Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story Filming Locations and Cast Details

Spoiler note: This article describes the real crimes and deaths at the center of the case the film adapts, and includes plot details from the movie.

Metro Vancouver, British Columbia served as the sole production location for “Husband, Father, Killer: The Alyssa Pladl Story,” which premiered on Lifetime on October 19, 2024, and is also available to stream on Netflix. Jackie Cruz leads the cast as Alyssa Pladl, with Matthew MacCaull as Steven Pladl and Matreya Scarrwener as Katie Fusco, the daughter Alyssa placed for adoption as an infant. Elisabeth Rohm directed and executive produced, working from a screenplay by Stephen Tolkin. Principal photography ran from late July 2024 through August 17, 2024.

Where Was the Movie Filmed?

Metro Vancouver and its surrounding coastal areas provided all the filming locations. The region supplies a combination of studio facilities, suburban streets, and waterfront settings within a compact geographic footprint. The Cinemaholic reported that heavy rain fell on the first day of shooting, and the crew worked through the weather. The finished film runs 85 minutes and carries a TV-14 rating.

Other Lifetime productions that filmed in the region include “Nobody Dumps My Daughter,” “The Girl Who Wasn’t Dead,” “Mommy Meanest,” and “Buying Back My Daughter.”

Cast and Crew

Jackie Cruz, Matthew MacCaull, and Matreya Scarrwener lead the cast. Jackie Cruz (Alyssa Pladl) is best known for her role as Marisol “Flaca” Gonzales in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” Matthew MacCaull (Steven Pladl) is a Canadian actor with credits across more than two decades of US and Canadian television, including “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow,” “Bates Motel,” and “The Irrational.” Matreya Scarrwener (Katie Fusco) previously appeared in the Netflix series “Fakes.”

The supporting cast includes Sebastien Roberts as Eric, Joselyn Picard as Caroline Pladl, Jacqueline Ann Steuart as Kelly (the film’s version of adoptive mother Kelly Fusco), Chris Bradford as Anthony (the film’s version of adoptive father Tony Fusco), Belle Ferguson as Jenna Pladl, Michelle Avila Navarro as Young Alyssa, Cale Ambrozic as Young Steven, Carmen Aguirre as Elena Garcia, and Angela Moore as Detective Delia St. James. Carmen Aguirre is also known for her role in the Netflix series “Virgin River.”

Navid Soofi produced. Kara Feifer, Oliver De Caigny, Timothy O. Johnson, and Tolkin hold executive producer credits alongside Rohm. Devin Taylor edited, and Taylor Swindells composed the original score.

The True Case Behind the Film

The film adapts the events surrounding Steven Pladl, whose actions, according to law enforcement reporting by the Associated Press and CBS News, resulted in three deaths before his own suicide. The facts of the case, as reported by the Associated Press and CBS News, are as follows.

Steven was approximately 20 years old when he began a relationship with Alyssa, who was 15, after they met online around 1995. Their daughter was born and placed for adoption when she was eight months old. The Fusco family in upstate New York adopted the girl and raised her as Katie Fusco.

Steven and Alyssa later married and had additional children, but the marriage deteriorated. Alyssa has described years of emotional and verbal abuse by Steven, including “a lot of yelling, a lot of things smashed.”

In August 2016, Katie, then 18, moved in with the Pladl household after reconnecting with her birth parents. While living there, Steven began a sexual relationship with her. Alyssa discovered that Katie was pregnant after reading her other daughter’s journal and confronted Steven directly. He replied, according to Alyssa’s account to reporters, “I thought you knew. We’re in love.”

Steven and Katie subsequently moved to North Carolina, recorded a marriage certificate in Maryland in July 2017, and on September 1, 2017, their son Bennett Kieron Pladl was born. Steven and Katie were both arrested and charged with incest in Henrico County, Virginia, in January 2018. Both were released on bond and ordered to have no contact with each other.

On April 11, 2018, Katie ended the relationship by phone. The following day, Katie Fusco, 20, and her adoptive father Tony Fusco, 56, were found fatally shot inside their vehicle in New Milford, Connecticut. Separately, infant Bennett Pladl, seven months old, was found dead at the Knightdale, North Carolina home where Steven and Katie had lived. Steven Pladl was found dead in Dover, New York from an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The killings spanned three states. Because Steven died before trial, no criminal prosecution took place. Alyssa Pladl survived and has spoken publicly about the case in the years since, including in Associated Press reporting in 2018.

How the Film Frames the Story

The film centers on Alyssa’s account of events, following her experience as the surviving parent who first placed Katie for adoption and later watched the consequences of her daughter’s return to Steven’s life. In 2018 news coverage, the focus was largely on the criminal charges against Steven and Katie. Casting credits for Michelle Avila Navarro as Young Alyssa and Cale Ambrozic as Young Steven confirm the film covers the earlier relationship, including the abusive dynamic Alyssa has described as predating Katie’s return by years.

Rohm, whose Lifetime credits include “Devil on Campus: The Larry Ray Story,” has described the production as oriented around abuse awareness, according to The Cinemaholic’s reporting. The film’s title names Steven’s three roles in the lives of those who died: husband to Alyssa, biological father to Katie, and, according to Associated Press and CBS News reporting, the person responsible for three killings before his own death. For viewers who already know how the case ended, the Alyssa-centered frame shifts attention toward what the news cycle did not cover: the years of documented control and abuse that preceded the final crimes, and the account of the one person in that household who survived to describe them.