Wednesday, April 12, 2023

Timeline: The Case of Katie and Steven Pladl

Katie Pladl (18) and her biological father Steven Pladl (42) pictured together in 2016

The story of Katie and Steven Pladl is one of the wildest cases I have ever covered. The disturbing and tragic story has caused a lot of discussion on the case's tumblr post. While the post covers the overall story, this timeline breaks down the details in chronological order. 

1995: 20-year-old Steven Pladl meets 15-year-old Alyssa Garcia on the Internet.

Alyssa Garcia (source)

January 1998: 17-year-old Alyssa gives birth to a baby girl fathered by Steven. They name the little girl Denise. 

Steven and Alyssa's baby girl (source)

1998 cont.: According to Alyssa, Steven was abusive towards their infant daughter. Alyssa alleged that Steven would pinch Denise “until her body was left black and blue. The cruel father would also stuff Katie in a cooler to drown out her crying, preventing Alyssa from freeing the terrified infant until she was on the verge of suffocating.” (DailyMail). Despite this, though, Alyssa stays with Steven and eventually ends up marrying him. 

1998 cont.: Alyssa and Steven place Denise up for adoption. She is adopted by Anthony and Kelly Fusco. The baby's new name is Katie Fusco, and she is moved to Anthony and Kelly's home in Dutchess County, New York. 

Town in New York, where Katie moved as an infant after being adopted by the Fuscos

2007: Almost 10 years after giving birth to Katie, Alyssa gives birth to her and Steven's second child--a baby girl. Alyssa stated that they were “more grown up and ready” to have children at this stage in life.

2012: Alyssa gives birth to their third daughter.

2016: Katie, now 18 years old, grows curious about her biological family. She tracks down Alyssa, now 37, and Steven, now 42, on social media. The estranged parents and daughter begin to correspond.

Katie Fusco at age 18 (source)

June 2016: Katie graduates from high school. She has plans to enroll in the local community college and then eventually transfer to SUNY Purchase to study digital advertising.

August 2016: After continuing to correspond with her birth parents, Katie’s plans change. Instead of enrolling in college, she opts to move to Henrico, Virginia to live with Steven, Alyssa, and their other two daughters. 

Alyssa Pladl and Katie Pladl reunited in 2016 - pictured together with Alyssa and Steven's two younger daughters (source)

September 2016: Steven begins sleeping on Katie’s bedroom floor each night. According to Alyssa, she and Steven had already been sleeping in separate beds for months prior. 

Sept-Nov. 2016: Steven and Katie begin a sexual relationship.

November 2016: Alyssa moves out of the home and files for divorce from Steven. They split custody of the two younger children. Alyssa allegedly had suspicions about Steven’s relationship with Katie but was not completely aware of how far it had gone. 

Late 2016-Early 2017: Steven instructs his two younger daughters to begin referring to Katie as their stepmom rather than their sister. At some point, Katie learns she is pregnant with Steven's child.

Katie and Steven in 2017, while Katie was pregnant (source

May 23rd, 2017: Alyssa reads her 11-year-old daughter’s diary after a visit with Steven and Katie. From there, Alyssa learns that her ex-husband was engaging in a sexual relationship with their oldest biological daughter. She also learns that Katie is pregnant with Steven’s baby. After confronting Steven about it, Alyssa decides to contact the police. 


Pages from the diary of Alyssa and Steven's 11-year-old, describing Steven's relationship with Katie. Click to enlarge. (source)

May 31st, 2017: Henrico County police officers interview Steven and Alyssa’s two other children. No arrests are made.

Summer 2017: Katie and Steven move to Knightdale, North Carolina. 

July 20th, 2017: Katie and Steven get married in Maryland. Their marriage was official; they were able to “legally” wed because they did not disclose their father-daughter relationship. Their wedding ceremony was complete with guests, including Steven’s parents and Katie’s adoptive parents. Katie’s adoptive parents reportedly felt there was “nothing they could do except support Katie.” (CBSnews)

Katie, Steven & family at their July 2017 wedding (dailymail)

September 1st, 2017: Katie gives birth to her father’s baby. They name the little boy Bennett. 

Katie with Bennett (2017)

November 29th, 2017: Henrico County police officers issue arrest warrants for Steven and Katie.

Late January 2018: Steven and Katie are arrested and charged with incest and adultery. They are later released on bond and ordered to have no-contact with one another. Katie moves back to New York with her adoptive parents. Steven’s mother gains custody of their son.


