December 31, 2024 • 28 mins
You'll need a scorecard to keep up with this case in Dover, New York, in 2018.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Listen to Hudson River Radio dot Com. Don't make us
come and find you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is Murder in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio
dot Com and good evening, murder case fans. I won't
say murder fans.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I was waiting for how that was going to end.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I kind of pause murder podcast, true crime aficionados, whatever.
I want to thank an advance. I want to thank
Ryan who wrote to me and suggested this case, although
by the end of it we may not be thanking Ryan.
We may be so freaked out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Okay, all right, yeah, this is an ambush for me.
I have no idea what's coming. I just know the title.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Okay, Yeah, it's We've done so many disturbing ones. I
don't want to keep saying it's one of the most disturbed.
But this is a case where nobody looks good in
this case. So let's just dive in. We're going to
April twelfth, twenty eighteen, in Dover, New York, which is
(01:15):
Hudson Valley, and fifty six year old Anthony Fusco was
known as Tony and his twenty year old adopted daughter Katie,
left their home in Dover, New York, as they did
every Tuesday and Thursday, to go to Tony's mother's house
(01:35):
in Milford, Connecticut, which is about an hour's drive. Tony
was driving a black Toyota pickup truck and everything was
fine until they stopped at a stop sign at the
intersection of Route seven and fifty five in New Milford,
(01:56):
where multiple gunshots rang out from a semi automatic arrow
assault rifle. An off duty firefighter witnessed the shooting and
called nine. One called nine, said the car pulled up,
went around him and shot him a whole clip into
(02:17):
his head. Said both occupants of the pickup were dead.
The shots came from a light blue mini van with
out of state plates. Okay, you empty an entire clip
of any firearm into somebody's head. This is personal, this.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Is Yeah, that was a deliberate target.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I'm guessing, Uh, yes, quite deliberate. What you know, what's why?
What's an out of state car? Didn't know what ware
out of state?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Maybe I'm cynical because I'm old now, but the first
question that pops in my head is what did Tony do?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Mm hmm, okay, we will see if it's what Tony did.
All right. Tony was on the nice guy parent well
almost everybody liked him, obviously there was one person who didn't.
On the zoning board. Taught religious classes at the church,
(03:26):
just nice, nice guy. Katie had graduated from Dover High School,
was planning on going to Dutchess Community College. Was an artist.
Just two people going about their business, going to see
his mom, and gunned down rather brutally. I'm not familiar
(03:48):
with arrow rifles, are you, ady r O No, Yeah,
that was a new one for me, and this was
a semi automatic assault rifle. I looked it up, or
rather did looking weapon and again to what I don't
know how big the clips are. I should have looked
that up. But uh, enough to brutally murder both of them.
(04:11):
So before we get into the horrific details of this case,
let's take a first early break.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Hudson River Radio dot Com Hudson Riverradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
All right, then we have a brutal double homicide. It
sounds like someone kind of an ambush maybe waiting for them,
targeting them. So your your theory. What did Tony do?
Did do?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And I'm hoping, well hoping, he's probably not the right word.
You know that Katie wasn't also a target, that she
was an unfortunate you know. So I don't know. The
way you're looking at me is making me wonder if
Katie all right? All right, So I'm guessing their trips
to Connecticut were not completely innocent.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, these are good the theories. Okay, let's you know. No,
I'm glad you did not guess this, because no normal
human being would ever dream up what I'm about to
tell you. Okay, Okay, So Katie was adopted. As I mentioned,
she had been put up for adoption when she was
(05:40):
only eight months old by her birth mother, Alissa Plattle
p L A d L I think that's how you
pronounce it. And she was put up for adoption because
her husband, Steven was terribly abusing the baby. She was
(06:00):
always covered in bruises all over her body, and he
almost suffocated her in a cooler.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, yes, oh, we've just begne. So she thought the
only thing to do was put the baby up for adoption.
I have an idea, how about putting the son of
a bitch in jail?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah, Stephen.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, he seems to be the problem here. So your
husband is horribly abusing, almost killing your baby, and your
idea is to stay with him and just give the
baby up for adoption.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Okay, okay, at the table go on.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yes. So how did Stephen and Alyssa meet? Oh this
is another good one here. Nineteen ninety five. Stephen was twenty.
