Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #5

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This officer was not very good at communicating in this news conference and I'm kind of surprised she is the chief. She said "you know" a lot as a figure of speech and frequently stumbled over her words as she was reading. <modsnip - no need to comment on appearances> There was somehow a disconnect here imo and no new information to speak of. MOO.
She read from a script. When she deviated, she corrected herself and went back and read what was written.

For whatever the purpose for the PC was. Others have mentioned that she looked nervous and unsettled before the presser when she had not at others.

Interesting all the way around.
 
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You make such a great point.
One thing that has been very subtly nagging at me was the moment during his transfer from OC to Osceola.
The reporter was shouting multi question sequence at SS. There was no reaction until this one particular moment where we was at a door step and he shook his head. It felt involuntary and reactionary.
That moment felt more telling than most other ones. Made me wonder if he covered for her because of mutual destruction aspect of this awful, awful situation.
this one particular moment --- Do you remember what it was?
 
Perhaps she is hospitalized somewhere. I hope there's lots of sunshine and water, rainbows, unicorns and Irish leprechauns piped in 24/7.
But this isn't a fairy tale. It's a years' long sexual abuse and a murder investigation against a 13 year old child under the care of two messed-up adults. And you're talking about unicorns and rainbows for the "poor" mother. According to the press conference yesterday, she is still considered a suspect until they prove otherwise. MOO.
 
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She read from a script. When she deviated, she corrected herself and went back and read what was written.

For whatever the purpose for the PC was. Others have mentioned that she looked nervous and unsettled before the presser when she had not at others.

Interesting all the way around.
Yes, reading from a script is so much easier than speaking off-the-cuff. And yet she continually couldn't get the words out right from her script. You mentioned above she is new in that role for a year. She just seemed inexperienced and unprepared imo.
 
But Holland stressed the importance of not rushing detectives in their “meticulous” investigation.

She said detectives have been “relentless” in investigating what has proven to be a “complex” case.

“Our questions are being answered,” Holland said. “Slowly but surely.”

“Mr. Sterns is not going anywhere,” Holland said Thursday. “He’s in jail, and he’s going to be there for a while.”
It makes me wonder if this case turned out to be complex like the Delphi case, meaning, there too might be so many tentacles to this case, which has proven to make it complex.

there are so many different tentacles to this. Its very complex." - ISP Chief Doug Carter

I'm not inferring this case is like the Delphi case, I'm inferring that 'complex' just might mean "so many different tentacles" to it.

We know 1 - SS, perhaps and very likely IMO 2 - JS. But Holland said "everyone that was close to Madeline is considered a suspect until we have proven otherwise". Could more than SS & JS be the complexity (perhaps tentacles) in this case? Could a CSAM ring have been uncovered in all this? I can see something like that making it complex vs. just SS & JS.

And it's been 3 weeks since she was found. That's an awful long time IMO to have family still not cleared. Is it because her birthday party at her grandmother's house was really the last place LE can place her? So many questions, so few answers.

Vid starting at that point:
 
<modsnip> 'AITA for thinking my husband is sexualizing our daughter?'....and SS response to it being pretty vile, and also insightful into how he likely gaslit JS. So, I went looking for it. Here is that post.


And, he has 10,999 comments posted on reddit. Most are about Disneyland, and most of the rest about his pokemon type toys (sorry, I don't know much about that genre), some comments about his 'stepdaughter', and some tidbits in between that are insightful and weird about his personality. It's a lot of reading......about 10,999 comments worth. Here is that link...
His reaction to this makes me think that at least one person, at least one time, questioned his treatment of young girls. It seems like he's taking it VERY personally.
 
“We want to make sure that we uncover every single fact and all the evidence. We don’t want to put a timeline on it.”

The chief said officers were still trying to determine where Madeline died and how adding that she would not release further details until officers were sure of the facts.
 
MOO I’m of the opinion that perhaps they expected to have a real update like the ME report by then but there was a sudden hold up (possibly tox report not back yet?) so they had to last minute switch to this “no-update update”.

IMO reporters didn’t make good use of their Q&A. A few insightful questions/answers but a lot were a waste. Obviously LE can’t give any case details so ask questions about things they can actually tell us. I want to know if search warrants have been issued any houses other than JSs (like SS parents house)
 
This officer was not very good at communicating in this news conference and I'm kind of surprised she is the chief. She said "you know" a lot as a figure of speech and frequently stumbled over her words as she was reading. <modsnip - no need to comment on appearance> There was somehow a disconnect here imo and no new information to speak of. MOO.
I work for a college and I've noticed that the Criminal Justice majors are generally weak on their English/Speech/Communication skills. Just one college of course, but it's definitely a noticeable trend.
 
