Latest / When Killers Get Caught with Brittany Ransom / Gary Plauché: The Father Who Killed His Son’s Abuser on Live TV

Transcript

Gary Plauché: The Father Who Killed His Son’s Abuser on Live TV · When Killers Get Caught with Brittany Ransom

0:00
March 16th, 1984 and Rouge Metropolitan Airport.
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The terminal hums with the ordinary rolling suitcases,
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distant announcements, the low murmur of travelers passing
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through. Near a Bank of payphones, a man
0:16
in a white baseball cap and aviator sunglasses stands
0:19
quietly. Just a man on a phone making a
0:22
call. But he's waiting.
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It's 9:30 PM. Moments later, a dark haired man
0:31
in an orange sweater enters the terminal, escorted by law
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enforcement, trailed by local news cameras.
0:36
Everything about this feels routine, until it isn't.
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As the group passes, the man on the phone turns and in one swift
0:42
motion, he raises a gun and pulls the trigger.
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A single shot echoes through the terminal.
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Chaos erupts. Officers tackle him almost
0:50
instantly. The cameras keep rolling as the
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voices shout over each other. Gary.
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Why? Why?
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Gary the shooter doesn't run. He doesn't fight because
1:00
everyone there already knows who he is.
1:05
His name is Gary Planchet, and there has never been any doubt
1:09
about what he did. But for decades, one question
1:11
has divided a country. Was this murder or was it
1:15
justice? I'm Brittany Ransom and This is
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When Killers Get Caught, a podcast where I examine the
1:21
people, the psychology, and the moments that lead to the most
1:23
extreme acts of violence and what happens when the truth
1:26
finally catches up. Before we go any further, I want
1:29
to give a content warning. This episode discusses child
1:32
sexual abuse. This is a story about a father,
1:35
his son, and the moment a private act of pain and rage
1:38
became public. Forever Before the headlines,
1:44
before the footage, before that moment in the airport, Gary
1:47
Pochet was just a dad. He lived with his family in
1:50
Baton Rouge, LA, part of a solid middle class life that from the
1:53
outside looked pretty ordinary. Gary was known as a hard working
1:57
man, protective, involved, the kind of dad who showed up
1:59
despite his busy job and heavy equipment sales.
2:02
His wife, June, held the family together in quieter ways,
2:05
present, attentive, deeply devoted to their children.
2:08
Together they were raising a full house, three boys and a
2:10
girl, Jennifer, Gary Joseph, AKA Jodi and Mikey, each with their
2:15
own personalities, their own routines, their own noise
2:18
filling the home. But like a lot of families,
2:19
there was something that brought them all together, something
2:21
structured, something positive. Karate, it wasn't just an after
2:25
school activity, became part of their world.
2:28
Discipline, confidence, respect, those were the values tied to
2:31
it. And for their son Jody, it was
2:33
more than just a hobby. He was deeply involved, spending
2:35
long hours training, learning and improving.
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And that's where the family met Jeffrey Doucette.
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Doucette wasn't just an instructor.
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He was some of the family trusted, someone who had access,
2:46
someone who overtime positioned himself not just as a teacher,
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but as a mentor in Jodi's life. And that's what made everything
2:54
that came next so devastating. Because nothing about the
2:56
Porsche family suggested what was about to unfold.
2:59
There were no warning signs loud enough, no moments that could
3:02
have prepared them for how quickly normal could collapse
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into something unthinkable. At this moment, they were just a
3:08
family, a father doing his best, a mother holding things
3:11
together, and a kid chasing something he loved.
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And they had no idea how much that trust would cost them.
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That word trust, it stood for structure, familiarity, safety.
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And it's exactly what Jeff Ducette used to cause harm.
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Ducette was embedded in the plachet lives.
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He'd been every other child's karate coach in the family
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before Jodi, but he took a special liking to Jodi.
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He was a mentor to the 11 year old, and the plus Shea family
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trusted him completely. He spoke in the language of
3:44
discipline, of encouragement, of guidance, and he used that to
3:47
get very close to Jody. At first it just looked like
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attention. Extra coaching, more time at
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practice, the kind of investment any parent might feel grateful
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for. But that attention slowly
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shifted into something else, something isolating.