He met Alyssa online. I think we can use the
word grooming here because he then went to Texas where
she lived, to have sex with her. And oh did
(07:10):
I mention she was fifteen years old at the time. Okay,
what year is this again? Nineteen ninety five?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So meeting online? This is chat room era. This isn't
Tinder and all that kind of stuff. This is right, Yeah,
so a little less controlled, believe it or not that
it isn't it?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So we know what kind of person Stephen is. Fifteen
year old girl abusing babies. It's not going to get
any better. So she runs off with him to New
York and by age sixteen, is pregnant and then we
know what happens has the baby. So not only after
(07:53):
giving the baby up for adoption, not only does Alyssa
stay with Stephen she has two more children with him,
because that's a great idea. You know, he abuses children,
so why not have two more.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Comments Well, the next one will calm him down. Yeah,
we'll change him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's it. So meanwhile, Katie is out of the you know,
she's gone. She's with Tony and Kelly Fusco and they
also have a biological daughter, so she has a nice home.
Tony and Kelly are very supportive, I think, and we
(08:38):
will see maybe much much too supportive of Katie and
what she wanted to do, because at age eighteen, Katie
decides she wants to find her biological parents, which of
course any just about any. I don't know what the
(08:59):
percentage is. But if I was adopted, of course you're
going to be curious.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Right, did she do? You know, if she knew the
story why she was put up for adoption in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I don't think at this point she did, but she
would come to find out. Okay, So she finds them
on Facebook, so I guess she knew the names, and
Stephen and alyssa plattle. That's not very common. So you know,
you might want to, I don't know, take a few days,
(09:30):
take a weekend, maybe a week two. I think they
were in Virginia, North Carolina at this time. Go down,
get to know them. No, Katie decides to move in
with them and their two children. Alissa tells her why
she was put up for adoption, because Stephen was abusing
(09:53):
and almost killing her, but Katie didn't seem concerned about that.
Now Tony and Kelly they know the whole story. Of course,
they're not happy she wants to move in with her
abuse her, but they decide we're going to support her
(10:15):
decision because she's eighteen years old now and she can
make her own decisions.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, at that point, the best she can do is
leave the door open if she comes back. What else
can they really do?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't know, but when you know, it's one thing
if they had to give her up for adoption because
they were young and they didn't have a lot of money,
you know, circumstances like that. But you know, he almost
killed her. I don't know how much they protested, but wow,
I would have I would have put up a big fight.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So Stephen and Katie father and daughter. They become very close,
very very close. Okay, Alyssa finally decides She's going to
leave Stephen after god knows how many you know, eighteen
(11:16):
twenty years, It's about time. But she eventually finds out
from the two kids still living there that Stephen is
in fact having sex with his daughter Katie and she
is now pregnant.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, Okay, if you wrote this fiction, you would lose
your job because people are going.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
To say nobody would publish it.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, no, this is way too outlandish. So rather hysterical
over this news, she calls Stephen and confronts him, and
Stephen promptly says, this is none of your business. Where
and love? Okay? So, in May of twenty seventeen, Alyssa
(12:07):
reports Stephen to the police for incest. Okay, now that's
a pretty serious charge. Isn't that something that should be
acted upon rather quickly? I would think so, Yes, Well
it wasn't months apparently went by many, many months. Then.
(12:29):
This is just so mind blowing. Yeah, thanks a lot,
Ryan for suggesting this. I'm so upset. In July of
twenty seventeen, you know, so where several months after they've
been reported to the police, Stephen now age forty seven
and Katie aged nineteen, I have to keep saying this
(12:51):
father and daughter go to Maryland to get married, failing
to mention they are father and daughter because that's not
allowed and that's really sick and they shouldn't even contemplate it.
But they're in love, so it's not anybody else's business.
(13:12):
So who else doesn't mention the fact that their father
and daughter. Well, three of the wedding guests, one of
whom was Steven's mother, Okay, she's going along with this,
and who else is our guests Tony and Kelly, her
(13:35):
adoptive parents, because they just want to be supportive. Okay.
It's one thing to go live with your father, it's
another to marry him and have his baby. Yeah, okay,
are we done being supportive of Katie? Now?
