Why Gary Why? The Jody Plauche Story
This month we’re taking a look at true crime. Last week it was the wrongfully accused, this week we’re looking at a crime most people would see as completely justified, making this weeks book Why Gary Why? The Jody Plauche Story by Jody Plauche. The accompanying cocktail was a little trickier. I actually found a Justified cocktail, but after reading Jody’s story, I went with a Poetic Justice, which is 1.5 oz Reposado Tequila, 2 oz grapefruit juice, 1 oz lime juice, ½ oz agave nectar, and 1 egg white. So lets do this.
So, the story itself is pretty basic, and pretty well known. Jody Plauche was a 12 year old boy who was molested and kidnapped by his karate teacher, and when the teacher, Jeff Doucet, was returned to Baton Rouge, LA to stand trial, Jody’s father Gary met the police escort at the airport and put a bullet in Doucet’s head. This was famously televised live, as no one knew this is what Gary was planning to do, so this became one of the first, if not the absolute first, live, televised, executions. And the police escort famously asked “Why Gary? Gary Why?” Now….everyone who knows this basic story, KNOWS why. The question wasn’t Why would you shoot Doucet? It was Why would you risk prison for this? We caught the guy, dead to rights. There’s no way Doucet was NOT going to see the inside of a jail cell.
Now, Gary was immediately placed under arrest for murder in the 2nd degree, which was a kindness, as they could have charged him with 1st degree. And after hiring a family friend to initially represent him, and that family friend trying to up the market potential of the story by trying to bring it to trial, Gary eventually got a better lawyer who got him to plead no contest to manslaughter. And the judge, well aware that if this HAD gone to trial, it would have been an expensive waste of time as pretty much no jury anywhere was going to convict Gary Plauche, sentenced Plauche to five years supervised probation and 300 hours of community service.
So there’s the summary of the Jody Plauche story…the short short version if you will. But Jody…well he way he told his story is why I went with the Poetic Justice instead of the Justified cocktail.
He went into detail on how grooming works. It worked because Doucet didn’t JUST target Jody. He targeted the whole family, befriending both Jody’s parents, their friends, Jody’s brothers. Jody was the ultimate target, but the whole family believed he was a great guy who just loved kids, ostensibly because Doucet couldn’t have any of his own. And it wasn’t one on one karate coaching, he coached the whole community of kids, so a lot of the families loved him.
Jody’s parents were having problems because Gary drank a lot. At the time of the kidnapping, they were actually separated, and rumors circulated that Doucet may be seeing Jody’s mom. Not everyone around Jody was enamored of Doucet, and Jody’s uncle called red flags on Doucet when the karate team was in TX for a tournament. But because he was at this point friends of the family, Jody’s parents vouched for him and said oh that’s just Jeff, there’s nothing to be worried about. And the molestation continued.
And part of that is because Jody did love Doucet…NOT like that, but as a cool uncle, the one who took them to water parks, and watched movies with them. Jody HATED that thirty minutes a day he had to put up with …THAT. And yes…THAT included anal penetration. And oral copulation. He didn’t pull any punches, and reading about the sexual assault is NOT comfortable. It shouldn’t be, it’s an awful thing to read about, no matter who the victim is, and YES, this concept of rape is bad extends to include inmates. Prison rape is a thing…it should not be, but it is.
After explaining the horrors of what happened to him and how it came to be, Jody explains why he came out of the whole ordeal…whole. And it comes down to his parents. At first, he was angry with his father. But as he processed everything, he forgave his dad. But mostly it was his mom. She never reacted in his presence. She let him react. But her own reactions took place where he couldn’t see.
And Jody points out how key that is to helping anyone overcome trauma. I was viscerally reminded, many times, of how spot on Abigail Shrier’s latest book, Bad Therapy, is. Resilience IS the human default state. Unless you’re told by someone you trust that it’s not. Jody came out of this whole because his mother allowed him space to process, without putting her own trauma at the forefront. She sounds like a remarkable woman.
Jody, went on to letter in I think he said four sports in high school, went to college, and became a trauma response counselor for survivors of sexual assault in Pennsylvania. He’s used his voice to do what he can to make sure rape doesn’t happen, and to help those who have been raped come out as whole as they can. He provides detailed guidance on how to spot if your child may be being abused, and how to handle it if you think they might be. HINT: Do not say you’d kill anyone who hurt them. It may be as true for you as it was for Gary, but saying such a thing in front your kid actually discourages them from talking to you. It doesn’t make them feel safe. It makes them worried that if they say anything, their parent is the one who could end up in prison…for murder. Additionally, remember earlier when I said Jody loved Jeff? That’s a confusing feeling to have wrapped up with the awful, especially for a child, and you’re basically telling them that you’ll kill someone they love. AND go to prison. Don’t put that on your kid. Be a person they can talk to openly, without judgement.
If your kid IS a victim, don’t wail and gnash your teeth, and act like it’s the worst thing that could ever happen to them. Of course it’s awful. But resilience really is the default setting for humans, ESPECIALLY the tiny humans. I’m not saying act like nothing happened….that’s funny in a cartoon, but not so funny when your kid is facing serious trauma. But THEY have to go through it-- on their own timeline.
This book was excellent, it was well written, engaging, horrifying but not without notice, he tells you he’s going to spell it out in detail so you have a chance to brace a bit for it. And mostly it creates a solid pathway for what to look for, and how to bounce back if you yourself find you’ve been a victim of assault. You are not this thing. This is a thing that happened to you. Reframing it so that you know you are a survivor, will help you see yourself as such.
