Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #11

[Mack the Knife]

Madeline Soto's mom may have known about alleged abuse; said 'sex stuff' was 'not evil': new documents

New documents obtained by FOX 35 this week show that the teen's mother may have known about that alleged abuse.

www.fox35orlando.com

Posted without comment and highlighted by me.

View attachment 526463

Huh that’s interesting, so I guess the media was basically just sharing exactly what they got. I’m kind of surprised by the tone of that paragraph? In the hundreds of pages of reports we’ve seen so far out of this investigation, even the other paragraphs in this report, have seemed a lot…drier, perhaps? I hope we’ll some time get to hear the audio that caused the detective to feel so strongly.

Also—generated 7/3, which means the releasing agency would have released this record probably within a few days of that, but all of the news stations are just posting about it now.

As an aside, one of the articles said “prosecutors” released documents, which I assumed meant the State Attorney, but they responded to my request and specifically said those docs weren’t from them. So I put in another with OC Sheriff and am waiting to hear back on that.

 

[iamshadow21]

Huh that’s interesting, so I guess the media was basically just sharing exactly what they got. I’m kind of surprised by the tone of that paragraph? In the hundreds of pages of reports we’ve seen so far out of this investigation, even the other paragraphs in this report, have seemed a lot…drier, perhaps? I hope we’ll some time get to hear the audio that caused the detective to feel so strongly.

Also—generated 7/3, which means the releasing agency would have released this record probably within a few days of that, but all of the news stations are just posting about it now.

As an aside, one of the articles said “prosecutors” released documents, which I assumed meant the State Attorney, but they responded to my request and specifically said those docs weren’t from them. So I put in another with OC Sheriff and am waiting to hear back on that.

That article mentions Madeline's 'sleepy days' at school. I thought it because she was being kept up all night by the abuse, since SS was pretty nocturnal. But now I have to consider that we know she was being drugged, and that SS had a fetish for unconscious, completely passive victims.

It reminds me of Asunta Basterra, who was being drugged by her parents so much that at times she couldn't play her violin and would fall over while trying to walk. It was noted by her teachers.

MOO

 

[Seattle1]

IMO, not vigilant enough in the early or later years given MS is charged with first abusing MS when she would have been age 8!

Madeline Soto's mom may have known about alleged abuse; said 'sex stuff' was 'not evil': new documents

New documents obtained by FOX 35 this week show that the teen's mother may have known about that alleged abuse.

www.fox35orlando.com

8/23/24

"I was very vigilant for the first few years of how he would interact with her and I would question if anything was weird, but nothing was truly weird," she said.

Jennifer also told detectives that Madeline and Sterns would often sleep together in her bed, and other times would sleep alone and unsupervised in a separate bedroom. She said the night before she reported Madeline as missing, she wanted a good night’s sleep and slept in her bedroom, but asked Sterns and Madeline to sleep in the guest room together.

This is despite the home having enough space for all three people to sleep in different rooms, detectives note.

 

[azure]

I find an interesting parallel between this case and the Christopher Scholtes hot car death case. In both cases we have mothers trying to manage childish, pathetic, inadequate men with text messages when those men are actively victimizing their children. In the Christopher Scholtes case there are texts from mom that say, "I told you to stop leaving them in the car, how many times have I told you" after the dad's repeated habit of leaving kids strapped into a car so he didn't have to deal with them resulted in a hot car death. In this case we have texts from a mom that say, "Make sure she goes to bed right now" after the mom sent her teen daughter to sleep in bed with her adult boyfriend. How can these mothers put their children in the way of such harm and then send nagging texts to the predators circling their children? Are the texts a weak attempt to pretend they feel loving and protective towards their children when they don't? Do these women feel so powerless that they don't see anything to be done besides send nagging texts? Is it laziness? I can't understand worrying about your kid's bedtime when they're being r*ped. I can't understand telling your partner to stop leaving your children in the car in 110+ and not immediately removing access to the children. What is the state of our society when sending a text is seen as an adequate stand in for protecting your precious child?

Also, I don't know if it's been mentioned but JS KNEW SS was kinky. She told the cops that she was turning down intercourse with him because of his strange sexual proclivities. How in a million years could she ever allow that man to be unsupervised with her preteen/teen daughter, much less let him sleep with her child?? I think JS was tired of being part of SS's twisted fantasies and knowingly let her daughter become SS's plaything. Win/win for her, she doesn't lose the man she needs so much and she doesn't have to be his s*x doll any more.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Deil's advocate here, I see a different story.