Speaker 4 (13:52):
At this point, supportive is subjective, so I can only
then in the back of their minds, they're just trying
to make sure Katie knows she has somewhere to go
when she realizes the train wreck that she has boarded.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I might be wrong about that, but maybe I'm just
holding out hope.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
How about having the freaking police come to this wedding
and breaking it up because this father is marrying his
daughter and has gotten her pregnant. I think there's I
think there's a line in the sand that has been
crossed in leaps and.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Bash, Yeah, that's a sand castle that's been trampled.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah yeah, okay, so they go along with it to
be supportive. I'm being very critical here because this is
so outrageous. You cannot support this, you just can't. And again,
knowing he's an abuser, he has an explosive temper alyssa
(14:53):
and the kids are terrified of him, and this is
someone who has to be stopped, not appeased. In my
humble opinion, I agree, all right. The baby is born,
little son named Bennett, So Stephen is not only the father,
(15:14):
he is the grandfather. And Stephen's mother who attended the wedding,
this is not only her grandson, but her great grandson.
And of course it's Katie's son, but in some weird, sick,
twisted way, it's also her half brother.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I should have taken Adville before this episode, I know, I.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Know, it just makes you dizzy and sick to think
and this, I mean we're not talking about sixteen oh
two here or twelve.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
And then I think it would have been put to
you know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, and you know in some backwater country. This is
the United States of America in twenty seventeen. Okay, finally, finally,
January of twenty eighteen, remember Alyssa called the police. In
May of twenty seventeen, Steven and Katie are both arrested
(16:13):
for incest.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I have to ask, how did their kids turn out?
I mean, that's that's not a family tree, that's a
family stick right there.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, we know you're going to have to wait for that. Okay, okay,
now you know my fondness, my great regard for defense attorneys. True, Well,
enter enter defense attorney Rick Friedman the second. Here's his
(16:43):
statement on this whole.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
He's not his own grandfather, is he?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I don't He might be his own second cousin twice
removed and mother in law. I don't know. Here's his statement.
This case is an eighteen year old girl who shows
up at the doorstep of a forty year old man
who's going through difficult times with his wife. They have
(17:09):
a bond because they're biologically related, but they never knew
each other before they had a sexual relationship. He was
head over heels in love with her, so much so
that that outweighed the issue of them being biologically related comments.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm guessing he got a very large retainer up front
to say something that idiotic.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh my god, say now, words are my life both
spoken and.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yes, you're fant than I am.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And and I know this scumbag lawyer chose the words
biologically related rather than saying father and daughter. That sounds distance,
you're putting a little distance. But he's justifying this because well,
(18:07):
all right, they were father and daughter, but they didn't
even know each other before they started having sex. And
it's okay because they're in love. Is this one of
the most horrific statements in all of our legal system ever? Okay,
(18:29):
I need a break, Let's take our second break. I
need to do I need to do some breathing exercises.
All this is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We are back for better or for worse. So Brian
recap this for us in your own inimitable style.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Dad's his own child's grandfather, her own child's half sibling.
The step parents still show up, the real mom is
sort of gone, and there's an unbelievable defense attorney that
was spewing some of the biggest nonsense I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Haws that that's very well done. All right, very well done. Okay,
so okay, deep breath, relax. The judge gives custody of
baby Bennett to who else, Steven's mother. What is she
(19:38):
any more fit than.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The one who showed up at the wedding?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yes, yes, I don't think she's fit either. He also
orders Katie and Steven to have no further contact. Okay,
And for some reason at this point, maybe light is
finally dawning through Katie's thick skull. She decides to go
(20:03):
back to Dover, New York, to Tony and Kelly's house,
and they take her back because they're trying to be supportive. Okay, yes,
it's nice they took her back, but none of this
should have happened, correct, none of this? Okay. Early April,
(20:25):
Katie calls Stephen in North Carolina and breaks up with
him for good. Okay, guess what. He is not happy?
Not happy. Right after that phone call, Stephen goes to
his mother's house to pick up baby Bennett and bring
(20:47):
him to his house. Ominous. Not looking good for baby Bennett.
Next day, Steven's mother calls nine to one one. My
son just called me and oh god, you know he
killed his baby and he's in the house.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Comments, I wish I could say I was surprised.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah. Police arrive at Stephen's house. Stephen is long gone,
but baby Bennett is in the house, dead, suffocated. He
killed his own son, as he almost killed Katie twenty
years earlier. Okay, no one should have been surprised by
any of this. Why he was allowed? Why Stephen's mother
(21:37):
allowed him she knew he was upset from the breakup.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Well, he wasn't allowed, right, I'm assuming there was an
order of protection in place.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I would think even if there wasn't, Stephen's mother, if
she was at any sense, would have said, look, Stephen,
you're upset. Just let me keep the baby for a
few days till you calm down. No, okay, here's your son,
take him to your house.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah. So Stevens's mother also informs police he's headed to
New York to find Katie. Katie was the primary target,
after all. He drives five hundred miles in nine hours.
