Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #4

[Beekarina]

I didn’t dive too far into the latest affidavit w/ 60 counts, but were all counts from material found on his phone or were they also from other devices pulled from the home? If these were fully from his phone, I shudder to think what else is out there on other devices formerly in his possession.

For MS’s laptop and backpack… IMO, he needed to get rid of her belongings because he said he drove her to school, so she should have had these particular items with her. A hasty and shoddy attempt to rid himself of evidence.

I don't believe it specifies, but I may have missed the detail?

Still not sure why he would toss her laptop & backpack, esp at the apartment complex dumpster? If SS was bringing MS to school, and the "story" was going to be she was taken somewhere between the church lot and school, or somehow "ran away to the woods" why wouldn't she have those items? Even SS said MS had opened her backpack to "look for her headphones" as he drove away.

So I'm wondering WTH went on involving her backpack and/or laptop?

 

[photographer4]

Doesn't the fact that JS thought Maddy was wearing black shorts strongly suggest that JS was not involved in the murder, nor did she see the body afterward? Unless she was far more clever than I've personally ever thought JS to be.

Or does it suggest she lied and hoped people would just assume killer changed her daughter into jeans? Or that Maddie ran away and then changed into jeans before she met her demise.

 

[photographer4]

IMO I see that statement as just another inconsistency uttered by JS.

What did Maddie wear to school most days? How about on the Friday prior? Betcha it was shorts….

 

[Gigglingtoes]

I don't believe it specifies, but I may have missed the detail?

Still not sure why he would toss her laptop & backpack, esp at the apartment complex dumpster? If SS was bringing MS to school, and the "story" was going to be she was taken somewhere between the church lot and school, or somehow "ran away to the woods" why wouldn't she have those items? Even SS said MS had opened her backpack to "look for her headphones" as he drove away.

So I'm wondering WTH went on involving her backpack and/or laptop?

I get the feeling he was trying to just make her “disappear” and who knows where he originally planned to put her.

 

[photographer4]

I just trip out she never looked at his phone and computer? Especially if they were off and on again. You know people like to peep each others stuff.

Willfully blind or unintentionally blind. Neither is good.

 

[Beekarina]

I'm not how to ask this without being graphic, but how on earth is someone, especially a fairly big guy like SS engaging in r_pe via the back entry way of a little girl like MS was at the ages given and no one notices? Especially her mom? WTH?

I reread the charges when posted here, and am in disbelief.

I can see how SS might have been able to sneak around in the dark if JS was knocked on meds, and touch MS inappropriately or something along those lines, and threatened MS not to tell anyone, but the kinds of things he did to MS at the age and the frequency and just all of it?!

Nope.

She was too young, the house was too small, all of this is just extremely hard to believe that another adult living there would not know he hurt MS.

 

[MassGuy]

I don't believe it specifies, but I may have missed the detail?

Still not sure why he would toss her laptop & backpack, esp at the apartment complex dumpster? If SS was bringing MS to school, and the "story" was going to be she was taken somewhere between the church lot and school, or somehow "ran away to the woods" why wouldn't she have those items? Even SS said MS had opened her backpack to "look for her headphones" as he drove away.

So I'm wondering WTH went on involving her backpack and/or laptop?

He dumped them because he didn’t think the dumpster would be searched in the first place. I see this whole thing as pure panic, especially when you factor in the time in which it took for him to ultimately dump her body.

 

[photographer4]

I don't believe it specifies, but I may have missed the detail?

Still not sure why he would toss her laptop & backpack, esp at the apartment complex dumpster? If SS was bringing MS to school, and the "story" was going to be she was taken somewhere between the church lot and school, or somehow "ran away to the woods" why wouldn't she have those items? Even SS said MS had opened her backpack to "look for her headphones" as he drove away.

So I'm wondering WTH went on involving her backpack and/or laptop?

I have wondered if he wrote a suicide note or something on the laptop and threw it out there hoping Le would find it and read that and it would lend itself toward her having run away. Or. He set up some sort of communication to make it look like she was lured away by a predator. I believe he wanted that backpack found. He just don’t realize he was on video dumping it. Or he was so out of it on drugs he just wasn’t thinking one way or the other.

 

[Beekarina]

Doesn't the fact that JS thought Maddy was wearing black shorts strongly suggest that JS was not involved in the murder, nor did she see the body afterward? Unless she was far more clever than I've personally ever thought JS to be.

It really doesn't take much to put jeans on over shorts.

Where was MS body all morning when SS claims he was running errands and then home until 2:30 pm? Where was JS that morning/day until school pick up? When in the "early morning" did MS die?

