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

[shetalksinstereo]

Remember the affidavit was redacted and we don’t know she is the victim in the pictures. I feel horrible for this released information especially with all of her classmates probably reading it assuming it’s her.

Do we know if he has any children? I don't recall that being mentioned here previously? My apologies if I missed it!

 

[tatertot]

As for Madeline, and hoping she did actually run away, I can also only imagine what she might be thinking now, realizing the whole world knows what he did to her. If that's the case, and she is just hiding out somewhere, I do hope she knows it's safe to come home now.

Yes, hoping against what is the usual outcome of situations like this.

What if SS threatened to self-harm if she told anyone, and she ran away knowing his phone would be searched and hoping he'd actually go through with it while she was away? Abusers have been known to make statements threatening actions like that; maybe "and then who would take care of your family?"

If that's possible, she may be staying away because he did not get a chance to go through with his plan before his arrest (or never could bring himself to do it in the first place) and despite his being in custody, now there's fear and humiliation on her part. I hope she is somewhere safe and if she's with someone else, they're safe, although a little misguided for not returning her now that he's away for a long time. Or...could they be awaiting more arrests? It didn't seem specific that he was the only adult in the CSAM on his phone.

 

[MassGuy]

Suspect in Madeline Soto's disappearance dodges questions during transfer to another county

Stephan Sterns, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeline "Maddie" Soto was transferred to the Osceola County jail on Friday morning. FOX 35 News captured video of Sterns' arrival.

www.fox35orlando.com

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. - Stephan Sterns, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeline "Maddie" Soto, was transferred to the Osceola County jail on Friday morning. FOX 35 News cameras were rolling during Sterns' arrival.

FOX 35 News' Amanda McKenzie questioned Sterns as deputies removed him from the patrol car and into the jail, but he remained silent.

Earlier this week, Sterns was arrested and booked into the Orange County jail on charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material after detectives found "disturbing" images on his phone, authorities said.

At this time, it's unclear why the 37-year-old was transferred to the Osceola County jail. FOX 35 News is working to learn whether new charges are pending.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Officials did not elaborate further – and it's unclear if the findings have any connection to the disappearance of Madeline.

As of Friday morning, he is not facing any charges in connection to Madeline's disappearance.

Suspect in Madeline Soto's disappearance dodges questions during transfer to another county

Stephan Sterns, the prime suspect in the disappearance of Madeline "Maddie" Soto was transferred to the Osceola County jail on Friday morning. FOX 35 News captured video of Sterns' arrival.

www.fox35orlando.com

 

[diggndeeperstill]

Does anyone know what kind of vehicle this sick child molester drives?

 

[diggndeeperstill]

What if SS threatened to self-harm if she told anyone, and she ran away knowing his phone would be searched and hoping he'd actually go through with it while she was away? Abusers have been known to make statements threatening actions like that; maybe "and then who would take care of your family?"

If that's possible, she may be staying away because he did not get a chance to go through with his plan before his arrest (or never could bring himself to do it in the first place) and despite his being in custody, now there's fear and humiliation on her part. I hope she is somewhere safe and if she's with someone else, they're safe, although a little misguided for not returning her now that he's away for a long time. Or...could they be awaiting more arrests? It didn't seem specific that he was the only adult in the CSAM on his phone.

She has no phone to know a single detail about what is going on.

 

[I am not Sherlock H.]

@MassGuy had a good point that it’s possible he only started taking pictures in 2022…I’m just really wondering exactly how long this creature has been in this child’s life.

Perhaps that is a different or new / replacement phone? And there may be others prior? MOO

 

[MollyHarps]

I'm thinking something happened that would be very obvious in a few months. I keep staring at the birthday picture.

Looking at the picture I actually think you might be correct - is there any full length images of her in the months prior to her birthday?

I find the timelines strange regarding reporting her missing - it states she wasn’t reported missing until 8pm.. if I found out my child hadn’t been in school at 4:30 (I believe the mother said it was?) and I had dropped them off I would report it a lot earlier than 8pm - I’d like to know if he had anything to do with the delay in reporting her missing.

