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

[Pruddennce]

as everyone here has different theories on what exactly happened to Madeline after her party, Im very curious as to when Madeline told her best friend she was disappointed in her party attendance and gifts (and lack of). (source: her GF's LE interview). "______stated that _________ was upset at her birthday party because she advertised it well but that not many people showed up nor did many bring presents."

LE has not released any info about Madeline's phone or computer usage that day or nite. we do not know when she last used any electronics. and of course we have no autopsy, cause of death or tox info. but reading about her swabs, there was the presence of blood found on several parts of her body, under a nail, and inside orafices. Im also curious if LE has her birthday dress?

when Madeline was dropped off at home by her aunt, SS showed up right afterwards. we have no idea what occurred between her and SS. nor do we know IF JS actually saw her when she came home because JS parrots SS's script....she was so happy with her party and gifts...happy happy happy, both of them said the same thing. but her best friend contradicts those statements. further, JS states in her media interview, she didnt use any electronics, she went right to bed after the happy happy party and "she showed us her gifts". 'told her good nite and yeah that was it".

the roomie states she was in bed at 8:45pm and never saw Madeline that nite or morning. but there is no interview released for her 15yr old son. was he home or not that nite?

 

[LOVEORLUST]

Is that from North Port PD?

I'm certainly not an expert, but the title ("DISCOVERY") implies to me that it is a document related to the process in which SS's defense is entitled to receive all evidence from the prosecutors, which wouldn't apply to the public records request I made to North Port PD. The other requests I made were to the State Attorney, but I haven't heard of anything else coming out (and don't want to pay to find something new...) so I haven't requested anything else from them.

Yes, that was a document I received (along with the 21 other PDFs) directly from North Port PD as a result of my FOIA.

 

[TravelingBug]

Alrighty, here are the documents that I assume are the ones that the YouTubers have had recently, but I haven't actually watched any of those videos.

Table of Contents. I got a little lazy with the descriptions because I haven't read through it all yet.

Pages	Description
1	Public Records Request exemption form from North Port Police Department.
45-46	Computer-aided dispatch (CAD) activity detail report. Includes activity on 2024-02-28 and 2024-02-29
25	Case Property List. Includes: an interview with SS's father Christopher; computers, electronics, and other personal items belonging to SS that may have been collected from SS's parents' home; digital images of SS's room (presumably in his parents' home); and evidence from and photos of a storage locker (presumably from Big Jim's). Physical articles are detailed in later Property Receipts
26-29	Crime Scene Personnell Log from 1001 Executive Ave
30-33	Property Receipts for: a computer and power cord; a keychain photo of a young female; multiple data storage devices; a beaded bracelet that said "Stephan"; etc. All taken from SS's parents' home on Snug St in North Port. Also listed in the case property list.
34	Property Receipt for the results of a search warrant at 1001 Executive Ave, Unit 124, containing a cut unit lock and a few swabs of the property. Also listed in the case property list.
35-37	Search Warrant supplemental report for 1001 Executive Ave, North Port. Describes the execution of a search warrant early February 29 to assist Kissimmee PD and Orange County Sheriff's Dept by Officer Kaycee Howe. "The evidence sought in the search warrant includes: The victim and/or clothing she was wearing, photographs of the scene or any other evidence, implements or devices related to the subject matter of this warrant that could be used in violation of the laws of the State of Florida." Ofc. Howe concluded nothing of evidentiary value was located.
38-39	Search Warrant supplemental report for 1001 Executive Ave, North Port written by Officer Elizabeth Walker. Is essentially the same as that from Ofc. Howe, and similarly concludes that nothing of evidentiary value was located.
40	Supplemental Report from Officer Brian Chippendale.
41-44	Supplemental Report from Officer Jarred Fegan.
45	Supplemental Report from Officer Alexander Fisher.
46-48	Incident Report from Officer Jeffrey Hardt.
49-50	Supplemental Report from Officer William Myers.
51	Supplemental Report from Officer Michael Reid.
52-53	Investigative Report from Officer Zahin Robles.
54-55	Supplemental Report from Officer Lawrence Strejcek.
56	Supplemental Report from Officer Amanda Waters.
57-62	Supplemental Report from Officer Michael Witkosky.