I personally think JS described what MS was dressed in after the party on Sunday night. Maybe SS told her to repeat that info and then put a pair of jeans on over the shorts. Long pants/jeans are more consistent with something you might wear to "run away to the woods", and it was only 49 degrees out that morning. Even though kids like shorts, a kid in Florida is probably going to be freezing cold at that temperature.

I think the shorts to school is a lie. Sleeping in shorts makes a lot more sense to me.

JS isn't telling the truth, and she is involved, but I'm also not sure what she has done here. She may be lying to protect herself. That doesn't require a person be clever.

 

[Beekarina]

He dumped them because he didn’t think the dumpster would be searched in the first place. I see this whole thing as pure panic, especially when you factor in the time in which it took for him to ultimately dump her body.

He's clearly an idiot.

What I'm confused by is why on earth did he dump them at 7:30 in the morning, and then dump her body somewhere else entirely, later in the day?

Maybe it IS just panic, but I wondered if her backpack could have had blood or something on it, and also if anything could have been on the laptop. Otherwise, a "runaway to the woods" or a "kidnapped teen" might still have both with her, right?

 

[BeeGirl]

So three years ago when dude met him (2021) they were broken up and he was at his folks’ and that may explain the peace period.

Then by two years ago (2022) he was back at JS’ place he was moved in. That tracks with the abuse picking up then.And six months later (late 2022 or possibly 2023 because we know he was referring to her as an ex in May 2023) they broke up again but he stayed at JS (in a guest room) working at Disney.

Then he says three to four months ago (end of 2023) he moved back to his parents and he came back the week before. He’d apparently lost a lot of weight upon his return and there’s speculation he was abusing his ADHD meds (note: not as an excuse but to add another layer of possible understanding, it is well documented that abusing ADHD meds causes symptoms of paranoia and aggression).

This definitely clears it up for me: it wasn’t the pandemic, the abuse seems to line up with when JS was allowing him in the home around MS. He abused her upon every single opportunity he was in her physical presence.

For my own thought organization, I'm combining the info from above with the original timeline I made. The questions I still have are bolded and to start: what date did they start dating on? (e.g., how long after they began dating did he begin abusing her?)

• 2019: JS and SS were obviously dating in 2019 and that year Maddie (D.O.B. February 22, 2011) was eight years old and abused on:
  • June 19, 2019
  • July 2, 2019
  • July 12, 2019
• 2020: Not much is known here but we do not have charges for this year. Maddie is nine years old.
• 2021: Maddie turns ten years old in February. From the video Beekarina shared, we know that around "three years ago" his friend says they broke up and he was living at his folks’ place hours away. Notably, we do not have charges for this year.
• 2022: From the video @Beekarina shared we know that around two years ago (2022) he was moved in back at JS’ place. Maddie turned eleven years old this year in February. We know JS' birthday is March, was that the catalyst for them to start talking again? Regardless, he begins abusing Maddie on the dates in red and was with Jen as described:
  • March 21, 2022
  • On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 3:14 pm, he's discussing a restaurant he went to with his girlfriend.
  • July 22, 2022 (he posted at 7:55:01 PM, at 7:58:53 PM and at 11:46:49 PM)
  • July 25, 2022
  • July 29, 2022 (and he posted at 1:13:12 PM, 2:23:35 PM, 2:37:03 PM and 2:44:41 PM)
  • July 31, 2022 (and he posted at 10:53:16 PM)
  • August 2, 2022
  • August 15, 2022 (and he posted at 11:20:22 AM, at 2:03:20 PM and 8:22:17 PM)
  • The August abuse is the last date in 2022 we have charges for currently but we know they were dating as of late that year because on December 4, 2022 at 7:58 am and December 6, 2022 at 12:15 am, he's talking about his weird pocket pets and girlfriend.
• 2023: Maddie turns twelve years old this year in February. From the video Beekarina shared, the guy said "about six months" after SS moved back in with JS they broke up again but he didn't move away and stayed at JS' in a guest room working at Disney. This "living together breakup" spanned spring of 2023 because we know that:
  • On May 23, 2023 at 10:00 p.m. he calls her an ex and the abuse will pick back up almost exactly 3 weeks later with her being abused on:
  • June 14, 2023 (and he posted at 8:39 pm and at 10:01 p.m)
  • June 19, 2023
  • June 23, 2023
  • June 26, 2023
  • June 29, 2023 (and he posted twice, once at 12:52 pm and once at 3:40 pm)
  • The last abuse date we have charges for in 2023 is June 29th but he may have still been around because in July 10, 2023, he's referring to Maddie as his step-daughter, not ex's daughter (but who knows if he always did that, creep)
• 2024: The guy in the video @Beekarina shared says about three to four months ago (end of 2023) SS moved back to his parents. He came around the area the week before the murder and had lost a lot of weight.

