2 Shotgun Blasts Later It Weren't No Joke

TWO SHOTGUN BLASTS
LATER
IT WEREN'T NO JOKE

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Lucey Olney Thought He Was Jokin'. Two
Shotgun Blasts Later It Weren't No Joke.
Witness: Chaudoin 'Would Get Rid Of' Doyles - Orlando Sentinel
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1996-08-13/news/9608120799_1_pat-doyle-alligators-olney
articles.orlandosentinel.com/.../9608120799_1_pat-doyle-alligators-o...
Aug 13, 1996 - Jurors heard the testimony Monday from Lucey Olney, a movie location manager who
struck up a friendship with Chaudoin in 1994 at Seminole ...
Witness: Chaudoin 'Would Get Rid Of' Doyles
Chaudoin Often Talked Of His Anger At Pat Doyle And His Fear
That He Would Be Kicked Off The Ranch, A Friend Testified
By Frank Stanfield of The Sentinel Staff
August 13, 1996
TAVARES -- Spectators packed in a Lake County courtroom gasped in horror Monday upon hearing that
Russell ''Junior' Chaudoin talked of feeding the bodies of his bosses to alligators.
Chaudoin, 71, made statements that ''alligators don't eat fresh meat,' and that bodies would have to be
buried for a time to turn them into ' alligator bait.'
A year later, his bosses were gunned down and their bodies dumped into a shallow grave beneath a hay
bale 300 yards from the doorstep of his home on Seminole Woods ranch, where he had been a caretaker
for 20 years.
Now, Chaudoin is facing charges of first-degree murder and grand theft auto.
Jurors heard the testimony Monday from Lucey Olney, a movie location manager who struck up a
friendship with Chaudoin in 1994 at Seminole Woods ranch.
Chaudoin talked openly about his deteriorating relationship with his bosses, Jack Doyle, 62, and his wife,
Patricia Doyle, 59, daughter of elderly ranch owners Ted and Althea Strawn. The Doyles left their home
in California to run the ranch for her aging parents.
''He said Pat (Doyle) was angry with him, and he was angry with Pat,'' Olney testified.
The Doyles were angry about a 68-acre parcel deeded to Chaudoin by the Strawns for $10 and other
''valuable considerations'' listed on the deed. Chaudoin has maintained that the property was given for 20
years of loyal service for little pay.
Olney said Chaudoin felt threatened, and frequently grilled her to see whether Pat Doyle had said

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anything about kicking him off the ranch and taking the 68 acres.
''If they know what's good for them, they would go back to California,'' she quoted him as saying.
She said he had no money, no Social Security - ''nothing to lose'' if he were booted out of his mobile home
on the 5,600-acre ranch and had his 68-acre parcel taken away.
''He said that he would get rid of them.
''I would say, 'Russell, you don't want to do that. It would ruin your life.'
''He said he wouldn't get caught.'
In the presence of two other people filming a movie at the ranch, Chaudoin said, ' There's a lot of swamps.
You can hide a lot of bodies in a swamp.''
Then, with just Olney in the cab of his pickup truck, the avid hunter asked her whether she knew how to
make alligator bait.
She guessed that the ' bait'' would have to be below the water.
''He said, 'You're partially right.' '
He then went on to say it had to be buried first.
''Alligators don't eat fresh meat. You have to make it rotten.'
Olney said he got a ' glint in his eye'' and said something she thought sounded like a line in a Clint
Eastwood movie: ''Pat doesn't realize who she's dealing with. I'm a dangerous man.'
Defense attorney Michael Hatfield, trying to diffuse the damaging testimony, asked her whether Chaudoin
liked to tease her because she is so much younger than he is.
''Yes,'' she replied.
Olney followed Danny Nichols to the stand. It was Nichols who on July 5, 1995 led investigators to the
Doyles' red 1986 Isuzu Trooper, which had been stashed in a wilderness area in Flagler County since the
couple's disappearance June 13, 1995.
The slender 38-year-old, dressed in black jeans and a Western shirt, glanced nervously at Chaudoin at the
beginning of his testimony.
He said Chaudoin asked him to come to the ranch to put up hay or cut brush. Instead, he ended up being
directed to follow Chaudoin in a red truck to the woods. Later, when detectives broadcast a description of
the missing vehicle on TV, he realized the vehicle belonged to the Doyles.
He said he and his wife, Shannon, who is the niece of Chaudoin's wife, Holly, spent a miserable July
Fourth holiday until sheriff's investigators knocked on his door on July 5.
''I was relieved,'' he said.
Nichols said he didn't ask questions when asked to follow Chaudoin to the woods with the Trooper, and
Chaudoin didn't say much, except: ''What's happened has happened.''
Chaudoin indicated he didn't want to hear the subject come up again - ever.
''I was afraid,' Nichols said.