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Doucette began creating opportunities to be alone with
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Jody, offering him rides, inviting him over, inviting
4:06
himself over to family events, blurring the lines between
4:10
teacher and something much more personal.
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That's how grooming works, and we know that it started when
4:15
Jody was 10, sometime in 1983. In his own autobiography, Jody
4:20
explained that alone, Jeff started to test boundaries with
4:25
him. He said Jeff would go.
4:27
We need to stretch, so he'd be touching around my legs.
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That way, if he grabbed my private area, he could say it
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was an accident. We were just trying to stretch.
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Or if we were driving in his car, he put his hand in my lap
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and might go. I didn't mean to.
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I didn't realize my hands were there.
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That's that slow, gradual seduction.
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After months of flirting with crossing the line, Jeff did
4:48
molest Jody. By that point, Jody was already
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caught in something, though, that he didn't fully understand.
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Jody said that he knew the touching was wrong and that
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Jeff's insistence on trying to give Jody oral sex was also
5:00
wrong, but he still felt some kind of emotional responsibility
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to his Big Brother Jeffrey. He was caught between knowing
5:08
you need to tell his parents. His mom and dad had always
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talked to him about the bad people who hurt children, but
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there was just this mental block, Jody said.
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I knew that he was the one that had something wrong with him,
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but he kept silent. Like so many children too.
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From the outside, it might not have seemed like this could get
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any worse, but it did. By this point, Jeff wasn't just
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manipulating Jody, he was manipulating the entire family.
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Because grooming doesn't just happen to a child, it can happen
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to everyone around them too. Jeff Doucette had spent an
5:40
entire year building trust with the cliches.
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He was reliable, helpful, familiar.
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The kind of person who made himself useful, offering rides,
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spending extra time, becoming someone the family didn't even
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question. He maintained a split life
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though. See to the pushes, he was the
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perfect teacher and Big Brother. But to Jodie, he shared intimate
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details about his life, how he was in debt and trying to get
6:02
money to pay it off, but if he couldn't, he was going to leave
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town. And he told Jodie ahead of time.
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If I have to leave, I'm going to take you with me.
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Jodie didn't know when, but after learning that detail, he
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said he almost told his parents, but he was still too scared.
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And then on February 14th, 1984, Jeff took it a step further.
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Jeff told June that he was going to take Jodi on a short drive.
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He told Jodi they were going to look at a carpet his brother was
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going to install in a new house being built.
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And they did stop by his brother's house, but they picked
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up sleeping bags and clothes. And that's when Jeff told Jodi,
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we're going, I'm taking you, we're going to California.
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The two drove from Gonzales, LA to Port Arthur, TX and they
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stayed the night with Jeff's mom back in Baton Rouge.
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There was an immediate panic. Just confusion.
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A delay, a missed check in. But that confusion then turned
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into something else. They realized that something was
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wrong. Calls to Jeff's home when
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unanswered plans didn't line up. And then the realization really
7:03
hit everyone. Jodie's not coming home.
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What followed was every parent's nightmare.
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Fear turned an urgency urgency into desperation, and the Plus
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Shea family contacted authorities and soon law
7:15
enforcement was involved, working to track down where Jeff
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had taken them. Meanwhile, the following day,
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Jeff took Jodie to visit an uncle to borrow money for a bus
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trip to California. They left the following morning,
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but something wasn't sitting right with Jeff's mother.
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She was a little suspicious. She asked for the Plus Shea
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family phone number, and shortly after, Jodie's mom received a
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phone call. Jeff's mother told her that they
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had stayed the night at her home in Port Arthur and that Jeff was
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supposed to be bringing Jodie back to Baton Rouge the
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following day. While the call brought some
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reassurance to the family, law enforcement wasn't buying it.
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See, what the Plus Shea family didn't know was that Jeff had a
7:52
prior arrest for child molestation.
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Police decided to keep that detail from the Plus Shea's
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because they believed it would only cause more panic in the
8:00
moment. But by now, Jeff had to know
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time was running out. They first stopped in Los
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Angeles, then took another bus to Anaheim.
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By the third day, Jeff dyed Jodie's platinum blonde hair
8:11
pitch black in an attempt to disguise him.
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In California, Jodie spent most of his time confined to a motel
8:16
room, where the abuse continued to escalate over the coming
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week. All the while, Jeff was trying
8:22
to stay one step ahead. Then he made a mistake.
