Eric Heisig / Houma Courier
HOUMA The wife of a Houma business owner who killed himself after critically wounding her Wednesday remains in stable condition after undergoing multiple surgeries.
Her husband, Larry Blanchard, 57, owner of Body Elite Fitness, was found with what police said was a gunshot wound to the head inside the couple's home at 102 Woodburn Drive.
Family members and friends said Nicole's surgeries have been successful thus far, but she has a long way to go before making a full recovery. Nicole's family and friends have refused further comment about the couple's relationship. Calls made to some family members on Friday were not returned. Other relatives refused to talk.
Police say they were alerted about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday by a 911 call from someone claiming to have received a text message from Nicole's phone. The caller said Larry had shot Nicole and threatened to shoot himself.
A call was placed to 911 and then transferred to the Terrebonne Sheriff's Office, Capt. Dawn Foret said. Nicole, who allegedly was shot in the mouth with a shotgun and could not talk, communicated by pressing the phone's keypad in response to questions, Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Vernon Bourgeois said.
'She couldn't really talk,' Foret said. 'That was her only way of communication.'
Foret said more details would not be released, since the investigation is ongoing.
Terrebonne Communications District Executive Director Mark Boudreaux said he tells his 911 operators that 'common sense is the best key' when trying to communicate with someone that can't speak.
'We've had callers do various forms of communications,' Boudreaux said. 'There have been taps on the phone itself, sometimes it was grunts from a medical case.'
Boudreaux said 911 is in the process of upgrading its systems to accept other forms of emergency communications, such as texting.
'Texting will help in so many situations,' Boudreaux said, referencing the recent mass shooting in Arizona. He added that texts allow people who can't speak to communicate their emergency. 'It gives us an ability to respond,' he said.
Boudreaux said the response systems in Terrebonne Parish will be updated to handle text messages and video, but cell phone carrier systems won't be ready for these sort of emergency systems for at least one to two years.