I do believe he manipulated her. I do. But I also refuse to believe that she was so taken in that she couldn’t spot the danger to herself if not to her daughter. And it’s one sided. We don’t know what she was like in her relationship with him. She stated she has bipolar and depression. I wonder if she was also a bit toxic herself? We don’t know if she was stable or not or what unstable periods may have looked like. Was she threatening suicide if he left? Did she threaten to harm him or Madeline?

I just think honestly? Mum should have noticed some flags and as soon as she did it was time to bounce with her kid. Or, better yet, imagine if Madeline had never even met SS or any of mum’s partners (remember she was married 2015-2017). Seems like she moved Ss into their lives (not necessarily their home because I don’t know when that happened) awfully quickly given police have charged him for offences as early as June 2019. MOO.
I hate writing this… especially knowing we all grieve differently.
Watching the interviews, I never got a sense of the mother who cared on a deeper level. As if there was that special connection component missing.
She at times came off as annoyed at Maddie.

I’m cognizant that mother/daughter relationships can be complicated, complex and, at times, even competitive.

I don’t know if there was some disassociation present, or she’s the type of parent that isn’t “warm and fuzzy”, but regardless of what ot was, my heart and soul hurt for Maddie.
If anyone deserved to be held in a safe embrace, it was that child.
 
It makes me wonder if this case turned out to be complex like the Delphi case, meaning, there too might be so many tentacles to this case, which has proven to make it complex.

there are so many different tentacles to this. Its very complex." - ISP Chief Doug Carter

I'm not inferring this case is like the Delphi case, I'm inferring that 'complex' just might mean "so many different tentacles" to it.

We know 1 - SS, perhaps and very likely IMO 2 - JS. But Holland said "everyone that was close to Madeline is considered a suspect until we have proven otherwise". Could more than SS & JS be the complexity (perhaps tentacles) in this case? Could a CSAM ring have been uncovered in all this? I can see something like that making it complex vs. just SS & JS.

And it's been 3 weeks since she was found. That's an awful long time IMO to have family still not cleared. Is it because her birthday party at her grandmother's house was really the last place LE can place her? So many questions, so few answers.

Vid starting at that point:
no doubt there is alot that LE is not revealing. as noted, the complex where JS and MS lived had alot of CCTV. we do not know:

JS's movements the day of Madeline's party and the evening rolling into the morning (if she worked that day/evening, was anything captured on CCTV with her leaving and returning in her vehicle?) or: was she home 'working' on sunday? where was she all day when Madeline was supposedly dropped off at school...did she ever leave the home before leaving for the school?

SS's movements: what were his movements after the party and into the nite rolling into the morning. revealed are bits and pieces of that morning and early afternoon. but nothing as to where he was when JS left for the 'supposed' school pickup.

JS's phone and computers: I would think LE did a deep dive into her computer and of course went through her phone and maybe still sifting through records because the abuse was going on for years...piecing together dates, times perhaps.

we are all wondering how she died. I seem to recall, there was discussion her autopsy report will not be made public due to the Bill enacted concerning public records concerning minors/autopsies....but of course, during a trial that information will come out. ahead of that, will LE advise the public, at minimum, her cause of death?
 
All of this "he gaslit her" ..."poor JS never knew anything because SS was such a mastermind"...it just seems so absurd. At minimum, she knew his "kinks", IMO.
Gaslighting is real and can have the victim doubting her own mind and vision. It's a severe manipulation. Of course none of us know if JS was gaslit. As far as " kinks" , I think that's very different than child sexual assault. Most tend to think these predators are easy to spot, if they were they'd be less around.
 
I hate writing this… especially knowing we all grieve differently.
Watching the interviews, I never got a sense of the mother who cared on a deeper level. As if there was that special connection component missing.
She at times came off as annoyed at Maddie.

I’m cognizant that mother/daughter relationships can be complicated, complex and, at times, even competitive.

