True Crime Stories. E-Book

Cathy Barnett

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

From the creator of Inner Darkness Podcast comes a true treat for any True Crime lover. In this book you'll find a collection of True Crime stories featured on the Podcast and a few tidbits you didn't hear on the show.

Leseprobe

Cathy Barnett

True Crime Stories.

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

A Forbidden Love Gone Wrong The Steven & Katie Pladl Story.

Some inner evils can push us to do unspeakable things. To lie, steal, cheat, and in some cases murder. We all have a choice when we're born in this world to give into those evils like so many have before or learn from the mistakes of others and grow ourselves.

Some of you might be familiar with this case, it got its fair share of media attention because of how shocking it was to some of us and the terrible tragic end for all those involved. Todays show is Steven and Katie Pladl a forbidden love gone wrong. Not much is said about Stevens life growing up, just that by 1995 a 20 year old Steven took to the internet looking for love like so many of us have before and still do today. When he met a 15 girl named Alyssa Garcia and the two began talking, and eventually, began dating by January 1998 Alyssa who was 17 at the time gave birth to her and Stevens first child, a little girl they named Denise.

According to Alyssa, Steven was abusive towards their infant daughter. Alleging that Steven would pinch Denise until her body was left black and blue, and that he would 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 however, despite this the young couple stayed together and got married.

By 1998 Alyssa and Steven placed their baby up for adoption and she was by a couple named Anthony and Kelly Fusco. The baby's new name is Katie Fusco, and she was moved to Anthony and Kelly's home in Dutchess County, New York. 

In 2007 almost 10 years after giving birth to Katie, Alyssa gave birth to her and Stevens second daughter stating they were more grown up and ready to have children at this stage in their lives now. By 2012 the couple welcomed their third daughter as well.

By 2016 when Katie, now 18 years old, grew curious about her biological family. She tracked down Alyssa, and Steven, on social media. The estranged parents and daughter begin to correspond back and forth and gwt to know each other. In June 2016 Katie graduated from high school and had planned to enroll in the local community college and then eventually transfer to SUNY Purchase to study digital advertising. Katie, was an ]aspiring artist known at Dover High School for drawing comic strips. She planned to attend college and pursue a career in digital advertising. She was quoted once saying"A pen and something to draw on became a safe place for me," "Ink became my weapon against rules and regulations. ... To be short; for me, a life without art is no life at all."

In August of 2016 after continuing to correspond with her biological parents, Katie’s plans changed and Instead of enrolling in college, she opted to move to Henrico, Virginia to live with Steven, Alyssa, and their other two daughters. 

However, the Pladls home was far from the picturesque place Katie had originally thought it was Alyssa and Steven had been sharing seperate bedrooms for months prior to her moving in with them, and after she did, Steven began sleeping on Katie’s bedroom floor each night. He changed his style of clothes wearing skinny jeans, tight t shirts, shaving off his beard, and letting his hair grow. Now, while I am not here to pass judgement I think we all can pretty much figure where and why the sudden change came from. Between September and November of 2016 Steven, began a sexual relationship with his daughter Katie.

Later in November Alyssa moved out of the home and filed for divorce from Steven. With the couple splitting custody of their two younger children. Alyssa, who had been suspicious about Steven’s relationship with Katie, but was not completely aware of how far it had gone. 

By late 2016 and the beginning of 2017 Steven told the two younger girls to begin referring to Katie as their stepmom rather than their sister. At some point, during the time, Katie found out she was pregnant with Stevens child.

By May 23rd, 2017 Katie and Stevens dirty little secret was found out when Alyssa Stevens ex wife and Katies mother read her 11 year-old daughter’s diary after a visit with Steven and Katie. From the diary Alyssa learned that her ex-husband was engaging in a sexual relationship with their oldest biological daughter. She also learned that Katie was pregnant and expecting her and Stevens first child together. After confronting Steven about it, he told her "We're in love I thought you knew." It was after this Alyssa, contacted the police. 

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

By the summer of 2017 Katie and Steven move to Knightdale, North Carolina. While not much is said about the reason why, a fresh start didn't seem like the reason why. But the couple didn't keep their relationship secret, Katie posted photos on social media of them together smiling, kissing, photos that looked perfectly innocent to the outside looking in they looked no different than any other couple planning a wedding or expecting a baby but they were.

July 20th, 2017 in Maryland Katie and Steven and Their marriage was official; they were able to “legally” wed because they did not disclose their father-daughter relationship or that they were even related. 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.”

On September 1st, 2017 Katie gave birth to her, and Stevens baby a boy they named Bennett. In November a few mo ths after Bennett was born Henrico County police officers issued arrest warrants for Steven and Katie it wasn't until Late January of 2018 Steven and Katie are finally arrested and charged with incest and adultery. They were later released on bond and ordered to have no-contact with one another. During this time, Katie moved out of the house her and Steven shared and moved back to Connecticut with her adoptive parents and Steven’s mother gained custody of their son.

Around April Katie decided to end her relationship with Steven. Despite the no-contact order, Katie called Steven to break-up with him. He was devastated, and according to some of the articles I read said he was head over heels in love with her and couldn't let her go.

And so, on April 11th, 2018 Steven picked up his and Katie’s baby from his mother’s house. He brought the baby back to his home, where he proceeded to suffocate the seventh month old and leave his small body in a closet. He called his mother and told her what he'd done, and headed from North Carolina to Connecticut driving through the night unknown to Katie, and her family.

The next day, on April 12 Steven waited 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. Until they stopped at a stop sign between routes 7 and 55, when Steven, sprang from his vehicle and shot Katie and her adoptive father, killing them both. Steven Pladl later turned the gun on himself. When police found him in his still running car with a self inflicted gunshot wound dead in Dover New York.