Also I’m intrigued to know from the mother how long this vile man was out doing the school run - if it was a lot longer than usual then I can’t see any hope of a positive outcome.

The only thing giving me ANY hope in this case is that surely if this vile man planned this then in the lead up he would’ve purchased himself a new phone and just pretended his old one was lost or stolen.

My heart goes out to the mother - I feel like the police don’t have any hope that she’s alive now - if they thought she could just be hiding somewhere I’d presume they’d have made the mother (or another close family member) do a video statement release begging for her to come home and letting her know she’s not in any trouble in the hope she might see it somehow.

 

[tatertot]

She has no phone to know a single detail about what is going on.

Apologies, I forgot to address that. It could explain why she hasn't returned, especially if she doesn't have access to anyone else's phone or even a TV/radio broadcast. If she really did tell her friends about going off to live in the woods, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that a young teen could break into someone's remote camp and live off any provisions they find there, at least for a while.

 

[Dre]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>


Like many of you, I’m worried that he thought of her as evidence to be done away with
reminds me of Iyana Sawyer, impregnated and murdered by her uncle. DP cases if you ask me…

 

[MissMalowe]

Perhaps that is a different or new / replacement phone? And there may be others prior? MOO

That's what I'm thinking.....it's his most recent phone but he probably had a different one prior or perhaps a different memory card.

Also, a phone reset wipes only the phone, not the (possible) memory card in it, correct? Wonder if he knew/considered that when wiping. Also wondering about automatic cloud storage.

 

[Yemelyan]

That's what I'm thinking.....it's his most recent phone but he probably had a different one prior or perhaps a different memory card.

Also, a phone reset wipes only the phone, not the (possible) memory card in it, correct? Wonder if he knew/considered that when wiping. Also wondering about automatic cloud storage.

Even if someone tries to do a factory re-set there are almost always still things that can be recovered, different in each individual case depending on the type of phone and what its operating system was. I have learned this watching several other cases that went to trial with cell phone evidence that people tried to conceal.

 

[MollyHarps]

Apologies, I forgot to address that. It could explain why she hasn't returned, especially if she doesn't have access to anyone else's phone or even a TV/radio broadcast. If she really did tell her friends about going off to live in the woods, I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that a young teen could break into someone's remote camp and live off any provisions they find there, at least for a while.

I believe it was posted earlier that she may have her school laptop with her - although the school have tried to ping her on it and it’s turned off

 

[Ontario Mom]

Edit: I still think the "when I am 13" part is odd. And I don't really think they were sent by the abuser, though it is possible. It really sounds like something a kid would say because someone else said something about the age of 13. What something? What changes at 13?

Also, have her teachers been talking about her? Long-time abuse cases are always hard on teachers - the what if's etc.

I suspect it's possible she believed (for whatever reason, kids believe all sorts of things) once you turn 13, you can't be forced to return home if you run away.

jmo

 

[Simply Southern]

Here is the image of the helo circling a specific area. Was posted on FB support group. Does look like something of interest.

View attachment 487146

I do believe the search area is in Osceola County.

 

[branmuffin]

The way mom comforted him in this video . At this point, I don't think she knew. I can't imagine what this family is going through and IMO they are all analyzing erything they feel could've been a sign something was wrong.
Sweet Madeline looks just like her mom. Her eyes were so dark on her birthday, like she was exhausted or fighting something.
Sweet Madeline, I'm sorry you were failed. You deserve to live a wonderful life, being whatever you wanted to be.
You all what more can we do to identify children who are being abused so that it can be stopped and they can be saved? What safety net can be provided so they have space and support to report when they're unable to tell close family and friends?

Sex ed in schools. Let kids know that no one should be touching their bodies without their consent. Leaving it up to caregivers to give that education is pointless, imo, considering most forms of sexual battery is committed by individuals who are in a position to abuse them. It is very confusing for children who are being assaulted by a caregiver because the message is mixed up with familial love and fear. They shoulder the blame for the assaults many times because they believe what they are told if the abuse becomes known. Sometimes abused children recant their stories due to pressures from family members.

In the case of someone like Maddie, she may have heard her mom talk about how it's so much easier to buy nice clothes or live in a nice place now that they have someone who cares about them. In a child's mind that might translate into, what's happening to me is known and approved by the parent.

