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

[I am not Sherlock H.]

What proffer opportunity? Is she eligible for immunity from possible charges? I missed that, somehow.

JS to my understanding was given a day to come in and speak with detectives. Some sort of proffer or immunity for that day IIRC. There are legal constraints on how that is used in her case and what can and cannot be done with information learned from that session IIUC. IANAL. It is up thread but I won’t be able to find it this morning. MOO

 

[Pruddennce]

I just wonder what he plugged those 2 thumb drives into? ok so maybe he has a computer, fair enough, but if hes going to check 2 thumb drives, It doesnt stand to reason that he wouldnt have attempted to turn on a desktop to see what ss was doing the day he saw him on the desktop. The day he was so rattled. This would have been after SS was arrested too, when CS returned to north port after his hotel stay in Kissimmee, and he's not curious? please.
even if he couldnt get in ( password) you would think he would have turned it on and tried. but if hes claiming he had no idea the hard drive was missing? I guess he didn't try to turn it on. and why was he surprised to learn that the hard drive in storage wasnt from the desk top if he didn't even know it was missing.

......LE March 6 interview with the parents in their home:

Det: um did you guys ever witness or hear him looking up inappropriate stuff on the internet
CS: I have no idea cuz he we never had access to his room
DS: he didn't use our computers he had his own
Det: okay. obviously his room is over here, do you mind if we look
CS: yeah
Det: is it is it the same way it was pretty much?
CS: no we started clean cleaning it out because we uh uh uh uh it's just he's he's existed in there we havent touched that room.... at this point I said well there's no way in hell he's ever coming back here we're just going to gain access back to this room
Det: okay
DS: we gave the other police complete access before we touched anything and and the stuff that I had thrown away the trash off of his big table I had left there in a bag and I said this is all I have done at this point and if you want to go through the bag you do it you know I
CS: so we're just getting rid of clothes and then trash that's in there and then like I said it's it's um it's going to take a while for us just to get in there and sort it out and figure out if there's anything of value that that that could be sold um and so but it's pretty much the same that that he left it in
Det: okay um that's all I have for now....Do you mind if we take a picture of it...
CS: oh yeah if you want to go ahead
Det. do you mind if I take a picture of your note pad?

and then they discuss CS notes, make a copy or whatnot. then DS says she took pictures of the room and the det said you can email them to him..."absolutely I have the original pictures of the room before I touched it'. why all the precautions....at this point the room was already searched.

so where and when did his parents, or just one of them, find the thumb drives that LE didnt find during their search which DS references? maybe I missed it?

 

[ttjo]

yes, same self initiated interview! CS: "too bad he wasnt smart enough about the phone". unbelievable statement. CS turned over the thumb drives which IMO, clearly only turned it over because he wasnt sure if LE had evidence that thumb drive data existed elsewhere. well, SS phone had plenty, which he was told.

If CS opened any of those files on the thumb drive I would think it would have a last accessed date? If I recall correctly, CS claimed in the joint parental media interview he 'hovered the mouse' over the file(s) on the thumb drive but didnt open them. Im curious as to when those files were transferred to the thumb drive.

Thats right! he just hovered over the titles. so someone went to the trouble to title the pictures descriptively enough, that he didn't want to open them? Then this thumb was carelessly kept in SS bedroom not even encrypted or anything and easily opened?

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

Oh and also in that one interview she was shown a picture of Maddie dead in SS's vehicle and she asks, "Is she dead?"

Most normal mothers would follow up with that with IS SHE DEAD? IS SHE DEAD? WHAT HAPPENED? IS MY CHILD DEAD? TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW!

But no, she just carries on semi-normally.

IMO the lack of surprise tends to mean only one thing. She was likely already aware. And was not able to feign surprise or an appropriate reaction. Such as ‘no, please tell me that isn’t the case’; ‘please pass me that picture….. and turn the lights up in here’….. ‘how can you be sure’….. ‘no, this can’t be….. by dear child’ ….. ‘where was that image taken’….. ‘when’ …… ‘how did I sleep through this?’ ….. instead nothing….. zilch. MOO

 

[Boots38]

I agree that she lied about mistrusting men.