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But a week later, Chaudoin brought up the subject himself, by having Nichols drive him once again to the
hiding spot near Bunnell, Nichols said.
Unlike the first time, when Chaudoin emerged from the woods with a license plate and tools in his hand,
this time he brought nothing but a smile and a chuckle, Nichols testified.
Again, there were no questions asked. Nichols said he had learned from his friends and family members
that ' Junior's not the kind of person you ask questions. You just do what he says.''
Also taking the stand Monday was Roy Gillespie, a former Lake County jail inmate who befriended
Chaudoin.
Gillespie said he was to do a ''big favor'' for his poker-playing pal in the jail - he was to find Nichols in a
Umatilla bar, then plant drugs in his car and call the cops.
Instead, Gillespie said he ran right to the police.
Plans called for Chaudoin's son, Jimmy, to deliver $500 in an envelope to the elder Chaudoin's favorite
hangout, the Oasis Lounge in Sorrento. Gillespie met bar owner George Baker at the bar and picked up
the envelope marked ''Jr.' Inside were five $100 bills, he said.
Massive Search Is Mounted For Missing Couple
By Mary Murphy of The Sentinel Staff
June 30, 1995
MOUNT PLYMOUTH -- Deputies on horseback, in helicopters and paddling canoes scoured the
5,600-acre environmentally sensitive ranch of a prominent Central Florida landowner Thursday for clues
to the whereabouts of his daughter and her husband.
Patricia Doyle, 59, and her husband, Jack, 62, disappeared on June 13 after they left the DeLeon Springs
home of some friends and headed for the ranch.
The property, which is off State Road 46A in Lake County, is owned by Theodore and Althea Strawn,
who live in DeLand. Volusia investigators don't know whether the couple met with foul play, but they
called in more than 100 officers to look for them.
''They don't know what to think. It would be strange to think they'd leave her parents unattended for two
weeks,'' said Gary Davidson, a spokesman for the Volusia sheriff.
Jack Doyle, a retired attorney, and his wife moved to Volusia County about a year ago from La Jolla,
Calif., because the Strawns needed medical care and constant attention, Davidson said.
The Doyles were running the Strawn ranch, said Bruce Crump, whose wife, Sylvia, is Patricia Doyle's
cousin. ''All of a sudden they just disappeared off the face of the earth,'' Crump said.
The Doyles' daughter, Kristan Britain, flew from Seattle to be nearby while searchers try to find her
parents. Davidson did not know why relatives waited until Tuesday to notify police that the couple were
missing.
The Doyles still own a home in La Jolla but have been living with the Strawns for about a year, Davidson
said. Deputies from Lake, Volusia and Marion counties, and officers from the Daytona Beach Police

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Department and the U.S. Forest Service on Thursday combed the ranch and adjacent state-owned
property.
The search has been painstakingly slow because of the terrain. ''It's tough,' said Lake County Sheriff's
Chief Deputy Dave Hall. ''A lot of it is swamp. Horses and the little ATVs are the best way to search.'
Deputies aren't sure who last saw the Doyles or whether they made it to the Strawn ranch, called Seminole
Woods. A caretaker saw them driving their red Isuzu trooper, but he is unsure whether it was June 12 or
13.
Bodies Of Couple Found On Ranch
The Bodies Were Near The Trailer Of A Caretaker Who Had
Been Feuding With Them.
By Mary Murphy of The Sentinel Staff
July 7, 1995
SORRENTO -- Investigators unearthed two bodies Thursday night near the trailer of a 70-year-old ranch
worker charged hours earlier with stealing a missing couple's truck.
The bodies were believed to be Patricia Doyle, 59, and her husband Jack, 62, who disappeared June 13.
Lake County deputy sheriffs found a grave about 6 p.m after moving 200 bales of hay at a ranch owned
by the couple's family.
Deputies were questioning Russell Sage ''Junior' Chaudoin, the ranch caretaker.
The bodies were buried 300 yards from his home.
Earlier Thursday, investigators found the couple's red 1986 Isuzu Trooper off a country road in Flagler
County, cementing suspicions that the couple had been killed.
Friends and detectives said there was friction between Chaudoin and the Doyles, whose family owns
thousands of acres in Central Florida.
Lake deputy sheriffs impounded the truck and planned to search after dark Thursday, using a high-tech
lighting device to hunt for blood and other evidence invisible to the naked eye.
Detectives had few clues in the case until John Nichols told them his story late Wednesday night.
Nichols, a friend of Chaudoin's, led detectives to the truck off State Road 305, near Seville.
Nichols told them that Chaudoin called him June 13 and asked for his help with hay on the farm, an arrest
warrant shows. The next day, Chaudoin told Nichols, whose address wasn't immediately known, that he
had sold a Trooper and was going to deliver it, the report shows.
The caretaker drove the truck into woods, removed the license plate, then climbed into the car with
Nichols, who drove him back to the 5,600-acre ranch, called Seminole Woods, the warrant shows.
''At this time, it appears that Nichols was a somewhat unwitting participant,'' said Volusia County sheriff's

