Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #6

[photoprose1122]

That happens all the time. We follow cases on here where we know that law enforcement knows who committed the crime, and it takes weeks, months, or even longer for an arrest. This, despite enough evidence to arrest that person early on, on other charges.

I don't believe she's directly involved in the murder of her daughter, so any charges would likely be bailable. So you arrest her, completely tip your hand in regards to the murder case (the AA would contain evidence in that regard), and then she bonds out.

If she was involved directly, then the same applies in regards to tipping your hand. The evidence against her would relate to the murder itself, and thus, the crimes of SS. No bueno.

I expect murder charges against him will simultaneously come with any charges against her.

This makes a lot of sense. Especially since (something I’m still hung up on) they have “much more information they have not released yet,” to protect the integrity of the investigation. It makes sense that they wouldn’t want the defense getting their hands on too many details before they’ve built their case.

 

[MassGuy]

On brand for her.

It really is. We have her saying "we," repeatedly. Then there's the bizarre behavior when she realized Maddie was missing, not going into the school right away, but driving around and eventually sending an email. Then there's telling the media that she last saw her daughter the night before, while telling law enforcement she saw Maddie getting dressed for school. Now she didn't even place the call herself (unless there's another call somewhere).

 

[Universecalling]

It really is. We have her saying "we," repeatedly. Then there's the bizarre behavior when she realized Maddie was missing, not going into the school right away, but driving around and eventually sending an email. Then there's telling the media that she last saw her daughter the night before, while telling law enforcement she saw Maddie getting dressed for school. Now she didn't even place the call herself (unless there's another call somewhere).

100.
There’s a sense of detachment woven throughout JS’s actions and behaviors.

Mother/daughter relationships can be complex, sometimes competitive (particularly on the mother side driven by low self worth/confidence).

 

[Ontario Mom]

So, what if... JS is never charged or arrested for anything because LE's investigation results in zero evidence to charge her with anything connected to either the abuse or the death of her daughter. Then what?

 

[BeeGirl]

So, what if... JS is never charged or arrested for anything because LE's investigation results in zero evidence to charge her with anything connected to either the abuse or the death of her daughter. Then what?

Then she does not face criminal prosecution.

She may end up prosecuted and she may not. Whether she is or not, I believe the discourse we’ve had here has been productive to explore discussion around child abuse. The sheriff said it best at the press conference about speaking out, talk to your kids. I think this discourse has raised a lot of important issues not only about child abuse but neglect, no matter the charges.

 

[photographer4]

So, what if... JS is never charged or arrested for anything because LE's investigation results in zero evidence to charge her with anything connected to either the abuse or the death of her daughter. Then what?

Then she will have still have the consequences of knowing she brought the monster home to her daughter for the rest of her life. And if she knew and failed to act she will have to live with that too. And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

It's generally not budget, it's the fact that no one wants to be police officers anymore. Even with incentives, departments are really struggling to recruit qualified people, even after lowering their hiring standards.

I think this would have looked very different had they had a frantic mother on the phone, which I think may have upped the priority.

Or if it had been a younger child.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Okay keeping myself honest here. I'm here to nibble on some crow. I have always expressed skepticism that JS called 911 to report a missing child at (according to the times given or estimated previously) around 4:45 and LE didn't show up until 8 something that night.

Although we don't know yet exactly when the 911 calls were made, it does appears that there was a considerable gap between the calls and the deputy arriving.

I think I understand now that a factor in the response time might be the age of the child missing. Any delay in LE response time is regrettable, but it's more understandable now that they might have felt less urgency than if the reported missing child had been a toddler.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Well I might have more crow to eat later but in her interviews JS said multiple times that "we" dropped Maddie off at school and then corrected that to say "he" as in Stephan dropped her off.

I can't remember if she said "I" called 911 in both interviews, but in the one where she definitely did, she never corrected it to say "we" called 911. And now we learn she didn't call 911 at all.

Note: edited to correct bonehead miswording.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

I REALLLLLLLY hope it is, because it's just eerie....


OK YES. It is!!! What the....????? Why is this news agency posting a press conference on their channel from 2 weeks ago? Thank you

Maybe it is a slow news day, trying to get clicks knowing people will think it's a new press conference.

 

[BeeGirl]

Okay keeping myself honest here. I'm here to nibble on some crow. I have always expressed skepticism that JS called 911 to report a missing child at (according to the times given or estimated previously) around 4:45 and LE didn't show up until 8 something that night.

Although we don't know yet exactly when the 911 calls were made, it does appears that there was a considerable gap between the calls and the deputy arriving.

