Joseph "Jody" Plauche: Sexual Abuse and Abduction Survivor and Author of Why, Gary, Why?

What an incredible saga of a ten-year-old boy, from Baton Rouge, LA, who had been sexually abused by his Karate instructor, then abducted by him and taken to Los Angeles, CA, where he continued to be abused. Our guest this week, Joseph Plauche, tells of the events that led up those scenarios.  By way of a traced collect phone call, the FBI rescued “Jody” in LA and his abductor was arrested. To add to the craziness of those events, Joseph’s father waited at a bank of pay phones at the airport and then shot and killed the abductor as he walked by, all of which was captured on film by a local news crew.

Plauche has worked in the field of violence prevention since 1995. He wants his story to help others in abusive situations, and he offers direction on protecting children. 

In this episode you will hear:

Plauche authored the book, 'Why, Jody, Why?'

During the sexual abuse, there was a physical pleasure, but there was mental anguish.

Despite being abused, your body still responds, like a human body responds.

He took me to Disneyland. Even though I was kidnapped. It’s not like I was gagged and bound.  I can’t say I enjoyed it, but I kinda did.

When I finally told the truth, I felt like the weight of the world was lifted off my shoulders. 

I didn’t like him molesting me, but other than that, I thought he was a good guy.

For him (my dad) to do what he did, he had to be in so much pain. If he could have seen who I was to become in the future, he probably wouldn’t have done what he did.

My dad was the kindest, sweetest man I knew.

It’s a parental instinct to eliminate someone that hurts your child.

A boy saw me on Geraldo, and then told his mom about being abused by his pastor. The pastor was arrested. That’s the moment that I realized that I could use something negative and turn it into something positive.

I wanna help as many as possible.

I feel like I can be a role model for victims of sexual assault.