In a place like Angelville, a place of old, malevolent evil run by a vicious matriarch, you need a strong arm to enforce the peace. That strong arm was Jody.
Together with his friend T.C., Jody was the head of the workers at Angelville, and answered directly to Marie L’Angell. Whenever there was violence to be done, Jody was the man to do it. And he enjoyed doing it, too. He would fight for pleasure or money, and once even defeated a large, angry mountain gorilla at eighty-to-one odds. Murder was one of Jody’s true talents, and he enjoyed it.
When Marie L’Angell needed someone to go find and retrieve her daughter, Christina Custer, Jody and T.C. went. They found her, with her husband John Custer and their young son Jesse Custer. The surprise at finding out Christina had had a child gave John Custer the chance to give Jody a good beating, and might well have beaten him if T.C. hadn’t held John at gunpoint. It was a beating that Jody would later repay, shooting John Custer dead in front of his son.
Despite being the person that Jesse hated most in the world, Jody taught the boy everything he knew – how to fight, how to shoot, how to fix engines and so on. But what he mostly told Jesse was how to bide his time. He knew he had to wait if he would ever have a chance at beating Jody. When Jesse tried to retaliate against T.C. for the murder of Billy-Bob Bobbs, Jody intervened and gave Jesse his chance.
Jesse got a few good hits in, but Jody wasn’t bowed. He broke Jesse’s arm and jaw.
When Jesse did escape Angelville, Jody and T.C. found him again, this time in Phoenix with his girlfriend, Tulip. They promised that they wouldn’t kill Tulip if Jesse came with them, and so he did.
When Jesse disappeared from his Annville parish, Marie L’Angell set Jody and T.C. out looking again, and they nearly couldn’t find him. It was their good luck that Custer returned to Texas to help Tulip settle an old score. Jody and T.C. brought them both back to Angelville, where, the next morning, Jody shot Tulip in the head.
At this point, he believed Jesse was well and truly broken. As far as he knew, Jesse was nearly comatose in his room, talking to himself. He was surprised when Jesse, fully invigorated, came out of the house, used his Voice of Command to set everyone on fire, and then proceeded to come after Jody.
The two went at it without any weapons – Jody without his gun, Jesse without his Voice. This time, Jesse prevailed. He broke Jody’s back and then choked the life out of him.