(22:24):
He knows that Katie and Tony were headed to see
Tony's mother, as they did in New Milford, twice a week.
So there is actual, very chilling security camera footage so
showing Steven's blue van sitting in a parking lot waiting,
and you see Tony's black pickup truck drive by, and
(22:47):
he immediately pulls out to follow them, and within minutes
they stop at the stop sign. He pulls up and
blows them away with his emptying a cliff. He probably
also hated Tony because Tony took his wife and little
(23:07):
girl away, but clearly he wanted Katie dead. That was
the whole point, because she had the nerve to leave him. Now,
I know your your thoughts on capital punishment on that.
(23:27):
If they end up catching Steven Plattle, what would you
do with him?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Meet life in prison with the most miserable existence possible?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, yeah, I would probably revivaled Sparky and get him
off the face of the earth. But fortunately, and that
was a moot point because a short time later, police
find a light blue minivan with North Carolina plates on
(24:00):
dog Tail Corners Road and dover. The engine is running.
You know, this man is super dangerous, armed and super dangerous.
That had to be I don't know what you do
to approach this vehicle.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
What circumstance is different. It really depends on what it is.
You know, if it's more of a barricaded subject, you're
going to slow down and take your time. If it's
active shooting, it's very different, you know. So every there's
no blanket answer for that. It really depends on the scenario.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Okay, so yeah, you don't know if he's going to
jump out and start shooting at you.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
That's what you're anticipating, and that's what you're preparing for.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Right Well, I am going to use the word fortunately
because I think it was fortunately. They find Stephen Plattle
inside the car dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound.
So he is gone out of the picture. But three murders,
(25:03):
one suicide, numerous acts of child abuse and incest, all
because this guy was, I'm going to say, allowed to
get away with this crap year after year after year.
Steven's lawyer. Let's get back to my favorite of defense attorney.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I'm guessing he didn't return his retainer.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Probably not. And he stated nobody ever could have predicted
this would happen. Oh, he was so upset. There was
just no indication Steven would turn to violence. In other words,
really I'm completely innocent in this. How could I have known?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yes, he didn't turn to violence, he was already there. Yeah,
he's got a history of that.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Explosive temper, history of violent, abusive behavior, and he owned
four guns and his wife slash daughter just broke up
with him. What could go wrong? Well, Katie, Tony, and
Baby Bennett are all buried in Saint Charles Cemetery in
(26:15):
Dover Plains, New York. If you want to go, pay
your respects if you're in the area. I think this
is a case where only poor baby Bennett is completely innocent.
I think everybody else reprehensible behavior on everybody's part that
(26:38):
allowed this horrific, horrific thing to happen.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
All right, Well, thanks Ryan, really.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, thanks a lot. Ryan. I'm deleting he's blocked now now,
I mean, yes, thanks seriously, thank you for suggesting that.
I recall in twenty eighteen hearing something about it. But
I definitely did not know all the sordid details of
(27:09):
this case at the time. It was probably, you know,
one of those things flashed on the screen and I
you know, But yeah, I think I think anybody listening
to this who sees any kind of behavior of anything
we mentioned tonight. You have to stop it because by
(27:30):
not stopping it, it's your tacit approval of somebody who's
going to spiral into something a lot worse. Stephen Plattle
was a powder keg from the day he went to
Texas to have sex with that fifteen year old girl,
and god knows what he did beforehand. Some of people
(27:52):
said he was quiet, kind of a misfit, was getting bullied.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I remember, quiet on the outside doesn't mean quyet online,
especially now.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, you know, yes, easy, yes, so wow, you have
to take that move to stop people like this. Yeah,
and you know I said, I don't think anybody in
this case was innocent except that poor baby boy. And yeah,
so that's it.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Okay, Yeah, that's that's enough for one night. Wow, all right?
Would you like to take us out?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Uh? Yes, So hopefully you will are not scared away
and you will come back to another episode of Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio. If you
are not a victim of Murder in the Hudson Valley,
this is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Listen to Hudson River Radio dot Com. Don't make us
come and find you.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I'm Linda Zimmerman.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
I'm Brian Harrowitz, and this.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Is Murder in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio
dot Com and good evening, murder case fans. I won't
say murder fans.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
I was waiting for how that was going to end.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
I kind of pause murder podcast, true crime aficionados, whatever.