One of the most not-talked about aspect of sexual assault is that when sexual abuse happens gradually it can be pleasurable for the victim. When they get older they have mixed emotions: guilt, fear and anger about what happened to them and affects their sexual relationships as adults. Ever wonder about that woman who continues to get involved with abusive partners?

Reasons the Cycle of Abuse Continues

People sexually abused as children can be caught in a cycle of abuse, repeating abuse as parents or intimate partners. Learn why the abused becomes the abuser.

www.verywellmind.com

One really heartbreaking story from years ago was a group of young hockey players who had been sexually assaulted by their coach (I think one of them committed suicide as an adult when it became public). One player said in a documentary that the abuse started out as rough housing, fake wrestling etc. When he was older, got married and had kids he was terrified to engage in the normal parent kind of behavior that they had with their coach because of the fear that that that type of interaction - rough housing, wrestling, etc. with his own kids in case it triggered a response in him that would turn into abuse. Years and years later, that poor man couldn't live a normal life of love and happiness without thinking something might trigger him to abuse his own kids. Ice hockey is such a testosterone-fueled game that young players feared getting a demeaning nickname if the abuse became public.

Graham James (ice hockey) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Dre]

If he would have deleted, smashed, tossed and replaced his phone, would we still be here?
I thank god for dumb criminals.

I so hope that they are able to figure out if she was in fact seen on camera getting out of his car as it’s the only way she’s still alive; and they seem to have footage of someone possibly fitting that description or the video wouldn’t have even come up?
Praying for a miracle!!

 

[Mert]

Sex ed in schools. Let kids know that no one should be touching their bodies without their consent. Leaving it up to caregivers to give that education is pointless, imo, considering most forms of sexual battery is committed by individuals who are in a position to abuse them. It is very confusing for children who are being assaulted by a caregiver because the message is mixed up with familial love and fear. They shoulder the blame for the assaults many times because they believe what they are told if the abuse becomes known. Sometimes abused children recant their stories due to pressures from family members.

*Snipped, with respect to original post.

I am quite some years out of school, but in 6th grade we had a video played in our classroom about sexual abuse. Two girls immediately went to the teacher after the video and reported what was happening. For whatever reason, it gave them the strength to speak out. The girls were uncomfortable even speaking with anyone at all, about anything sexual in nature. They were embarrassed.
If this is not happening in schools, when these acts are unfortunately, likely more prevalent, I think it is a big mistake. Thank you for making note of this.

 

[MollyHarps]

I do hope that the USA looks into there school safeguarding procedures after the Audrii & Madeline cases.

I find it astonishing that parents aren’t notified about a students absence until the evening - in the UK parents tend to be notified by about 10am usually in the form of a text message which will then be followed up with a phone call later in the morning if the parent had not got in touch with the office explaining the absence.

Whilst I don’t believe this would prevent cases like Audriis (I still cling on to a tiny bit of hope that Madeline will be alive hence not putting her here) I believe it would act as a small deterrent to the murderer as the time frame to commit the crime and hide the evidence would be significantly reduced - it would also help law enforcement as rather than the murderer having like 8+ hours to get ahead of them they’d only an hour or two.

 

[Litig8r]

I do hope that the USA looks into there school safeguarding procedures after the Audrii & Madeline cases.

I find it astonishing that parents aren’t notified about a students absence until the evening - in the UK parents tend to be notified by about 10am usually in the form of a text message which will then be followed up with a phone call later in the morning if the parent had not got in touch with the office explaining the absence.

Whilst I don’t believe this would prevent cases like Audriis (I still cling on to a tiny bit of hope that Madeline will be alive hence not putting her here) I believe it would act as a small deterrent to the murderer as the time frame to commit the crime and hide the evidence would be significantly reduced - it would also help law enforcement as rather than the murderer having like 8+ hours to get ahead of them they’d only an hour or two.

My kids’ schools from K through high school would call within an hour of school starting if a child was reported as absent by a teacher. There is no way I would not have known until 4:30 (or whenever pick up time was) that my child had not been in school all day. FWIW, I’m just a county away from this case.