Found Deceased FL - Madeline Soto, 13, Missing Child Alert, 13500 blk Town Loop Blvd, Orlando, 26 Feb 2024 *arrest* #5

[investigatefred]

More from Grandma Yolanda at 1:23 - and mention by the reporter that SS driving Maddie to school was NOT part of the routine.

Grandma says "El Novio ya no vivia ahi"
The boyfriend already did NOT live there.

More and more it seems to me that SS was focused on Maddie and NOT Jenn, I don't get the feeling that Yolanda liked El novio very much, just judging from the tone she uses. She doesn't use his name. (This interview was likely the day before the counts against SS were made public)

He didn't live there, but he maintained a bedroom there. Oooookay. Did grandma never visit them at their condo? MoO

 

[BeeGirl]

and this discussion started with us trying to figure out what Jenn knew, and even if she did know about the flat tire ( after madi was deceased) it wouldn't mean she knew about what happened. Maybe it wasnt made public but the police seized his car, they would have figured it out. They would have noticed the spare tire or a brand spankin new one.

Yes, I agree the police undoubtedly would have seen the donut on SS’ car when they looked at it during their investigation but also the Sheriff says in his press conference that I linked above that they were pulling surveillance video from everywhere (and his arrest warrant mentions they had seen his car on traffic cam) so they probably saw the tire had NO donut during the morning traffic cam sighting referenced in the arrest affidavit and had a donut in the later surveillance video (as seen in the flyer I cited to and pasted to my long post). The cops absolutely knew.

 

[Mack the Knife]

You are correct, I was assuming JS would have seen the flat tire on his car and there is no report out there stating unequivocally that JS was aware of the flat tire on SS car. I was building off some basic assumptions on the timeline, such as:

• Monday, February 26th: Maddie went missing
• Tuesday, February 27th: The original cuddle video date.
• Wednesday, February 28th: SS was arrested

And one of my biggest assumptions was that she would have looked at SS' car before Tuesday and have known about the flat. That was based on the assumption that the police flyer that was released on 3/1/24 showed a picture of the vehicle as it appeared on 2/26 with an obvious spare tire and missing rim on it. I suppose we could instead assume that in the ~24 hours after her child went missing on Monday until the interview on Tuesday JS never bothered to go outside her home to the parking lot to look at the last car her child was seen in (I think it's safe to say the car would be outside her house since he was seen driving back to the complex but that may also be an assumption!)

You are also correct that I was, indeed, making assumptions that JS knew about SS "accidental factory reset" at the time of the cuddle interview. I think it's worth explaining how I landed on that assumption.