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He had Jodie place a collect phone call to his mother,
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instructing him to say that they were in New York City.
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But that just didn't make sense to June.
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She already knew that they had been in Texas, where Jeff's mom
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lived. They were traveling W why would
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they then turn around and go all the way to the east?
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So she started asking questions, smart ones, she said.
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Jodie, do you have a coat? Do you have warm clothes?
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February in New York is freezing.
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The local sheriff, Mike Burnett, was there listening closely and
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taking notes on the other line. And then June asked the question
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that blew it all open. She simply asked Jody what time
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is it and he answered truthfully and it was 3 hours behind New
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York. That's when they knew he was on
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the West Coast. Jeff realized the mistake.
9:15
It ended the call immediately, but the damage was done.
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As the call ended, June asked the operator who came on the
9:21
line how much the phone charge was.
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She said it was $23 and the call had lasted 14 minutes.
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That's when Sheriff Burnett stepped in.
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He said to the operator, we're investigating A kidnapping and
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we need to know where that call just came from.
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The operator traced it. The Samoan Motel, Anaheim, CA,
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room 38. Shortly after, Anaheim police
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raided the motel and Jody was finally rescued.
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It was February 29th. He had been gone a total of 15
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days. 15 days of fear, 15 days of isolation, 15 days of abuse.
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And even though he was finally safe, his story was far from
10:01
over. Unfortunately for Jody, the
10:03
ordeal didn't end when he was found.
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He was immediately pulled into a process no child is prepared for
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interviews by authorities, taken to a hospital for forensic
10:12
exams, and then transferred to the Albert Sutton Home for
10:16
Abused and Neglected Children. In the early hours of March 1st
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at 1:15 AM, eleven year old Jody Pochet was finally put on a
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plane back to Louisiana home. But even that homecoming was
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brief. He was reunited with his mother
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for only a few moments, long enough for her to try and wash
10:32
the black dye out of his hair. And then the Baton Rouge Police
10:35
Department stepped in to question him, but Jody refused
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to speak. Later, he would explain why
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before everything unraveled, he had made a promise to Jeff
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Doucette that he would never tell on him.
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And even after everything, he intended to keep his promise.
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But Jody also understood something.
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He knew the doctors in California had already conducted
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those exams. He knew that there would be
10:58
evidence. So he made a decision.
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He would wait. Wait until the truth came from
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somewhere else until the test said it first.
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And then he would agree. When that interview ended,
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investigators were left with the conclusion that couldn't have
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been more wrong, they told June, and either Jeff never touched
11:17
him or Jody has been too deeply manipulated to ever admit to
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what happened to him. With Jody finally safe,
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attention turned to Jeff Doucette.
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He was arrested in California and charged, but he wouldn't
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stay there because the crimes of kidnapping and abuse had ties
11:31
back to Louisiana and the state wanted him returned to face
11:35
charges. That process is called
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extradition, and it doesn't happen overnight.
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There were hearings, paperwork, legal coordination between
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California and Louisiana authorities.
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Doucette was held in custody while the courts approved his
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transfer, giving him time to consult with attorneys and
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formally contest things, Though in most cases like this, the
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outcome is often inevitable. Still, though, it took time.
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Almost two weeks. Two weeks where Duset sat and
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sell, waiting to be sent back to Louisiana.
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And those two weeks, Gary Pochet was left with something else
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entirely. Time to think.
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Time to replay everything that had happened over the past year.
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Things that have been done to his son, what Jodi had endured.
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How he had trusted Jeff with the most precious thing in his life,
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his children. About a week after Jodi returned
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home, the results of the rape kit came back.
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Sheriff Mike Bergenett sat down with the Plesche family and
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delivered the confirmation no parent ever wants to hear.
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Spermatozoa had been found on the rectal slide.
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It was no longer a suspicion, no longer a possibility.
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This was proof. And with that proof, Jodi
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Plesche finally spoke, corroborating not only what
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happened in California, but the abuse that have been going on
12:48
since 1983. For Gary, that moment changed
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everything. He wasn't just a father waiting
12:54
for justice anymore. He was a father sitting with
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undeniable truth, forced to face exactly what had been done to
13:00
his son. The rage, the grief, the
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helplessness, and the knowledge that the man responsible was
13:06
still alive, still breathing, and still protected by a system
13:10
that expected him to wait. Gary had put a Sergeant in the
13:14
armed force. Gary had put a Sergeant in the
13:17
Air Force. He had connections.
