Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #3

[lightofmine99]

Also curious: at what point did JS realize MD phone was at home?

Thought about this too. My first three guesses as to how a parent would discover their child left their phone at home are as follows:

• Parent goes into child's room and sees phone still on charger next to bed
• Parent(s) are/is unable to contact child all day, neither can siblings (would prompt to check room)
• Parent sees their phone left on the table, counter, couch, etc.

 

[photographer4]

If she suspected anything she may have needed to get out and away to a safer spot to call Le without him there.

It’s possible friends and fam had messaged mom to ask where Maddie was all day since no one had heard from her. Most kids here have their friends mom’s number and will text or call or kid friend isn’t answering them. I like this actually because when the kids know how to reach mom they can help keep each other safer! Imagine your kid goes to play with X and can’t be reached by Y so she phones you and you can tell them where to find their friends? Or they call and ask why X isn’t there yet and you suddenly have an idea something is wrong? Great safety net!!

We weren’t told in Maddie case but we read friends and fam said unsual for her to be out of contact. Maybe some had messaged mom and she was suspicious and afraid.

He may have been in a weird state of mind. I would expect him to be paranoid. Frantic. Angry even. Something seems to have really gone wrong and he felt the csam noose tightening around his throat. It’s possible she was just worried and very afraid and suspicious but I’d like to point out she coulda said that to cops when she called if he wasn’t with her - and they would have been on him even faster. If she had a clue and didn’t speak up? It’s gonna be bad for her.

 

[photographer4]

Except that her phone was left at home so no chance of making contact.

Sure. They couldn’t connect with Maddie. But if they couldn’t and they usually could - maybe someone messaged mom to ask if Maddie was sick that day? It’s possible someone did and we just don’t know it yet. Mom clearly knew how to reach Maddie friends to ask if they’d seen her right? So I imagine a friend or fam member may have messaged her before the school told her she hadn’t been there all day to ask what was up with Maddie.

When and where was Maddie’s phone eventually found and by whom? Were there check in messages from anyone? If mom saw any she really prob knew Maddie wasn’t at school before she found out from the teacher. If anyone did send texts etc to check on her and go no answer or worse got an answer - police will prob find those too.

 

[Beekarina]

I’ll say this: his friend Frank on Gray Hughes didn’t seem to imagine SS was into child material or capable of this so maybe he really was a master manipulator? If his friends couldn’t tell - how would she have been able to?

That said, I have doubts that NONE of their friends or family knew about him. <modsnip>

This seems pretty standard though. We almost never hear things like "Yeah, he was a total creep pervert weirdo, totally can see him doing something like that. Great guy though, loved hanging out with him and talking Disney." I mean for anyone to say they could see the person being a murderous perv, they need to admit they liked hanging out with someone like that.

Part of me does think JS might be odd/awkward enough to have been clueless for awhile. I think SS probably went for her because of this. Watching her interviews, I do think she's odd/something is off in addition to dishonesty. The shaking, the way she verbalizes things. The way she comforts HIM with all his phony baloney over the top crap. It's all weird. I suspect their relationship was pretty bizarre too, and we know things about it such as he slept in a separate room even when they were dating--from the friend calling in. Again, if that is true and not nonsense SS decided to share with his friend, seems a bit weird. How convenient though for SS to have his own room, a room MS could visit and look at toys and.....

 

[UnapologeticallyAspie]

Her comforting him seemed very unnatural, awkward

IMO she did it out of fear.

My very first instinct while watching the interview of her and, him walking in and sitting in the back, was that he is/was abusive to JS.

While I’m not saying that she’s innocent, because we already know that she has lied however I strongly feel that perhaps her lies have been from coercive.

moo ymmv IMHAspieO

 

[ttjo]

IMO, it wasnt a slow response. she SAID she called 911 AFTER she confirmed Madeline was absent all day, after she drove around, checked her mom's place of business AND went back to a closed school. its likely she called and got voicemail. THEN, emailed the school.

Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, The slow response as in taking 3 hrs for police to show up, not in her calling 911. ( she called at 4:45 they arrived around 8:00 pm)

 

[DFWNF]

The SA went on for years. If the Mom didn't know, how does that happen? She seemed so loving towards him in their interviews. And, general question: how does someone avoid bringing such a predator into their homes? He had no record.

I suggest don't bring him into the home.

 

[ttjo]

what I found alarming in the first interview is her response about what the search is entailing: she says, behind the school, a creek, a wooden path area, hiking path..she says they are going back there with canines/pieces of her clothing...taking their own vehicles going into the woods to search for her....then says: "I DONT FEEL LIKE THATS GOING TO FIND ANYTHING"

whatttttttttttttttttt?

why would she feel this search location was not NOT going to yield anything??? that was my big hmmmmm....

