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He killed his baby and [the baby is] in the house...His wife broke up with him over the phone yesterday...I can't even believe this is happening. Steven Pladl, 42, was found dead Thursday morning in his vehicle in Dover, N.Y., several miles from the New Milford, Conn., murder scene where Katie and her adoptive father, 56-year-old Anthony Fusco, were discovered. Those two were also found dead in a vehicle that had one of its windows shot out, police said. The child’s body was found inside Pladl's home, hundreds of miles south in Knightdale, N.C., the same day. Pladl’s mother -- the one who tipped off authorities about the toddler's death -- had obtained custody of the child Steven fathered with his daughter following their arrests in January for adultery and contributing to delinquency, police told WNCN. The mother lives in Cary, about a half hour’s drive from Knightdale, and reportedly told them that Steve had picked Bennett up from her home Wednesday night. April 12, 2018: Police work at the scene where Katie Pladl and her adoptive father, Anthony Fusco, were found dead. (AP/Hearst Connecticut Media ) The toddler was found dead around 9 a.m. Thursday after officers performed a welfare check on the Knightdale home, where Pladl -- and previously his daughter -- had lived. Katie Pladl moved out of the home earlier this year and was living with her adoptive family in New York after bonding out of jail in Virginia, WNCN reported, citing court documents. It appeared Steven Pladl drove through the night Wednesday to hunt down his daughter and Fusco. They were found dead around 8:40 a.m. Thursday, and Pladl shot himself shortly afterward. This is a terrible tragedy that nobody foresaw, i really believe that if the judges or the prosecutor or the defense 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.