Knightdale incest couple, baby dead in multi-state crime scenes

KNIGHTDALE, NC (WTVD) — A Knightdale father and daughter who were charged earlier this year for having a baby together are dead, along with the baby and the girl’s adoptive father.

Bennett Pladl, a 7-month-old baby, was found dead at a home on Earlston Court after a welfare check Thursday morning.

Later in the morning, police in Connecticut found two people fatally shot inside a pickup truck in New Milford.

Police identified the deceased as Katie Pladl and her adoptive father, 56-year-old Anthony Buscoe. Steven — her biological father and the father of her child — was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot across the state line in New York.

Katie was legally adopted out of state when she was born. When she turned 18, Katie reached out to Steven and her mother through social media. In August 2016, she moved in with her biological parents and their two other children.

Steven and his wife legally separated three months later, in November 2016. The wife told authorities that the month she moved out of the home Steven had been sleeping on the floor of Katie’s bedroom.

The wife also said that she learned her daughter was pregnant and that Steven was the father in May 2017 after reading one of her other children’s journal. She said that she contacted Steven and he admitted that Katie was pregnant with his child and that the two had plans to get married.

Warrants said the two young children were told by Steven to refer to Katie as step-mom, even though she’s actually their sister.

The baby was born in September 2017.