Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #2

[bdawk20]

Couldn't it also just be kid/teen hyperbole? There's a lot in the news that makes me think I should just go live in the woods and abandon society.

Yes, but if her mother is looking for clues to her disappearance 4 days after her 13th birthday, and there are references to running away on that birthday…..I’d call that “strange or wrong”

 

[investigatefred]

Except SS claimed he accidentally did a factory reset on his phone the day before she was reported missing. If true, they’d have to spend some time trying to analyze the phone data with other methods than just what would be readily visible if someone handed you a normal functioning phone with years of data on it. Unless he was so stupid and saved things to the cloud, and that all came pouring back to the phone’s memory after his “accidental” reset… I have wondered how they obtained the images so quickly.

Cloud storage likely...Photos can be backed up on Google, Verizon, Apple, etc. Depends on how he set it up originally. A factory reset won't wipe those things. Could also have had an SD card in the phone if it was a Droid. Factory reset wouldn't wipe that either.

 

[MadMcGoo]

MOD NOTE:

We have decided to allow the discussion of the suspect’s Reddit account (https://www.reddit.com/user/Sustinet/). It is considered the same as any other social media account; comments and posts by readers/visitors of these pages are not allowed to be linked, quoted, copied or referenced. They are considered rumor. Just don't mention them.

Also, as a reminder:
- Name calling of anyone is not allowed.
- Advocating violence against anyone is not allowed.
- The sleuthing or negative speculation of anyone who hasn’t been named a suspect or person of interest is not allowed. Those people are considered victims.

If you have a question, please use the report feature at the bottom of any post to ask us.

Thanks!
Mad

 

[investigatefred]

From the police presser, we know they have Stephan on video 2/26 discarding items at 7:35am in the dumpster in Kissimmee. Madeline's backpack and school issued laptop were later recovered from said dumpster.

Then at 8:19am, he returned to the complex and Madeline was visible in the vehicle. It is believed she was already deceased at this time.

__________________


BELOW is JMO/thoughts/speculation:

Was he already there from an overnight stay or did he arrive to pick her up way earlier than was necessary to get to school?

Or did he pick her up AFTER discarding her items? (If this is so, that would mean the backpack and computer were already in his possession and that he had already planned to kill her that morning.)

I think she either told him she was going to tell if he didn't stop abusing her, or as other have theorized, he had impregnated her and knew the gig was up, soon there would be no hiding what he had done.

In addition to attempting to wipe his own phone by factory resetting it, I also wonder if he tried to do the same with her school laptop.

Perhaps she was keeping a journal or other evidence of abuse by Stephan and he found it. Could also be she was starting to take interest in boys her age (Mom said in one interview she had a crush on someone). Maybe Stephan was jealous.

 

[daybreaking]

MOD NOTE:

We have decided to allow the discussion of the suspect’s Reddit account (https://www.reddit.com/user/Sustinet/).

Thank you!

Would you clarify as to if/how the suspect's comments on other Redditors' posts can be mentioned? I'm wondering if the AdviceForTeens comments can be mentioned?

 

[ttjo]

Except SS claimed he accidentally did a factory reset on his phone the day before she was reported missing. If true, they’d have to spend some time trying to analyze the phone data with other methods than just what would be readily visible if someone handed you a normal functioning phone with years of data on it. Unless he was so stupid and saved things to the cloud, and that all came pouring back to the phone’s memory after his “accidental” reset… I have wondered how they obtained the images so quickly.

Wonder how much scrolling and tapping he had to do to accidentally factory reset his phone... please.

 

[Deleted member 326769]

Madeline supposedly wrote to her friends that she wanted to "go live in the woods when she turned 13". I want to clarify that I disagree with others thinking Maddy may have feared from something SS said to her that when she turned 13, he'd be done with her, and that's why she said that, if she even was the one to say that.

