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

[Mack the Knife]

Parents question school policies after Madeline Soto's mother said she did not know of her absence

On the day she went missing, Madeline Soto's mother said she did not learn of her daughter's absence until she went to pick her up at 4:30 p.m.

www.wesh.com

News article: School attendance notification policies are under review. Osceola County Schools are supposed to notify parents of middle schoolers' absence by 11 a.m. Also, a school board member confirmed they have a policy for parents to drop kids off on school property, not near it as SS claims to have done.

(Bolded by me)
Respectfully, I think any school board policy on where to drop kids off is irrelevant. How can you control where kids get dropped off? It’s not like a school is going to not let the kid in if they aren’t dropped off in the right spot.
These are middle schoolers, not kindergarteners. It’s a normal time for freedoms to be increasing which, for some kids, could mean walking or riding a bike to school on their own. The school has a little more control when it comes to being picked up but I can’t imagine being 13 and told I can’t go home after school unless they see my parents.
If school starts at 9:30, there is just no way that all of the kids are being dropped off by an adult every single morning.

I’m surprised though that there aren’t automatic notifications about absences based on some sort of virtual classroom website. Most schools these days seem to have grades, homework, attendance, etc. readily available for parents and students online.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

In her video interviews, mom sounded like she was providing an alibi for boyfriend. I have a feeling she was in an - "I am damned if I do, and damned if I don't" - situation. IMO

I agree to some extent. She was likely asleep after a night shift and did not know the answers, but her partner did. So she is answering with his (made-up) timeline and events, and the way he is acting in that video is like he is making sure she keeps to the timetable of events that he had maybe drilled into her. She may have felt she would be judged badly because she was sleeping, so she wanted to get HIS facts right.
Maybe he told her to say 'we' so she wouldn't be judged, planted the seed to induce anxiety. If that is the case, she will likely slip up and make mistakes, especially knowing he is pacing behind her.

On a side note, I have meant to mention that I don't think he realised he was in shot, when the mother did the interview. I think he misjudged the camera's POV.

JMO

 

[CuriousCricket]

Out of the countless cases like this that I’ve followed over the years, I’ve never seen any killer try anything like that. This guy carried out this crime like he’d never even thought about it before.

Nor watched a single TV show or whodunit movie.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Is there an age in Florida where a child can decide which parent they wish to live with when parents are divorced? I wonder if Madeline had been voicing her wish to live with her father and step mother.

Maybe her dad lives 'in the woods'?

 

[photographer4]

Hey folks,

These cases are bad enough as it is without dishonouring this young victim's memory with specific speculation that is not based on known fact.

If medical information comes out in the future that supports such speculation, that's different, but there is nothing right now.

I’m so sorry. I didn’t see this post until just now and I had just made a post about maybe she had a medical condition. I’ll try to delete. Ty.

 

[Sillybilly]

I’m so sorry. I didn’t see this post until just now and I had just made a post about maybe she had a medical condition. I’ll try to delete. Ty.

I think your post was fine in that you just referred to a "medical condition".

 

[tatertot]

Maybe from the other bday pics and the dates in his phone they were able to confirm the pics were from that date.

I think you're right. The EXIF data attached to the phone pictures would tell when they were taken as well as where. I upload my photos to Google Photos and they're even labeled with the locations (towns, not exact addresses) where they were taken. If I were to upload photos from my older digital camera, location wouldn't be included because the camera doesn't have a GPS, and the date would be whatever I set it to since the camera can't keep record of the date and time the way a smartphone can.

I believe the social media sites SS used scrub EXIF data for privacy reasons, but it may be possible for LE to retrieve the EXIF data anyway. This IMHO would be an important thing to do even for his innocuous photos because the EXIF data would show what type of device he used to take the photos. I still suspect he has some camera cards hidden somewhere that contain photos he didn't keep on a computer or his phone.

It's supposedly possible to manipulate or even scrub EXIF data from your photos but if SS didn't comprehend that factory resetting his phone was not going to work, this was likely far beyond his capability.

 

[photographer4]

IF he was some kind of network / it guy (Grey Hughes video - I didn't watch, so this is a question, not a statement of fact) - in the video apparently there was a network folder with CSAM on it that the roomate found? If SS was a savy tech guy, could he have known about the grainy video by logging into /hacking (?) into it remotely? If it wasn't a super secure system is that possible?