I think I understand now that a factor in the response time might be the age of the child missing. Any delay in LE response time is regrettable, but it's more understandable now that they might have felt less urgency than if the reported missing child had been a toddler.

I can see this. When you hear 13, didn’t make it to school, and hasn’t come home yet, the average cop is probably reminiscing on their favorite day as a teen skipping school.

If they hear that a 6 year old didn’t make it to school and hasn’t come home yet, that strikes fear in the heart.

The sum total of info given probably didn’t also help the police triage the importance of the call that day either. We know from the initial missing person report JS told them she’d personally seen Maddie that morning. All signs pointed at skipping school…until they didn’t.

We do need better accessibility and responsiveness across public services but most counties’ funding doesn’t allow enough officers. I can see having to triage responding to a missing teen to attend to something like an active home invasion, violent assault, or hostage situation.

It will be interesting to see what facts were known when and by who (but I suppose that’s always true!)

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Then she will have still have the consequences of knowing she brought the monster home to her daughter for the rest of her life. And if she knew and failed to act she will have to live with that too. And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too.

Harsh.
More than lessening my view that JS has social anxiety, which I am totally guessing as an unqualified mental health armchair nobody. (To me, the anxiety is clear in the videos), the fact she doesn't actually call herself (or maybe she did, and that call has not been released), yet is there giving details while her support and family call makes my view even stronger for social anxiety, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and so on and so forth.
Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You maybe call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), you look around where she might be, with panic rising every minute, you call the school, no answering, they have all left. You email the teacher (this is a very normal way to speak with kids' teachers these days; my son's teacher uses a teacher-parent messaging app, and she replies within 10 minutes), and you anxiously wait for the teacher to respond while maybe checking the comic book store and your mum's place of work around the corner. The teacher responds, your child was never at school.
Now, if she has nothing to do with this, the panic would be immense. I would be in stress response mode, and I would be fighting to not hyper-ventilate. I would call my husband, friends, and family. I would call 911 myself, BUT I can see myself asking my husband, friend, or family member to call any consecutive times. Why? Because I know for sure that if the police had not turned up after 30 minutes, I would be in full panic mode and would need support.
But JS has been very consistent in taking backstage; if she is socially anxious, this makes sense.

But besides that, if she really did not know what a monster SS was, and he manipulated her from the start, I really do not think she deserves the callousness of "And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too."

Although this is a very true 'fact,' her daughter was murdered/died, and she found out the man she maybe thought was her 'rock' was a lying, manipulating bag of garbage, and had hurt her daughter underneath her nose...
We may not have fallen for his stories, but maybe she did. Can you imagine the torture she will be going through for the rest of her life?
I completely understand that I have a view which is in the minority on ws, and I understand the majority have another view, and that view could be the truth. My view could be wrong, and if it is, I will say I was wrong, but as it stands, JS has not been named a suspect and has not been indicated to be involved in SS's depraved acts or her daughter's disappearance or murder.
We know SS is a disgusting monster. We do not KNOW that of JS. IF or YET.
Very much JMO
ETA:
I have HAD general anxiety and recognize some of the behaviours.

 

[MassGuy]

So, what if... JS is never charged or arrested for anything because LE's investigation results in zero evidence to charge her with anything connected to either the abuse or the death of her daughter. Then what?

She told the media that she last saw her daughter the night before. She told law enforcement she saw Maddie getting ready for school. The first statement makes her liar. The second would make her a liar and a criminal. I fully expect her to charge her for that, at a bare minimum. Committing a crime by lying is typically to cover up a more serious crime. I mean, why lie otherwise?

 

[BeeGirl]

I wonder if we will see any charges around Florida statute 827.03(1)(e)(2):

(e) “Neglect of a child” means:
…
2. A caregiver’s failure to make a reasonable effort to protect a child from abuse, neglect, or exploitation by another person.
Except as otherwise provided in this section, neglect of a child may be based on repeated conduct or on a single incident or omission that results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, serious physical or mental injury, or a substantial risk of death, to a child.
….
and later down in 827.03(2)(b) says:

(b) A person who willfully or by culpable negligence neglects a child and in so doing causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, or permanent disfigurement to the child commits a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.