MOO, if it was Maddy that said that, then it stands to reason to me, that she wanted to go live in the woods to get away from him. If she didn't like having to be subjected to what he was doing to her, she'd want to get away. She couldn't tell. I don't think it was a threat he gave her that he was going to leave her alone by killing her.

I'm just trying to understand what it may have been like with mom's bf. Madeline wanted to go live in the woods, MOO again, because she wasn't happy. She wanted to get away and maybe her mother was blind to the situation of what was going on and kept encouraging boyfriend to do all these things to help out, and it put Maddy in his grips even more. Why was he the one that had to come pick Madeline up for school?

JMO here, it just seems like her mother could've been in denial of what was going on. Mom sounded all into the "we" and the "us" of her and bf raising Madeline, taking advantage of his willingness to come pick her up and drop her off for school. This is not blaming the mother. All I'm saying here is perhaps she was fooled by his yucky "sensitivity" thinking those were real tears he could shed. I think Madeline wanted to get away from his advances and go live in the woods. She may have hated her mother's bf, but her mother seemed so happy with him, and Maddy was stuck and trapped with him around. Listen, this is strictly MOO. My heart breaks for Madeline because something was going on right under everybody's noses.

ETA-- I could be wrong. I do agree that what she told friends was when she turned 13 she wanted to go live in the woods. I can see why others question why she specified when she turned 13?​

But we don’t even know whether she wrote that or somebody else did. That’s the biggest problem with guessing and theorizing about her wanting to live in the woods

 

[Marysmith]

Wonder how much scrolling and tapping he had to do to accidentally factory reset his phone... please.

Right? So easy to do. As soon as LE heard that their radar must have been going off so badly - if it wasn’t already…

 

[MadMcGoo]

Thank you!

Would you clarify as to if/how the suspect's comments on other Redditors' posts can be mentioned? I'm wondering if the AdviceForTeens comments can be mentioned?

Comments made from his account that potentially relate to this case may be discussed. Replies and comments made by any other user MAY NOT be mentioned or discussed.

 

[bdawk20]

From the police presser, we know they have Stephan on video 2/26 discarding items at 7:35am in the dumpster in Kissimmee. Madeline's backpack and school issued laptop were later recovered from said dumpster.

Then at 8:19am, he returned to the complex and Madeline was visible in the vehicle. It is believed she was already deceased at this time.

__________________


BELOW is JMO/thoughts/speculation:

Was he already there from an overnight stay or did he arrive to pick her up way earlier than was necessary to get to school?

Or did he pick her up AFTER discarding her items? (If this is so, that would mean the backpack and computer were already in his possession and that he had already planned to kill her that morning.)

I think she either told him she was going to tell if he didn't stop abusing her, or as other have theorized, he had impregnated her and knew the gig was up, soon there would be no hiding what he had done.

In addition to attempting to wipe his own phone by factory resetting it, I also wonder if he tried to do the same with her school laptop.

Perhaps she was keeping a journal or other evidence of abuse by Stephan and he found it. Could also be she was starting to take interest in boys her age (Mom said in one interview she had a crush on someone). Maybe Stephan was jealous.

“It is believed Madeline was killed in Kissimmee, where her family lived in an apartment, and that Sterns moved her body in the early morning hours Monday, Mina said.”

Madeline Soto, missing 13-year-old Florida girl, found dead; mother's boyfriend suspected of moving her body

Video evidence showed Stephan Sterns, the boyfriend of Madeline Soto's mother, discarding items in a dumpster the day she vanished, police said. Her backpack and laptop were later found inside.

www.nbcnews.com

ETA. A lot open to speculation at this point. To me, “early morning hours” could mean 1 am, could mean 8 am. It’s possible her body had already been moved out of the apartment, and was only put in the car or made visible when the surveillance picked it up. Without a better understanding of their living situation and if he actually “came and picked her up” or if he was with her all night, it’s making everything hard to figure out. JMO

 

[lightofmine99]

Is it possible SS had access to her phone, saw she said something like "I'm gonna live in the woods after my birthday haha" and decided that he would act on this? Speculation.