I wanted to clarify my question - I don’t think he would have necessarily hacked in and seen a video of a green top young lady that day - I meant more could he have known the system in that space wasn’t amazing from some sort of pre that day accessing it somehow? And so that’s why he said he dropped her there? Again this is only a question and not fact. She wasn’t normally dropped at the parking lot but they said she was that day. Why that parking lot? Why did they say he dropped her there? That isn’t random. There will have been a reason he said this in my view.

LE wouldn’t show the video to the fam. They said they couldn’t tell if it was her. But they said he was on video at 7:35 dumping her things and her body in his car soon after.

So what is the deal? Was this premeditation? He knew they had a lousy system? Great to make it SEEM like she was dropped there? Was his car ever even there that day? Have we been told this?

 

[photographer4]

I think your post was fine in that you just referred to a "medical condition".

Ok well, thanks for your feedback. I edited and marked as deleted in an effort to respect your request. Thanks for all you do.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Can a child decide custody? Data & age rules by U.S. state

Some U.S. states require judges to consider the wishes of children whose custody is in dispute. Do you live in one of them?

www.custodyxchange.com

I found this map that sort of explains it, but the general gist of it, is that at more or less fourteen years old, most judges in any county in Florida would at least hear the child out.

Edit: It occurs to me, that perhaps that explains the timing. She was thirteen, a judge would most probably hear her out and even if she didn't tell the judge what was going on, she could have probably chosen to go live with her father.

2nd edit: Doe her father live anywhere near "the woods"?

You asked the same question as me 10 hours before me. I hold my head in catch up shame.

 

[photographer4]

I think you're right. The EXIF data attached to the phone pictures would tell when they were taken as well as where. I upload my photos to Google Photos and they're even labeled with the locations (towns, not exact addresses) where they were taken. If I were to upload photos from my older digital camera, location wouldn't be included because the camera doesn't have a GPS, and the date would be whatever I set it to since the camera can't keep record of the date and time the way a smartphone can.

I believe the social media sites SS used scrub EXIF data for privacy reasons, but it may be possible for LE to retrieve the EXIF data anyway. This IMHO would be an important thing to do even for his innocuous photos because the EXIF data would show what type of device he used to take the photos. I still suspect he has some camera cards hidden somewhere that contain photos he didn't keep on a computer or his phone.

It's supposedly possible to manipulate or even scrub EXIF data from your photos but if SS didn't comprehend that factory resetting his phone was not going to work, this was likely far beyond his capability.

Ok so. Exif data is great especially of locations are attached to photos. Eg: in some devices it’s automatic - when you snap a photo the gps adds date time and location to the image. But. Some apps and programs allow you to change the data manually either before or after a photo is snapped.

You can use Lightroom or photoshop for this. Or sometimes change it on your cell or tablet directly or indirectly with an app.

This is an example of how it can be done (2022) two or so years ago:

How to read EXIF data in Photos and edit it on iPhone and iPad | AppleInsider

Photos on your iPhone and iPad, whether imported, saved, or shot locally, contains metadata that records date, time, location, and a lot more info. Here's how to read and edit that data.

appleinsider.com

 

[photographer4]

Ok so. Exif data is great especially of locations are attached to photos. Eg: in some devices it’s automatic - when you snap a photo the gps adds date time and location to the image. But. Some apps and programs allow you to change the data manually either before or after a photo is snapped.

You can use Lightroom or photoshop for this. Or sometimes change it on your cell or tablet directly or indirectly with an app.

This is an example of how it can be done (2022) two or so years ago:

How to read EXIF data in Photos and edit it on iPhone and iPad | AppleInsider

Photos on your iPhone and iPad, whether imported, saved, or shot locally, contains metadata that records date, time, location, and a lot more info. Here's how to read and edit that data.

appleinsider.com

In addition to exif changes - you can also use software to see if a photo was photoshopped. I can’t remember what it’s called but had learned about it I think whilst following another case on WS years ago. I just can’t recall which case or what software. So here is a general link that explains how it works and how it could be done. I’m sure LE use far more sophisticated software to do the same thing in many cases. The 5 Best Tools to Help You Detect Edited Images.

 

[investigatefred]

Few interesting tidbits, take it for what it's worth. This is a phone interview with another of Stephan's friends, "Frank", who gives a bit of insight on his living situation, relationship being on/off again, being on medications, etc. Said the car Stephan was driving was his father's vehicle.