 

[photographer4]

Harsh.
More than lessening my view that JS has social anxiety, which I am totally guessing as an unqualified mental health armchair nobody. (To me, the anxiety is clear in the videos), the fact she doesn't actually call herself (or maybe she did, and that call has not been released), yet is there giving details while her support and family call makes my view even stronger for social anxiety, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and so on and so forth.
Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You maybe call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), you look around where she might be, with panic rising every minute, you call the school, no answering, they have all left. You email the teacher (this is a very normal way to speak with kids' teachers these days; my son's teacher uses a teacher-parent messaging app, and she replies within 10 minutes), and you anxiously wait for the teacher to respond while maybe checking the comic book store and your mum's place of work around the corner. The teacher responds, your child was never at school.
Now, if she has nothing to do with this, the panic would be immense. I would be in stress response mode, and I would be fighting to not hyper-ventilate. I would call my husband, friends, and family. I would call 911 myself, BUT I can see myself asking my husband, friend, or family member to call any consecutive times. Why? Because I know for sure that if the police had not turned up after 30 minutes, I would be in full panic mode and would need support.
But JS has been very consistent in taking backstage; if she is socially anxious, this makes sense.

But besides that, if she really did not know what a monster SS was, and he manipulated her from the start, I really do not think she deserves the callousness of "And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too."

Although this is a very true 'fact,' her daughter was murdered/died, and she found out the man she maybe thought was her 'rock' was a lying, manipulating bag of garbage, and had hurt her daughter underneath her nose...
We may not have fallen for his stories, but maybe she did. Can you imagine the torture she will be going through for the rest of her life?
I completely understand that I have a view which is in the minority on ws, and I understand the majority have another view, and that view could be the truth. My view could be wrong, and if it is, I will say I was wrong, but as it stands, JS has not been named a suspect and has not been indicated to be involved in SS's depraved acts or her daughter's disappearance or murder.
We know SS is a disgusting monster. We do not KNOW that of JS. IF or YET.
Very much JMO
ETA:
I have HAD general anxiety and recognize some of the behaviours.

No matter what happens going forward Js will likely spend her lifetime looking backwards at what she did or didn’t do. What she knew or didn’t on any aspect of her relationship with SS. That’s not harsh. That’s not me blaming her. That’s me saying that’s her reality whether or not she is charged criminally or not. There is no recovering from this in my view. I don’t find that anything other than her new harsh reality. I can’t imagine being her.

 

[photographer4]

Harsh.
More than lessening my view that JS has social anxiety, which I am totally guessing as an unqualified mental health armchair nobody. (To me, the anxiety is clear in the videos), the fact she doesn't actually call herself (or maybe she did, and that call has not been released), yet is there giving details while her support and family call makes my view even stronger for social anxiety, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and so on and so forth.
Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You maybe call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), you look around where she might be, with panic rising every minute, you call the school, no answering, they have all left. You email the teacher (this is a very normal way to speak with kids' teachers these days; my son's teacher uses a teacher-parent messaging app, and she replies within 10 minutes), and you anxiously wait for the teacher to respond while maybe checking the comic book store and your mum's place of work around the corner. The teacher responds, your child was never at school.
Now, if she has nothing to do with this, the panic would be immense. I would be in stress response mode, and I would be fighting to not hyper-ventilate. I would call my husband, friends, and family. I would call 911 myself, BUT I can see myself asking my husband, friend, or family member to call any consecutive times. Why? Because I know for sure that if the police had not turned up after 30 minutes, I would be in full panic mode and would need support.
But JS has been very consistent in taking backstage; if she is socially anxious, this makes sense.

But besides that, if she really did not know what a monster SS was, and he manipulated her from the start, I really do not think she deserves the callousness of "And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too."

Although this is a very true 'fact,' her daughter was murdered/died, and she found out the man she maybe thought was her 'rock' was a lying, manipulating bag of garbage, and had hurt her daughter underneath her nose...
We may not have fallen for his stories, but maybe she did. Can you imagine the torture she will be going through for the rest of her life?
I completely understand that I have a view which is in the minority on ws, and I understand the majority have another view, and that view could be the truth. My view could be wrong, and if it is, I will say I was wrong, but as it stands, JS has not been named a suspect and has not been indicated to be involved in SS's depraved acts or her daughter's disappearance or murder.
We know SS is a disgusting monster. We do not KNOW that of JS. IF or YET.
Very much JMO
ETA:
I have HAD general anxiety and recognize some of the behaviours.

duplicate. Sorry. Dbm

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Let's take a trip to a scenario...

Respectfully copied for focus

Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You maybe call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), you look around where she might be, with panic rising every minute, you call the school, no answering, they have all left. You email the teacher...

My version, edits bolded:

Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You text and when she doesn't reply, call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), but after there's no response either way, you march into that school to find out if anyone's seen her lately, because with her ADHD she might have gotten absorbed in something and lost track of time. Or forgotten to charge her phone.

My point being: the first logical thing that most people do when you arrive someplace to pick someone up, child or adult, and they don't emerge, is to enter the building to look for them.

There's no indication that she ever did this.

