David Plessy doesn’t know who killed his wife during a carjacking two days ago, but the local pastor knows that person’s life will not be easy until he turns himself in.
Jeannot Plessy, 49, died Tuesday night after the unknown carjacker ran over her with her own Nissan SUV. It was a sad end to what had been an otherwise blissful date night between the couple who had been married for 14 years.
The Orleans Parish coroner on Thursday said the preliminary cause of death was blunt-force trauma injuries.
David Plessy called the crime an act of selfishness and desperation, something that cost his family a great deal.
"I miss my wife," Plessy said. "She is the most beautiful, honest, caring, strong, funniest, loveliest person that I've ever met in my life."
Plessy and his wife spent their lives preaching the Gospel and helping the hopeless.
"Every step we took we took together in our marriage was to show the love of Jesus to the people who are hurting,” he said.
Now, Plessy and his family are the ones who hurt.
The carjacking happened after the couple wrapped up a date night. Jeannot Plessy was going to pick up the couple’s two pre-teen children at David Plessy’s daughter's home on Prentiss Avenue in the Seabrook subdivision when the ambush happened about 8:30 p.m.
"From the sketchy details I've gotten, she was carrying in some package and my son-in-law came out to help her along with my son and that's when it happened," David Plessy said.
Police claim a man pulled Jeannot Plessy from her car, threw her to the ground and ran over her.
It was a tragic end to an evening of love and laughter.
The Plessy's had dinner at the Ritz-Carlton followed by a trip to the Roosevelt to see the Christmas lights. It was a surprise outing for Jeannot Plessy upon her return from a preaching tour in American Samoa.
Work continued Thursday on the Gentilly home that Plessy and his wife were renovating.
"She always joked that that's the porch where our rocking chairs are going to go, are going to be as we grow old together and look out on all the goodness that God gave us," Plessy said. "I'm going to complete the work on the house because it was my wife's dream and her plan."
Despite the loss of his wife, Plessy's message remains one of compassion.
He said he can forgive, but urged the man who killed his wife to surrender to police.
"It was an act of selfishness, desperation -- and that cost us a great deal," Plessy said. "I would think that one inclination would be to scream out for justice and scream out of anger and perhaps that's a stage of my grief that's in front of me. But, I know my wife has never failed to forgive anyone who has hurt her.
Anyone with information about this crime is asked to call Crimestoppers at (504) 822-1111.