 

[MassGuy]

He's clearly an idiot.

What I'm confused by is why on earth did he dump them at 7:30 in the morning, and then dump her body somewhere else entirely, later in the day?

Maybe it IS just panic, but I wondered if her backpack could have had blood or something on it, and also if anything could have been on the laptop. Otherwise, a "runaway to the woods" or a "kidnapped teen" might still have both with her, right?

He was likely planning on getting rid of her body forever, and it’s easier just to dump a body than dump the backpack at the same time.

He couldn’t leave it at home obviously, and he expected law enforcement to buy the drop off story, so the dumpster wouldn’t be searched.

I don’t think the backpack holds any forensic value, it just needed to disappear.

 

[ttjo]

This is an interesting angle that I hadn't thought about.

A common take here is that JS was lying about what MS was wearing because she was lying about seeing her getting ready in the morning. I took JS's statements about what MS was wearing to mean that that is what she was told by the last person to have seen MS (SS) and anything more than that. LE was also reporting that that was what MS was last seen wearing, and no one has suggest they were "lying" about it.

But if JS was saying she saw MS get ready in the morning (which based on the incident report it seems like she did say, but I'm still hedging until her actual words are known), she would know what MS was wearing. If JS participated in MS's murder or the subsequent cover up, she would also probably know what MS was wearing (MOO, but I don't believe if JS is involved that she would be willing to participate without seeing MS's body). So if she was lying about seeing MS in the morning in order to cover up that MS was already (allegedly) dead, why wouldn't she get the clothing right?

Did SS ever give his version of what MS was wearing? he had to have the same story if he told JS what she was wearing. I think, they either didn't bank on anyone finding her or if they did, she would be recovered in different clothing in the hopes it implied someone else was involved. Her jeans would be identified as hers though, someone would ask them "If you last saw her in shorts where did the jeans come from" Who knows how they think? According to their timeline ( JS & SS) she disappeared by 9 and never went to school so where did she get the jeans? from the backpack she never carried? did she change while digging for the headphones for the iPhone she left at home?

 

[ttjo]

He dumped them because he didn’t think the dumpster would be searched in the first place. I see this whole thing as pure panic, especially when you factor in the time in which it took for him to ultimately dump her body.

Panic for sure, not to mention the flat tire. Bet that threw a wrench into things.

 

[MassGuy]

Panic for sure, not to mention the flat tire. Bet that threw a wrench into things.

Absolutely. Sometimes karma has a way of biting you in the butt.

 

[Hestia's Fire]

I think he was in such a blind panic on that morning, he couldn't think straight about what to do with the laptop/backpack. He may have thought about ditching them near the church/school, but then there were too many people around or he worried someone would find them right away and call the police ASAP and he couldn't have that. He knows enough about computers to know that the laptop can be pinged/tracked so he can't just drive around with it or he'll lead the cops right to her body. He can't bring it back home and put it in the condo because his story is that he watched her walk away with it. So he just panics and throws them in the dumpster because he's got a body to dispose of and he can't come up with a better solution in the moment.

IMO, MOO, etc., etc.

 

[ttjo]

He's clearly an idiot.

Yup pretty clear to me. lol

 

[Dee10]

I haven't seen the guard house, but I understand there is one. If this is true I think the guard wasn't paying attention, maybe waved him through as he knew SS was a resident. I bet the police saw footage from the guard house camera and were are to determine Madeline was not alive. I believe the guard cameras are aimed lower to get a full view of the inside of vehicles.

 

[Beekarina]

So we're reasonably certain then her school issued laptop had a tracker that worked without being online? That's what it sounds like?

I wonder if JS and SS knew this?

It is interesting MS conveniently forgot her phone the day she went missing, but not her laptop? I mean, she was forgetful, right?

 

[Beekarina]

I haven't seen the guard house, but I understand there is one. If this is true I think the guard wasn't paying attention, maybe waved him through as he knew SS was a resident. I bet the police saw footage from the guard house camera and were are to determine Madeline was not alive. I believe the guard cameras are aimed lower to get a full view of the inside of vehicles.

Wow....

You're suggesting SS was going in and out multiple times that day with MS not alive in his car past a guard house with cameras AND actual guard(s)? That's crazy! I assumed he just had a pass card to swipe or something.

Can you confirm this?