Tragedy in Des Allemands

Hero found dead on birthday

Just 30 short minutes before 29-year-old Pasquinel “Creature Man” Duran died, he was with his family. After all, it was a time for celebration – it was the young fisherman’s birthday.

“His sister Ethel and I had some errands to take care of on his birthday,” Kathey Duran, Pasquinel’s mother, said. “Pasquinel told us to go ahead – he would be fine.”

Thirty minutes later, the family returned to find Pasquinel not breathing, so his mother began to administer CPR. It was later discovered that the man – who most Des Allemands fishermen refer to as one of the best on the bayou – had ended his life.

“I never asked God why,” Kathey said. “Because I believe in my heart I know why he did this.”
No one is really sure what was going on inside Pasquinel’s heart and mind, but his grieving mother and hurting sisters believe that somehow Pasquinel just “snapped.”

Kathey says Pasquinel suffered from depression, and on that day of celebration when things are supposed to go right, something obviously went horribly wrong.

It’s an unusual situation because most people who know “Creature Man” remember that it was only six months ago when he and a close friend helped save someone else’s life.
“Pasquinel was a hero,” Kathey said. “He saved a fisherman in a boating accident in Sellers Canal named ‘T-Joe,’ and he was haunted by those nightmares.”

In February, a fisherman named Joseph Fonseca and his son ran into an obstruction while on their boat fishing in Sellers Canal. Pasquinel and his close friend Tom Candies risked their own lives to rescue the fisherman, ultimately saving his life.

Fonseca had terrible injuries, and his arm was chopped up by the boat’s propeller in five places. He also suffered from a broken ankle and a punctured lung.
Pasquinel applied a turnicate to Fonseca’s arm to stem the bleeding.

While Pasquinel made sure that Fonseca got another chance, he was having problems in his own life.
“He hadn’t seen his children since before Christmas and he really wanted to be with them on Father’s Day,” Kathey said. “Pasquinel was depressed about some things.”

Pasquinel, who has four children, wanted to spend that special day with them. In fact, it was all he was looking forward to.  However, it never happened, and the next time the children saw their father was at his funeral service.

“To families dealing with the loss of a child or family member to suicide, my advice is to hold on tight to your loved ones,” Kathey said. “I’m dealing with it day by day and some parts of me are numb like this isn’t really happening.”

Kathey says some people say you never know what can happen tomorrow, but she says you never know what can happen today.
“So many people loved him. He was definitely loved,” she said. “He lived life to the fullest and he had a wonderful girlfriend he loved named Ricki Lynn Lewis and four beautiful children.”

Kathey says her son never talked with her about the internal pain he was in, but after his sudden, unexpected death, a close friend of the family came forward and said that Pasquinel was haunted with nightmares of the terrifying rescue mission that he was involved in.

“Right after the accident, he talked about how badly damaged the man’s arm was,” she said. “He said it was like jelly.”
Kathey says Pasquinel didn’t eat for a couple of days after rescuing Fonseca from the boating accident and she remembers him saying he could no longer eat Jell-O.

“He was depressed about all those things,” Kathey said. “He couldn’t see his kids like he wanted to and he used to have awful nightmares about the boating accident.”

A family friend even asked him repeatedly to get help and talk to someone about the ordeal. Pasquinel just didn’t want to go.

“Being a man, you never really discuss your feelings like that,” Kathey said. “You know their pride and ego plays a part in them not revealing their true emotions, but since he’s gone, I’ve heard stories from different people about what he told them.”

Now, the bayou that served as a home to Pasquinel will have to get by without him.

“Ever since he was a little boy, he loved to go fishing,” Kathey said. “His dad was his best friend and taught him everything he knew about fishing and being safe on the water.”

Kathey says Pasquinel went everywhere with his dad.
“His father passed away in 2001,” she said. “Pasquinel took it very hard. At his memorial service, we found out from people who knew Pasquinel from the fishing docks how he talked about his dad everyday.”

Kathey says that’s something she never knew.
“I had no idea he still talked about his dad that much,” she said. “Growing up he was very close to his dad.”
The man Pasquinel saved, as well as more than 200 Des Allemands area residents, attended his memorial service.