• During the cuddle interview, the interviewer says it's been about 24 hours since JS noticed Maddie was missing at 4:00 p.m. on Monday so I am (again) assuming the interview was taken by Channel 9 around the end of the business day on Tuesday.
• The arrest affidavit says: "[a]n interview was conducted with the victim's stepfather...During the interview, he provided consent to search his phone, however he stated had accidentally performed a factory reset on his phone on February 26, 2024, the same day the victim went missing."
• So since he was arrested on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, I (again) assumed he provided his phone to police before that day on Monday or Tuesday because they'd need time to look through the contents from the factory reset.
• I based the assumption that his interview had to be Monday or Tuesday on a few things:
  • The Incident Report that was taken on Monday, February 26th seen in this video around 1:35 (right before the cuddling) has a statement from Orange County Sheriff Deputy Joseph that says "I later spoke to Stephan Stern who stated in a verbal and sworn written statement..." So I assumed Orange County Sheriff Deputy Joseph could have interviewed him that Monday.
  • During a press conference, Orange County Sheriff Mina also provided context about the possible time of the interviews where police took SS' phone - twice in fact - that made me think the phone was taken before the cuddle:
    • The first mention is here beginning at 10:16 where Sheriff Mina says: "the Blood Hound did an extensive search which unfortunately did not provide any results about her whereabouts so our missing persons detective responded to take over the investigation so they did interviews with mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school and we were able to access Maddie's phone..."
    • The second mention is here beginning at 10:55 in the same video where Sheriff Mina says: "so during the course of the day on Tuesday detectives and deputies conducted extensive interviews and an extensive canvas and we collected video from the area and again conducted interviews with family members."
  • And I built more assumptions based on the fact that during the interview where SS is awkwardly lurking behind JS he appears to be trying to look busy but (despite comments elsewhere) is not scrolling through any phone on Tuesday at 10 pm.
• So perhaps I should not have assumed they took his phone during an interview on Monday or Tuesday before the Tuesday cuddle video or his arrest on Wednesday. I assumed they may have been collecting phones before the interview because they had taken Maddie's phone by then based on:
  • The same Sheriff Mina video from above at 10:16 where he mentions that they had Maddie's phone in conjunction with the first time an SS interview was referenced ("so they did interviews with mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school and we were able to access Maddie's phone...") and confirms he has Maddie's phone again at 18:33;
  • A guess that they were heavily collecting evidence by that point since the house itself was in police custody by the time Sheriff Mina's press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
  • JS also says during the cuddle video that "the detectives have her [Maddie's] phone" but is also seen at 2:54 scrolling through a phone. I assumed JS was scrolling through her own phone rather than Maddie's since she is wearing the same clothes, in the same position, at the same table, with the same interviewer, as the video where she said the detectives have Maddie's phone.
  • The fact the arrest affidavit also contains SS' own statement on what his phone number was, which I assumed (again!) the police may have asked him for after they took Maddie's phone to trace back the last communications such as calls or texts between the two.
• I also made assumptions that his phone reset may have come up at some point prior to the cuddle, like:
  • When SS was interviewed I assumed JS might ask him about how the interview went and I assumed he may have mentioned they took his phone and details on it then (but that's assuming someone would ask their boyfriend how a police interview about their missing kid went..) Even if he wanted to lie, I assumed he may have had to have admitted it earlier, like:
  • When the person making missing flyers on Monday would have asked for recent photos of Maddie (such as from her birthday) which SS would not be able to produce since he factory reset his phone specifically to hide photos; or
  • When JS or the police were trying to pinpoint the exact time SS dropped off Maddie on Monday they would have asked him to give location data to pinpoint it and that's when he would have disclosed his phone had been reset.
  • There's about a dozen other times I think it would have come up to a normal person but I assume a lot!

I'll just state it plainly:

• Mom should have seen SS' flat tire at some point on Monday or Tuesday when he was at the complex considering his vehicle was the last her child was seen in; and
• Mom should have known the phone was reset when SS could not produce any useful phone info during a critical missing person investigation into her child's disappearance; and
• Mom should have been suspicious about why police took SS' phone when she clearly was in possession of a phone during the same period.

So yes, they're assumptions.

Thank you for laying all this out! I don’t agree with all of your conclusions but I appreciate your reasoning.

 

[ttjo]

Someone in this thread has this Led zeppelin quote on their profile.

It should literally be the thumbnail for this case.

 

[IzzyBlanche]

Someone in this thread has this Led zeppelin quote on their profile. View attachment 493268It should literally be the thumbnail for this case.

Not just this case, I expect.

 

[CuriousCricket]

I'll just state it plainly:

• Mom should have seen SS' flat tire at some point on Monday or Tuesday when he was at the complex considering his vehicle was the last her child was seen in; and

I agree with many of your "assumptions." However people and locations are different. If I have a flat (and have had a couple in the last 3 years), I normally go straight and get it either fixed or replaced with a new tire on the way home - if possible. Now, I'm small town and can pull into a variety of small tire stores and get fast service. That's probably not the case everywhere. But in order to hide the flat SS might have done that. We know he had plenty of time.

 

[Gemmie]

I agree with many of your "assumptions." However people and locations are different. If I have a flat (and have had a couple in the last 3 years), I normally go straight and get it either fixed or replaced with a new tire on the way home - if possible. Now, I'm small town and can pull into a variety of small tire stores and get fast service. That's probably not the case everywhere. But in order to hide the flat SS might have done that. We know he had plenty of time.

You know what I love? (and it's hard to come up with a silver lining in this case) The fact that the universe/karma/whatever started pointing fingers at SS. His flat tire being one of them. And his "accidental" factory reset is another.

 

[shetalksinstereo]

Was there ever any use of cadaver dogs to search the house? Or vehicles? If there was, I don't remember hearing about it.

 

[ttjo]

I agree with many of your "assumptions." However people and locations are different. If I have a flat (and have had a couple in the last 3 years), I normally go straight and get it either fixed or replaced with a new tire on the way home - if possible. Now, I'm small town and can pull into a variety of small tire stores and get fast service. That's probably not the case everywhere. But in order to hide the flat SS might have done that. We know he had plenty of time.

