NEW MILFORD, Conn. _ On Wednesday night, Steven Pladl contacted his daughter's adoptive family in Wingdale, N.Y., and told them he was coming from North Carolina to see them. Pladl, authorities now say, made that trip after first killing the baby he had with his daughter. He got to New York by Thursday morning, followed his daughter Katie and her adoptive father into nearby New Milford and opened fire into their pickup, killing them both before shooting himself, police say.
Details about Pladl's contact with his daughter Katie's adoptive family were revealed Friday by New Milford Police Chief Shawn Boyne. It's the latest twist in a tragic case involving incest and brutal violence that has attracted national attention.
Boyne also revealed Friday that police believe Katie Pladl and her adoptive father, Anthony Fusco, were in New Milford running errands when they were attacked by Steven Pladl. Police believe Steven Pladl may have been watching the Wingdale home his daughter was sharing with her adoptive parents Thursday morning from the parking lot of a nearby liquor store. An employee of the store told The Hartford Courant Friday that police has requested video from a parking lot surveillance camera.
Steven Plald followed the victims into New Milford until they reached a stop sign at routes 7 and 55. It is unclear whether Katie Pladl and Fusco were aware at some point that they were being followed.
Eyewitness accounts indicate that his minivan pulled alongside the victims' truck and that "several rounds" were fired from an assault-type rifle, similar to an AR-15, into the passenger's side of the vehicle. Katie Pladl, 20, and Fusco, 56, sustained "multiple gunshot wounds to the upper torso and head," Boyne said.
Steven Pladl, 42, was found dead in his minivan in nearby Dover, N.Y., from what is believed to be self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Police found several other weapons in his vehicle.
Katie and Steven Pladl had been accused of having an incestuous relationship by police in Virginia. Their 7-month-old son, Bennett, was found dead when police visited Steven Pladl's North Carolina home Thursday at 9 a.m.
Police are trying to determine if one of the weapons found in Steven Pladl's vehicle may have been used in the homicide in North Carolina. Police spent most of Thursday afternoon and evening attempting to track down other relatives of the Fuscos.
Police in North Carolina said Steven Pladl was last seen Wednesday night when he went to pick up the child from his mother. Steven Pladl's mother then called Knightdale, N.C., police early Thursday with concerns about the boy, officials said.
It is unclear when 7-month-old Bennett Pladl was killed. But 20 minutes before North Carolina authorities found the child Thursday, police in New Milford learned of the deadly shooting at routes 7 and 55.
Working off a Virginia warrant, Knightdale police had taken both the birth father and daughter into custody on incest charges in January. Media reports say both were released on bond after appearing in court in Virginia, but Katie Pladl was barred from contacting Steven Pladl and sent to live with her adoptive parents in New York. While facing these charges, police said Steven Pladl's mother cared for the child.
Citing police records, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Steven Pladl had told his wife last year that he had impregnated his daughter and that they planned to marry.
Katie Pladl was born in 1998 and then put up for adoption, CBS 17 in North Carolina reported. An arrest warrant for the two said they reconnected via social media when Katie turned 18 and eventually moved to North Carolina, according to CBS 17.
As the probe continues, police in both New Milford and Knightdale said it is too soon to speculate on what motivated the shooting.
