7-month-old baby in Knightdale incest case was suffocated, autopsy says

The 7-month-old child of an incestuous union between a father and daughter was suffocated to death last spring, according to an autopsy report.

Bennett Pladl died of asphyxia after his torso was squeezed, a report released this week by the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says.

Investigators think the child died at the hands of his father, Steven Pladl, in their Knightdale home on April 11. Police found the child, wearing an elephant onsie and black socks, in the bedroom closet of the family's two-story home on Earlston Court.

Police believe Steven Pladl killed his son, drove through the night and fatally shot the child's mother, Katie Pladl, and her adoptive father, 56-year-old Anthony Fusco, in New Milford, Conn.

Steven Pladl was then found dead hours later on April 12 of an apparent suicide in Dover, N.Y., according to police.

Steven and Katie Pladl came to the attention of Knightdale police on Jan. 4, when a detective with the Henrico County, Va., police notified the department about warrants involving incest.

Both were arrested Jan. 18 and charged with being fugitives from justice in Virginia. Both were released from jail on bond. Steven Pladl was allowed to return to North Carolina but was banned from contacting Katie Pladl, who returned to New York to live with her adoptive family, according to court documents.

Police found Bennett on April 12 after Steven Pladl's mother called 911 and told a dispatcher that her son had confessed to killing the baby and his wife Katie Pladl, who was also his daughter.

This story was originally published July 3, 2018 at 5:19 PM.