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spokesman Gary Davidson.
Detectives were expected Thursday night to question Chaudoin, who was being held without bond at the
Lake County Jail.
They want to know about the bad blood between him and the Doyles, caused by a 1993 real estate
transaction.
Chaudoin bought 68 acres of land from the elderly owners of the ranch, Ted and Althea Strawn, who are
the parents of Patricia Doyle. The sale took place four days after Christmas, property records show. The
price: $10.
The land, between State Road 44 and Huff Road just east of Seminole Springs Elementary School, was
valued at $178,878 by the Lake County property appraiser this year.
The Doyles were unhappy with the transaction, police said.
''I understand that Patricia wanted to get him off the property,'' said John Strawn, a cousin from DeLand.
''He had been there for a long time, so he may not have wanted to go.''
Chaudoin had called Seminole Woods home for more than 30 years, police said.
Strawn's ranch - bought in 1950 for $155,100 - has been one of the most sought after tracts of wilderness
in Florida. More than 50 springs dotting the property feed a pair creeks that, in turn, flow into the Wekiva
River.
Through the late 1980s, Strawn often said he was interested in selling his ranch for conservation. But he
rejected several offers by state officials, leaving them baffled over what Strawn really intended to do with
his ranch.
In 1989, state officials asked Strawn whether he would accept $12 million for the property.
Shortly afterward, Central Florida developer Sid Roche announced plans to purchase Strawn's property
for as much as $16 million. However, the deal fell through when new development restrictions for the
Wekiva River took effect.
Strawn's ranch has remained in the top 10 most important properties to purchase for conservation.
The Doyles, who were living in La Jolla, Calif., returned to the DeLand area last year to run the ranch and
care for her father, who is 92, and her mother, 83, when their health began to fail.
Doyle, a retired attorney and certified public accountant, and his marine-biologist wife ran Strawn's ranch
near Sorrento until they vanished.
She and her husband relished the physical work on the ranch, according to Sylvia Crump, a cousin from
DeLeon Springs. The couple rose early most mornings to bale hay, build fences and care for livestock.
''They did hard physical work, and it was a change from their lifestyle,'' Crump said. ''She had done a lot of
work looking through a microscope, and she told me she was just glad to be out in the fresh air.'
For the past week, more than 100 Lake, Volusia and Marion deputies have been searching Seminole
Woods for the couple.
The first break came with Chaudoin's arrest, and deputies hope it prompts someone else with information
to come forward.

