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Stephan Sterns was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material, officials said.
abc7chicago.com
“It’s hard not to blame myself,” Sterns told the outlet as his eyes appeared to well with tears and his voice became thick with emotion.
“I dropped her off [at school] early, I could have waited longer. She looked okay she was walking towards the school,” he explained. “I went on with my day.”
“We don’t know where she could be, and we’re scared,” Sterns lamented. “I just want her home.”
“I told her to have a good day at school and I love her, she said ‘Thanks, love you, too,’ and that was it,” he told the network of the last time he claimed to see Madeline.
“It just keeps coming in waves, reality keeps hitting. We don’t know where she is, we don’t know if she’s safe,” Sterns said during the interview, adding that Madeline’s mom, Jennifer Soto, had been “a lot stronger” than him.
“It’s a living nightmare,” he told the outlet.
“I just wanna wake up.”*
Stephan Sterns, 37, sat down with Orlando’s WFTV 9 on Tuesday, one day after the 13-year-old was reported missing, after her mother learned she did not go to school on Monday.
nypost.com
*so does Madeline… you #$&%