A MONSTER father impregnated his daughter before killing her and their child in cold blood, in a horrifying crime that is the subject of a new movie.
Steven Pladl, 43, suffocated his seven-month-old child Bennett before gunning down his daughter Katie and her adoptive father.
![A man accused of having an incestuous relationship with his biological daughter has murdered her, their baby son, and her adoptive father before killing himself in a triple murder-suicide. North Carolina resident Steven Pladl, 43, was found dead in his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Dover, New York on Thursday [April 12, 2018] according to authorities. His biological daughter Katie Pladl, 20, was given up for adoption when she was an infant, but the pair began an incestuous relationship after she located him via social media in 2016. Katie fell pregnant with her father's baby, who whom she gave birth in September 2017. Katie and Steven were arrested in January but released on bond with the condition that they stay apart. Steven then went on a killing rampage where he murdered Katie, their 7-month-old child Bennet Pladl, and Katie's adoptive father Anthony Fusco, 56, according to police who discovered the bodies. Pictured: Mugshot: Steven Pladl Ref: SPL1682409 130418 Picture by: CCBI/Splash Splash News and Pictures Los Angeles: 310-821-2666 New York: 212-619-2666 London: 870-934-2666 photodesk@splashnews.com](https://www.the-sun.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2024/10/SPL1682409_incest_002jpg-JS398742639.jpg?strip=all&w=702)
He later committed suicide in Dover, New York, after driving through the night from his home in Knightdale, North Carolina, where police found the body of an infant in a bedroom closet.
Before taking his own life, he called his mother, confessing to his crimes.
His mother made a frantic call to 911 released in a redacted form by police.
The grisly crimes are now the subject of a Lifetime movie, Husband, Father Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story, which premieres on Saturday, October 19 at 8 pm Eastern.
Steven Pladl met Katie’s mother, then-15-year-old Alyssa Pladl when he was 20 after he groomed her over the internet in 1995.
Alyssa became pregnant at 16 and gave birth to Denise at 17.
Pladl was abusive to their daughter, according to Alyssa, who claimed she would pinch the infant until she was “black and blue,” and stuffed her into a cooler until she almost suffocated.
Fearing for Denise’s life, Alyssa put her daughter up for adoption.
She was adopted by Anthony and Kelly Fusco from Dover, New York, who renamed her Katie Rose Fusco.
In August 2016, when she turned 18, Katie reached out to her biological parents on Facebook and eventually decided to move in with them in North Carolina.
Steven and Alyssa separated and Katie became increasingly close to her father.
In May 2017, Alyssa discovered that Pladl was in an incestuous relationship with his daughter and that Katie was pregnant.
Pladl had two other children aged six and 11, and Alyssa learned about the relationship after reading one of their diaries.
The couple’s children were told by Pladl to call Katie their stepmom instead of their sister, according to court documents.
This really bothers me a lot because nobody ever could have predicted this.
Rick Friedman
She called the police, but Pladl and Katie married in July 2017 in Maryland, after lying on their marriage documents by saying they were not related.
At the time, she posted a photo on her Instagram account with the hashtags #justmarried and #simplewedding.
Katie gave birth to a son, Bennett, in September 2017, but the following January, the couple were arrested on incest charges.
A judge ordered that Steven and Katie not contact each other, and Pladl’s mother was given custody of Bennett.
After Katie’s release on bond, she moved back in with her adoptive parents and cut off her relationship with Steven.
HAUNTING 911 CALL
Steven Pladl’s mother made a frantic 911 call after her son confessed to killing his infant son and his wife.
“My son just called me and he told me … he killed his baby.
“I just got off the phone just a couple minutes ago, and he told me to call the police, that I shouldn’t go over there. …
“He said he put a key under the front mat, a key to get into the house.
“I didn’t ask him. I didn’t ask him, I didn’t want to know.
“His wife broke up with him over the phone yesterday. …
“He killed his wife. He killed her father. I can’t even believe this is happening.”
Source: Wake County Sheriff’s Department
SICKENING CRIMES
On April 11, 2018, Pladl suffocated his infant son at his home in Knightdale.
The child had been living with his grandmother, but Pladl had asked that week if he could take the baby back to his home, adding that he and Bennett would Skype Katie that evening, according to police.
But cops said Pladl called his daughter’s adoptive family that night instead and said he was going to see them.
Pladl spoke to his mom shortly before midnight that evening and said he was going to take Bennett to see Katie in New York, calling her again the following morning to say he and the baby were almost there.
He then drove through the night from North Carolina to Connecticut, where he tracked down Katie and Anthony, who were driving from Dover to Waterbury to visit Katie’s grandmother.
Pladl murdered the pair with an assault rifle on their route in New Milford, Connecticut, before calling his mother.
He later shot himself in Dover, after making a call to his mother.
During the final call, Pladl told his mother he had killed Katie and Anthony.
When asked about his son, he said he had killed the infant and left him in his home.
In her frantic 911 call made shortly afterward, she told police her son had said his “wife” had broken up with him.
Bystanders heard gunshots and found the bodies of Katie and Anthony in their car.
Pladl’s body was later discovered on a remote road after killing himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
AFTERMATH
Katie had expressed her desire to be an artist and shared her work online.
She wrote about her plans to attend community college in the fall of 2016, after graduating from Dover High School.
Rick Friedman, an attorney who had represented Pladl in his felony incest case, insisted there was no indication he could carry out such violent acts.
“This really bothers me a lot because nobody ever could have predicted this,” said Friedman, who had breakfast with his client just a month before the killings.
“If anybody had a remote idea anybody was in harm’s way there would have been no bond set,” he went on.
“There was just absolutely no prior notice anything would happen to these people.”
Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story premieres Oct. 19 at 8/7c on Lifetime.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
