Gabrieles loved to ballroom dance

by Debra Daniel (daniel@wsbt.com)

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Gabrieles loved to ballroom dance

Dr. Phillip Gabriele and his wife, Marcella, loved to ballroom dance. (WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Jun 15, 2009 at 8:38 PM EST

Story Updated: Jun 15, 2009 at 10:24 PM EST

MISHAWAKA — Friends say when Dr. Philip and Marcella Gabriele weren't working, they spent much of their time on the dance floor.

"The Gabrieles were not only well-known in this community, but they danced nationally, they danced in California and New York," explained Dan O'Day, owner of Dan O'Day Dance Club in Mishawaka.

O'Day says he knew the Gabrieles for 10 years.

"They came here to practice, probably five or six days a week, for two to three hours at a time. That's how serious they were about dancing. They went to all the major competitions and they did extremely well. They were the top 10 couple in the country," O'Day continued.

In fact, the couple was the Amateur American Smooth Champions for Indiana. They also competed at the U.S. Amateur Ballroom Association National Championship.

O'Day says the Gabrieles also taught at his studio, and would often
fly dance professionals in to get them prepared for competition. But O'Day says all that stopped two years ago after they learned they were under investigation.

"The few times I talked to them when I'd meet them outside the studio, they'd say they have to re-build their business because a certain amount of that business was lost due to the bad publicity," O'Day said.

O'Day says he ran into the Gabrieles two to three months ago at a restaurant. That was the last time he saw, what he calls, good friends who were part of a tight knit dance community.

"They were struggling so hard to keep the business going. With the pressure, and who knows what pressures were involved, whatever pressures were there, it was just overwhelming and the life in them, kinda' like the lightbulb, was turned out for a minute. They no longer sparkled like they had up until two years ago. And we never got them back in the studio after that," O'Day explained.

The Gabrieles were found dead inside the Gabriele Eye Institute in Elkhart Thursday morning. Both had been shot in the head.

A federal grand jury indicted the Gabrieles last week for allegedly performing unnecessary surgeries, altering patient charts, and falsely billing medicare, medicaid, and private insurance companies.

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