JS says she doesn't like them sharing a bed, yet allows "sleepovers" as she needs to sleep.
Why would it be a "sleepover"? It made me think of when my eldest daughter came to stay and kept my youngest up watching movies, being silly, laughing, and messing around. They would have sleepovers to take the movie and noise elsewhere. After a particular time, I would have to be the bearer of bad news and stop the party as the youngest needed sleep. Yet, I would either take my eldest aside OR TEXT HER to ask her to get the little girly to bed, so it wasn't so mean mummy is killing the party kind of thing, and my eldest would gradually wind down and get the younger one teeth brushed and in bed within the next 10 minutes.

SS is many things that I won't say as I'll get in trouble, and one of them is a man-child and could be playing on that to display some innocent reason for his behaviour.
I can easily see SS doing this, getting MS excited, being childish, watching videos, and most importantly, annoying JS while she is trying to sleep, likely very sleepy from meds, annoying her until the point she says, "Turn it off" or "please be quiet," which may cause a hyped up MS to ask for a sleepover with SS because she's having fun (Obviously, I am not saying the victimization SS inflicted on her is fun, I think he made it fun so MS would ask JS for a sleepover, obviously not knowing what happens when she is unconscious or sleeping deeply). JS starts to sleep while sending texts, saying, "Tell her to go to bed now." Likely, their movies and noise keeping her awake. SS doses up MS to get her unconscious, and there we go.
Both females are asleep without a care, with a poisonous rat slinking around.

 

[photographer4]

Deil's advocate here, I see a different story.

JS says she doesn't like them sharing a bed, yet allows "sleepovers" as she needs to sleep.
Why would it be a "sleepover"? It made me think of when my eldest daughter came to stay and kept my youngest up watching movies, being silly, laughing, and messing around. They would have sleepovers to take the movie and noise elsewhere. After a particular time, I would have to be the bearer of bad news and stop the party as the youngest needed sleep. Yet, I would either take my eldest aside OR TEXT HER to ask her to get the little girly to bed, so it wasn't so mean mummy is killing the party kind of thing, and my eldest would gradually wind down and get the younger one teeth brushed and in bed within the next 10 minutes.

SS is many things that I won't say as I'll get in trouble, and one of them is a man-child and could be playing on that to display some innocent reason for his behaviour.
I can easily see SS doing this, getting MS excited, being childish, watching videos, and most importantly, annoying JS while she is trying to sleep, likely very sleepy from meds, annoying her until the point she says, "Turn it off" or "please be quiet," which may cause a hyped up MS to ask for a sleepover with SS because she's having fun (Obviously, I am not saying the victimization SS inflicted on her is fun, I think he made it fun so MS would ask JS for a sleepover, obviously not knowing what happens when she is unconscious or sleeping deeply). JS starts to sleep while sending texts, saying, "Tell her to go to bed now." Likely, their movies and noise keeping her awake. SS doses up MS to get her unconscious, and there we go.
Both females are asleep without a care, with a poisonous rat slinking around.

I believe JS did go to sleep without a care but I do not believe this was in any way due to drugs or medications. In light of the police documentation posted up thread by Mack the Knife and myself earlier today, I refuse to accept any excuse about JS behavior in this entire matter.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

The one thing I can't get over.

According to JS, when Maddie didn't come out of school as expected, after JS had been sitting in the pickup line for an hour and a half (no comment), JS took a bunch of actions except the most obvious one: go into the school to find out if Maddie was still there for some reason.

That seals the deal for me.

 

[photographer4]

The one thing I can't get over.

According to JS, when Maddie didn't come out of school as expected, after JS had been sitting in the pickup line for an hour and a half (no comment), JS took a bunch of actions except the most obvious one: go into the school to find out if Maddie was still there for some reason.

That seals the deal for me.

She had no need to enter the school. Dead girls don’t go to school. And imo, JS knew it well before police told her that her daughter had been killed.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

She had no need to enter the school. Dead girls don’t go to school. And imo, JS knew it well before police told her that her daughter had been killed.

Out of curiosity, which of the articles or evidence leads you to opine that JS knew MS was dead before the police told her?

 

[photographer4]

Out of curiosity, which of the articles or evidence leads you to opine that JS knew MS was dead before the police told her?

All of the statements she made herself to the police and the media from “we” dropped her off on.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

All of the statements she made herself to the police and the media from “we” dropped her off on.