It is possible, he had enough time. I actually looked at the Telemundo interviews because they were filmed outside their unit, but you couldn't see whether his car was there or not.

 

[photographer4]

He didn't live there, but he maintained a bedroom there. Oooookay. Did grandma never visit them at their condo? MoO

Based on what was in the warrant... I don't even think it was a guest room really. I think it was *his* room. Even LE said items matched the photos / video from HIS room (and Madeline's).

 

[TravelingBug]

Since attendance notification has come up, and I mentioned how if your school uses PowerSchool you can get instant notifications (and I've previously linked how to set it up) I thought I would show an example that happened for me today.

I opt for both text and email alerts.

It shows student's name plus class. In this case I know this child was in the office (thus it showed administration) and then got another update about 30 minutes later that my student was back in their class.

Had my child been unverified absent but it not shown their location I'd have immediately sent that child a message to ask what was going on and where they were (and proceeded from there if/how necessary)

It would similarly alert to excused absences during the day if the child were checked out midday for an appt or due to illness or for any other reason (which might be relevant/helpful for those with custody situations, where there is another adult who can sign your child out of school, etc)

It does the same if your child is late (due to bus, etc). And it shows tardy if your child was late coming in from passing period, etc

I highly suggest for any parents that have schools using this system that you opt in for notifications - though we know it wouldn't have made a difference for Maddie (or Audrii) there are others that knowing if your child hadn't arrived at school or suddenly seemed to be absent midday could make a difference.

 

[AnyNameIWish]

Was there ever any use of cadaver dogs to search the house? Or vehicles? If there was, I don't remember hearing about it.

3:45 Jenn mentions LE used canines to locate her scent.
The above interview is worth a re-listen... it's before SS was arrested. Jenn and her high pitched plea with no tears is disturbing. It's the same fake cry/plea as we hear from SS!!!!

At this point (this was early on,) no body was found but I'm pretty sure LE has done a thorough determination of where the body was- sounds like LE thinks the body was in SS's car visible- was it in the trunk at another point?

 

[AgeofAquaruis]

3:45 Jenn mentions LE used canines to locate her scent.
The above interview is worth a re-listen... it's before SS was arrested. Jenn and her high pitched plea with no tears is disturbing. It's the same fake cry/plea as we hear from SS!!!!

At this point (this was early on,) no body was found but I'm pretty sure LE has done a thorough determination of where the body was- sounds like LE thinks the body was in SS's car visible- was it in the trunk at another point?

"Monday Morning We took her to school" "We dropped her off close to School". No you most certainly did not. Justice for Madeline.

 

[NoSpoonFeeding]

3:45 Jenn mentions LE used canines to locate her scent.
The above interview is worth a re-listen... it's before SS was arrested. Jenn and her high pitched plea with no tears is disturbing. It's the same fake cry/plea as we hear from SS!!!!

At this point (this was early on,) no body was found but I'm pretty sure LE has done a thorough determination of where the body was- sounds like LE thinks the body was in SS's car visible- was it in the trunk at another point?

She is referring to the initial search near the school, they did not locate her scent which makes sense she didn't on those trails near the school. No mention of decomposition detecting dogs used to check the condo or the car in this interview.

 

[CuriousCricket]

Was there ever any use of cadaver dogs to search the house? Or vehicles? If there was, I don't remember hearing about it.

We know so little about the home search largely because it happened before the story even made the news, so there was no media coverage. Apparently, JS and SS were being interviewed by LE as the home was being searched by LE. On that first night, IIRC. Plus, the condo is in a gated community, so again, no media to cover what was happening. However, that was so early - Feb. 26, the first night as her mother was reporting her missing, that I think the media was unaware it was a story.

 

[floridafreshsqueez]

IIRC Stephan came down to the station on 2/28 and his phone he turned over to police, but not before saying it was factory reset.

Since he willingly gave it up to police, my feeling is that he was interviewed during the extraction of info. I don’t think we have any insight on how long Stephan was questioned by police in the interview before they likely took a break or two, sat back down and said “Well Stephan, we’ve found some things on your phone…” because after he was confronted, he stopped talking.