Perhaps she realizes what some men are capable of in relationships and can be abusive to adults and children, but she did not shy away from men and certainly didn't protect herself or her daughter from a man who was both a slug and a predator.

In fact, she encouraged the situation by providing him living arrangements.

jmo

I don't believe she lied about mistrusting men. She probably never dreamed he would do the things he did. She probably in fact didn't trust men but then meet a guy gives him a chance falls in love and that chance ended up being the biggest mistake of her life. She didn't encourage the situation at all they were together a pretty long time, most adults choose living together. This man turned out to be her worst nightmare. IMO.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

If she was charged with neglect, can they hold her till trial? no criminal record, first time offender, she lost a daughter, she may be a flight risk but mostly shed be a danger to herself but not others. Maybe because they couldnt keep her in custody, theyre waiting? could that be a reason?

Not sure @ttjo ….. but that does make a little sense. Maybe? Unfortunately?

IMO neglect is far too minimal for what has occurred in this case. IANAL and am not familiar with FL or other statutes, federal or otherwise. IIRC there was earlier talk about endangerment. Yet I hope something at least that severe or better can be utilized. Maybe even federal charges if need be if FL laws are seemingly too obscure. Based on evidence JS asked MS to accompany S to ‘sleep’…. for years. IIUC. SMH.

And what of CS (SS’s father) that he believed that SS and JS were supposedly involved in some ‘criminal enterprise’? WITH is that about? I hope investigators are all over that. Maybe there is one thread to help with that connection.

I believe @IzzyBlanche also mentioned above perhaps prosecutors intend to use JS as a prosecution witness. IMO horrible idea….. (and I am not throwing shade at you Izzy!)…. JS from my observation would not be a good witness. And what ‘truth’ has been observed in anything said? As it is they need to parse through everything she has stated publicly and in statements and try to decipher for relevance (or possible criminality) IMO.

I hope that she is not used as a prosecution witness. Rather that some charges can also be found that apply to what she allowed, enabled, condoned (insert appropriate verb) that led to MS abuse over years and premature death. MOO

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

IMO the lack of surprise tends to mean only one thing. She was likely already aware. And was not able to feign surprise or an appropriate reaction. Such as ‘no, please tell me that isn’t the case’; ‘please pass me that picture….. and turn the lights up in here’….. ‘how can you be sure’….. ‘no, this can’t be….. by dear child’ ….. ‘where was that image taken’….. ‘when’ …… ‘how did I sleep through this?’ ….. instead nothing….. zilch. MOO

Not only that she insisted he lawyer up,and didn't want to press charges right away. I can't with her. NOPE NOPE NOPE. Poor Madeline betrayed in life,and beyond. MOO

 

[Pruddennce]

I've read/heard speculation that JS is not being charged because prosecutors need her to be their star witness at SS's trial.

I don't see that at all. From what we've seen her first priority is to shield SS. Also she comes across at best wishy washy and at worst, lying.

The only thing I can think of is that prosecutors expect SS's defense to be that JS actually killed Maddie and he was only trying to help her cover it up. In that case they would need JS's testimony.

Thoughts?

hmmm....cell phone data. thats what Im interested in between SS and JS. and of course Madeline. the manner in which JS described her 30 minutes w/Madeline was suspect to me from the beginning. I felt from the onset she never saw her because her particulars are so generic. gifts, party, happy Madeline when she came home from work. her subpoena interview she threw in Madeline's favorite food. she never saw Madeline in the morning.

im not sure what she could contribute as a star witness. she never saw Madeline in the morning. LE has all of his movements substantiated. and this: JS is with him at home when she returned from her appt, and the next time she sees him is when Madeline is missing. what blanks need to be filled in by her? just there to say 'what SS told her'? which is what he told LE as well?

its very possible that she was involved in her demise. SS phone call w/parents in May, saying "well, I didnt start it", CS says 'you participated in it'....SS: yeah. this exchange can mean many things, referencing both the CSAM and the murder.

