An American man has killed himself, his daughter, their child and the girl’s adopted father.
The BBC reports Steven Pladl, 42, killed his biological daughter, who was also his wife, as well as their children, her adopted father, before taking his own life.
Police in North Carolina had been searching for Pladl’s mother reported that her son had confessed to the murders.
“My son just called me. He told me… he killed his baby and he’s in the house,” she said. “He killed his wife. He killed her father. I can’t even believe this is happening.”
“His wife broke up with him yesterday over the phone,” she added.
Pladl initially had given up his reported half-Asian daughter, Katie, for adoption to Anthony Fusco. Katie Pladl reconnected with her biological parents at the age of 18 through social media and moved in with them.
Katie fell pregnant with Steven’s child and her biological mother moved out, telling police Steven and Katie planned to wed.
Pladl was released from jail on bail in March, on the condition he would not contact his biological daughter.
Katie Pladl, 20, and her adoptive father, Anthony Fusco, 56, were found dead shortly after Pladl’s mother made the call to the police. The pair were found in a truck with its windows shot out.
Pladl was later found in Dover, New York. He had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Knightdale Police Chief Lawrence Capps said: “We are heartbroken, and saddened over the death of this child and like you, we are trying to make sense of all the factors that led up to this senseless taking of life.”
Chief Capps added that Pladl had driven to New York “for the specific purpose of making some confrontations”.
Pladl’s lawyer Rick Friedman said, “this is a terrible tragedy that nobody foresaw.”
“I really believe that if the judges or the prosecutor or the defence attorneys in this case had any clue that the minor child or anyone would be harmed there would not be a bond set for any of the parties,” he added.
