Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #10

[Gemmie]

Can you tell from the cellphone ping images in the Drop Box data dump? I know from watching GHI that there is an image timestamped when Maddie reaches the house with her aunt. I’m pretty sure her pings are magenta, SS is red, JS is blue.

Thanks for the color info. I posted a day or so ago asking for help on how to read those maps and didn't get a response. Maybe I'll take another look at them.

Thanks again!

 

[Forest_Wood]

Could someone point me to the dropbox please.

 

[Anika]

Could someone point me to the dropbox please.

Dropbox is what Insightful1 posted.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Thanks for the color info. I posted a day or so ago asking for help on how to read those maps and didn't get a response. Maybe I'll take another look at them.

Thanks again!

Might be more efficient to watch Gray Hughes short pod on time line, posted today:

Time Line - Cell Tower Ping Animation - Madeline Soto​

You will see the movements of all three that night. It’s a short pod and good education

 

[Forest_Wood]

Dropbox is what Insightful1 posted.

Thank you!

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Could someone point me to the dropbox please.

Everybody, don’t forget we have a media thread for this case, too.

FL - Madeline Soto, 13 Located deceased Media, maps, timeline no discussion

 

[Anika]

Might be more efficient to watch Gray Hughes short pod on time line, posted today:

Time Line - Cell Tower Ping Animation - Madeline Soto​

You will see the movements of all three that night. It’s a short pod and good education

Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea Maddie's phone was turned on again when SS was the only one at home (around 10:55, while JS was still at dr. appt). Am I understanding that correctly? Wonder what all he was deleting.

 

[photographer4]

I wonder if that means they suspect MS was deceased 2/25/24 before midnight, as in right after being sent to bed with SS.

Even tho many times it is mentioned she was last seen alive on 2/26/24, it doesn't sound like there is anyone, or any video that can 100% confirm it.

If they can find a video of SS removing MS from the home prior to midnight, or if the ME can determine exact time of death, then how else could they know the incident / offense occurred 2/25/24?

They could have the car moving about (infotainment system / Bluetooth connection time / calls in or out while in car, car gps if applicable). They could have texts or calls to or from his device or VOIP such as calls over telegram, discord, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger etc. Possibly photo or video of the murder. Possibly audio recording of an incident immediately preceding the murder….

 

[photographer4]

Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea Maddie's phone was turned on again when SS was the only one at home (around 10:55, while JS was still at dr. appt). Am I understanding that correctly? Wonder what all he was deleting.

The call or text from the school friend who said she tried to reach MS when she didn’t arrive for school? Any comments about him acting crazy or her mum?

 

[photographer4]

Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea Maddie's phone was turned on again when SS was the only one at home (around 10:55, while JS was still at dr. appt). Am I understanding that correctly? Wonder what all he was deleting.

I sure hope it’s confirmed by Le that JS had a prebooked apt (vs a walk in) and attended accordingly.

 

[photographer4]

SS could be dumber than we think he is. If he was filming his assault and it resulted in her death, his iCloud setting might include uploading images/videos wherever he has a wi-fi connection which would mean instantly and automatically, creating a definitive timestamp for time of death. Somewhere between 8:45 pm and 11:59 pm on 2/25.

JMO

If he did kill her while JS wasn’t yet home (he may have) then he could have told her she just went to sleep all worn out from the party. jS probably wouldn’t have checked on her and prob would have gone to bed herself. sS would then move the body to the car in the early morning hours when he felt sure everyone home was very asleep.

I do think Js knew her kid was dead well before her body was found even if she didn’t kill the girl herself.

 

[photographer4]

I took it to mean it’s the friend who isn’t allowed to have social media.

I didn’t take it that way because it is talking about the friend not being aware if Ms was sending inappropriate things online. Friend noted Ms has Roblox and YouTube and Ig but didn’t know her Ig username. The friend doesn’t seem to mention if she herself has any of these forms of social media (p. 107 of the Dropbox docs provided by admin).

 

[ttjo]

If he did kill her while JS wasn’t yet home (he may have) then he could have told her she just went to sleep all worn out from the party. jS probably wouldn’t have checked on her and prob would have gone to bed herself.

Remember he called Jenn that night to tell her something like " maddi has taken her nighttime meds and has done her routines which consisted of a shower "
That was weird (to me anyway) if its so routine, why did he feel the need to call jenn to inform her, maybe so that by the time jenn got home it wouldnt surprise her if maddi was sleeping?? but then I thought about the rigor info is it possible she died before midnight if she was still limp at 9:40am when he moved he to the trunk

 

[photoprose1122]

State Attorney to seek the death penalty in Madeline Soto case

Stephan Sterns, who is accused of killing 13-year-old Madeline Soto, is facing numerous charges, including first-degree murder.

mynews13.com

"The capital felony being committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, aggravated child abuse".

Thank you - I missed reading the details of the aggravating factors when it came out. That certainly solidifies the theory that he brutalized her before killing her.

• The capital felony being committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, aggravated child abuse.
  …
• The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.

Those two factors alone confirm what Payroll Nerd suggested about the brutal violence he inflicted on her before she died. Ugh. I hate this case.

 

[MissMalowe]

Curious to know what everyone's theories are as to what Stephan Stern's motive was?

Since she had been abused long-term, I originally thought it was perhaps accidental (such as overdosing her on sleep meds whilst assaulting her) but since the murder was premeditated, I threw that theory out.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

Thank you for sharing this! I had no idea Maddie's phone was turned on again when SS was the only one at home (around 10:55, while JS was still at dr. appt). Am I understanding that correctly? Wonder what all he was deleting.

