In February 2018, a disturbing headline appeared on CBS News: “Knightdale man impregnates biological daughter, plans to marry her, warrants say.” Behind this shocking headline lay a deeply troubling story of manipulation, abuse, and exploitation spanning decades.
The story begins in 1995 when Steven Pladl met 15-year-old Alyssa Garcia online. After grooming the teenager over the internet, Pladl travelled to San Antonio, where he sexually abused her before bringing her to live with him in New York. In January 1998, their daughter Katie was born.
According to Alyssa’s later accounts, Steven’s abuse extended to their infant daughter almost immediately. She reported that he would pinch the baby until she was “black and blue” and even placed her inside a cooler, nearly causing her to suffocate. She recollected: “She had bruises. He wanted to be rid of her. He didn’t like the crying.”1
Fearing for her daughter’s safety, Alyssa made the difficult decision to place eight-month-old Katie up for adoption.
Katie found a new home with Kelly and Anthony Fusco, a young couple from Dover, New York, who raised her as their own. Anthony was a former United States Coast Guard who had rose to chief petty officer over his career. He was currently working as a correctional officer at Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury.2
Katie thrived in her new environment. She excelled at school and was known as a talented artist who once completed a portfolio depicting the struggles of women throughout American history. She also led a group of female students who petitioned the Dover board of education to change what they seemed a sexist dress code.3
However, when Katie turned 18, she began searching for her biological parents through social media. Her search was successful, and in August 2016, she relocated to Richmond, Virginia, to live with Steven, Alyssa, and their two other children. Though concerned, Kelly and Anthony Fusco supported their daughter’s decision to connect with her birth family.4
The family dynamic quickly deteriorated. Just two months after Katie’s arrival, Steven and Alyssa separated. Alyssa later revealed that Steven had begun sleeping on the floor in Katie’s bedroom shortly after she moved in. While the former couple shared custody of their children, a disturbing relationship was developing between father and daughter.
In May 2017, Alyssa made a horrifying discovery when reading one of her children’s journals: Katie was pregnant, and Steven was the father. Her 11-year-old daughter had written: “Katie is pregnant. Dad says they feel like couples. Did they get a little too drunk that Night? My dad is a slut. He’s Satan.” In her journal, she revealed that Steven had instructed her and her other sister to refer to Katie—their biological sister—as their “step-mother.” When confronted, Steven confirmed both the pregnancy and his intentions to marry Katie.5
Alyssa immediately reported the incestuous relationship to authorities. When the Henrico County Child Advocacy Center interviewed the Pladls’ other children, they confirmed that Katie and Steven were expecting a child together. By the time police issued arrest warrants, the pair had fled to Wake County. They remained at large until January 2018, when authorities finally located and arrested them.
Following their arrest, investigators discovered that Katie had given birth to a baby boy named Bennett in September 2017. On social media, Katie portrayed herself as a happy mother in a loving relationship with Steven, never acknowledging that he was her biological father. Her Facebook account showed images of what appeared to be a normal family, concealing the disturbing reality of their situation.
Both Katie and Steven faced serious charges including incest with an adult, adultery, and contributing to delinquency. Though released on bond while awaiting trial, the legal proceedings would never take place.
On April 12, Steven’s mother contacted police requesting a welfare check on baby Bennett. She had received an alarming phone call from her son that raised serious concerns about the infant’s safety. She told the 911 operator: “My son just called and told me he killed his baby.”
Steven’s mother had been caring for Bennett during the investigation but Steven had come to pick him up, saying that he was going to do a Skype call with Katie.6 “He told me to call the police, that I shouldn’t go over there,” she said.
When officers arrived at Steven’s residence, no one answered the door. Steven’s mother had told them there was a spare key under the mat. Once they entered, they made a horrific discovery: seven-month-old Bennett had been suffocated to death, his body hidden in a closet. His cause of death was asphyxia with compression of the torso.
The tragedy had been set in motion when Katie, who had moved back in with her adoptive parents, Kelly and Anthony, after being released on bond, informed Steven that she wanted to end their relationship. This decision apparently triggered a murderous rage in Steven.
After killing his infant son, Steven drove to Dover where he stalked Katie and her adoptive father Anthony. Surveillance captured him waiting at the Wingdale Beer and Liquor store just outside the mobile home park where Katie was living with her adoptive parents.
Knowing their routine, he followed their car as they travelled to Waterbury to visit Katie’s grandmother. When they stopped at an intersection, Steven pulled alongside their vehicle and opened fire with an Aero assault-type rifle, killing both Katie and Anthony instantly. Katie had died from gunshot wounds to the head, neck, torso and upper extremities.
A nearby resident, Jeff Weinzievl, heard the gunshots while tending to his horses and immediately alerted authorities.7 Police quickly connected the double murder to Steven Pladl. After killing Katie and Anthony, Steven had made a call to his mother, confessing to what he had done and ominously stating that “he was next.” His mother immediately relayed this information to a 911 operator, describing his light blue minivan with North Carolina plates. Authorities promptly issued an alert for law enforcement agencies in the area.
Approximately 16 miles from the shooting scene, officers spotted the described vehicle parked on the shoulder of the road with its engine still running. Police units from multiple agencies surrounded the van. Inside, they discovered Steven Pladl’s body—he had ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
In the aftermath of this horrific murder-suicide, public scrutiny turned to the judicial system that had allowed Steven to be released on bond despite the severity of the incest charges. Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor defended the decision, explaining that a pretrial assessment of Steven’s background had revealed no “red flags” that would have justified holding him pending trial. He had no prior criminal record, and Taylor noted that “certainly there was no indication from the investigation that there was any type of violence within that relationship.”8
Footnotes:
- Republican-American, 20 April, 2018 – “Katie Pladl’s Mother Talks”
- Republican-American, 19 April, 2018 – “Medical Examiner”
- The Hartford Courant, 15 April, 2018 – “4 Are Dead”
- CBS, 2 February, 2018 – “Knightdale Man Impregnates”
- The Daily Mirror, 14 February, 2018 – “The Baby Will Be Half Demon”
- The Breeze, 12 April, 2018 – “Infant’s Killing”
- Associated Press, 12 April, 2018 – “2 Slain”
- Richmond Times-Dispatch, 13 April, 2018 – “My Son Just Told Me He Killed His Baby”
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