All of the statements?
I am sorry If I am being naive or not understanding, but what statements led you to believe that she knew MS was dead before LE told her? I have not seen anything that suggests that, and I would be grateful if you could point me to anywhere that indicates that.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

On the 27th Jenn told officers the last time she "visually saw"(um, how else do we SEE, Jenn?) Maddie was 11pm before she "sent them upstairs to bed". Jenn also mentions that around 8am Stephan woke her up and the whole dog leash situation. (BY THIS TIME MADDIE WAS DECEASED.)

On a separate instance Jenn said to officers she saw her getting dressed in the morning.

How is this not "making false statements to police"???? Whenever Jenn starts with the SOOOOOOOOOO..... or has to think REAL LONG to respond to the simplest of questions "How long have you lived in Florida?" - it cements the observation tha Jenn is full of it. She's not just a lost doe-eyed drugged up victim.

 

[photographer4]

All of the statements?
I am sorry If I am being naive or not understanding, but what statements led you to believe that she knew MS was dead before LE told her? I have not seen anything that suggests that, and I would be grateful if you could point me to anywhere that indicates that.

It is MOO that she knew before police told her.

Mother of Madeline Soto acknowledged abuse in police interviews

The documents from Kissimmee Police Department go into details from the date the teen went missing in February to April when Stephen Sterns was indicted for first-degree pre-meditated murder.

www.wftv.com

Madeline Soto's mom may have known about alleged abuse; said 'sex stuff' was 'not evil': new documents | FOX 35 Orlando

New documents obtained by FOX 35 this week show that the teen's mother may have known about that alleged abuse.

www.fox35orlando.com

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Jen said that morning when she woke up (after she'd supposedly helped SS put the dog on the leash earlier and then fallen back to sleep) she heard people in the kitchen but she wasn't sure if Maddie was one of them.

As far as I can tell, there are three possibilities of who those people might have been: the two roommates and the son of one of them. We know Stephan wasn't there.

So, she can't pick her own daughter's voice out of such a small assembly?

 

[Poedelini]

Out of curiosity, which of the articles or evidence leads you to opine that JS knew MS was dead before the police told her?

I think its not only statements of JS but also tidbits that just do not add up.
What mother stay's at home while her daughter is missing. She did not even search.
Her other croc that Maddie was supposed to be wearing was found in JS her bedroom.
Not to mention her defending Stephan after she knew about everything.
Jmo

 

[Seattle1]

Out of curiosity, which of the articles or evidence leads you to opine that JS knew MS was dead before the police told her?

I don't think JS knew MS was dead when she went to school to collect her. However, I believe she knew MS was deceased when LE soon after referred to the case as a homicide investigation. In fact, JS wasn't notified in person that MS body was recovered. She received a phone call. JS was with her father when Police called.

 

[photographer4]

I don't think JS knew MS was dead when she went to school to collect her. However, I believe she knew MS was deceased when LE soon after referred to the case as a homicide investigation. In fact, JS wasn't notified in person that MS body was recovered. She received a phone call. JS was with her father when Police called.

She handed the call off to her father as well.

 

[LetsSolvIt]

I was mistaken. Most of these reports are new enough to me that I don't outright recognize them. There are a lot less redactions than in other records. I frankly don't know how some of this stuff hasn't been reported on already. It doesn't make sense that I would get a "scoop" when I've been specifically only requesting records that have already been released.

Here are my notes on 24001896:

• COD: Asphyxiation (2)
  • Right portion of the hyoid bone was not in tact (60)
  • Cause of death ruled strangulation (71)
• Believed the homicide likely occurred in the home (5)
• A witness identified, from a photo line up, #5 as the person he saw on the side of the road at Old Hickory Tree Rd (it is not specified which photo, if any, is SS) (10)
• Investigators obtained surveillance footage of the middle school from 2024-02-26 14:00-16:40, but some of it was corrupted (17)
• An officer went to the VBV home 2024-02-26 at 20:17 (which would have been while JS and company were speaking to police at her mom's office) and spoke to the "leaseholder," who is also described as JS's roommate, who allowed him to search the home and said MS wasn't one to run away and didn't know why she would (19)
• Apartments 106 and 104 have video doorbells (the Soto residence is 107) (22)
• CS (SS's father) contacted North Port PD after SS's arrest to turn over one of SS's old computer towers. No hard drive was found inside of the tower (27) CS later believes he found that hard drive in his storage unit and that SS may have put it there on 2/28 when he drove to North Port (71)
• District Nine Medical Examiner's Office located in Orlando performed the autopsy and evidence items were collected under case number ME24-00403 (36)
• There is a description of physical evidence taken from the ME's office that includes left and right "hand" and "foot" bags, which I am not sure how to interpret (45)
• Dextroamp-amphetamine tabs, Adderall XR tabs, and Hydroxyzine Pam tabs were collected (in their bottles) as evidence. It isn't specified who they were prescribed to (46)
• [Redacted] made a 911 call at 18:53 on 2024-02-26 on behalf of JS to report MS missing. [Redacted] "would call 911 two different times after the initial call to Orange County, wanting to know why deputies haven't responded yet." (50)
  • Based on this blurb alone, I would expect 18:53 to have been the first 911 call, but I don't think that's factually the case
• Detective Morris (KPD) recounts Detective Hunt's (OSCO) interview of JS on 2024-02-27. Morris's description seems to include more details than Hunt's. Same for Hunt's interview of SS (51)
• [MS's grandmother] "stated she doesn't like Stephan because he doesn't do anything, as in working. She said Jennifer just doesn't want to be alone." (53)
• A folder on SS's Google drive "appeared dedicated to [redacted-MS] and contained over 1700 files a majority of which depicted sexual positions (54)
• JS says that she woke up on 2024-02-26 to SS trying to get the leash on the dog, and he told her to go back to sleep and he would take care of the dog (56)
• JS "stated they recently ended their relationship and he moved back to North Port, Florida to stay with his parents. Jennifer said she ended the relationship because he was a messy person. Jennifer said they didn't have a sexual relationship because her medications affected her sex drive. I asked Jennifer who drived her vehicle, and she said only her and Stephan. Jennifer said Stephan took her vehicle Monday night because he decided to go drive around, searching for Madeline. This would have been when Stephan traveled back to Saint Cloud in the early morning hours of 02/27/2024." (56)
• "I asked Stephan if he stayed in the same room as Madeline the entire night. Stephan said he was up and down, maybe to grab a drink, but he never slept in Jennifer`s bed that night. Stephan stated Madeline would set her alarm for around 0700-0730 hours, and would then snooze for a while. Stephan stated they eventually make it out the door. This contradicts his prior statement saying they made good time getting out of the house to drop her off. Stephan said he was giving Jennifer updates as the morning went along, meaning he was telling Jennifer when Madeline was getting dressed and leaving. This was also not true, as Jennifer stated the only time they spoke is when he was getting the leash on the dog and he told her to go back to sleep. Stephan said they had time to kill since they were too early for school, so he returned home because he forgot his gate clicker for the complex. However, when Stephan arrived at the gate, he had his gate clicker in his hand while speaking with the security guard at Venetian Bay. Stephan said Madelinewas wearing a green sweatshirt, black shorts and white crocs when he dropped her off. This is a different description he provided deputies during the initial contact." (57)
• Honestly I'd just recommend reading all of page 57 starting with "On February 29, 2024, at approximately 1709 hours, we contacted Jennifer." to page 59 "We arrived at the Orange County Sheriff`s Office where Jennifer was taken inside to be interviewed by Detective O`Malley and Detective Smallwood further."
• The lock to the gate of the property where MS's body was found didn't appear to be tampered with, meaning SS would have had to drop her body over the gate or the barbed wire fence, then move it. (60)
• JS's ex-husband says that when they were married, he and JS stayed in a room upstairs and MS had her own. He separately said MS would sleep with JS, but he wasn't comfortable with them (ex-husband and JS) sleeping with MS in the same bed. (61)
  • I think this whole interview is worth reading as well
• A friend or acquaintance believed (paraphrased) SS cared more about MS than JS and questioned how he had so much money for his hobbies without a job (62)
• DS (SS's mother) didn't approve of SS's and JS's relationship because of "drug use," but it isn't stated who used drugs or if they were illicit or prescribed. DS and CS felt Jennifer had significant mental health problems and that when one of them had an episode, it would bring the other down, and they would both sleep all the time. When SS and JS split up, he moved to his own room in the home (presumably room 4) and CS would pay his $600 rent. CS thinks SS seemed more anxious than usual before the 2/25 trip, and he spoke to him on the phone on 2/26 at 15:17 and thought SS seemed off, and when they spoke again at 16:54, SS said there had been "an occurrence" and that the area he dropped MS off was known for kidnappings and abductions. DS didn't like MS and SS sleeping in the same bed. CS thought JS was acting differently than she should have been, and nothing SS says is true (65)
  • Another one worth reading the whole thing
• A roommate returned from work on 2024-02-25 around 23:00-23:30 and did not see anyone but could hear people upstairs. When she went to sleep around 02:30, she could hear noises coming from SS's room, like someone putting things on a table, which would have had to be significantly loud for it to travel through two closed doors and across a hallway. She saw SS multiple times the next day (66)
• JS texted SS at 22:39 on 2024-02-25 telling him to make sure MS goes to bed "right now" (67)
• Texts between SS and JS indicate SS sometimes gave MS an unnecessary dose of her medicine (68)
• JS had an attorney for an interview she had at the State Attorney's Office 2024-04-18, which was given under oath (71)
• JS had a new job at Disney (which was at least sometimes at night/evening) that she was in training for, and SS came to help because if he was there, MS would get to stay at home, which would mean JS could see her more, unlike when MS was staying at her grandma's (72)
• JS seems to have texted MS's father about not wanting MS to be filmed under bathroom doors. This is similar to what SS apparently did in photographing one of their roommates. JS explained this was because she had heard a story about someone being filmed in an airplane bathroom (73)
• A USB drive collected from CS had 35k images of CSAM (they appeared to not be of MS) and was not used since 2020 (73)
• JS says SS told her, on 2/26, that he was going to go "cruising" on US-192 to look for MS, and JS questioned if that was a good idea (76)
• On 2/28 (presumably while stuck in the hotel) JS called the NCMEC and local news stations (76)
• JS said SS was anxious and panicky when law enforcement had his cell phone on 2/28 and they discussed how LE was focusing on the "wrong guy" (76)
• SS tells his parents he hadn't made it in time to go to MS's birthday party (78)
• On 2/28, SS tried logging in to his Google account while on his parents WiFi, but was unsuccessful. He told his parents he went to North Port to grab a few things and get his ducks in a row but couldn't find what he was looking for. LE believes he was attempting to log in to Google to deleted images of him abusing MS (78)
  • JS said at this time he tried to log in to his email from her phone but was unsuccessful because of 2 factor authentication
• CS "tells Stephan he wished they could understand how this whole situation came about and Stephan replies "Well I did't start it". C told Stephan he participated in it, and Stephan says "yeah". At no point during the conversation did Stephan deny he murdered Madeline." (78)