 

[photographer4]

She told the media that she last saw her daughter the night before. She told law enforcement she saw Maddie getting ready for school. The first statement makes her liar. The second would make her a liar and a criminal. I fully expect her to charge her for that, at a bare minimum. Committing a crime by lying is typically to cover up a more serious crime. I mean, why lie otherwise?

I agree with you. The statement to LE was a lie and I am wondering if they’ll charge with obstruction or some other charge. The police told us as the last conference everyone is a suspect until they’re proven otherwise or something to that effect and it’s been linked to many times in this thread.

 

[Forest_Wood]

Harsh.
More than lessening my view that JS has social anxiety, which I am totally guessing as an unqualified mental health armchair nobody. (To me, the anxiety is clear in the videos), the fact she doesn't actually call herself (or maybe she did, and that call has not been released), yet is there giving details while her support and family call makes my view even stronger for social anxiety, anxiety, ADHD, autism, and so on and so forth.
Let's take a trip to a scenario...
You are going to pick your daughter up from school, and you arrive, and no one is there. You maybe call her phone (or maybe not, if she already had seen it at home), you look around where she might be, with panic rising every minute, you call the school, no answering, they have all left. You email the teacher (this is a very normal way to speak with kids' teachers these days; my son's teacher uses a teacher-parent messaging app, and she replies within 10 minutes), and you anxiously wait for the teacher to respond while maybe checking the comic book store and your mum's place of work around the corner. The teacher responds, your child was never at school.
Now, if she has nothing to do with this, the panic would be immense. I would be in stress response mode, and I would be fighting to not hyper-ventilate. I would call my husband, friends, and family. I would call 911 myself, BUT I can see myself asking my husband, friend, or family member to call any consecutive times. Why? Because I know for sure that if the police had not turned up after 30 minutes, I would be in full panic mode and would need support.
But JS has been very consistent in taking backstage; if she is socially anxious, this makes sense.

But besides that, if she really did not know what a monster SS was, and he manipulated her from the start, I really do not think she deserves the callousness of "And if she didn’t know, well, she will have to live with that too."

Although this is a very true 'fact,' her daughter was murdered/died, and she found out the man she maybe thought was her 'rock' was a lying, manipulating bag of garbage, and had hurt her daughter underneath her nose...
We may not have fallen for his stories, but maybe she did. Can you imagine the torture she will be going through for the rest of her life?
I completely understand that I have a view which is in the minority on ws, and I understand the majority have another view, and that view could be the truth. My view could be wrong, and if it is, I will say I was wrong, but as it stands, JS has not been named a suspect and has not been indicated to be involved in SS's depraved acts or her daughter's disappearance or murder.
We know SS is a disgusting monster. We do not KNOW that of JS. IF or YET.
Very much JMO
ETA:
I have HAD general anxiety and recognize some of the behaviours.

It's been stated by the police investigating this case that everyone close to MS is being treated as a suspect until proven innocent. Which is the reason people are discussing all the discrepancies here of what JS originally stated and how she has acted. I didn't find that comment by @photographer4 callous. It's actually a very true statement imo. This child was abused from at least the age of 8, possibly younger. Five years of horrific and ongoing abuse that, as illustrated in the affidavit, must have caused certain injury to parts of her body or at least showed signs of abnormal happenings ... and nobody noticed ... anything? Talk about having your head in the sand for the past five years IMO. People have an obligation to protect their children. No amount of mental health problems like you describe above eliminates this obligation. It's really very sad for everyone involved until LE proves her innocence and I cannot accept that she is completely innocent here, based on the little that we know. MOO.

 

[Mack the Knife]

Well I might have more crow to eat later but in her interviews JS said multiple times that "we" dropped Maddie off at school and then corrected that to say "he" as in Stephan dropped her off.

I can't remember if she said "I" called 911 in both interviews, but in the one where she definitely did, she never corrected it to say "we" called 911. And now we learn she didn't call 911 at all.

Note: edited to correct bonehead miswording.

(Bolded by me)
I don’t think it is confirmed that she didn’t call 911. We’ve heard three calls, and in the second call, the caller (possibly JS’s mom) says they’ve called three times. Usually I would take that to mean that call is the fourth, but maybe not. It’s not really clear to me how the media has gotten the calls, but there is nothing from LE saying it is all of the calls, as far as I know.

My speculation is that JS might have called 911 and been told to go check this or that, so then she calls her mom, calls her sister, asks friends, etc and still nothing. So then her sister calls again and they then take more information on MS, as we can hear on the call. Sister is calling 911 perhaps because JS is trying to get in touch with other people, and she plans to go back to the school while sister waits for the deputies to arrive. Same with the next two calls—it’s easier to have someone else relay the basic info 911 would take so that JS can keep contacting other people or keep looking herself.