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He knew where law enforcement and retired officers gathered,
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and he made a point to start showing up.
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One night at a local bar frequented by cops, he overheard
13:28
something that caught his attention.
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An employee from the local ABC affiliate was talking about
13:33
Jeff's extradition. Gary listened.
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Then he moved closer and before the night was over, he convinced
13:41
the employee to share the details when Jeff would be
13:43
brought back to Baton Rouge and how it was going to happen.
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With that information in hand, Gary decided he would have his
13:50
vengeance. See, Gary wasn't just
13:53
heartbroken, he was consumed, Furious in a way he had never
13:57
experienced before. Blinded by this righteous anger,
14:02
that night he put a 38 revolver in his boot and he went to the
14:06
airport to wait. Stood by that pay phone block,
14:10
blended in, called a friend and watched as the local news crews
14:14
began to gather cameras ready for the arrival of the
14:17
pedophile. And then, just moments before it
14:20
happened, Gary said quietly into the phone.
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Here he comes. You're about to hear a shot.
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And then Jeff walked past him. Gary turned, raised the gun, and
14:31
fired. The bullet struck the right side
14:33
of Jeff Doucette's face, and he crumpled to the ground.
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Chaos erupted. The officers rushed almost
14:39
instantly, one of them even a close friend of Gary.
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As that friend placed him under arrest, he just asked why, Gary,
14:46
why'd you do it? And Gary's answer was simple.
14:49
If somebody did it to your kid, you'd do it too.
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Jeff Doucette died from his injuries the following day, and
14:56
a single moment captured on camera.
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Everything changed in the immediate aftermath.
15:02
There was no special treatment. Gary Pushay was arrested on the
15:05
spot, taken into custody and processed like anyone else.
15:08
Booked, detained, brought before a judge.
15:11
The system moved forward exactly as it was designed to.
15:14
And inside, Gary sat in a cell, just another man accused of
15:17
murder. But outside, ho ho, things were
15:20
different. Within hours, the footage of the
15:23
murder was everywhere. That shooting, captured on
15:27
multiple cameras, was replayed again and again.
15:30
First local broadcast, the national news, and eventually
15:33
around the world. Viewers watched in shock as an
15:36
ordinary airport turned into a killing in a matter of seconds.
15:40
That moment, Gary stepped forward.
15:42
The gun raised one single shot. It became one of the most
15:45
recognizable clips in true crime history.
15:48
Long before viral videos and social media, This was a moment
15:52
that spread the old fashioned way through television
15:55
repetition and raw emotional impact.
15:57
And with every replay, the reaction grew louder.
16:01
Some were outraged a man had been executed in public on
16:04
camera. But other people felt something
16:07
different entirely. Sympathy, empathy,
16:10
understanding. Because they didn't just see a
16:13
shooter, they saw a father. Support for Gary began to build
16:20
almost immediately. Calls flooded radio stations.
16:23
People wrote letters. Strangers spoke out not to deny
16:26
what he had done, but to defend why he had done it.
16:30
And the media lend. And the media leaned in.
16:33
Debates erupted across the country.
16:35
Is this murder or is it justice? The legal system would decide
16:39
his fate, but in the court of public opinion, the country had
16:42
already decided Gary was innocent.
16:45
In the weeks after the shooting, the focus shifted from what Gary
16:48
had done to what would happen to him.
16:51
He was formally charged with second degree murder.
16:54
On paper, the case was pretty straightforward.
16:57
The ACT had been captured on camera.
16:58
There were witnesses. There was no question about who
17:00
pulled the trigger. But this case was never going to
17:03
ever be just about the facts. From the beginning, Gary's
17:06
defense centered on something deeper than legality, his state
17:09
of mind. His attorneys argue that he was
17:12
experiencing overwhelming emotional distress, a breaking
17:16
point brought on by the abuse of his son, and learning exactly
17:19
what happened after the rape camp.
17:21
They leaned into the concept of temporary insanity, not much
17:25
traditional sense of detachment from reality, but as a man
17:28
pushed beyond his psychological limit, a father who just
17:31
snapped. And outside the courtroom, the
17:33
public was forming its own opinion, too.