I want to thank an advance. I want to thank
Ryan who wrote to me and suggested this case, although
by the end of it we may not be thanking Ryan.
We may be so freaked out.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Okay, all right, yeah, this is an ambush for me.
I have no idea what's coming. I just know the title.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Okay, Yeah, it's We've done so many disturbing ones. I
don't want to keep saying it's one of the most disturbed.
But this is a case where nobody looks good in
this case. So let's just dive in. We're going to
April twelfth, twenty eighteen, in Dover, New York, which is
(01:15):
Hudson Valley, and fifty six year old Anthony Fusco was
known as Tony and his twenty year old adopted daughter Katie,
left their home in Dover, New York, as they did
every Tuesday and Thursday, to go to Tony's mother's house
(01:35):
in Milford, Connecticut, which is about an hour's drive. Tony
was driving a black Toyota pickup truck and everything was
fine until they stopped at a stop sign at the
intersection of Route seven and fifty five in New Milford,
(01:56):
where multiple gunshots rang out from a semi automatic arrow
assault rifle. An off duty firefighter witnessed the shooting and
called nine. One called nine, said the car pulled up,
went around him and shot him a whole clip into
(02:17):
his head. Said both occupants of the pickup were dead.
The shots came from a light blue mini van with
out of state plates. Okay, you empty an entire clip
of any firearm into somebody's head. This is personal, this.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Is Yeah, that was a deliberate target.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I'm guessing, Uh, yes, quite deliberate. What you know, what's why?
What's an out of state car? Didn't know what ware
out of state?
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Maybe I'm cynical because I'm old now, but the first
question that pops in my head is what did Tony do?
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Mm hmm, okay, we will see if it's what Tony did.
All right. Tony was on the nice guy parent well
almost everybody liked him, obviously there was one person who didn't.
On the zoning board. Taught religious classes at the church,
(03:26):
just nice, nice guy. Katie had graduated from Dover High School,
was planning on going to Dutchess Community College. Was an artist.
Just two people going about their business, going to see
his mom, and gunned down rather brutally. I'm not familiar
(03:48):
with arrow rifles, are you, ady r O No, Yeah,
that was a new one for me, and this was
a semi automatic assault rifle. I looked it up, or
rather did looking weapon and again to what I don't
know how big the clips are. I should have looked
that up. But uh, enough to brutally murder both of them.
(04:11):
So before we get into the horrific details of this case,
let's take a first early break.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Hudson River Radio dot Com Hudson Riverradio dot Com.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
All right, then we have a brutal double homicide. It
sounds like someone kind of an ambush maybe waiting for them,
targeting them. So your your theory. What did Tony do?
Did do?
Speaker 3 (04:55):
And I'm hoping, well hoping, he's probably not the right word.
You know that Katie wasn't also a target, that she
was an unfortunate you know. So I don't know. The
way you're looking at me is making me wonder if
Katie all right? All right, So I'm guessing their trips
to Connecticut were not completely innocent.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, these are good the theories. Okay, let's you know. No,
I'm glad you did not guess this, because no normal
human being would ever dream up what I'm about to
tell you. Okay, Okay, So Katie was adopted. As I mentioned,
she had been put up for adoption when she was
(05:40):
only eight months old by her birth mother, Alissa Plattle
p L A d L I think that's how you
pronounce it. And she was put up for adoption because
her husband, Steven was terribly abusing the baby. She was
(06:00):
always covered in bruises all over her body, and he
almost suffocated her in a cooler.
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Okay, yes, oh, we've just begne. So she thought the
only thing to do was put the baby up for adoption.
I have an idea, how about putting the son of
a bitch in jail?
Speaker 3 (06:26):
Yeah, Stephen.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Yes, he seems to be the problem here. So your
husband is horribly abusing, almost killing your baby, and your
idea is to stay with him and just give the
baby up for adoption.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
Okay, okay, at the table go on.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Yes. So how did Stephen and Alyssa meet? Oh this
is another good one here. Nineteen ninety five. Stephen was twenty.