 

[photographer4]

Few interesting tidbits, take it for what it's worth. This is a phone interview with another of Stephan's friends, "Frank", who gives a bit of insight on his living situation, relationship being on/off again, being on medications, etc. Said the car Stephan was driving was his father's vehicle.

I don’t subject myself to these videos almost ever so thanks for the summary! Interesting to be told he was using his own dad’s car. Makes one wonder why?

 

[NewMommy09]

Regarding the date range of criminal offense related materials found on his cell phone (03/22 - 12/23), I had made an earlier post about checking the home etc for older cell phones as many people get new phones about every two years. Still thinking about this, and wondering now if he even gave them his current phone. I'd bet dollars he got a new cell phone around Christmas, hence the end of the vids on that phone. I seriously doubt he suddenly stopped offending OR recording it just suddenly two months ago.
I can totally see this creep doing his "accidental" factory reset on his previous cell phone before handing it over and thinking how smart he was to get away with not handing in the current cell phone in use. And that current cell phone may or may not have both continued offences and/or more answers as to what happened to Madi and why. So I say again, I sure hope they collect all such devices from the home. This creep had a "good thing going" in that he had a victim he had easy and continued access to. SOMETHING happened for him to decide to get rid of her. As others suggested, she may have decided to or threatened to tell someone, had a condition that would have made it obvious and later been traceable to him, getting too old for his taste??? Personally, I have had the creepy feeling throughout that this guy may have been drugging JS to get away with his deeds, and possibly MS also, that could also be what happened to her, that this time she didn't wake up?

I hate to even type most of this, and it's all just MOO. But please please please let investigators go over all devices with fine tooth combs. I just 100% don't believe he started the offences in March of 2022 OR ended them in December of 2023.

 

[photographer4]

Earlier today I asserted that he picked her up for school but I couldn’t find the link. It doesn’t say she called him to do so. But it says he picked her up from home. in the arrest warrant. Screen shot attached.

So police should be able to find a record that she called or messaged him to ask him to do this at some point. Unless the arranged it the evening before verbally?

Maybe he did and that’s when it all went downhill.

Thanks to all for your patience while I relocated where I read this.

 

[photographer4]

Earlier today I asserted that he picked her up for school but I couldn’t find the link. It doesn’t say she called him to do so. But it says he picked her up from home. in the arrest warrant. Screen shot attached.

So police should be able to find a record that she called or messaged him to ask him to do this at some point. Unless the arranged it the evening before verbally?

Maybe he did and that’s when it all went downhill.

Thanks to all for your patience while I relocated where I read this.
View attachment 488072

Also of note - she said he took her to school. He said he dropped her at the church parking lot. Of course neither was true.

 

[ttjo]

I wanted to clarify my question - I don’t think he would have necessarily hacked in and seen a video of a green top young lady that day - I meant more could he have known the system in that space wasn’t amazing from some sort of pre that day accessing it somehow? And so that’s why he said he dropped her there? Again this is only a question and not fact. She wasn’t normally dropped at the parking lot but they said she was that day. Why that parking lot? Why did they say he dropped her there? That isn’t random. There will have been a reason he said this in my view.

LE wouldn’t show the video to the fam. They said they couldn’t tell if it was her. But they said he was on video at 7:35 dumping her things and her body in his car soon after.

So what is the deal? Was this premeditation? He knew they had a lousy system? Great to make it SEEM like she was dropped there? Was his car ever even there that day? Have we been told this?

LE has said she was never dropped off that day. (They must have a video from the church to prove that) One reason I heard for dropping her off at the church was she was embarrassed by SS car ( but I cannot remember who said that or where I read/watched that ) In one of the interviews the mom just said Maddi wanted to walk but didn't say why.

 

[KooshBall]

Did LE ever mention the video from the church? I only remember that mom said her sister was told about the video, and I don't really trust that as a reliable source. I'm too exhausted to go back and reread all the articles to see if LE ever publicly talked about the video, so hoping someone can give me the answer. Thanks, in advance.

 

[ttjo]

Did LE ever mention the video from the church? I only remember that mom said her sister was told about the video, and I don't really trust that as a reliable source. I'm too exhausted to go back and reread all the articles to see if LE ever publicly talked about the video, so hoping someone can give me the answer. Thanks, in advance.

I think the only time Law enforcement mentioned the video was to say it was grainy and couldn't confirm who the person was that was sitting in the parking lot. At a later conference, they said : Maddi was never dropped off at the church that day. I am so worried about quoting exactly what they said so let me find the clips and I'll post them,