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The Harrowing Story Of Jody Plauché — The Boy Whose Father Shot His Rapist On Live TV
"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 hotel 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.
See the photos and go inside the horrific true story of Jody Plauché's kidnapping and his father's deadly vengeance —
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.
When he was just 11 years old, Jody Plauché made headlines across America after he was kidnapped and molested by his karate teacher. Then, Jody’s father, Gary Plauché, shot Jody’s kidnapper and rapist Jeff Doucet at Baton Rouge Airport in Louisiana. Doucet died and Gary became a hero, but the lingering trauma for Jody Plauché didn’t end with the shooting.
As a boy in Doucet’s karate class, Jody Plauché initially saw his twenty-something instructor as a “best friend.” When Doucet started to abuse him, he stayed quiet to avoid upsetting his parents or getting Doucet in trouble. And when Doucet suggested they go to California, Plauché agreed to the plan.
But authorities quickly tracked Plauché and his kidnapper down. And when they brought Doucet home to Louisiana to face justice, Plauché’s furious father Gary Plauché was waiting at the airport with a gun.
Since then, Jody Plauché has worked hard to process what happened — and forgive his father. He detailed his experiences in his 2019 book, “Why, Gary, Why?”: The Jody Plauché Story, and speaks out often about how parents can detect potential abusers. This is his story
How Gary Plauché Killed His Son’s Kidnapper
For 10 harrowing days after the kidnapping, Jody Plauché’s parents searched desperately for their missing son. But when Doucet allowed Plauché to call them from Anaheim, California, police were able to trace the call — and bring Jody home.
“We didn’t know what to do,” Jody Plauché’s father, Gary, told local news upon his son’s return. “You just feel helpless.”
But Gary Plauché knew what he wanted to do. As he heard more and more reports that Doucet had sexually abused his son — a fact confirmed by a rape test — he became determined to take revenge.
According to the Washington Post, Gary was having a drink at a bar called The Cotton Club on March 16, 1984, when he overheard a local news executive say that Jeff Doucet would arrive in Baton Rouge that night. When the executive mentioned the exact time — 9:08 p.m. — Gary made a beeline for the Baton Rouge airport.
“My dad went to the airport figuring he was going to die,” Jody Plauché later told ESPN. “He said either Jeff or him was gonna die that night.”
Gary Plauché waited by a line of pay phones with a .38 tucked into his boot. As Jeff Doucet’s plane landed, he called a friend and told them what he was about to do. “Here he comes,” Gary said. “You’re about to hear a shot.”
Not only did the friend hear the shot, but many people in Baton Rouge saw it. As cameras rolled, capturing Doucet’s arrival, Jody’s father sprang from his position by the phone booths and shot his son’s rapist in the head. Mike Barnett, the sheriff’s deputy, leapt at Gary and pinned him to the wall.
“Why, Gary, why’d you do it?” Barnett shouted as Doucet lay bleeding on the airport carpets.
“If somebody did it to your kid, you’d do it, too!” Plauché cried.
The 25-year-old karate instructor, fatally injured, died the next day. But Jeff Doucet’s death didn’t mark a tidy ending to Jody Plauché’s ordeal.
“I didn’t want him dead,” Jody Plauché told ESPN, three decades later. “I just wanted him to stop.”
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