My callouts:

• I'm still thinking he might have returned to VBV before school to look for MS's other croc
  • I wonder, in the footage in which SS is seen moving MS's body from the passenger seat to the trunk, are her feet visible? That is, is she visibly wearing only one shoe?
  • SS had the gate clicker in his hand when he returned to VBV before school, so he definitely didn't return for it. We already didn't believe that was the reason he went back, but I thought it might still be true that he didn't have the clicker. Interesting that he was completely fabricating that, possibly enough that he intentionally went through the front gate to support his story
• It's very clear to me, from the way these reports on the interviews are written, that investigators were very suspicious of and did not trust SS, but that the same isn't true for JS. They may be side-eyeing her, but the tone in the reports doesn't read like they're calling her a liar in the same way they are with SS.
• Just reiterating my belief that people interested in these docs should read pages 57-59
• CS and DS again sound very frustrated with SS, in contrast to how...fawning? enabling? they sound when speaking to SS in those emails
• CS and JS both say that SS had visited three times total (including 2/25) since leaving. Is this consistent with the dates of CSAM?
• This is the first I recall hearing about SS having CSAM that was not of MS
• He is a lot more open sounding with his parents on the phone than he is in email. I actually thought he was being smartly quiet, not talking about the investigation really, but these phonecalls are not smart

Got behind here but thank you, @Mack the Knife, for excellent summary and links. New but disturbing information. Poor Maddie. God rest her soul.

While LE now has no plans to charge JS, she certainly gave them a lot of inconsistencies. Wonder how they interpret that?

 

[Ontario Mom]

Respectfully, I believe this is a situation of the DA not prosecuting the mother of a murdered victim because they don't believe they would prevail at trial, and NOT that she's not responsible for criminal conduct.

RSBM

While that's certainly possible and even understandable, it's not the way the article I was responding to was worded.
That article said

"The Kissimmee Police Department has no plans to file charges against Jennifer Soto, the mother of Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl whose body was discovered in rural Osceola County earlier this year. Sources told Channel 9′s Shannon Butler that Jennifer Soto has done nothing criminal so far, so she will not face charges." Madeline Soto case: Police have no plans to charge Jennifer Soto, sources say

There is a world of difference between doing things that are immoral/highly unethical/creepy/etc., (which I believe we can all agree that she did, even if she did them unwittingly, which we cannot possibly know for certain) and doing things that are criminal. In JS's case, the PD has stated clearly she's not done anything criminal, to warrant charges - and that there are no plans to file charges.

Since they know more about this case than the public does, I'll trust them when they say she hasn't done anything criminal. Everything else she's done and said simply speaks for itself.

jmo