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Chaudoin was being held without bond because of his ''violent past,'' Lake sheriff's Lt. Chris Daniels said.
In March 1980, the caretaker was charged with aggravated assault and battery after a woman said he beat
her over the head with a .38-caliber revolver. He was sentenced to three years' probation but wasn't
convicted.
He also was charged with two counts of battery in 1993 and was found not guilty on both.
Shotgun Blasts Killed Lake Couple
Caretaker questioned
The Unidentified Bodies Are Thought To Be Those Of Jack And
Patricia Doyle.
By Mary Murphy of The Sentinel Staff
July 8, 1995
SORRENTO -- The killer of a couple whose bodies were exhumed Thursday night at an isolated Lake
County ranch blasted the victims at close range with a shotgun, authorities said Friday.
The bodies, thought to be those of Patricia Doyle, 59, and her husband, Jack, 62, were found buried under
four feet of dirt, which was covered with bales of hay.
They likely will be positively identified in a few days, when dental records arrive from California, Lake
County Sheriff George Knupp said.
A preliminary autopsy Friday morning showed that the man died after shotgun pellets tore through his
right rib cage. The woman was shot once in the left breast.
On Friday afternoon, deputies with a search warrant combed the trailer where the caretaker of the
5,600-acre ranch lived. Russell Sage ''Junior'' Chaudoin's home is about 300 yards from where the bodies
were found on the ranch called Seminole Woods.
''We're looking for any evidence that may link him to the Doyles or to any criminal activity,'' Knupp said.
They found a number of shotguns that could have been used in the killings, along with other evidence, at
the mobile home where Chaudoin has lived for more than 30 years, Sheriff's Lt. Chris Daniels said.
Chaudoin, 70, is being held without bail at the Lake County Jail. He is charged with taking the red 1986
Isuzu Trooper that belonged to the Doyles.
The Doyles vanished from DeLeon Springs on June 13 in their truck. Deputies discovered the bodies after
a week of searching the ranch the Doyles were running for Patricia Doyle's ailing parents, Ted and Althea
Strawn.
On Friday, the Strawns notified Chaudoin that he was being evicted from the ranch and that he had been
fired from his job.
There was friction between the Doyles and the caretaker after a December 1993 real estate transaction.

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Chaudoin paid the Strawns $10 for a 68-acre spread of land between State Road 44 and Huff Road,
property records show.
That land was valued at $178,878 this year by the Lake County property appraiser's office. Police said the
Doyles were not happy about the deal.
Patricia Doyle, a marine biologist, and her husband, a retired certified public accountant and attorney, had
moved to Volusia County from La Jolla, Calif., to care for the elderly Strawns.
Police had no clues to their whereabouts until Wednesday night, when a friend of Chaudoin's led them to
the truck in woods off State Road 305 in Flagler County.
Deputies plan to search the truck with a high-tech lighting device for traces of blood or evidence invisible
to the naked eye.
This is not Chaudoin's first brush with the law.
In 1976, he appeared before a coroner's jury in the December 1975 shooting death of Alfred Erny, 32, of
Sarasota. The caretaker testified that he and his wife, Holly, were ambushed while they were deer hunting
near Cassia.
He said he fired his .270 Remington hunting rifle at Erny, who was aiming a gun at him. The coroner's jury
ruled the death justifiable.
In 1980, he was charged with aggravated assault and battery after a woman said he beat her over the head
with a .38-caliber revolver. He was not convicted but was sentenced to three years' probation.
The caretaker also was charged but found not guilty of battery in 1993.
Officers Take Weapons From Suspect's Trailer
By Robert Perez of The Sentinel Staff
July 14, 1995
TAVARES -- Investigators looking for clues in the shotgun slayings of a Volusia County couple
confiscated weapons and ammunition from a trailer near where the bodies were found, court documents
released Thursday show.
Lake County deputy sheriffs took 10 weapons - including a 12-gauge shotgun - from the home of Russell
Sage ''Junior' Chaudoin, caretaker of the 5,600-acre ranch owned by the couple's family, the documents
show.
Chaudoin was served with search warrants on July 6 and 7. The first warrant was related to his arrest in
the theft of the dead couple's 1986 Isuzu Trooper.
The second warrant was issued after the bodies of Patricia Doyle, 59, and her husband, Jack, 62, were
found about 300 yards from Chaudoin's trailer - buried under four feet of dirt and dozens of hay bales.
The warrant, served on Chaudoin as he sat in the Lake County Jail, states the later search was necessary
because ''the laws against first degree premeditated murder have been violated on the . . . premises.'
No one has been charged in the killings of the Doyles, who were shot at close range with a shotgun.