If he had lawyered up from the start, the KPD may have needed to get a warrant for the phone after seeing the video footage of him dumping MS’s school things and returning to the apt with her body. He still wouldn’t have been able to get rid of all the CSAM…no one should really ever assume data and content is gone forever when it comes to police investigations.

However…since he is “indigent” he wouldn’t have been able to lawyer up very quickly unless mom and dad were willing to throw down money for him. I think he knew he was probably done for by the time he handed over the phone, he had just somehow hoped that the materials weren’t recoverable, despite how it would look to police. But alas, Stephan isn’t the savant he projected himself to be on Reddit.

 

[grannygates]

Sorry if I’m rehashing old news but I noticed the app Telegram was used by a perp in another recent case, the dog show judge. He allegedly had thousands of CSAM images saved on some cloud within the Telegean app and was using the app to distribute. I believe in that case LE was able to view these messages via the recipient first before seizing the perps cell.

If SS factory resets his phone, it wouldn’t wipe his google play or apple id that shows the previous apps he had right? If he deleted his app account, can that be restored ? Would there be any sort of history within the app itself or can you destroy all of that evidence? I never heard of this app before this case but now I see it’s a hotbed for CSAM.

 

[Pruddennce]

IIRC Stephan came down to the station on 2/28 and his phone he turned over to police, but not before saying it was factory reset.

Since he willingly gave it up to police, my feeling is that he was interviewed during the extraction of info. I don’t think we have any insight on how long Stephan was questioned by police in the interview before they likely took a break or two, sat back down and said “Well Stephan, we’ve found some things on your phone…” because after he was confronted, he stopped talking.

If he had lawyered up from the start, the KPD may have needed to get a warrant for the phone after seeing the video footage of him dumping MS’s school things and returning to the apt with her body. He still wouldn’t have been able to get rid of all the CSAM…no one should really ever assume data and content is gone forever when it comes to police investigations.

However…since he is “indigent” he wouldn’t have been able to lawyer up very quickly unless mom and dad were willing to throw down money for him. I think he knew he was probably done for by the time he handed over the phone, he had just somehow hoped that the materials weren’t recoverable, despite how it would look to police. But alas, Stephan isn’t the savant he projected himself to be on Reddit.

Thank you for laying all this out! I don’t agree with all of your conclusions but I appreciate your reasoning.

You are correct, I was assuming JS would have seen the flat tire on his car and there is no report out there stating unequivocally that JS was aware of the flat tire on SS car. I was building off some basic assumptions on the timeline, such as:

• Monday, February 26th: Maddie went missing
• Tuesday, February 27th: The original cuddle video date.
• Wednesday, February 28th: SS was arrested

And one of my biggest assumptions was that she would have looked at SS' car before Tuesday and have known about the flat. That was based on the assumption that the police flyer that was released on 3/1/24 showed a picture of the vehicle as it appeared on 2/26 with an obvious spare tire and missing rim on it. I suppose we could instead assume that in the ~24 hours after her child went missing on Monday until the interview on Tuesday JS never bothered to go outside her home to the parking lot to look at the last car her child was seen in (I think it's safe to say the car would be outside her house since he was seen driving back to the complex but that may also be an assumption!)

You are also correct that I was, indeed, making assumptions that JS knew about SS "accidental factory reset" at the time of the cuddle interview. I think it's worth explaining how I landed on that assumption.

