Gary Plauché, The Father Who Killed His Son's Abuser

Gary Plauché, The Father Who Killed His Son's Abuser

"He used to tell people, 'If anybody ever touches my kid, I'll **** him.' I knew he wasn't kidding."

In February 1984, 11-year-old Jody Plauché was kidnapped and sexually-assaulted by his karate teacher, Jeff Doucet. Stolen away from his Baton Rouge home and held prisoner in a California motel room, he endured several days of horrific abuse before police tracked him and his kidnapper down and returned him safely to his dad, Gary Plauché. But Jody's ordeal wasn't over — and his father wanted revenge.

On March 16, 1984, Doucet was being walked through the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport to be handed over to Louisiana authorities. Gary Plauché, hiding behind sunglasses and a baseball cap, stood in wait, then suddenly stepped forward and shot Doucet in the head at point-blank range — all while local news cameras were rolling. 

See the photos and go inside the harrowing true story of Jody Plauché's kidnapping and his father's deadly vengeance — by clicking the link in our bio.

Leon Gary Plauché (November 10, 1945 – October 23, 2014) was an American man known for publicly killing Jeff Doucet, who had kidnapped, raped, and molested Plauché's prepubescent son, Jody. The killing occurred on Friday, March 16, 1984, and was captured on camera by a local news crew. For the fatal shooting, Plauché was given a seven-year suspended sentence with five years' probation and 300 hours of community service and received no prison time. The case received wide publicity because some people questioned whether Plauché should have been charged with murder or let off. Plauché contended that he was in the right, and that anyone in a similar position would have taken the same action.

Gary Plauché lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was separated from his wife, June, at the time of the shooting. During 1983 and 1984, his 11-year-old son, Jody Plauché, was taking karate lessons with an instructor, 25-year-old Jeffrey Doucet, who had been sexually abusing the boy for at least a year. On February 14, 1984, Doucet kidnapped Jody and took him to a motel in Anaheim, California, where he sexually assaulted and molested him. Police searched the country for Jody, and he was eventually found after Doucet allowed the boy to place a collect call to his mother from the motel. California police raided the motel and arrested Doucet without incident.

On March 1, 1984, Jody was returned to his family in Louisiana, but Gary, who was 38 years old at the time, heard reports that Doucet had sexually assaulted his son. In an interview with a news television crew, Gary stated that he felt a sense of helplessness upon hearing of these reports.

On March 16, 1984, Doucet was flown back to Louisiana to face trial. Doucet arrived at Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport, also known as Ryan Field, and was led in handcuffs by police officers through the airport at around 9:30 p.m., where Plauché was waiting for Doucet with a handgun.

An employee of the local ABC affiliate, WBRZ-TV, told Plauché when Doucet would be arriving at the airport.

 A news crew from WBRZ was waiting for Doucet and had set up their cameras to record his arrival. Opposite the news crew was a bank of pay telephones, where Plauché waited while talking to his best friend on a telephone. He wore a baseball cap and sunglasses, so no one would recognize him.

As Doucet was escorted through the airport, he passed the news crew who were taping the scene. He then walked past Plauché, who took out his handgun and fired a single shot, directly at the right side of Doucet's head, at point-blank range.

Doucet immediately fell to the floor, bleeding from a wound close to his right ear. As depicted in the video of the incident, Plauché placed the telephone receiver down before officers restrained him and removed the gun from his other hand and then attended to Doucet. The officers who grabbed hold of Plauché recognized him. They kept him pinned against the bank of telephones, asking him (as captured on the video), "Gary, why? Why, Gary?" The entire incident was captured on ENG videotape.

Doucet fell into a coma, and died from the gunshot wound the next day.