I found the bits about the mom of SS and her response (various tidbits in 3-4 places I think) very interesting. It seems to me that she and her husband might not have been on the same page about SS?

However, the last sentence about her (DS) comment on page 60, was curious to me.

 

[Mack the Knife]

All citations are from https://www.scribd.com/document/758...-the-investigation-into-Madeline-Sotos-murder

Okay looking all through these now, I don't think there is much of evidentiary value, but here is what stands out:

• Christopher Sterns, Stephan's father, had a storage unit that he had lost the key to. SS apparently visited that unit on 2/28, but only for 10 minutes, and nothing of evidentiary value was found/collected by investigators (40)
  • There is a significant redaction in Jeffrey Hardt's Supplemental Hardt. My best guess is he is stating that MS's body was not immediately found there, and there is an elaboration on what was checked(47)
  • The unit was believed to be accessed 2/28 09:08-09:16 (49), but a later supplemental report might indicate that this information was incorrect and there is no evidence to suggest that the storage unit owned by CS was accessed at any relevant time (59)
• Investigators also searched a model home on Price Blvd that was associated with CS and found nothing of evidentiary value (42)
• Debra claims to be very suspicious of SS
  • She believed he might have come home in the middle of the night to abandon Maddie somewhere or steal cash (41). A different description of the same interview says that Debra knew he had factually been stealing cash from her and CS.
    • She also apparently denied (03/01) he had ever come home on Wednesday (02/28) despite previously thinking he had abandoned MS there in the early hours of 02/28, to the extent that she was yelling for her around the house (59)
  • She took [redacted] from his room and secured them in her room so he couldn't get to them (41)
  • She looked in his room and found a sex doll torso, which she initially believed was real (42)
    • For some reason this lead her to go outside and start calling for [redacted-MS] (41)
• Debra accused [redacted-JS] of knowing [redacted-MS] was being raped for years, but it doesn't appear she made this statement based on evidence (59)
• Computers and other file storage devices were collected from his parents' home. I don't think we're aware of similar being collected from the Venetian Bay Villages home

Biggest surprise here is Debra. "She explained how she viewed him as a 'monster' and inquired why the media and public blamed both her and Christopher for her adult son's heinous deeds." (59) That is not at all the vibe she gives in her emails to him while he is in jail. I can't think of anything she might know now that she wouldn't have known on 03/01 when she was still saying she was disgusted by him.

 

[photographer4]

All citations are from https://www.scribd.com/document/758...-the-investigation-into-Madeline-Sotos-murder

Okay looking all through these now, I don't think there is much of evidentiary value, but here is what stands out:

• Christopher Sterns, Stephan's father, had a storage unit that he had lost the key to. SS apparently visited that unit on 2/28, but only for 10 minutes, and nothing of evidentiary value was found/collected by investigators (40)
  • There is a significant redaction in Jeffrey Hardt's Supplemental Hardt. My best guess is he is stating that MS's body was not immediately found there, and there is an elaboration on what was checked(47)
  • The unit was believed to be accessed 2/28 09:08-09:16 (49), but a later supplemental report might indicate that this information was incorrect and there is no evidence to suggest that the storage unit owned by CS was accessed at any relevant time (59)
• Investigators also searched a model home on Price Blvd that was associated with CS and found nothing of evidentiary value (42)
• Debra claims to be very suspicious of SS
  • She believed he might have come home in the middle of the night to abandon Maddie somewhere or steal cash (41). A different description of the same interview says that Debra knew he had factually been stealing cash from her and CS.
    • She also apparently denied (03/01) he had ever come home on Wednesday (02/28) despite previously thinking he had abandoned MS there in the early hours of 02/28, to the extent that she was yelling for her around the house (59)
  • She took [redacted] from his room and secured them in her room so he couldn't get to them (41)
  • She looked in his room and found a sex doll torso, which she initially believed was real (42)
    • For some reason this lead her to go outside and start calling for [redacted-MS] (41)
• Debra accused [redacted-JS] of knowing [redacted-MS] was being raped for years, but it doesn't appear she made this statement based on evidence (59)
• Computers and other file storage devices were collected from his parents' home. I don't think we're aware of similar being collected from the Venetian Bay Villages home