17:36
Support for Gary surged during his trial.
17:39
Many people just couldn't see a criminal.
17:41
They only saw a parent who had been failed by a system, someone
17:44
who acted out a kind of raw, protective instinct.
17:47
Why was Jeff Doucette even allowed to work with children in
17:50
the 1st place, considering he'd already been arrested for child
17:54
molestation in the past? Other people, however, were
17:58
deeply unsettled. They kept saying, if this was
18:01
justified, where do we draw the line?
18:06
The case became less about one man and more about a national
18:09
conversation. When it finally came time for
18:12
sentencing, the outcome reflected that national tension.
18:16
Gary Pochet did not receive prison time.
18:19
Instead, in November of 1984, he was given a suspended 5 year
18:23
sentence and placed on probation for five years, along with 300
18:28
hours of community service and mandatory counseling.
18:31
Gary completed his service by the end of 1985.
18:34
Legally, Gary was very guilty, but in the eyes of many,
18:38
especially his own community, he had already been forgiven.
18:42
The impact of what Gary did, though, didn't end at the trial.
18:46
That footage raw, immediate, impossible to ignore.
18:50
It did more than just document a crime.
18:52
It shaped how people felt about it.
18:54
Watching it unfold in real time made it personal.
18:57
Viewers weren't just hearing about a case, they were
18:59
witnessing a father's breaking point.
19:01
And that changed everything. Long before social media, before
19:05
shares and algorithms, this was one of the earliest examples of
19:09
true crime virality. This clip was played over and
19:12
over, embedded itself into public consciousness, and with
19:16
every replay, sympathy grew. But it wasn't a faceless crime.
19:20
This was a narrative people understood.
19:22
A child harmed, a system moving too slowly, and a parent taking
19:26
action. For many, Gary Pochet didn't
19:29
represent lawlessness. He represented justice that the
19:32
system didn't always deliver, let alone deliver fast enough.
19:37
And in that moment, something shifted.
19:39
The idea of the vigilante, of taking justice into your own
19:42
hands, became, for some, not just understandable, but
19:46
acceptable. Even now, decades later, that
19:49
footage still circulates, still sparks debates, still divides
19:52
people because it forces the same uncomfortable question when
19:56
the system fails, who gets to decide what justice looks like
19:59
psychologically? This case, it's in a Gray area
20:02
that makes people very uncomfortable.
20:04
Because Gary Pochet wasn't just reacting to what had been done
20:07
to his son, he was also confronting what had been done
20:10
to him. Jeff didn't just groom Jody,
20:13
remember? He groomed the entire family,
20:16
earn their trust, positioned himself as safe and helpful, and
20:20
Gary had allowed that access. That realization was devastating
20:25
for him as a parent. The guilt, the second guessing,
20:28
the quiet, relentless question, how did I not see this?
20:32
That kind of psychological wait doesn't just sit quietly, it
20:37
builds and layered with anger, with grief and the need to
20:40
protect the knowledge that that protection came too late.
20:46
Legally, cases like this are often framed as crimes of
20:48
passion and act driven by overwhelming emotion rather than
20:51
cold calculation. But Gary's actions complicate
20:54
that definition. He didn't act in a sudden,
20:57
chaotic moment. He waited and planned and
21:01
positioned himself in the perfect place to take that shot.
21:05
Which raises a difficult question.
21:07
Can something be both premeditated and driven by
21:10
emotional rupture? Can a person plan an act and
21:13
still be psychologically overwhelmed when they carry it
21:16
out? That's where the line blurs.
21:20
Because Gary wasn't detached. He wasn't indifferent.
21:23
He was consumed by the trauma, the rage, and the love for his
21:27
child. And that's what makes this case
21:29
difficult. It doesn't really fit into right
21:32
or wrong. So the question becomes, what
21:34
would you do if you were in Gary's shoes?
21:37
In the years that followed, life didn't simply return to normal
21:41
for the Cliche family. After serving his probation,
21:44
Gary stepped away from the headlines, but not from the
21:47
impact of what happened. Over time.
21:49
He began speaking publicly about child abuse, using his story as
21:52
a warning to other parents about grooming, trust, and how easily
21:55
predators can embed themselves inside a family's life.
