They claimed to be “in love”
“Katie is pregnant. Dad says they feel like couples. My dad is…he is Satan, he is …Satan. He will go to hell, but he will not be the one getting tortured. He will be the one torturing people.” — a girl’s description of a relationship between her father and her sister.
The story begins with a young couple, Steven Pladl and Alyssa Garcia. The couple met on the internet and immediately hit it off. At that time, Pladl was in his twenties while Garcia was fifteen years old.
The pair welcomed their first daughter, Denise, two years into their relationship in 1998. Pladl and Garcia got married after the birth of their daughter.
The Husband Abused the Newborn Daughter
Pladl constantly pinched Denise very hard and inflicted a lot of bruises on the baby. Sometimes, he trapped Denise in a cooler and left her there until the cooler almost ran out of oxygen.
Thus, Garcia decided to protect her baby from her husband by giving her up for adoption to a New York couple, Anthony and Kelly Fusco. The Fuscos renamed the baby, Katie.
Pladl and Garcia later gave birth to two more daughters. But, the couple was facing a lot of tension in their marriage. Garcia described her husband as very violent, moody, and lazy to look for a job.
Katie Opened a Message (DM) She Shouldn’t Have
After eighteen years of giving up their daughter for adoption, Pladl and Garcia received a text from her on social media. Katie’s original plans were to enroll in college and study art.
But, she quickly changed her plans after locating her biological parents. Katie moved in with her biological parents and her two younger sisters. That is when things took a turn for the worst.
Katie’s arrival only increased the tension in her biological parents’ marriage. And according to Katie’s biological mother, Garcia, her husband’s behavior also changed.
Pladl attempted to look younger by shaving his beard and changing up his wardrobe. He also started spending the night on the floor of Katie’s bedroom.
A Very, Very Weird Attraction
In a very short period, Katie and Pladl grew inseparable. Garcia warned Katie by telling her about the abuse from her father when she was a baby. But, for some reason, the relationship between Katie and Pladl only grew stronger afterward.
And, the worst part was that the father and daughter had fallen in (romantic) love. In November 2016, Garcia filed for a divorce and moved out of the house. Meanwhile, Katie continued to stay with her biological father, Pladl.
Garcia finally knew of the incestuous relationship a few months after the divorce. She discovered this by reading the journal entry of her eleven-year-old daughter.
The journal entry read,
“Katie is pregnant. Dad says they feel like couples. Did they get a little too drunk that night? My dad is…he is Satan. He is satan. He will go to hell, but he will not be the one getting tortured. He will be the one torturing people. Wait, if dad is satan and Katie is a human, then the baby will be half-demon.”
Garcia was horrified by this discovery. She immediately confronted her ex-husband through a phone call. And, Pladl’s response was, “I thought you knew we are in love.”
Garcia later reported the incest to the police. But, neither Katie nor Pladl was arrested afterward.
They Had a Baby and Later He Killed the Baby
On July 20th, Pladl and Katie traveled to Maryland and got married. Pladl’s mother, Grace, and Katie’s adoptive parents were present at the wedding.
On September 1st, 2017, Katie and Pladl welcomed a baby boy, Bennett. But a few months later, the couple was arrested on the grounds of incest.
Katie and Pladl were charged with incest, adultery, and contributing to delinquency. Both Katie and Pladl were released on bail under the condition that they would not contact each other.
Their son, Bennett, was placed in the care of Pladl’s mother, Grace. Katie moved back with her adoptive parents in New York.
But, Katie broke the no-contact order and called Pladl, breaking up with him. This did not settle well with Pladl, and everything took a turn for the worst.
On April 11th, 2018, Pladl picked up his son, Bennet, from his mother’s house. Pladl took the child to his home in Knightdale, North Carolina, and strangled him to death. Then Pladl placed the dead body in his closet and headed for New York to kill Katie.
Pladl stayed in his car outside the Fusco residence until Katie and her adoptive dad, Anthony, came out of the house. Katie and Anthony drove off in their truck. Pladl followed the car. As soon as Anthony stopped his truck, Pladl pulled up beside the car and fired several shots at the two.
An off-duty firefighter who witnessed the incident immediately called the police. The police found Pladl’s vehicle five miles away from where he had shot Katie and Anthony. Pladl had shot himself. In the end, there was no explanation for what Pladl had done.