Biggest surprise here is Debra. "She explained how she viewed him as a 'monster' and inquired why the media and public blamed both her and Christopher for her adult son's heinous deeds." (59) That is not at all the vibe she gives in her emails to him while he is in jail. I can't think of anything she might know now that she wouldn't have known on 03/01 when she was still saying she was disgusted by him.

Thank you for the work in the summary!! I wanted to point something out here - - if SS’s own mother stated that JS was aware that MS was being raped for years, then I would ask, did she ever contact police or Child Protective Services to file a report? If she knew this and knew that JS knew, then I would ask, how did she know, and when did she know it? I hope that she did take steps to try to ensure the safety and well being of MS - the little girl she says she went outside to call for in case SS had left her there. This case makes me really mad! Where were the hero’s in MS’s life?! Every kid needs a hero!

 

[Mack the Knife]

I found the bits about the mom of SS and her response (various tidbits in 3-4 places I think) very interesting. It seems to me that she and her husband might not have been on the same page about SS?

However, the last sentence about her (DS) comment on page 60, was curious to me.

I, of course, don't know DS, but she comes off as a little wacky to me.

She seems to hate JS, that's consistent. But she also seems very upset with SS in the interviews with North Port PD, in total contrast to how casually she acts in emails to him. Maybe the show (crying out for MS as if she might emerge from the woods) was really just for appearances, and she didn't think her emails would be publicized.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Thank you for the work in the summary!! I wanted to point something out here - - if SS’s own mother stated that JS was aware that MS was being raped for years, then I would ask, did she ever contact police or Child Protective Services to file a report? If she knew this and knew that JS knew, then I would ask, how did she know, and when did she know it? I hope that she did take steps to try to ensure the safety and well being of MS - the little girl she says she went outside to call for in case SS had left her there. This case makes me really mad! Where were the hero’s in MS’s life?! Every kid needs a hero!

It sounds to me like she's saying the same thing so many here have been saying. That somehow JS knew, she had to know, there's no way she didn't know, etc. Often it's the go-to reaction from folks who seem to think someone "had to know" when they didn't because it's so vile to think it can be going on and no one knows it's going on. Except it does. Every single day. Source: life & following these kinds of cases for decades. YMMV.

My impression is, JS didn't know, Debra never came to this place until after the fact so she didn't know either, and likewise didn't know steps needed to be taken. Everyone was groomed by SS. It's *exactly* how these vile predators operate.

jmo

 

[photographer4]

DBM

 

[LetsSolvIt]

as everyone here has different theories on what exactly happened to Madeline after her party, Im very curious as to when Madeline told her best friend she was disappointed in her party attendance and gifts (and lack of). (source: her GF's LE interview). "______stated that _________ was upset at her birthday party because she advertised it well but that not many people showed up nor did many bring presents."

LE has not released any info about Madeline's phone or computer usage that day or nite. we do not know when she last used any electronics. and of course we have no autopsy, cause of death or tox info. but reading about her swabs, there was the presence of blood found on several parts of her body, under a nail, and inside orafices. Im also curious if LE has her birthday dress?

when Madeline was dropped off at home by her aunt, SS showed up right afterwards. we have no idea what occurred between her and SS. nor do we know IF JS actually saw her when she came home because JS parrots SS's script....she was so happy with her party and gifts...happy happy happy, both of them said the same thing. but her best friend contradicts those statements. further, JS states in her media interview, she didnt use any electronics, she went right to bed after the happy happy party and "she showed us her gifts". 'told her good nite and yeah that was it".

the roomie states she was in bed at 8:45pm and never saw Madeline that nite or morning. but there is no interview released for her 15yr old son. was he home or not that nite?