I knew there was something about what she said that bothered me and I think that's it, a lot of talk about what they won't find or what won't yield results. It was almost discouraging.

 

[Pruddennce]

JS laid on the ADHD disorder thick. although she then discounts that condition with she had no social issues. we have no idea what, if any, medical condition Madeline was diagnosed with or to what degree. only what the mom said. although we do know now she was subjected to SA which can be contributed to her change in behaviour which probably began several years ago.

she was so quick to say, she's forgetful, she forgot her phone, and says now she cant be tracked. well, we know now, she didnt forget her phone. she was murdered.

 

[Gemmie]

JS laid on the ADHD disorder thick.

Shortened for focus.

I want to preface by saying I know nothing about ADHD so I may be WAY off with my thinking. I Goog'ed it and it says "Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention". (And yes, I see it says may have)

With that said, after watching Maddie's funeral video she had soooo many interests. Ballet, drums, guitar, art, singing, wanted to design homes, spoke 2 languages, swimming, and wearing a mermaid outfit no less! And she appeared to be very athletic. Most all of that takes focus, and attention, which makes me wonder... did Maddie really have ADHD, or is that just what her mom says? And as someone else posted... why did she not say anything positive about her daughter? Just "she had ADHD and forgot her phone". I listed a whole bunch of things so obviously her family knew how many interests she had. It's just kind of a head-scratcher.

 

[Beekarina]

Do we know where JS was during this timeframe? I may be mistaken, but I thought the two of them were both "home all day", at least after the morning drop off?

Sterns said he went home for about an hour after going to a vape store and then ran errands and was home until 2:30 that day, the report said.

Detectives said a tip showed him changing a flat tire not far from where the girl’s body was found that afternoon.

and

Madeline's body was found in the area of Hickory Tree Road, the same street where Sterns was known to have been driving between 1 and 2:30 pm on the day Madeline disappeared.

The Sun

and Madeline Soto: Story Jennifer Soto gave law enforcement doesn’t line up with what investigators know

What the hell was SS doing out there? Was her body in the car or ___ all day somewhere? Did he dump her in the morning and return in the afternoon for some disturbing reason?

 

[photoprose1122]

Shortened for focus.

I want to preface by saying I know nothing about ADHD so I may be WAY off with my thinking. I Goog'ed it and it says "Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention". (And yes, I see it says may have)

With that said, after watching Maddie's funeral video she had soooo many interests. Ballet, drums, guitar, art, singing, wanted to design homes, spoke 2 languages, swimming, and wearing a mermaid outfit no less! And she appeared to be very athletic. Most all of that takes focus, and attention, which makes me wonder... did Maddie really have ADHD, or is that just what her mom says? And as someone else posted... why did she not say anything positive about her daughter? Just "she had ADHD and forgot her phone". I listed a whole bunch of things so obviously her family knew how many interests she had. It's just kind of a head-scratcher.

TBH, having many interests and passions would not be uncommon for someone with ADHD. ADHD is really more of an inability to prioritize your focus on the right things. We tend to hyperfixate on things that interest us and can’t focus on things that don’t interest us. It’s also associated with the inability to regulate dopamine, and new, novel and exciting things are dopamine goldmines for someone with ADHD. I can hyperfocus on a video project that I’m inspired to work on for instance, without moving or getting up for 8 hours. But give me something I am not interested in doing and I struggle to stay focused on it for more than five minutes at a time.

But as we’ve discussed before, her ADHD/Autistic tendencies could very much be trauma-induced.

 

[jaeljoh]

Shortened for focus.

I want to preface by saying I know nothing about ADHD so I may be WAY off with my thinking. I Goog'ed it and it says "Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention". (And yes, I see it says may have)

With that said, after watching Maddie's funeral video she had soooo many interests. Ballet, drums, guitar, art, singing, wanted to design homes, spoke 2 languages, swimming, and wearing a mermaid outfit no less! And she appeared to be very athletic. Most all of that takes focus, and attention, which makes me wonder... did Maddie really have ADHD, or is that just what her mom says? And as someone else posted... why did she not say anything positive about her daughter? Just "she had ADHD and forgot her phone". I listed a whole bunch of things so obviously her family knew how many interests she had. It's just kind of a head-scratcher.

People with ADHD often are able to hyper-focus on things they are interested in. I think it's a very poorly named disability. MOO

 

[lightofmine99]

Ballet, drums, guitar, art, singing, wanted to design homes, spoke 2 languages, swimming, and wearing a mermaid outfit no less! And she appeared to be very athletic. Most all of that takes focus, and attention, which makes me wonder... did Maddie really have ADHD, or is that just what her mom says?

