A Father's Love: The Extraordinary Case of Gary Plauché
When Baton Rouge father Gary Plauché learned that a trusted family friend had abducted and abused his 11-year-old son, he took justice into his own hands
Background
The killing of Jeffrey Doucet by Gary Plauché in March 1984 is a prime example of how an otherwise upstanding and law-abiding individual could be driven to take the law into his own hands.
When Plauché learned that his son, Jody, had been sexually abused and abducted by a man he trusted, the anger, betrayal, and grief pushed him over the edge and led him to shoot his son’s abuser inside the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport as live news cameras were rolling.
In the aftermath of the shooting, many people sympathized with Gary. Despite the shocking nature of the crime, many could understand the motivation behind it. The trial and subsequent court decision were also controversial and resulted in the case becoming one of the most notable examples of American vigilante justice.
Who was Gary Plauché?
Gary Plauché was born on November 10, 1945, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After a stint in the U.S. Air Force, where he reached the rank of Staff Sergeant, he returned to civilian life and worked as an equipment salesman and, at one point, as a cameraman for a local television station — a detail that would take on a grim irony the night his own violent act was broadcast on the news.
He was, by all accounts, an ordinary father until February 1984.
Ultimate Betrayal
In 1983, Gary’s 11-year-old son, Jody, began taking karate lessons from a 25-year-old instructor named Jeffery Doucet. Doucet became a close and trusted friend of the family; Jody once described him as "all of our best friends." However, Doucet horrifically betrayed that trust when he began sexually abusing Jody. The abuse continued in secret until one fateful day in February 1984.
On February 14, 1984, Doucet picked Jody up, telling the boy's mother, June, they would be back shortly. Instead, Doucet took Jody across the country to a motel in Anaheim, California, where — according to Jody's later account — the abuse that had reportedly gone on for months continued.
Doucet's plan included shaving his beard and changing Jody's appearance to evade law enforcement while hiding their true identities. The plan was to pass Jody off as Doucet's son and conceal his tracks.
Jody, the subject of a nationwide search, was found after Doucet allowed him to place a collect call to his mother. California police arrested Doucet without incident on February 29, 1984, and Jody was returned home to Louisiana on March 1.
Shooting of Jeffrey Doucet
For Gary Plauché, learning the details of what his son had endured was emotionally devastating. The horrifying truth of Jody's sexual abuse left Plauché in a state of unimaginable horror. His world was shattered, and the pursuit of justice would soon become his singular focus.
In the days that followed, a former colleague from WBRZ passed along a critical piece of information: the time Doucet would be flown back to Baton Rouge to face charges. On the evening of March 16, 1984, as officers escorted a handcuffed Doucet through Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, Plauché waited at a bank of payphones, his face hidden by a baseball cap and sunglasses, pretending to make a call.
A WBRZ news crew had positioned itself to film Doucet's arrival. As he passed, Plauché drew a small handgun and fired a single shot into the side of Doucet's head at point-blank range. The camera caught all of it live. As officers wrestled Plauché down — several of them knew him — one can be heard asking, "Why, Gary, why?"
After slipping into a coma, Doucet died the following day.
Legal Proceedings
Plauché was initially charged with second-degree murder, but the community rallied around him. Strangers on the street, patrons of the bar where he had spent his darkest days, and a local riverboat captain named Murray Curry who helped raise a defense fund. Much of the public had, as one account put it, already acquitted him in their hearts.
After agreeing to a plea bargain, Plauché pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of manslaughter. Citing psychiatric testimony that Plauché had been temporarily unable to tell right from wrong, and reasoning that prison "would not help anyone" and that Plauché posed virtually no risk of reoffending, the judge handed down a seven-year suspended sentence, five years of probation, and 300 hours of community service.
He would serve no jail time. This decision shocked some and pleased others, further fueling the ongoing debate about whether Plauché was a hero or a reckless vigilante.
Aftermath
Gary Plauché lived the remainder of his life quietly out of the public eye. He suffered strokes in his later years and passed away in 2014 at age 68. His obituary remembered a man who found beauty in life, made those around him laugh, and was, to many, a hero.
Jody Plauché took a different path. Rather than let the darkest days of his childhood define him, he became a sexual-assault counselor and abuse-prevention speaker, worked with anti-violence programs, and in 2019 published a memoir, Why, Gary, Why? The Jody Plauché Story. The book helps parents protect their children and shows other survivors that they too can move forward.
Around the 40th anniversary of the shooting in 2024, Jody spoke publicly again about his father calling him, without hesitation, "The greatest dad of all time."
The extraordinary case of Gary Plauché is one that many people can relate to. A loving father who was heartbroken by the betrayal and systematic abuse of his son did what he believed was necessary at the time.
Though his actions were certainly outside the boundaries of the law, the outpouring of sympathy and public support that followed demonstrated that when it comes to protecting one’s children, one must do what is necessary, no matter the cost.
Sources
"Kidnapping Suspect Dead." The New York Times (AP), 17 March 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/18/us/kidnapping-suspect-dead.html
"Around the Nation: Man Sentenced in Killing of Suspected Kidnapper." The New York Times (AP), 28 Aug. 1985, https://www.nytimes.com/1985/08/28/us/around-the-nation-man-sentenced-in-killing-of-suspected-kidnapper.html
"Judge suspends killer's sentence." UPI via The Bulletin (Bend, OR), 27 Aug. 1985, https://www.upi.com/Archives/1985/08/27/Vengeance-killer-gets-suspended-sentence/6205493963200/
A remarkable story...