Maybe Maddie’s friend, who she told she was disappointed with attendance and gifts, was at the party? OMO

 

[LetsSolvIt]

All citations are from https://www.scribd.com/document/758...-the-investigation-into-Madeline-Sotos-murder

Okay looking all through these now, I don't think there is much of evidentiary value, but here is what stands out:

• Christopher Sterns, Stephan's father, had a storage unit that he had lost the key to. SS apparently visited that unit on 2/28, but only for 10 minutes, and nothing of evidentiary value was found/collected by investigators (40)
  • There is a significant redaction in Jeffrey Hardt's Supplemental Hardt. My best guess is he is stating that MS's body was not immediately found there, and there is an elaboration on what was checked(47)
  • The unit was believed to be accessed 2/28 09:08-09:16 (49), but a later supplemental report might indicate that this information was incorrect and there is no evidence to suggest that the storage unit owned by CS was accessed at any relevant time (59)
• Investigators also searched a model home on Price Blvd that was associated with CS and found nothing of evidentiary value (42)
• Debra claims to be very suspicious of SS
  • She believed he might have come home in the middle of the night to abandon Maddie somewhere or steal cash (41). A different description of the same interview says that Debra knew he had factually been stealing cash from her and CS.
    • She also apparently denied (03/01) he had ever come home on Wednesday (02/28) despite previously thinking he had abandoned MS there in the early hours of 02/28, to the extent that she was yelling for her around the house (59)
  • She took [redacted] from his room and secured them in her room so he couldn't get to them (41)
  • She looked in his room and found a sex doll torso, which she initially believed was real (42)
    • For some reason this lead her to go outside and start calling for [redacted-MS] (41)
• Debra accused [redacted-JS] of knowing [redacted-MS] was being raped for years, but it doesn't appear she made this statement based on evidence (59)
• Computers and other file storage devices were collected from his parents' home. I don't think we're aware of similar being collected from the Venetian Bay Villages home

Biggest surprise here is Debra. "She explained how she viewed him as a 'monster' and inquired why the media and public blamed both her and Christopher for her adult son's heinous deeds." (59) That is not at all the vibe she gives in her emails to him while he is in jail. I can't think of anything she might know now that she wouldn't have known on 03/01 when she was still saying she was disgusted by him.

@Mack the Knife: Your last paragraph certainly gives me pause. Mom is wondering why media and public seemed to be blaming Dad and her? Maybe not directly, but let’s consider that they were allowing their adult son to live with them and mooch off them — they accepted his not working and his playing video games, collecting action figures (or whatever they were), and hanging out aimless all day (and did we also read a regular p0+ user?). They loaned him a car seemingly on a whim (I thought *he* had his *own*car). He periodically stole cash from them. A bedroom in their home was considered his despite his being grown up — had mom never entered it before over the years? Was that the first time she found redacted [firearms?] and sex toys? And that didn’t raise concerns with her? And dad runs up to “rescue” SS when he and JS had a “housing crisis.” And back further we know from GHI interviewing school/neighborhood friends of SS that mom tried to get SS off the hook when he was peeping on a friend’s mother girlfriend. All this together is stunning and I would think would have set off alarm bells for the “adults.” MOO.

Like I posted before: Can you spell “enablers”? I think that’s what people are reacting to — so many red flags and now we have a child murdered allegedly by their son who had allegedly been CSA-ing her for years. OMHO.

 

[Seattle1]

(source: her GF's LE interview). "______stated that _________ was upset at her birthday party because she advertised it well but that not many people showed up nor did many bring presents."

^^rsbm

Thanks for bring this up because it was never clear to me from the docs if the GF attended the birthday party and heard this complaint in person from MS or when GF learned that MS believed her party was a bust.