 

[investigatefred]

To each his own, but I'm not sure what is attractive about a grown man playing with, collecting and immersing themselves with children's toys and gaming...so weird. Like he has a child-like mentality looking at his reddit.

On the flip side, his attempts at giving teens advice on there about pregnancy and one whose mom wanted to kill them is creepy.


MOO

 

[lightofmine99]

May I ask how we know this is his Reddit account? I haven't clicked on it admittedly.

 

[MissMalowe]

What is his username on reddit? Thanks in advance!

 

[Gemmie]

Thank you, @MadMcGoo for allowing this reddit!

Wow at SS's reddit. Appears he likes to work around children at Disney (JMO) and also respond to teens on reddit. Here's one such response of his:



I find it interesting that he offers advice to teens he doesn't even know, tells them to GET OUT of bad situations, yet he was causing a bad situation with his GFs teen daughter. Well, actually she was a preteen when I'm guessing "things" happened to her by him as she just recently turned 13. I don't understand helping strangers, and abusing someone you're supposed to love and protect and murdering them! Likely after 'stuff' happened. All MOO.

ETA link to source: https://www.reddit.com/user/Sustinet/

 

[TMcgee]

To each his own, but I'm not sure what is attractive about a grown man playing with, collecting and immersing themselves with children's toys and gaming...so weird. Like he has a child-like mentality looking at his reddit.

On the flip side, his attempts at giving teens advice on there about pregnancy and one whose mom wanted to kill them is creepy.


MOO

one of his posts shows his hand holding up one of his toys in a disheveled looking adult bedroom with what appears to be a little girl’s shoe under the bed.

 

[stemkb]

<modsnip: no source link> Detectives will be keen to learn what his search terms were, no doubt.

 

[Ontario Mom]

To each his own, but I'm not sure what is attractive about a grown man playing with, collecting and immersing themselves with children's toys and gaming...so weird. Like he has a child-like mentality looking at his reddit.

On the flip side, his attempts at giving teens advice on there about pregnancy and one whose mom wanted to kill them is creepy.


MOO

One of the more common things I've seen in cases where the suspect is a pedophile, is that they take up an interest in things that will also be interesting/entertaining for kids. Toys, trends, games, gaming systems, Disney, Marvel, superhero merch, social platforms kids use, etc.

Very similar to how they usually choose a job or profession that will put them in direct contact with kids.

They are sexually degenerate predators looking for children to lure, groom and victimize.

 

[investigatefred]

One of the more common things I've seen in cases where the suspect is a pedophile, is that they take up an interest in things that will also be interesting/entertaining for kids. Toys, trends, games, gaming systems, Disney, Marvel, superhero merch, social platforms kids use, etc.

Very similar to how they usually choose a job or profession that will put them in direct contact with kids.

They are sexually degenerate predators looking for children to lure, groom and victimize.

I 100% agree. All of these things would be a HUGE red flag for me personally in a relationship...Again, JMO.

 

[daybreaking]

From his Reddit post/comment history:

On May 23, 2023, he refers to Madeline's mother as his 'ex GF' in one of his comments.

Several of his posts reflect an interest in guns, to the point of adding different barrels and optical sights. He references at least 3 - Two that appear to be 9mm, and a 45.

He also posts very clear photos of them that could potentially be interesting to a prosecuting attorney if the guns become relevant.

On January 14, 2024, he comments about owning two firearms - a Sig Sauer P365 XL and a Springfield Hellcat OSP. In 2021, he posted a photo of the Sig P365. He also posted a photo of specific type of optical sight for it. The same year, he posted a photo of a Stainless TLE II pistol, and mentions owning it for at least 10 years at that point. Finally, he also posts a photo of a specific barrel for the Hellcat mentioning wear on it.