That’s what I understood from the pings and GH’s narration — he was doing *something* with her cell — makes sense he was deleting stuff that might get him in trouble

I think with kids having cell phones, it’s a smart thing for *parents* to have access to their kid’s phones, passwords, social media, etc., and routinely check all that, but *not* a parent’s boy friend! According to Gray Hughes, SS even had things set up to be able to monitor her location — creepy, creepy. Talk about boundary issues.

 

[Megnut]

Curious to know what everyone's theories are as to what Stephan Stern's motive was?

Since she had been abused long-term, I originally thought it was perhaps accidental (such as overdosing her on sleep meds whilst assaulting her) but since the murder was premeditated, I threw that theory out.

1. Violent sexual behavior featuring choking, couldn't resuscitate this time, perhaps coupled with a silencing fatal blow

2. Similar to intimate partner violence, unbridled anger, resulting in strangulation, with or without blunt force trauma (like in the sad case of GabbyP)

3. Gross immaturity, if I can't have you...

4. Straight up pre-planned if (sorry to word it so crassly but pedophilia IS crass) MS aged out. So he came back to Kissimmee for the sole purpose of murder. Having his father's car might be the only indication of that, but the whole thing played out so haphazardly, is hard to believe he had any kind of plan.

5. If MS was about to scream, it may have been a grave silencing act.

6. If MS "made him mad" -- for instance if she BIT HIM -- and he raged.

All those boil down to one: he is and was a dangerous, violent pedophile.

She was only 13.

JMO

 

[Anika]

1. Violent sexual behavior featuring choking, couldn't resuscitate this time, perhaps coupled with a silencing fatal blow

.....
JMO

I think #1.

 

[Megnut]

Rewatching GHI.

I'm convinced SS returned home was to delete messages on MS's phone. But wasn't able to be he accidentally woke JS so he made a charade of leashing/walking the dog.

He returned after JS left for her appointment and was successful in his venture at that time.

All MOO

Here's where it gets weird.

Later JS says she looked at MS's messages, including her deleted messages and DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING STRANGE. (I can't recall her word choice-- strange, weird, concerning, out of the ordinary, not OK.)

Think about that. If SS really came home twice in order to delete messages off MS's phone, those messages had to be linked to him. Just how many are we talking about? And JS never once thought, "well, that's odd that a grown man/my ex-boyfriend is messaging my teen daughter"? I find THAT strange, weird, concerning, out of the ordinary, not OK.

JMO

 

[Anika]

That’s what I understood from the pings and GH’s narration — he was doing *something* with her cell — makes sense he was deleting stuff that might get him in trouble
...

In reading the documents recently shared, I was surprised that they had three iPhones among them (since those are pricey and don't seem in line with their lifestyles), plus a Samsung... however, then it occurred to me: it seems there should have been 5 phones, not 4. Do we know much about the phones?

Phones listed in the documents:
- KIPD 24-001896 // 000163 - **Grey iPhone 13** was seized on 3/1
- KIPD 24-001896 // 000542 - **iPhone w/ purple + cherries case** (seized from SS, but was this his father's?)
- KIPD 24-001896 // 000542 - **Black Samsung** (pretty sure this was SS's original phone, but I thought he didn't have that with him at all; could this just be his father's? That isn't clear, but either way was in his possession) - I believe this was mentioned as the phone he had on 2/26 and which had reset twice (KIPD 24-001896 // 001003), after which he shortly purchased the iPhone below
- KIPD 24-001896 // 000544 - **Apple iPhone w/ blue case** with only 2 cameras (phone itself was black according to KIPD 24-001896 // 001002) - purportedly got it new on 2/27 and was in pocket of SS but they seized it on 2/28 at interview room

What I think we know about them:

**MS:**
KIPD 24-001896 // 000149 - Maddie's best friend says they texted each other on their iPhones; not clear which of the phones, if any, is hers. I would hope they seized it, though, since it's possible SS was resetting/manipulating it 2/26 at 10:55 am (GHI cell tower tracker video shows him at home alone with it when it switched on after the events of that morning; JS was still at dr. appt.).

**JS:**
Was holding an iPhone in her hands during the interview in the insurance office - probably a model 13, since it has the charging circle on back, and mine has that; however, it looks black in the video, and the police log says the iPhone 13 they seized was grey, so did they seize hers at all, or is the color just hard to discern? Edit: All of the grey iPhone 13 pro versions I found online are obviously grey, a much lighter one than black. Image example: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/U5UAAOSwY-9lDb6F/s-l1600.webp.

**SS:**
Reports say he had his father's phone on the trip up. I thought (though maybe I'm making this up?) that he didn't have his with him at all, but since one they seized had the CSAM, his day-to-day had to be among them. That makes bringing his father's even sketchier, to me. The earliest phone they seized from him I think was the purple phone with flowered case? They also seized a Samsung, which I saw some Redditors claim was the CSAM one. Then they seized an iPhone with a blue case that came from his pocket that the report says was new and which he had purchased after they took his original phone.

---

This all makes me wonder: ONE of these has to be SS's actual phone, because it had CSAM when they looked at it, but I can't tell which. And it seems we're short a phone, at least among what was seized? There should have been 5 of them:

- SS's actual phone with the CSAM on it (I think this was the Samsung);
- SS's father's phone (or was this the Samsung? if not, then where was the father's phone that he supposedly had on him? was it the purple iPhone?);
- MS's phone (purple iPhone with the floral case sounds right for a preteen girl, but why did SS have it, then, if so?);
- JS's phone (grey iPhone 13?);
- SS's replacement phone (iPhone with blue case). This is the only one that is known, because the report says he had just purchased it in the last day or two, and they seized it right from him in the interview room.

I could of course be wrong on my interpretation of some of this; does anyone else have insight or thoughts?