When North Carolina couple Steven Pladl and his wife Alyssa Pladl split up their lives became entangled in a scandal of incest and tragedy.
The two had a daughter together, Katie Fusco, who was put up for adoption in 1998.
Katie knew she was adopted and had wanted to track down her biological parents one day.
Once she reached the age of 18 she decided to try to find her mum and dad and find out who they were.
Using social media, Katie reconnected with her parents and eventually moved in with them and their two other children near Richmond, Virginia in 2016.
Alyssa and Steven even got to watch Katie's high school graduation in New York.
However, then things started to get complicated for the family.
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Steven and Alyssa’s marriage was on the rocks and the two separated just three months after Katie joined them.
In the months before Steven moved out, he would sleep on the floor of Katie’s room to be away from his wife.
Steven and Katie moved together to Knightdale, North Carolina, about 150 miles away from where the family previously lived.
A year later Alyssa received a phone call from Steven where he said the ex-couple’s 11-year-old daughter had started misbehaving.
Curious about what might be going on, Alyssa started to investigate.
She found her daughter’s diary and looked inside to discover a horrifying revelation that would change the family’s lives forever.
Entries in the diary revealed that Steven and Katie were having an incestuous relationship.
The confused 11-year-old girl had written in her diary about what biological father and daughter Steven and Katie were doing.
There were even drawings of them both depicted as devils.
According to the Daily Mail , the 11-year-old girl had written in the diary: “Katie is pregnant. Dad says they feel like couples. Did they get a little too drunk that night? My dad is a s***.
"He's Satan. He's f*****g SATAN.
"He'll go to hell but he won't be the one getting tortured, he'll be the one torturing people.
“Wait one second if he's Satan and Katie is a human then the baby will be half demon.”
Alyssa was shocked and devastated at the sickening revelation.
She found out that they had plans to get married and had instructed Steven’s other children to call Katie their stepmum.
An arrest warrant was issued for both of them when authorities learned what had happened.
After being tracked down Steven and Katie were charged with incest with adult, adultery, contributing to delinquency.
But the story didn’t end there.
Cops found a baby boy aged four months believed to have been fathered by Steven at the home.
Alyssa blames her now ex-husband for the whole affair and believes he seduced and brainwashed Katie.
Steven and Alyssa divorced in 2017 not long before Katie became pregnant with Steven’s child.
The pair shared pictures on social media showing off the baby boy.
After her arrest, Katie moved back in with her adoptive parents the Fuscos.
On April 12 2018 Katie and her adoptive father Tony were on their way to visit her adoptive grandmother's home.
Surveillance showed Steven Pladl watching them leave before gunshots were heard.
Katie and Tony were fatally shot and Steven was later found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.
Shortly after the murder-suicide, Steven's mother, Grace, called police and reported that her son had told her he killed the baby, Katie and her adoptive father.
