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His Mother Perished In A Fire; Gabourel Says It Wasn’t Him
posted (May 30, 2014)
The biggest story of last week was the tragic death of Erceline Gabourel, the 82 year old who perished when her wooden home burned down. But, the house didn't just "burn down" - it was burnt down - and neighbors we spoke to point their finger at her son, Dennis "Desho" Gabourel. They say he had long been a neglectful and disrespectful son - and, in saying that, they indirectly blame him for somehow being responsible for the arson.

Now, that's so evil that it seems unthinkable, but Gabourel today acknowledged that those accusations are out there. He says he knows he can't do anything about what people say - but he also has a business and a reputation to protect. Gabourel is the owner of a Horse and Carriage Company, and he's also a licensed tour guide. So, today he came to our newsroom to clear his name as best he can. He told us what it was like when he reached the scene:...

Jules Vasquez
"What was your reaction when you saw that your mother had perished in the fire when you finally got up to the house and saw that she had perished in the fire?"

Dennis Gabourel, Mother perished in fire
"Jules, it was a sad moment. This thing leave me for 3 days, I haven't eaten, I can't sleep good, as soon as I get to sleep I wake up - my mother died, it trigger me right back."

"While reaching the scene, I observed the house already burnt, so I am asking where is my mother. All my intention was to try to get upstairs and see where my mother was. After that this same girl that put all these false accusations on me she was out there making lots of unnecessary noise about me killing my mother which is a total disrespect to me and my mother. I am a holder of a tour guide license and I do not see it fair because accusations and things like these I could lose my license behind all these false rumors. It is not fair. They also state that my mother was living a life of poverty - I cannot see it. My mother was getting one hundred dollars every month from the Social Security and every Wednesday of the week she goes to the St. John's Credit Union and she gets her money. Every time these carriages go out working my mother receives something from me. So it wasn't any such thing that my mother was living a poverty life. It's all false accusations. The way people looks on me right now out there, it's a disgrace."

Jules Vasquez
"In fact people have accused you orchestrating the arson of your own mother, I have heard that. How do you respond to something like that?"

Dennis Gabourel
"Boss, you know people will talk, so you just got to leave them alone, but the truth will come to light."

Jules Vasquez
"You have any idea how the house burnt down?"

Dennis Gabourel
"The way that I see it is that somebody set the fire up. It's an arson."

Jules Vasquez
"Who would do such a thing? Does anyone operate in the area? Do people use the area to take drugs maybe?"

Dennis Gabourel
"All kinds of things happen in that area. You have crack head that comes in the area smoking, you have several bad guys in the area."

Jules Vasquez
"Now, these are awful things to repeat, but you say that you want to clear your name, we have to get them out there; there have been speculation that you wanted the property where your mother lived - you wanted to take ownership of it and that may have been a motive. How do you respond to that?"

Dennis Gabourel
"It's as I am saying, it's a lot of propaganda and false accusations. People that doesn't know anything concerning where I lie between my mother and I."

Jules Vasquez
"You are presently using the property?"

Dennis Gabourel
"Well it's for my mother."

Jules Vasquez
"However it for you now."

Dennis Gabourel
"Well she made a will and I guess it's mine now."

Jules Vasquez
"You are accused of not having a loving or respectful relationship with your mother and it's not only Kathleen, other people have told me that your mother on the day before went to Tourism Village and you threw harsh words at her. I am told by people at Tourism Village that she went there where you work and that she ask you for help with food and that you chased her away."

Dennis Gabourel
"That is a total disrespect."

Jules Vasquez
"But I didn't heard this from Kathleen, it's from somebody else at Tourism Village."

Dennis Gabourel
"Something is totally wrong with that somebody else."

Jules Vasquez
"Is it a lie that she went to Tourism Village on Wednesday?"

Dennis Gabourel
"She was out there and after she came out there, I think it was Gabb bought her a plate of food - I think he never bought her that - "90s" that sells the coconut call her over and gave her a coconut and after that she came over...."

Jules Vasquez
"Supposedly she did that after you chased her."

Dennis Gabourel
"I would never do my mother that, I would never disrespect my mother like that. I love my mother too well to do something like that Jules - that's my heart."

Jules Vasquez
"But you did not have harsh words with her out there?"

Dennis Gabourel
"No, there was no such thing as harsh words with my mother, for what reason?"

Jules Vasquez
"We know that sometimes when people become old, you become exasperated from time to time - you might lose your patience because maybe..."

Dennis Gabourel
"No, not for my mother. My mother was a loving mother to me."

Jules Vasquez
"Were you a loving son to her?"

Dennis Gabourel
"Yes I am."

Jules Vasquez
"Now explain to me, I heard this as well from other people, not only Kathleen that your mother had to beg for food."

Dennis Gabourel
"That is a total lie. My mother was the type that always have money on her. Allegations like these, I don't know what happen to people. I think it's a part of jealousness. People just - how I get that, how I get that and you know they just hate to see the life I am living. I think it's just jealousness. That's all this boils down to - haters we call them."

One man who isn't hating is Gabourel's employee Michael Elliot. Elliot is his right hand man in the Horse and carriage company and had to deal daily with the elderly Erceline Gabourel. That's because Dennis Gabourel uses his mother's yard as the parking area for his horses and carriages. So Elliot got to know Erceline quote well and he got to observe her relationship with her son. And while his employment makes him a less than objective observer, his observations are still revealing:..

Michael Elliot, Gabourel's employee
"What I can tell you about it now, I have a relationship with my mother and he has his own relationship with his mother and I have ups and downs with my mother, he has his own ups and downs and maybe things that he says or do i will not do, but it's not me to judge that - you have a judgment that you will reach. If you know that you do something harmful to your mother you know what you will get at the end of the day. But I never think that he would push it to that extend to bury grandma in that house. To me how I see it I don't think Dennis have any problems with his mother to that extent to want to kill her. To what I understand the land was already for him, so he couldn't have wanted the land over from her - it couldn't get worse than that. I never would think that he would try to kill his mother or have anything towards that to kill his mother."

"I think all the while and I still have it in my brains that it's not something intentional done - it's something that was a mistake, maybe somebody was lighting the fire to say that they don't like Desho, so they will light the fire and it turn out how it did and burn grandma in the house or I am saying maybe rock head was smoking in there and when the fire was lit then ran left the fire and left grandma to burn up. It either be one of the two, I would say it how I put it in my way but other people see it as an intentional thing because the two exits that grandma would come out from both are burn up."

Dennis Gabourel told us that his mother suffered a nervous breakdown in 1971 after his sister drowned and since then she suffered with poor mental health and used medication.

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