April 2018: Katie decides to end her relationship with Steven. Despite the no-contact order, Katie calls Steven to break-up with him.

April 11th, 2018: Steven picks up his and Katie’s baby from his mother’s house. He brings the baby back to his house, where he later suffocates him and leaves his body in a closet.

April 11th-12th, 2018: Steven drives through the night from North Carolina to New York.

April 12th, 2018: Steven waits outside of the home of Katie’s adoptive parents. He watched as Katie and her adoptive father left together in a vehicle. He followed the two as they drove from Wingdale to New Milford. While stopped at a stop sign between routes 7 and 55, Steven shot Katie and her adoptive father, killing them both, before turning the gun on himself.

Scene where Steven shot Anthony Fusco and Katie before turning the gun on himself

Unfortunately, this disturbing tale ended violently. An officer working the case stated, “we may never understand the mindset or motives of Steven Pladl, but we do know his actions have shattered the lives of countless people.”

Additionally, this case has brought more attention to a term called "genetic sexual attraction", which is "used to describe the intense physical and emotional feelings that some people experience following restored contact between an adopted person and a close member of his or her birth family. Some people believe genetic attraction to be a delayed by-product of “missed bonding". Believe it or not, Katie and Steven are not the first father-and-daughter couple to fall in love. A list of other similar cases can be found here. More information about GSA can be found here.

48 comments:

  1. You are a horrible person.
    Who wishes death on someone else? a sicko; that's who... you have a lot in common with Steven...

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  2. Why couldn't they be left alone? They were both consenting adults who just wanted to have a family. Shaming them and humiliating them was what got everyone killed.

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    1. I more or less agree with you, they weren’t hurting anyone and as crazy as it sounds their relationship couldve been the result of a psychological thing called genetic sexual attraction like the article says. Honestly the only one to blame is the dad for shooting anyone but the court shouldn’t have separated them that was just wrong.

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    2. Let's just ignore the fact that he was already a shitty human for being capable of abusing infants. All they wanted was to have a normal happy life of course.

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    3. Anonymous August 24 it never could be normal. Father fucking daughter? That's not normal at all and never has potential to be normal. That kind of situation is bound to end badly.

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    4. She withdrew her consent when she realized what he was like.
      He then killed her,because she was right about him.

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    5. Steven Pladls ex-wife Alyssa (and her jealousy) was the spark that lead to the murder-suicide.
      There are a lot of facts not being released to the public on this case.
      Katie wanted to have sex with her daddy.
      Katie wanted to get pregnant with her daddy.
      Katie gave birth to her daddy's baby.
      It's easy to judge others, but the fact remains that Katie and her father Steven were in love with each other.
      Stevens 11 year old daughter must have felt abandoned by her father and made her journal entries to vent her sadness. That is understandable.
      But then, mad mama Alyssa is the first one to overreact and spill all the marbles without any concern whatsoever as to who got hurt after.
      It was Alyssa's actions that led to the arrest of Katie and Steven.
      Clearly, Steven snapped.
      He must have felt that when Katie told him their relationship was over, then that was the end of the road for Steven.
      What he did after by committing murder, was evil run amok.
      But Alyssa is no Saint. She's been playing her sympathy card long enough. She needs to be seriously investigated.

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    6. You say there are facts about this case that are being withheld, yet you provided none. Everything you've said is speculation not fact. There is not one thing you've written that you personally know as fact. You sound ridiculous. To say the bio mother is the one responsible, makes you seem like a fkn idiot. Maybe you have grown and become more intelligent and knowledgeable since you posted in Feb. 2022, not betting the farm on that, but surely you still can't be this stupid?

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    7. The only person at fault here is Steven. He was the adult. He only thought of himself. He killed his own BABY. He was the devil.

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    8. I tend to agree with leaving them alone,while i dont agree with their motives who knows they may have lived happily ever after?Now,none of them live,throw them in jail what does that accomplish.In this intensely phony society of course people are OUTRAGED

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    9. You people saying it’s okay are fucking sick and twisted and I’m sure you’re all men who are attracted to women in your family because you’re too fucking weird for any other woman on the planet to love you

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    10. everybody was failed in this case .its crazy that someone actually has the adasity to blame the mom that lil girl that that womans husband and that lil girls fatherwhom abused her when she was born married her lil girl too.i dont know if it was jelousy it was pronanly the last call of disbelief that scoured in that womans heart which had been ripped out of her chest by the one man that she gave up her life,her child for.now he was burning her again with the cherries on top how was that ok.this whole twisted fucked up country bumpkin a*** story is sad

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    11. Wtf the people defending this are sick af. I bet it’s all men, men are wretched and should just stop existing.

