Gregory Phillips

Some of you may feel refreshed when you see that this post will not be as long as most of the cases that I blog about. There is a part of me that too feels excited that I can sit down and do a “quick” post, but that means there is a) not a lot of information out there about the case and b) less information likely means less “excitement” or twists and turns. But, no less it is still a crime and has earned its way here.

On September 27, 2016 911 operators in Glynn Louisiana received a call from a nine year old girl. It is not clear exactly what she told them other than they obviously needed to come to her home. When officers arrived at the home they found three bodies in the yard of Donna LeBlanc, a deputy sheriff for the West Baton Rouge police department.

The bodies at the home belonged to forty-two year old Donna, her twenty year old daughter, Carli Jo and their twenty-nine year old neighbor, Gregory Phillips. Investigators had to let the evidence and information they found attempt to lead them to understand just what happened.

Gregory Phillips apparently had a reputation within the neighborhood as a “nuisance.” Phillips lived in what was described as “a shabby trailer” surrounded by high grass and tress, directly across the street from Donna LeBlanc. He was known to often fire his gun and set off “explosive devices” in his backyard at night. When neighbors heard gun shots during the day some just assumed that while it was out of character for Phillips, that he was “at it” again. Others thought it could have been hunters in a nearby canal. No one seemed to imagine that people were in danger nearby. No one knew of any issues between Phillips and the LeBlanc family.

Piecing things together investigators came to the conclusion that Phillips had drove to the LeBlanc home and parked his truck outside on the street. He went to the door where twenty year old Carli was inside with her nine year old sister. It is unknown what Phillips wanted or what he said that apparently prompted Carli to make sure her sister was locked inside the home while she went outside to speak to him. At some point it is believed that Donna returned home an an argument ensued, but again, just what the argument was about is unknown. I can only speculate that the young girl inside heard yelling but not specifics. At this point investigators believe that Phillips went to his truck and retrieved the .223 assault rifle he had inside.

Investigators were able to determine that at some point Donna was able to fire off three shots from her service weapon, but it was unclear how many Phillips fired. It is believed that Phillips first killed Donna and then Carli. At this point they believe he attempted to get into the house but when he could not do so he put the rifle to his chin an pulled the trigger.

No one will ever know just why this happened or what transpired exactly. Phillips will go down in history in the town as the crazy neighbor who killed a well respected deputy and a young lady. The latter part of that is true, we know that. What we do not know is just how crazy he was, or what happened to make him think this was a good idea. It would be said that Phillips had “no significant criminal history but suffered from some mental issues.” Whether this is pure speculation or there were facts to back this is unknown.