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In addition to the 12-gauge shotgun, which was found in Chaudoin's living room, investigators recovered
seven spent buckshot shells on the home's kitchen floor.
Sheriff's officials have refused to name any suspects in the killings. Chaudoin is being held without bond
in the Lake County Jail on the stolen-truck charge.
''In this particular case, we have declined to release certain information to the public that could hamper
our investigation,' Lake County sheriff's Lt. Chris Daniels said. ''We hope the public will trust our
judgment.'
Among the other items taken from the trailer were a machete, a .44-caliber Magnum revolver, several
rifles, several boxes of ammunition, a pair of handcuffs, three pairs of boots, electrical tape and a
gold-colored money clip found under a couch behind a hog pen.
The Doyles vanished from DeLeon Springs on June 13 in their truck. Deputies discovered the bodies after
a week of searching the ranch the Doyles were running for Patricia Doyle's ailing parents, Ted and Althea
Strawn.
Detectives had few clues in the case until a friend of Chaudoin's spoke with them late on July 5.
John Nichols led detectives to the Doyle's missing truck off State Road 305, near Seville, Chaudoin's
arrest warrant shows.
Nichols told them that Chaudoin called him June 13 and asked for his help with hay on the farm. The next
day, Chaudoin told Nichols that he had sold a truck and was going to deliver it, the warrant shows.
The caretaker drove the truck into the woods, removed the license plate, then climbed into the car with
Nichols, who drove him back to the Doyles' ranch in Seminole Woods.
Affidavits on both search warrants include Nichols' testimony.
The July 7 search warrant, sworn out by Detective Ken Adams, also states that Chaudoin's wife told
investigators that her husband told her on July 5 that Nichols had killed the Doyles.
Daniels of the sheriff's office said Nichols has been interviewed by investigators but declined to say
whether Nichols is a suspect in the slayings.
Nichols, whose address was not in court documents, could not be reached for comment.
Chaudoin Involved In 2 Deaths In 1970s
Russell Sage Chaudoin, Indicted In A Recent Double Slaying, Was
In The Middle Of A Feud In Lake County.
By Mary Murphy of The Sentinel Staff
July 30, 1995
SORRENTO -- The caretaker charged in the slaying of a retired couple at a Lake County ranch has a
reputation among residents as a man most people were reluctant to cross.
Russell Sage ''Junior'' Chaudoin is sturdy, graying, a hard drinker with a short fuse. Few ventured onto the
ranch known as Seminole Woods, where Chaudoin has lived for 23 years.

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Chaudoin has crossed paths sev eral times with police. He served two years in state prison for driving
through a fence to hunt deer on someone else's land at night. He also spent three years on probation on a
battery charge for which he was not convicted.
And he was at the center of a bitter feud that left two men dead 20 years ago.
Residents of the tiny citrus and ranching town said he was known to patrol the sprawling 5,600-acre ranch
during the day in a run-down jeep with a pistol in his waistband.
''You didn't go on the property,' said one nearby resident who didn't want his name used.
Four or five nights a week he could be found occupying a bar stool at the Oasis bar on State Road 46 in
Sorrento.
''He's been out on Seminole Woods for a long time,' said longtime resident Charles Ross. ''He thought he
owned it.''
Chaudoin, 70, the caretaker at the ranch off State Road 46A near Sorrento, is being held without bond at
the Lake County Jail, indicted Friday on two counts of first-degree murder and one count of grand theft.
The bodies of Patricia Doyle, 59, and her husband, Jack, 62, were found buried 300 yards from
Chaudoin's doorstep.
For the past year the couple had been running the ranch for Pat Doyle's elderly parents, prominent
landowners Ted and Althea Strawn of DeLeon Springs.
Friends of the victims said Chaudoin ran afoul of the Doyles after a recent real estate transaction between
Chaudoin and Ted Strawn.
The caretaker had paid Strawn $10 for 68 acres valued in 1995 by the Lake County property appraiser's
office at $176,878.
Chaudoin declined requests for an interview. His lawyer, Mike Hatfield, did not return phone calls. His
wife, Holly, declined to comment and referred all questions to Hatfield.
His sister, Pearl Boyd, said her brother is a ' tender-hearted man'' who always tried to help people.
1 fight led to 2 deaths
Twenty years ago, Chaudoin shot a man to death. Some wonder if it was because the man - a Sarasota
auto mechanic - looked like someone with whom Chaudoin had been feuding.
Chaudoin said it was self-defense: The man had been shooting at him. A coroner's inquest ruled the death
justifiable.
Here is how it happened: Alfred Erny, 32, of Sarasota, was hunting near Seminole Woods in December
1975 when he was killed by a single shot from Chaudoin's caliber-.270 Remington rifle.
Chaudoin told investigators that a group of men had come out of the woods and fired rifles at him and his
wife. He said he fired back to protect himself. The couple's Volkswagen had bullet holes in it.
Officials believed Chaudoin. Erny's friends did not.
Erny had been killed at the height of a feud between Chaudoin and another man, Kenny Bagwell, a wiry
32-year-old Vietnam veteran with deep roots in Sorrento.

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