He met Alyssa online. I think we can use the
word grooming here because he then went to Texas where
she lived, to have sex with her. And oh did
(07:10):
I mention she was fifteen years old at the time. Okay,
what year is this again? Nineteen ninety five?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
So meeting online? This is chat room era. This isn't
Tinder and all that kind of stuff. This is right, Yeah,
so a little less controlled, believe it or not that
it isn't it?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
So we know what kind of person Stephen is. Fifteen
year old girl abusing babies. It's not going to get
any better. So she runs off with him to New
York and by age sixteen, is pregnant and then we
know what happens has the baby. So not only after
(07:53):
giving the baby up for adoption, not only does Alyssa
stay with Stephen she has two more children with him,
because that's a great idea. You know, he abuses children,
so why not have two more.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Comments Well, the next one will calm him down. Yeah,
we'll change him.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
That's it. So meanwhile, Katie is out of the you know,
she's gone. She's with Tony and Kelly Fusco and they
also have a biological daughter, so she has a nice home.
Tony and Kelly are very supportive, I think, and we
(08:38):
will see maybe much much too supportive of Katie and
what she wanted to do, because at age eighteen, Katie
decides she wants to find her biological parents, which of
course any just about any. I don't know what the
(08:59):
percentage is. But if I was adopted, of course you're
going to be curious.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Right, did she do? You know, if she knew the
story why she was put up for adoption in the
first place.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
I don't think at this point she did, but she
would come to find out. Okay, So she finds them
on Facebook, so I guess she knew the names, and
Stephen and alyssa plattle. That's not very common. So you know,
you might want to, I don't know, take a few days,
(09:30):
take a weekend, maybe a week two. I think they
were in Virginia, North Carolina at this time. Go down,
get to know them. No, Katie decides to move in
with them and their two children. Alissa tells her why
she was put up for adoption, because Stephen was abusing
(09:53):
and almost killing her, but Katie didn't seem concerned about that.
Now Tony and Kelly they know the whole story. Of course,
they're not happy she wants to move in with her
abuse her, but they decide we're going to support her
(10:15):
decision because she's eighteen years old now and she can
make her own decisions.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Yeah, at that point, the best she can do is
leave the door open if she comes back. What else
can they really do?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
I don't know, but when you know, it's one thing
if they had to give her up for adoption because
they were young and they didn't have a lot of money,
you know, circumstances like that. But you know, he almost
killed her. I don't know how much they protested, but wow,
I would have I would have put up a big fight.
Speaker 3 (10:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
So Stephen and Katie father and daughter. They become very close,
very very close. Okay, Alyssa finally decides She's going to
leave Stephen after god knows how many you know, eighteen
(11:16):
twenty years, It's about time. But she eventually finds out
from the two kids still living there that Stephen is
in fact having sex with his daughter Katie and she
is now pregnant.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Yeah, Okay, if you wrote this fiction, you would lose
your job because people are going.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
To say nobody would publish it.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
No, no, this is way too outlandish. So rather hysterical
over this news, she calls Stephen and confronts him, and
Stephen promptly says, this is none of your business. Where
and love? Okay? So, in May of twenty seventeen, Alyssa
(12:07):
reports Stephen to the police for incest. Okay, now that's
a pretty serious charge. Isn't that something that should be
acted upon rather quickly? I would think so, Yes, Well
it wasn't months apparently went by many, many months. Then.
(12:29):
This is just so mind blowing. Yeah, thanks a lot,
Ryan for suggesting this. I'm so upset. In July of
twenty seventeen, you know, so where several months after they've
been reported to the police, Stephen now age forty seven
and Katie aged nineteen, I have to keep saying this
(12:51):
father and daughter go to Maryland to get married, failing
to mention they are father and daughter because that's not
allowed and that's really sick and they shouldn't even contemplate it.
But they're in love, so it's not anybody else's business.
(13:12):
So who else doesn't mention the fact that their father
and daughter. Well, three of the wedding guests, one of
whom was Steven's mother, Okay, she's going along with this,
and who else is our guests Tony and Kelly, her
(13:35):
adoptive parents, because they just want to be supportive. Okay.
It's one thing to go live with your father, it's
another to marry him and have his baby. Yeah, okay,
are we done being supportive of Katie? Now?
Speaker 4 (13:52):
At this point, supportive is subjective, so I can only
then in the back of their minds, they're just trying
to make sure Katie knows she has somewhere to go
when she realizes the train wreck that she has boarded.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
I might be wrong about that, but maybe I'm just
holding out hope.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
How about having the freaking police come to this wedding
and breaking it up because this father is marrying his
daughter and has gotten her pregnant. I think there's I
think there's a line in the sand that has been
crossed in leaps and.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Bash, Yeah, that's a sand castle that's been trampled.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Yeah yeah, okay, so they go along with it to
be supportive. I'm being very critical here because this is
so outrageous. You cannot support this, you just can't. And again,
knowing he's an abuser, he has an explosive temper alyssa
(14:53):
and the kids are terrified of him, and this is
someone who has to be stopped, not appeased. In my
humble opinion, I agree, all right. The baby is born,
little son named Bennett, So Stephen is not only the father,
(15:14):
he is the grandfather. And Stephen's mother who attended the wedding,
this is not only her grandson, but her great grandson.