 

[Seattle1]

Thank you for the work in the summary!! I wanted to point something out here - - if SS’s own mother stated that JS was aware that MS was being raped for years, then I would ask, did she ever contact police or Child Protective Services to file a report? If she knew this and knew that JS knew, then I would ask, how did she know, and when did she know it? I hope that she did take steps to try to ensure the safety and well being of MS - the little girl she says she went outside to call for in case SS had left her there. This case makes me really mad! Where were the hero’s in MS’s life?! Every kid needs a hero!

IMO, what DS knew about MS being raped by other men in and out of JS's life was alleged by SS. I'm sure SS also gave his mother a million excuses why he was being silent and not reporting the alleged activity to CPS.

IMO, SS, the person who was in the home for so long and wasn't willing to report would have put DS off. So no, I don't fault DS. Mandatory, trained reporters didn't pick up any threats to MS going on for 4+ years either! It's a very serious accusation to make without proof and if DS only source was SS, she probably knew he was higher on tales than the truth. JMO

 

[Seattle1]

MS's murder at the hands of a child, sexual predator is very serious matter and I don't mean to discount this murder whatsoever by comparing it to a movie or novel written in the 1930's but I want to share how women not unlike thousands like JS can lose focus on their priority as mothers -- their children, daughters especially. In other words, what happened to MS is as old as time.

There was a movie released in the 1940s ("Mildred Pierce") based on a book written a decade earlier about a "grass widow" -- the term used to describe single mothers whose husbands left or were asked to leave the family home, leaving them to scramble to raise the kids alone. This was the depression era -- divorce, child support, alimony, etc., were not the standard.

I watched the original movie last weekend and the parallel to some of the issues in this case were uncanny. Mildred has a young but challenging daughters, and she takes a job waitressing but doesn't want her daughter to know about her working class job. Mildred is smart, ambitious and uses this waitressing opportunity to learn the restaurant business and soon opens her own restaurant. On her last day as a waitress, Mildred meets a child predator.

He's a charming man who does not work, mooches off of Mildred, and she uses this man to chauffer her daughter around, entertain her, etc., while Mildred is busy expanding her restaurant to multiple locations -- another babysitter with benefits, if you will.

No surprise, the daughter prefers the company of mom's lover to her mother, and so it goes. While there's no evidence of child rape in this dated movie, daughter and now husband are found sleeping together under the roof Mildred provides them.

ETA: Author of Mildred Pierce --- James M Cain (1892-1977) one of America's "poets of the tabloid murder". His first two novels, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, were narrated by men destroyed by femmes fatales; both were made into enormously successful films.

Haynes's film seems conceived as a proto-feminist epic saga about power struggles between mothers and daughters, and a cautionary tale about parents who use their children to live out their own hopes and "terrifying wishes".

But Cain's novel is far too inconsistent a fable from which to extract such a moral: it starts out as social realism and descends into a surreally gothic melodrama. If he had seen it through, Cain might have produced a female-centred version of The Great Gatsby, a tragedy of America's corrupt romance with money and success.

Instead, it is like a nightmare version of "Snow White", the archetypal story of sexual competition between generations of women, in which Cain can't decide whether to sympathise with the once-desirable but ageing mother or the beautiful, gifted, powerful daughter. In the end he throws up his hands and makes Veda a "snake, a , a coloratura". If only she were a lyric soprano, evidently all of this mess might have been avoided. Let it be a lesson to us all.

Rereading: Mildred Pierce by James M Cain

Todd Haynes has adapted Mildred Pierce, James M Cain's novel about a divorced mother in the depression, as a sumptuous TV mini-series. But what has been gained and what lost in the process?

www.theguardian.com

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

A random thought popped into my head when I saw mention of MS's friend and thought about how one of the friends said that Maddie was always talking about SS and liked him, or something along those lines.
What if this was via a chat messenger or text?
If so, it could have been SS typing those messages.
JMO and random thought.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

MS's murder at the hands of a child, sexual predator is very serious matter and I don't mean to discount this murder whatsoever by comparing it to a movie or novel written in the 1930's but I want to share how women not unlike thousands like JS can lose focus on their priority as mothers -- their children, daughters especially. In other words, what happened to MS is as old as time.