• During the cuddle interview, the interviewer says it's been about 24 hours since JS noticed Maddie was missing at 4:00 p.m. on Monday so I am (again) assuming the interview was taken by Channel 9 around the end of the business day on Tuesday.
• The arrest affidavit says: "[a]n interview was conducted with the victim's stepfather...During the interview, he provided consent to search his phone, however he stated had accidentally performed a factory reset on his phone on February 26, 2024, the same day the victim went missing."
• So since he was arrested on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, I (again) assumed he provided his phone to police before that day on Monday or Tuesday because they'd need time to look through the contents from the factory reset.
• I based the assumption that his interview had to be Monday or Tuesday on a few things:
  • The Incident Report that was taken on Monday, February 26th seen in this video around 1:35 (right before the cuddling) has a statement from Orange County Sheriff Deputy Joseph that says "I later spoke to Stephan Stern who stated in a verbal and sworn written statement..." So I assumed Orange County Sheriff Deputy Joseph could have interviewed him that Monday.
  • During a press conference, Orange County Sheriff Mina also provided context about the possible time of the interviews where police took SS' phone - twice in fact - that made me think the phone was taken before the cuddle:
    • The first mention is here beginning at 10:16 where Sheriff Mina says: "the Blood Hound did an extensive search which unfortunately did not provide any results about her whereabouts so our missing persons detective responded to take over the investigation so they did interviews with mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school and we were able to access Maddie's phone..."
    • The second mention is here beginning at 10:55 in the same video where Sheriff Mina says: "so during the course of the day on Tuesday detectives and deputies conducted extensive interviews and an extensive canvas and we collected video from the area and again conducted interviews with family members."
  • And I built more assumptions based on the fact that during the interview where SS is awkwardly lurking behind JS he appears to be trying to look busy but (despite comments elsewhere) is not scrolling through any phone on Tuesday at 10 pm.
• So perhaps I should not have assumed they took his phone during an interview on Monday or Tuesday before the Tuesday cuddle video or his arrest on Wednesday. I assumed they may have been collecting phones before the interview because they had taken Maddie's phone by then based on:
  • The same Sheriff Mina video from above at 10:16 where he mentions that they had Maddie's phone in conjunction with the first time an SS interview was referenced ("so they did interviews with mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school and we were able to access Maddie's phone...") and confirms he has Maddie's phone again at 18:33;
  • A guess that they were heavily collecting evidence by that point since the house itself was in police custody by the time Sheriff Mina's press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
  • JS also says during the cuddle video that "the detectives have her [Maddie's] phone" but is also seen at 2:54 scrolling through a phone. I assumed JS was scrolling through her own phone rather than Maddie's since she is wearing the same clothes, in the same position, at the same table, with the same interviewer, as the video where she said the detectives have Maddie's phone.
  • The fact the arrest affidavit also contains SS' own statement on what his phone number was, which I assumed (again!) the police may have asked him for after they took Maddie's phone to trace back the last communications such as calls or texts between the two.
• I also made assumptions that his phone reset may have come up at some point prior to the cuddle, like:
  • When SS was interviewed I assumed JS might ask him about how the interview went and I assumed he may have mentioned they took his phone and details on it then (but that's assuming someone would ask their boyfriend how a police interview about their missing kid went..) Even if he wanted to lie, I assumed he may have had to have admitted it earlier, like:
  • When the person making missing flyers on Monday would have asked for recent photos of Maddie (such as from her birthday) which SS would not be able to produce since he factory reset his phone specifically to hide photos; or
  • When JS or the police were trying to pinpoint the exact time SS dropped off Maddie on Monday they would have asked him to give location data to pinpoint it and that's when he would have disclosed his phone had been reset.
  • There's about a dozen other times I think it would have come up to a normal person but I assume a lot!

I'll just state it plainly:

• Mom should have seen SS' flat tire at some point on Monday or Tuesday when he was at the complex considering his vehicle was the last her child was seen in; and
• Mom should have known the phone was reset when SS could not produce any useful phone info during a critical missing person investigation into her child's disappearance; and
• Mom should have been suspicious about why police took SS' phone when she clearly was in possession of a phone during the same period.

So yes, they're assumptions.

in the arrest warrant, last paragraph, as the detective looked at the phone pics, he viewed the 'missing juvenile' (and specific body parts) and clothing, etc. at that same time, detectives who were executing the search warrant at the residence were contacted. detectives searching the residence confirmed they found the same distinctive clothing in SS's room and the victim's room.

thank you for the links. yes, the arrest warrant indicated he consented to give up his phone during the interview. its unknown how long the interview was with SS, was it brief, the same 'story', then give up his phone and leave while they checked it? am I missing something, where was he when he was arrested on the 28th?

 

[ttjo]

in the arrest warrant, last paragraph, as the detective looked at the phone pics, he viewed the 'missing juvenile' (and specific body parts) and clothing, etc. at that same time, detectives who were executing the search warrant at the residence were contacted. detectives searching the residence confirmed they found the same distinctive clothing in SS's room and the victim's room.

thank you for the links. yes, the arrest warrant indicated he consented to give up his phone during the interview. its unknown how long the interview was with SS, was it brief, the same 'story', then give up his phone and leave while they checked it? am I missing something, where was he when he was arrested on the 28th?

from what I understand he was questioned at the police station. Im guessing thats where he was arrested.

 

[gloomy]

Has this been posted yet?