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

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floridafreshsqueez said:
Absolutely. Even if he scrubbed his computer, email outboxes, app messages chat logs, etc…pretty much all that data should be assumed to be recoverable. And thank god for that because without that capability many beasts like SS wouldn’t have even been arrested (Michael Turney comes to mind…and yes I know he was acquitted but that’s exactly my point).

Software like Cellebrite has accelerated and leveraged LE with the data and evidence they need to secure warrants, arrests, charges and convictions. With the invention of the internet, we’ve predictably had the cancerous growth of evil that often comes with technological innovation…but criminals like SS will rarely be able to successfully cover their tracks to the degree that technology can’t nail them to the wall eventually, and that is the light at the end of the tunnel IMO.
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Between DNA advances and information recovery/tech innovations, it’s getting harder and harder for the roaches to stay out of the light.
 
oviedo said:
Guess this means they have his phone/computer records now
JMO
www.wesh.com

60 new charges filed against mom's boyfriend in Madeline Soto case

According to officials, the investigation revealed more images and videos depicting criminal acts, and this is from where the new charges stem.
www.wesh.com www.wesh.com

60 new charges filed against mom's boyfriend in Madeline Soto case
WESH logo

Updated: 11:30 AM EDT Mar 12, 2024
Infinite Scroll Enabled

Chelsea Robinson
Digital Media Manager

KISSIMMEE, Fla. —
A total of 60 new charges have been filed against a man arrested in connection with the death of Madeline Soto, who was found dead after being reported missing.
Stephan Sterns, the boyfriend of Soto's mother, has now been charged …
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Since they have done a deep dive into the SA/ CSAM and have not arrested JS , I'm hoping this means she wasn't involved in it. Whether she knew or not has yet to be determined. I'm beginning to think she was oblivious.
 
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floridafreshsqueez said:
It’s possible JS could claim she realized MS left her phone and laptop behind because she saw it in her room. That’s another thing - the laptop. JS didn’t mention that MS didn’t have it with her for school either, and that bothers me. I don’t have a child MS’s age in school so I wouldn’t know for sure, but it seems like in this day and age, forgetting a school issued laptop would be problematic for a student expected to use it in class.

Another random thought I had - was the decision to go to the church purposeful in that SS needed to avoid being picked up by the school CCTV? Or was it put forth as a red herring to buy time? Maybe both? Do other parents typically drop their kids off there to walk to school? I can’t imagine that he actually drove there either.

Obviously, he couldn’t go there or drop off with MS in the car when she wouldn’t be getting out…it would seem SS just gave LE the runaround. Despite knowing there’s no evidence released yet that he was even seen anywhere near that area. IDK the church schedule but there would also presumably be people dropping off children at preschool and staff walking around at that hour right?
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I think mom is guilty of saying stupid stuff and not malice. Maybe she just checked Maddy's location and saw the device was at home? Maybe she thought claiming to see Maddy would make the case "fresher" and more solvable and help it gain attention? There are a lot of dumb people out there.

If she is guilty of anything or innocent of everything, it benefits her either way to keep her mouth shut. she's just going to jeopardize the investigation or herself if she keeps talking.
 
Megnut said:
SPECULATION:

Video of him loading her lifeless into the trunk. Where it would have remained for hours and hours.
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I'm thinking she wasn't in the trunk by the way Mina worded this statement. So while they very well might have video of her being loaded into the trunk, all we know is they have video of him returning to the complex, and Maddie was visible in the car at that time.

Direct quote:

"At 8:19 we have evidence that shows Stephan Sterns returning to the complex and Madeline was visible in that vehicle. We believe she was already dead at that time".
Queued up at that point in the video:
 
TTF14 said:
For some people, the only standard is that the person is there and willing to be with them. Some people, men and women, simply can't accept/cope with being alone/uncoupled. That leads to a very low bar in evaluating partners.
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and also to @floridafreshsqueez My point isn't so much about JS. I think everyone has an understanding how at least initially you can meet someone, get involved and they turn out to not be who they seemed. I can allow her that. I've been there. I think most of us have, and I can also understand how JS could be more vulnerable and have a harder time ending a relationship than someone who was not struggling with bipolar.