And of course it's Katie's son, but in some weird, sick,
twisted way, it's also her half brother.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I should have taken Adville before this episode, I know, I.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Know, it just makes you dizzy and sick to think
and this, I mean we're not talking about sixteen oh
two here or twelve.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
And then I think it would have been put to
you know.
Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah, and you know in some backwater country. This is
the United States of America in twenty seventeen. Okay, finally, finally,
January of twenty eighteen, remember Alyssa called the police. In
May of twenty seventeen, Steven and Katie are both arrested
(16:13):
for incest.
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I have to ask, how did their kids turn out?
I mean, that's that's not a family tree, that's a
family stick right there.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Yeah, we know you're going to have to wait for that. Okay, okay,
now you know my fondness, my great regard for defense attorneys. True, Well,
enter enter defense attorney Rick Friedman the second. Here's his
(16:43):
statement on this whole.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
He's not his own grandfather, is he?
Speaker 2 (16:47):
I don't He might be his own second cousin twice
removed and mother in law. I don't know. Here's his statement.
This case is an eighteen year old girl who shows
up at the doorstep of a forty year old man
who's going through difficult times with his wife. They have
(17:09):
a bond because they're biologically related, but they never knew
each other before they had a sexual relationship. He was
head over heels in love with her, so much so
that that outweighed the issue of them being biologically related comments.
Speaker 3 (17:34):
I'm guessing he got a very large retainer up front
to say something that idiotic.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Oh my god, say now, words are my life both
spoken and.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yes, you're fant than I am.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
And and I know this scumbag lawyer chose the words
biologically related rather than saying father and daughter. That sounds distance,
you're putting a little distance. But he's justifying this because well,
(18:07):
all right, they were father and daughter, but they didn't
even know each other before they started having sex. And
it's okay because they're in love. Is this one of
the most horrific statements in all of our legal system ever? Okay,
(18:29):
I need a break, Let's take our second break. I
need to do I need to do some breathing exercises.
All this is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
This is Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
We are back for better or for worse. So Brian
recap this for us in your own inimitable style.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
Dad's his own child's grandfather, her own child's half sibling.
The step parents still show up, the real mom is
sort of gone, and there's an unbelievable defense attorney that
was spewing some of the biggest nonsense I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
Haws that that's very well done. All right, very well done. Okay,
so okay, deep breath, relax. The judge gives custody of
baby Bennett to who else, Steven's mother. What is she
(19:38):
any more fit than.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
The one who showed up at the wedding?
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Yes, yes, I don't think she's fit either. He also
orders Katie and Steven to have no further contact. Okay,
And for some reason at this point, maybe light is
finally dawning through Katie's thick skull. She decides to go
(20:03):
back to Dover, New York, to Tony and Kelly's house,
and they take her back because they're trying to be supportive. Okay, yes,
it's nice they took her back, but none of this
should have happened, correct, none of this? Okay. Early April,
(20:25):
Katie calls Stephen in North Carolina and breaks up with
him for good. Okay, guess what. He is not happy?
Not happy. Right after that phone call, Stephen goes to
his mother's house to pick up baby Bennett and bring
(20:47):
him to his house. Ominous. Not looking good for baby Bennett.
Next day, Steven's mother calls nine to one one. My
son just called me and oh god, you know he
killed his baby and he's in the house.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Comments, I wish I could say I was surprised.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah. Police arrive at Stephen's house. Stephen is long gone,
but baby Bennett is in the house, dead, suffocated. He
killed his own son, as he almost killed Katie twenty
years earlier. Okay, no one should have been surprised by
any of this. Why he was allowed? Why Stephen's mother
(21:37):
allowed him she knew he was upset from the breakup.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
Well, he wasn't allowed, right, I'm assuming there was an
order of protection in place.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
I would think even if there wasn't, Stephen's mother, if
she was at any sense, would have said, look, Stephen,
you're upset. Just let me keep the baby for a
few days till you calm down. No, okay, here's your son,
take him to your house.