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  3. Let's face it, with the potential defects and diseases, the baby was a mercy killing.

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    1. POTENTIAL.
      Don't assume without evidence that that baby could not have lived a good life if he hadn't been murdered.

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    2. ... the father had a history of abuse and incest. do you think that sounds like a good childhood

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    3. "Let's face it, with the potential defects and diseases, the baby was a mercy killing."
      You really need to educate yourself,incest can go on for generations with no defects,or,it can have major defects,just like normal births.Society doesnt want you to know that its perfectly safe to have sex with blood relatives,im not condoning it by the way,just not being part of the herd.If genetic disorder is in the family of course it may result in birth defects,if no genetic disorders,natural birth

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  4. Wishing death on others won't bring the victims back to life

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  5. Incest is a felony (illegal), and in this country immoral. Steve was defective and a selfish pos. None of this happens without his perverse nature and ability to manipulate others.

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  6. did anyone else see this story ending any other way?

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  7. Northern folk's always characterize Southerners as barefoot incest families. Hell they have nothing on us like this. This is the northern barefoot incest family. The girl voluntarily laid w her dad, are you kidding? She had decent up bringing, and still sleeps w dad. Are you kidding me? Talk about freaking people that live on incest.

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    1. How are Virginia and North Carolina northern states?

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    2. I guess everything north of the trailer park o'er yonder and plum the other side of bull frog crick counts as the north, hey Jethro?

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    3. If NC and virginia are northern states, Iowa must be in Canada

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  8. He's clearly trolling

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  9. Jesus...what a mess. I was just trying to keep up on how everyone would be related...if HIS mom got custody of poor baby Bennett, would she technically be both grandmother and great grandmother? So twisted that it made me ALMOST LAUGH....

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    1. I never even thought of that until now, this case is just sickening

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    2. Exactly and the mom was both his mom and sister

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. nothing to do with the world. it has to do with ol' steve pladl's selfish psychopathic nature. he should've been smothered at birth.

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  12. This has to be one of the most disgusting cases I've ever read in my life. This whole family is sick in the head even including the Katie's biological mother, why did she stay and have 2 more kids with him after what he did to their first daughter, I know she was young, but still. The father was already twisted from the moment he started have sex with a 15 year old and get he pregnant at 17.

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    1. Seriously! All are sick and weird, her adoptive parents are weird as well why support that bs.

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    2. I agree! How in the fck could you, as the adoptive parents- the only parents she had known btw) stand by & allow this to happen without speaking up before it reached the level it did?! Curious??

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  13. I'M a lucky dog.....woof woof

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  14. Even after his death I would have made his corpse serve time in prison.

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  15. This entire situation was sick from the beginning ��

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  16. May Katie, Bennett, and Tony rest in peace. Sometimes good people make terrible decision. Even love itself is confusing where it can blind you and pull you into the wrong places. From what I've seen Katie and Tony were good people, loved by many. Bennett never got the chance to live, but was loved by his mother Katie and grandparents. I will remember them as good people.

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    1. 'ThePillarsOfAutumn'
      A very balanced and enlightened view,they should not have been treated as dangerous criminals,who are we to say they didn't love one another deeply? Crazy story true,but the murders and death would not have happened without societies phony moral judgement

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    2. He was a criminal a sick individual. Who was sexually attracted to his own daughter. Needed serious help and jail time. The daughter was also sick and confused. As well as the mom who should have never taken him back. Her adoptive parents who show up to the wedding are also sick.

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  17. If left alone,maybe,they would have lived a long and loving family life

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    1. So you think it's okay that a father sexually abused his teenage daughter. Alright.

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  18. This doesn't have anything to do with satanism, but go off, your eminence

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  19. O Paí sempre foi um doente que abusava da sua própria filha quando bebê, sua mãe foi omissa por ainda acertar ficar com um cara violento,e abusador..

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  20. I think her mother Alyssa was trying to protect her other two daughters from being abused, too. The man was a sexual predator! He had sex with 15 year old Alyssa, with Katie who was his own daughter. He would have abused his other daughters, too.

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    1. Yes and not to mention for all the people saying they were in love. Katie was the first kid he abused and put in a freezer. Let me tell ya, love. Katie was traumatized before 8 months. It does NOT blow my mind on how she ended up where she did.

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  21. Ikr wth?! Thanks for speaking up!👏 👏 👏

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