I think it should be noted that even though having ADD/ADHD can be debilitating, especially for a child, you can have those issues and still be successful, get good grades, do things like swimming, drawing, etc.

The problem is that many symptoms associated with ADD/ADHD also overlap as being symptoms of other issues, such as anxiety and depression. A child experiencing abuse, trauma, grief, and so on, can present with these symptoms (inattentiveness, forgetfulness) without actually having the real disorder. It's possible Maddy was factually diagnosed with ADHD, but it's also possible whatever symptoms she displayed to make JS/her family believe she had ADHD (without a formal DX) were symptoms of the ongoing abuse. Maybe it was because of both things.

Additionally, while I believe that ADD/ADHD is real, I also think it is over-diagnosed in children. But that's a different topic. MOO.

 

[photoprose1122]

People with ADHD often are able to hyper-focus on things they are interested in. I think it's a very poorly named disability. MOO

Totally agree.

 

[Beekarina]

Shortened for focus.

I want to preface by saying I know nothing about ADHD so I may be WAY off with my thinking. I Goog'ed it and it says "Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention". (And yes, I see it says may have)

With that said, after watching Maddie's funeral video she had soooo many interests. Ballet, drums, guitar, art, singing, wanted to design homes, spoke 2 languages, swimming, and wearing a mermaid outfit no less! And she appeared to be very athletic. Most all of that takes focus, and attention, which makes me wonder... did Maddie really have ADHD, or is that just what her mom says? And as someone else posted... why did she not say anything positive about her daughter? Just "she had ADHD and forgot her phone". I listed a whole bunch of things so obviously her family knew how many interests she had. It's just kind of a head-scratcher.

Sometimes hyperfocusing on things and becoming good at them can be linked to ADHD. She was also at an age where many kids are interested in a lot of things. I hope she genuinely was interested in all of those things and found some happiness, comfort and escape.

Personally, I wonder more about JS. Could she be on the spectrum or something along those lines and the callers to the YouTube channel who tossed out "meds for mental health" have it mixed up OR SS told them something along those lines, because of course he would? Just a thought because JS does come across to me as odd/awkward in addition to probably lying. I feel like it is something other than just dishonesty though. Could be drugs, but might be something else? Might this also explain the weirdly detached way she speaks about MS at times?

 

[Gemmie]

TBH, having many interests and passions would not be uncommon for someone with ADHD. ADHD is really more of an inability to prioritize your focus on the right things. We tend to hyperfixate on things that interest us and can’t focus on things that don’t interest us. It’s also associated with the inability to regulate dopamine, and new, novel and exciting things are dopamine goldmines for someone with ADHD. I can hyperfocus on a video project that I’m inspired to work on for instance, without moving or getting up for 8 hours. But give me something I am not interested in doing and I struggle to stay focused on it for more than five minutes at a time.

But as we’ve discussed before, her ADHD/Autistic tendencies could very much be trauma-induced.

Thank you for educating me! I had no idea about the hyperfixate thing. Very interesting. Thanks again.

 

[Nattyj1991]

Here ya go. I think I'm getting the hang of reddit as I've only been on it a couple of times. I've been able to find a few posts y'all have mentioned if I have the correct words to search for.

And... he has got some NERVE with the part I underlined in red!!! ESPECIALLY considering what he was doing to Maddie! Well, not everyone that lived in Maddie's house is who they say they were either. GRRRRRRRR

I purposely didn't SS the bottom of the post as it has words not allowed on WS.

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He also stated he is not going to just let her talk to “pedaphiles” online. It’s funny how often he mentions that word, knowing he is one.

 

[Gemmie]

He also stated he is not going to just let her talk to “pedaphiles” online. It’s funny how often he mentions that word, knowing he is one.

There's no way to put this delicately but perhaps he didn't want to share her. I know. Ugh.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Just to make sure we're talking about the same thing, The slow response as in taking 3 hrs for police to show up, not in her calling 911. ( she called at 4:45 they arrived around 8:00 pm)

Y'all, I am SO confused about this call timeline. Where is the info coming from that mom called around 4:45? Would someone provide a link, please?

The arrest warrant requested for SS by the Kissimmee Police Department detective states "On February 26, at approximately 2000 hours, was reported missing by her mother."

Link: !!!!WARNING, GRAPHIC!!!!!:

Stephan Sterns Affidavit | PDF

Stephan Sterns Affidavit

www.scribd.com

In the first presser Sheriff Mina gave, he also states that his department was called around 8:00 p.m. At around the 2:01 mark: