More often than not, Gary Plauché’s name is associated with the word ‘hero’. The Louisiana native made headlines in 1984 for killing Jeffrey Doucet, the molester and kidnapper of his son, in front of TV cameras. The incident was shocking, but Gary received overwhelming support from the general public, who didn’t deem his efforts to seek justice as anything but courageous.
While Gary never went to jail, there’s more to his life than just being the man who murdered his son’s abuser. Here’s the story about Gary, the before and after of the case that shocked America, his family’s fate after being brought to the public eye, and how they’re doing these days. Keep with us to learn all about it!
Who Was Gary Plauché?
Leon Gary Plauché was born in 1945, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA. He and his wife June Sheridan Plauché welcomed four children named Sissy Jennifer, Gary Jr, Jeffrey Michael and Joseph Boyce, also known as ‘Jody’.
Gary attended Louisiana State University and later served as a Staff Sergeant in the US Army, leaving to become a heavy equipment salesman and, at some point, was a cameraman too, having worked at WBRZ-TV. The same station filmed when he shot Jeffrey Doucet in plain daylight.
However, before that incident, Gary was a common family father who loved to cook and fish, and supported the local football team, the New Orleans Saints. By 1984, Gary was 39 years old, and his wife June was 35, though the couple was separated at that point. According to a report by The Washington Post at the time, Gary had moved out of the family house in the summer of 1983, and divorce seemed imminent.
Despite being a common man, Gary also had some strong connections to local Louisiana policemen, who provided him with the information about Jeffrey Doucet’s whereabouts once the child molester was arrested in February 1984 for having kidnapped and abused Jody, Gary’s son.
The Backstory
According to reports from the time, Gary Plauché had learned through reports.about the abuse his son Jody suffered at the hands of Jeffrey Doucet. Days before that, June had phoned him about Jody’s possible kidnapping, which led Gary to alert the FBI.
Gary wasn’t a stranger to Doucet. The man had been teaching three of his kids karate since early 1993, and was commonly accepted by the community, except for a couple of complaints from parents who had noticed their kids behaving oddly after they began practicing karate with Doucet, as The Washington Post reported.
Nonetheless, none of those cases truly came to anything and were left as rumors, abut as Gary and June’s separation progressed, Doucet became closer to the kids and the housewife, as the newspapers also noted. However, deeming no reason to distrust the man, June didn’t find it odd that Jody stopped practicing football and basketball to dedicate himself to karate.
That was one of the reasons she let his son go with Doucet on the afternoon of 14 February 1984 for a 15-minute car ride to run some errands, as the molester had argued. However, he instead took the child to California, where he dyed the kid’s hair black to pass him as his son ,and checked them into the then-named Samoa Motel, in Anaheim, close to Disneyland.
Before the Incident
According to reports and Jody’s account, the abuse he suffered from Jeffrey Doucet had started in early 1983. The molester had tested his limits with the child, and subsequently assaulted him repeatedly throughout that year and the early months of 1984.
Around one week after kidnapping Jody, he let the kid call home to speak with his mother, who had played ignorant of the ruse that she, Gary, and the police had planned to rescue the child. It was also reported that during that call, Doucet had spoken with June and ordered her to take the rest of the kids and herself to a location in California.
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It was that phone call that the police used to locate the motel from where it was made, resulting in the arrest of Doucet and the recovery of Jody, who was taken back to Louisiana soon afterwards. Following medical examinations and research at the crime scene, it was determined that Jody had been sexually abused by Doucet during his forced stay at the motel. The news was horrible for the parents, and Gary, amid his helplessness and anger, decided that he had to seek justice without anyone else knowing.
That’s when he contacted his friends in the Louisiana Police Department, who informed him when Doucet would be returned from California, where he’d remained in custody for a couple of weeks.
Killing On TV
Despite seeking information about the arrival of Jeffrey Doucet in California, no one imagined what Gary Plaunché was planning. On the night of 16 March 1984, he waited at the pay telephone area of Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport for Doucet, who was handcuffed and escorted by officials through the place, as the WBRZ-TV cameras followed them on live TV.
Everything happened very quickly as a determined hat-and-sunglasses-wearing Gary took out his gun and fired at Doucet’s head in a perfect shot. The molester fell to the ground as Mike Barnett, the official who had tracked down Doucet to California, and also a friend of Plauché, screamed, ‘Why, Gary? Why’d you do it?’. Doucet fell to the ground and was put into a coma, before dying the next day.
The exact moment was caught on film and retained for posterity, as not even the technological limitations from the 1980s stopped people from knowing about how a man had murdered his son’s abuser. In the meantime, Gary was charged with second-degree murder and was released under a fine of $100,000. Nonetheless, the public opinion was already on his side at that point, with him pleading no contest to manslaughter.
In the end, Gary had his seven year sentence suspended, serving five years of probation and 300 hours of community service instead of jail time.
Aftermath
There’s no denying that Gary Plauché became a hero for many people, who deemed his vengeance justifiable and his rage relatable. Even back in the day, reports about the case were rather sympathetic with Gary, and the case has remained relevant throughout the decades thanks to the filmed evidence. It isn’t rare for Gary to be taken as a symbol of justice in the US.
After going through a long process of healing and repairing their relationship, the Plauché family moved forward. Unfortunately, Gary died at 68 years old on 21 October 2014 after suffering a stroke. Though it’s unconfirmed whether he and June ever reconciled, she’s listed as his wife on his online obituary.
On his part, in 2019, Jody launched his book “Why, Gary, Why?” which tells the story of the abuse he went through, the murder of Doucet, and the aftermath. He’s also appeared in several podcasts and news sites retelling his story and how he overcame that dark episode of his life by dedicating his life to raising awareness about child abuse.