I don’t know if there was some disassociation present, or she’s the type of parent that isn’t “warm and fuzzy”, but regardless of what ot was, my heart and soul hurt for Maddie.
If anyone deserved to be held in a safe embrace, it was that child.
This is completely my own opinion but the discussion by SSs friends about his overuse of Adderall gave me the inkling that perhaps JS uses prescription medications that may cause this detachment and “flat affect”.

 
this one particular moment --- Do you remember what it was?
At around 1:00 min mark when he walks in.
“what did you do with her? Tell us something “. I didn’t get a feeling he shook his head no in response to tell us something.
But rather, the sequence of questions…
I am most likely wrong, but that moment made me question if he was actually the one that killed her.
Almost like -in his sick mind- he’s saying back that he loved her so much he’d never hurt her.
 
I hate writing this… especially knowing we all grieve differently.
Watching the interviews, I never got a sense of the mother who cared on a deeper level. As if there was that special connection component missing.
She at times came off as annoyed at Maddie.

I’m cognizant that mother/daughter relationships can be complicated, complex and, at times, even competitive.

I don’t know if there was some disassociation present, or she’s the type of parent that isn’t “warm and fuzzy”, but regardless of what ot was, my heart and soul hurt for Maddie.
If anyone deserved to be held in a safe embrace, it was that child.
This is my feeling also. Was there a point where MJ became her competition, the other woman?
It can happen as bad as it sounds.
 
** Sorry for responding to an earlier post and now I can't remember which one.
IMO: whether she knew or not I have no idea, or if she had any " inkling". I've seen it go several different ways > Where people didn't recognize it ( maybe true or maybe confirmation bias ) I've seen kids that don't tell for many reasons but a surprising number that hid it(I am careful how I explain what they've told me) but usually incidents were not isolated, higher frequency or longer duration) even tho they knew it wasn't right, kids were too afraid to say no, so over time some felt like because they didn't say no or tell or stop it, their perception was they allowed it and blamed themselves.

I've seen some false allegations too, that are used as weapons in custody disputes, I've seen family members /people report their suspicions and it ends up destroying families. Reporting it can have its consequences also because not every case is proven and that can end up leaving a trail of destruction. So to just say " tell someone" it's not that easy, kids need more information than that to feel safe enough to tell. Telling is probably the easy part, the hard part is about what's going to happen?? to them, their family ...?
It is shocking the level of abuse some kids endure and even when removed most of them will still cry for their parents at bedtime... it's very sad.
 
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“We want to make sure that we uncover every single fact and all the evidence. We don’t want to put a timeline on it.”

The chief said officers were still trying to determine where Madeline died and how adding that she would not release further details until officers were sure of the facts.
All of the above statements are red flags, in my opinion. IF, KPD doesn't have the answers to the above questions, at this stage, I'm concerned. The COP appeared to be justifying the lack of information or an update. She didn't even get the birthday correct and she was reading from a prepared statement! Why was no investigators or the DA present to support her and the Dept?

I do realize Holland was appointed last year after serving as Deputy Director and prior as Training Coordinator for Polk County, 30 yrs*. MOO, she should be equipped with skills to address the public and answer expected questions .

I did notice .....**"Today, there are 152 sworn Police Officers and 88 civilian staff members of the Kissimmee Police Department."

The number of civilian staff seems extremely high in moo, vs the number of sworn officers. (My county has 206 s/officers and 24 civilian staff, 30k > residents and cover 320 square miles and a low crime rate)

I became concerned, early on, when the call was placed to 911 and it was 3 hours before LE showed up on a missing child report. Moo, I'm not sure the agency has the availability of staff to quickly and fully investigate MS case.
All my opinion and no disrespect for LE, just very concerned the investigation is not further along.

Moo


* https://www.linkedin.com/in/betty-holland-57ab1a79
Captain

Polk County Sheriff's Office

Oct 1987 - Mar 2018 30 years 6 months
Director at Kenneth C. Thompson Institute of Public Safety, Polk State College
**https://www.kissimmee.gov/departmen... 152 sworn,of the Kissimmee Police Department.
 
It's also possible she's upset simply because she's a human being like the rest of us, and a 13 year old who was SA'd and is now dead is an upsetting occurrence! Cops aren't immune to feelings.




Sadly, though, very often when 'suspicion' is reported it's not given the proper attention.
Of course, and I said as much. Nerves, anything is possible here. Sorry for edits, screwy WiFi here. it was an observation only on my part, made minutes after the presser.

I noticed she seemed emotional, and I did not notice this in earlier times when I have seen her speak.

I am not judging Chief Holland in any way for having human emotions. That would be wrong and ridiculous! Hopefully this is now very clear if it was not previously.
 
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