21:58
He was never trying to justify what he did, he just wanted to
22:01
make sure that other families might not have to face the same
22:04
reality. He lived the rest of his life
22:07
largely out of the spotlight, surrounded by family, carrying
22:10
both the weight of his actions and the love that drove them.
22:13
And on October 21st, 2014, he died after suffering a stroke.
22:20
For some, he is remembered as a man who crossed the line, for
22:24
others as a father who did what many only imagine.
22:29
And then there's Jody. Surviving something like this
22:31
doesn't end with the headlines, the trauma, the manipulation,
22:35
the public attention. It all leaves a lasting imprint.
22:38
But Jody chose a different path forward.
22:40
Initially, he struggled with Jeff's death.
22:42
He was only 11 years old and his feelings were complicated.
22:46
Friends and family told him not to watch the news or read the
22:48
papers, but he did anyway, and he grieved.
22:51
I did not want Jeff killed. I felt like he was going to go
22:54
to jail, and that was enough for me.
22:57
Both June and Gary were careful not to push him too quickly.
23:00
He needed time to process everything on his own terms, and
23:03
part of that burden was unique. Jody didn't just hear about what
23:06
happened, he saw it. Two days later, he watched his
23:10
father shoot someone he once trusted and loved on the 5:00
23:15
news. That kind of experience leaves
23:17
layers. Jody had to work through the
23:19
cognitive dissonance of loving his teacher but not the abuse,
23:22
grieving the death of someone he called a friend while knowing he
23:25
deserved to go to prison, and feeling anger toward his father
23:29
for turning something so private into something so public.
23:33
Remember, Jodi was just 11 years old.
23:36
There had been so much coercive control from Jeff that even
23:40
before the kidnapping, Jodi had started avoiding spending time
23:43
with his own father because Jeff would become jealous and get
23:46
upset with him. That's just so much for a child
23:50
to carry. But over time, Gary and Jodi
23:53
failed. But over time, Gary and Jodi
23:56
found their way back to each other, falling into a familiar
23:59
rhythm by the following summer. Today, Jodi is 67 years old.
24:04
He's a sexual abuse awareness activist, author, and former
24:07
sexual assault counselor. His entire adult life was
24:11
dedicated to educating others about grooming, abuse and the
24:14
long term psychological effects survivors carry.
24:18
His voice has become a part of a larger conversation, one focus
24:21
not just on vengeance, but on prevention and awareness.
24:25
Because what happened to him didn't just affect a moment in
24:27
time, it reshaped his family. And even now, decades later, the
24:32
ripple effect remains. That trauma, the healing, the
24:35
memories, they don't disappear, really, ever.
24:39
They start to evolve. And in 2026, this case still
24:43
lives on, not because of what happened in an airport, but
24:46
because of what it revealed about trust, trauma, and the
24:49
complicated reality of justice. Some stories end with a verdict.
24:54
This one never really did. And maybe the hardest part of
24:58
this story isn't what happened, but what it asks of you, because
25:02
it forces you to sit with the questions that don't have easy
25:04
answers. Is justice defined by the law or
25:08
by emotion? Should a person's intent matter
25:11
more than the action itself? And when the suffering of a
25:14
victim is undeniable, does that change how we should judge the
25:18
crime or the punishment that comes with it?
25:22
It's easy to have principles in theory.
25:24
It's so much harder when those principles are tested by
25:27
something so personal. So where do you draw the line?
25:31
And if you were standing in Gary's place, would you make a
25:33
different choice? In a single second, Gary
25:37
Planchet became both a killer and too many.
25:40
A protector, a man who crossed the line, a man who, in the eyes
25:44
of some, never should have had to.
25:47
And maybe that's why the story still lingers, because it
25:49
doesn't give a clean ending. There are no easy answers, just
25:53
a moment, one decision that forces you to confront what you
25:56
believe about justice, about love and about the limits of
26:00
both. The truth always leaves a trail,
26:05
and sometimes it leads us somewhere we're not prepared to
26:08
go. This has been when killers get
26:11
caught. I'm Brittany Ransom, You can
26:13
find me on TikTok covering short cases and I'm always open to fan
26:16
submissions. Send me an e-mail at
26:19
caseclosersubmissions@gmail.com and I'll see you all next week.