Speaker 3 (22:02):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Yeah. So Stevens's mother also informs police he's headed to
New York to find Katie. Katie was the primary target,
after all. He drives five hundred miles in nine hours.
(22:24):
He knows that Katie and Tony were headed to see
Tony's mother, as they did in New Milford, twice a week.
So there is actual, very chilling security camera footage so
showing Steven's blue van sitting in a parking lot waiting,
and you see Tony's black pickup truck drive by, and
(22:47):
he immediately pulls out to follow them, and within minutes
they stop at the stop sign. He pulls up and
blows them away with his emptying a cliff. He probably
also hated Tony because Tony took his wife and little
(23:07):
girl away, but clearly he wanted Katie dead. That was
the whole point, because she had the nerve to leave him. Now,
I know your your thoughts on capital punishment on that.
(23:27):
If they end up catching Steven Plattle, what would you
do with him?
Speaker 3 (23:32):
Meet life in prison with the most miserable existence possible?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
Okay, yeah, I would probably revivaled Sparky and get him
off the face of the earth. But fortunately, and that
was a moot point because a short time later, police
find a light blue minivan with North Carolina plates on
(24:00):
dog Tail Corners Road and dover. The engine is running.
You know, this man is super dangerous, armed and super dangerous.
That had to be I don't know what you do
to approach this vehicle.
Speaker 3 (24:19):
What circumstance is different. It really depends on what it is.
You know, if it's more of a barricaded subject, you're
going to slow down and take your time. If it's
active shooting, it's very different, you know. So every there's
no blanket answer for that. It really depends on the scenario.
Speaker 2 (24:35):
Okay, so yeah, you don't know if he's going to
jump out and start shooting at you.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
That's what you're anticipating, and that's what you're preparing for.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Right Well, I am going to use the word fortunately
because I think it was fortunately. They find Stephen Plattle
inside the car dead from a self inflicted gunshot wound.
So he is gone out of the picture. But three murders,
(25:03):
one suicide, numerous acts of child abuse and incest, all
because this guy was, I'm going to say, allowed to
get away with this crap year after year after year.
Steven's lawyer. Let's get back to my favorite of defense attorney.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
I'm guessing he didn't return his retainer.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Probably not. And he stated nobody ever could have predicted
this would happen. Oh, he was so upset. There was
just no indication Steven would turn to violence. In other words,
really I'm completely innocent in this. How could I have known?
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yes, he didn't turn to violence, he was already there. Yeah,
he's got a history of that.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Explosive temper, history of violent, abusive behavior, and he owned
four guns and his wife slash daughter just broke up
with him. What could go wrong? Well, Katie, Tony, and
Baby Bennett are all buried in Saint Charles Cemetery in
(26:15):
Dover Plains, New York. If you want to go, pay
your respects if you're in the area. I think this
is a case where only poor baby Bennett is completely innocent.
I think everybody else reprehensible behavior on everybody's part that
(26:38):
allowed this horrific, horrific thing to happen.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
All right, Well, thanks Ryan, really.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
Yeah, thanks a lot. Ryan. I'm deleting he's blocked now now,
I mean, yes, thanks seriously, thank you for suggesting that.
I recall in twenty eighteen hearing something about it. But
I definitely did not know all the sordid details of
(27:09):
this case at the time. It was probably, you know,
one of those things flashed on the screen and I
you know, But yeah, I think I think anybody listening
to this who sees any kind of behavior of anything
we mentioned tonight. You have to stop it because by
(27:30):
not stopping it, it's your tacit approval of somebody who's
going to spiral into something a lot worse. Stephen Plattle
was a powder keg from the day he went to
Texas to have sex with that fifteen year old girl,
and god knows what he did beforehand. Some of people
(27:52):
said he was quiet, kind of a misfit, was getting bullied.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I remember, quiet on the outside doesn't mean quyet online,
especially now.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, you know, yes, easy, yes, so wow, you have
to take that move to stop people like this. Yeah,
and you know I said, I don't think anybody in
this case was innocent except that poor baby boy. And yeah,
so that's it.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Okay, Yeah, that's that's enough for one night. Wow, all right?
Would you like to take us out?
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Uh? Yes, So hopefully you will are not scared away
and you will come back to another episode of Murder
in the Hudson Valley on Hudson River Radio. If you
are not a victim of Murder in the Hudson Valley,
this is Hudson River Radio dot com.
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