There was a movie released in the 1940s ("Mildred Pierce") based on a book written a decade earlier about a "grass widow" -- the term used to describe single mothers whose husbands left or were asked to leave the family home, leaving them to scramble to raise the kids alone. This was the depression era -- divorce, child support, alimony, etc., were not the standard.

I watched the original movie last weekend and the parallel to some of the issues in this case were uncanny. Mildred has a young but challenging daughters, and she takes a job waitressing but doesn't want her daughter to know about her working class job. Mildred is smart, ambitious and uses this waitressing opportunity to learn the restaurant business and soon opens her own restaurant. On her last day as a waitress, Mildred meets a child predator.

He's a charming man who does not work, mooches off of Mildred, and she uses this man to chauffer her daughter around, entertain her, etc., while Mildred is busy expanding her restaurant to multiple locations -- another babysitter with benefits, if you will.

No surprise, the daughter prefers the company of mom's lover to her mother, and so it goes. While there's no evidence of child rape in this dated movie, daughter and now husband are found sleeping together under the roof Mildred provides them.

ETA: Author of Mildred Pierce --- James M Cain (1892-1977) one of America's "poets of the tabloid murder". His first two novels, The Postman Always Rings Twice and Double Indemnity, were narrated by men destroyed by femmes fatales; both were made into enormously successful films.

Haynes's film seems conceived as a proto-feminist epic saga about power struggles between mothers and daughters, and a cautionary tale about parents who use their children to live out their own hopes and "terrifying wishes".

But Cain's novel is far too inconsistent a fable from which to extract such a moral: it starts out as social realism and descends into a surreally gothic melodrama. If he had seen it through, Cain might have produced a female-centred version of The Great Gatsby, a tragedy of America's corrupt romance with money and success.

Instead, it is like a nightmare version of "Snow White", the archetypal story of sexual competition between generations of women, in which Cain can't decide whether to sympathise with the once-desirable but ageing mother or the beautiful, gifted, powerful daughter. In the end he throws up his hands and makes Veda a "snake, a , a coloratura". If only she were a lyric soprano, evidently all of this mess might have been avoided. Let it be a lesson to us all.

Rereading: Mildred Pierce by James M Cain

Todd Haynes has adapted Mildred Pierce, James M Cain's novel about a divorced mother in the depression, as a sumptuous TV mini-series. But what has been gained and what lost in the process?

www.theguardian.com

I agree with what you said regarding the relationships between female generations, I do think JS and MS were clashing, like many mothers and pre-teen/teen daughters do. It could have been a perfect weapon for SS.

And thank you for bringing these movies to our attention. My mother would talk about The Postman Always Rings Twice a lot. I have never read or seen it; I only know the name.

 

[Pruddennce]

Maybe Maddie’s friend, who she told she was disappointed with attendance and gifts, was at the party? OMO

dont know, I would think as her best friend she would have been there, but Im wondering if Madeline told her at the party or text/called her when she got home. there is zero info released about the contents of Madeline's phone or her school laptop or a home computer. (other than the initial press conference stating the only indication of an 'issue' was the living in the woods'.

 

[Pruddennce]

A random thought popped into my head when I saw mention of MS's friend and thought about how one of the friends said that Maddie was always talking about SS and liked him, or something along those lines.
What if this was via a chat messenger or text?
If so, it could have been SS typing those messages.
JMO and random thought.

from that friend interview she made note that Madeline was in regular contact with SS (calls/texts) and also said that Madeline loved SS. but there is no timeframe as to when Madeline said that....but there was also another statement that Madeline was annoyed with him in the home....but no timeframe.