LAFAYETTE PARISH — At 20 years old, Jordan LaHaye Fontenot sat down with her father to hear the story of his grandfather, Aubrey LaHaye. In 1983, Aubrey was abducted from his home in Mamou and murdered.
Jordan says that this part of her family history felt “kind of like a ghost story.”
“It felt like something that happened a really long time ago,” she said.
The crime left questions that still linger today.
“Collectively, there was this sense that there’s more to the story,” Jordan said. “Some people think that maybe the wrong person was convicted. Some people think that he did it, but that he didn’t do it alone. Some people think that the motive that was given in court doesn’t make any sense. A lot of people feel that way.”
When Jordan realized how much those questions continued to haunt her family and community, she felt compelled to dig deeper. Eventually, her research would turn into her book, Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie.
“I felt that it was important, and I think that there are a lot of questions that have been buried because of such a long silence that could be consequential and worth bringing up,” she explained.
For many in her family, it was the first time they had ever spoken openly about the tragedy. Jordan says the experience has been both heavy and healing.
“For some of them, that was really difficult,” she said. “But I think for a lot of them, they had never had the opportunity to go back there and to talk about their personal experience with it and what they’ve carried. So I think there was a lot of healing in that.”
After years of research, Jordan still wrestles with whether justice was truly served. John Brady Balfa was convicted of Aubrey’s murder, but questions remain.
“There are a lot of moving parts that create multiple realities that can exist based on the information we have,” she said. “And there’s a lot of missing information. I don’t feel that I can make the call based on what I have.”
Balfa’s lawyer declined to comment for this story.
In the end, Jordan says she’s accepted that some things may remain unknown.
“I’ve created something that’s sparking a lot of discussion and controversy, and I think it’s a positive thing,” she said. “I didn’t even recognize that in myself as it was happening. There was a sense of bravery that I didn’t define as bravery when it was happening.”
The author urges anyone interested in buying her book, Home of the Happy: A Murder on the Cajun Prairie, to shop local. You can find a copy at Cavalier House Books in downtown Lafayette and beyond.