 

[Woodberry]

There has been a lot of talk as to SS’s computer that LE took that was missing the hard drive. We know CS supposedly turned over a hard drive he found in a storage unit, and two thumb drives to LE. LE told CS the hard drive they were given wasn’t the one from SS’s computer because it hadn’t been accessed in several years. Do we know where CS said the thumb drives were found?

What if there isn’t a missing hard drive? A computer can be booted and ran off a thumb drive, including internet access. Maybe SS took the internal hard drive out of it and was running it off a thumb drive. He could have used a thumb drive for file storage, or stored files in the cloud. CS probably wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

 

[PawneeDew]

hmmm....cell phone data. thats what Im interested in between SS and JS. and of course Madeline. the manner in which JS described her 30 minutes w/Madeline was suspect to me from the beginning. I felt from the onset she never saw her because her particulars are so generic. gifts, party, happy Madeline when she came home from work. her subpoena interview she threw in Madeline's favorite food. she never saw Madeline in the morning.

im not sure what she could contribute as a star witness. she never saw Madeline in the morning. LE has all of his movements substantiated. and this: JS is with him at home when she returned from her appt, and the next time she sees him is when Madeline is missing. what blanks need to be filled in by her? just there to say 'what SS told her'? which is what he told LE as well?

its very possible that she was involved in her demise. SS phone call w/parents in May, saying "well, I didnt start it", CS says 'you participated in it'....SS: yeah. this exchange can mean many things, referencing both the CSAM and the murder.

I agree.

 

[PawneeDew]

I don't believe she lied about mistrusting men. She probably never dreamed he would do the things he did. She probably in fact didn't trust men but then meet a guy gives him a chance falls in love and that chance ended up being the biggest mistake of her life. She didn't encourage the situation at all they were together a pretty long time, most adults choose living together. This man turned out to be her worst nightmare. IMO.

I beg to differ, with all respect. That's a simplistic and naive conclusion. There are many layers to this case. If you know anything about human nature and the depths that morally destitute human beings can sink to? Then; in my opinion, it's fairly easy to see how this may have played out....Of course, I don't know because I wasn't there. LE has all the evidence and hopefully we will see justice for Maddie. That's what I hope for.....

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

I don't believe she lied about mistrusting men. She probably never dreamed he would do the things he did. She probably in fact didn't trust men but then meet a guy gives him a chance falls in love and that chance ended up being the biggest mistake of her life. She didn't encourage the situation at all they were together a pretty long time, most adults choose living together. This man turned out to be her worst nightmare. IMO.

RSBMFF.

Respectfully, this statement: ‘She didn't encourage the situation at all …’

Could you please clarify exactly what that refers to?

From my observation following this case of MS, JS certainly did encourage that MS was to ‘sleep’ with SS on more than one occasion and over a long range of time. IIUC the actual duration and number of events has still not been disclosed. And it has become more apparent IIRC that the two (i.e. SS and MS) were doing a number of things ‘together’. JS role in those activities is still to be determined AFAIK.

And on the night of MS sad and IMO unnecessary death, JS is IIRC known to have specifically requested SS and MS to be alone in a remote bedroom. So that JS could get a night of restful sleep. SMH. And it is still not IMO clear exactly who summoned SS to appear at JS residence on that last weekend for MS.

For these reasons alone I am unable to agree with the premises in the above post. MOO

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

I agree. So much of what she said is not adding up at all. The way she sighs like she's annoyed at the questions LE asked her. She saw her getting dressed that morning No she didn't. "We took her to school,We dropped her off close to the school". That never happened. iirc She mentioned helping him with the leash. MOO