the Shreveport Fire Department, where he later died.
Investigators believe thatValerie WellsandRobert Gaddywere involved in aromantic relationshipin the past.Valerie Wellsand her family are well-known in the Shreveport area through their reality series Bayou Billionaires, which aired on CMT. Here’s whatValerie Wells' parents,Kitty DowdenandGerald Dowden, had to say in a statement that was posted to a social media account followingValerie Wells' death.
“This is really hard on us and her children it is out of order no parents should have to go thru this.”
Bayou Billionairestold the modern-dayrags to richesstory of the Dowden family, who were your typical family when they discovered that their home sits on the fourth largest deposit of natural gas in the United States. They made their fortune by keeping the mineral rights to their land, which they lease to the gas company to extract the natural gas from their property. Valerie was a single mother of three who worked for the public defender’s office in Shreveport.
Thereality seriesaired for two seasons spanning 25 episodes from January 2012 to late October 2012.Valerie Wellsis survived by her three children, Jessica, Devyn and Nikki, husbandRobert Wells, her parentsKitty DowdenandGerald Dowden, her sisterChanteland brothersGerald Jr.andThomasand grandfather,Jim Roy. The murder-suicide is still under investigation by the Shreveport police department at this time.