I'm wondering more though about everyone else around MS, especially the professionals. Specifically, what sort of con was SS running? Just liking toys, ok, being a bit geeky or having a hobby, is one thing. I'm not dragging based solely on that. You could be a toy collector and having a thriving business selling rare toys or something and be a functional adult who wasn't also using drugs and boomeranging back and forth as an adult between your parents and your ex, and not having anything really basic most adults would--i.e.no bank account, no car,, no property even though he worked in real estate all that time?? Liking toys doesn't mean you molest kids. It is the bigger picture we see even without putting aside SA.

SS is not a stable adult. He's not someone I would want living with a child I care about.
 
This update is a gut punch. It's so much worse than any of us thought. He is just VILE and EVIL, and I don't think we've seen all of the horrors that he committed yet. It's who he is and what he is.
My heart breaks for Maddie.
Hardest case I've ever followed.
IMO.
 
Mimimom said:
Since they have done a deep dive into the SA/ CSAM and have not arrested JS , I'm hoping this means she wasn't involved in it. Whether she knew or not has yet to be determined. I'm being to think she was oblivious.
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I think the new charges don’t really have any bearing on JS.
Regardless of any involvement with the abuse and murder of MS, I don’t think anyone (here, at least) has thought she was involved in widespread child abuse or is herself a pedophile. I’m guessing the investigations into SS for these charges are relatively separate from the murder investigation, and the CSAM investigation would be largely digital. It doesn’t seem like SS tried particularly hard to cover his tracks since the initial images were just found on his phone, so this all might have been readily available for LE to find.

I notice though that there is nothing about the electronic transfer of CSAM… I’ve mentioned before that I think the initial arrest warrant’s description of the images seemed too obscene to be photos meant just for personal consumption. I’m not sure though if that could be something they’ve ruled out, or if they are open to more charges later.
 
CuriousCricket said:
I counted 40 and from another poster saying at least 390, I'm guessing it might be 40. Not gonna re-count, but more than enough to not just cook his goose, but to carve and serve it.

@ modesty blaise said:​

"Belongings were disposed of at 7.35 am."

I'm unsure what your point is. 7:35 a.m. is a solid time for the dumping of Maddy's phone and bookbag in the dumpster. Absolute. For sure. Straight from LE.

My point was that 7.35 was Daylight Savings Time. My point with the whole pet feeding story (inspired by the weekend's posts of "My car clock is finally right again!" and the returning of DST to regular) was that IF the bedside table clock was not changed (as mine never is) for DST because of JS's pet sitting (or even the taking of medication), JS's clock would have said 8 a.m. when it was 7 and at 7:35 a.m. when the articles were dumped in the dumpster per LE, the bedside table clock would have said 8:35.

If Jenn were half asleep when Maddy asked if it was ok for her to wear black shorts to school, perhaps Jenn glanced at the clock and saw it said 8. The whole "trick" for DST vs EST might not have occurred to her.

I've looked for ways JS could possibly be telling the truth, but be mistaken, about seeing Maddy at 8 a.m. AND the black shorts story. The shorts puzzle me about why she had that wrong.
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Spring forward. Fall back. Your theory doesn't work. If her bedroom time said 08:00 hours and the other clocks had changed, then that would mean she saw Maddy at 09:00 hours "getting ready for school". If all the other clocks said 07:00 yet JS saw 08:00 in her bedroom, the only clock not changed, wouldnt that make her late for work on a daily basis? Besides, was it even that weekend for DST to come into effect on Feb 25?
 
lightofmine99 said:
I hope that SS is not an only child. Imagine having just one kid that not only fails to "launch" but also turns into a pedo stoner bum.

But if he had/has siblings then he would likely have nieces and nephews around he would probably try to victimize.

MOO.
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In one of the Hughes videos, a half brother was mentioned a few times. I am assuming older, as it was clarified the half-brother is the mother's child and it seems SS parents are still married. So, let's hope the half-brother does not have kids, and/or they were born and grown well before SS was around them, and if they have kids, maybe no/limited contact?

The friend (I believe it was Ryan, but those videos are more than I can stomach a second time) also seemed to never have met the half-brother, so seems possible this was not a close brotherly relationship.
 
Mack the Knife said:
I notice though that there is nothing about the electronic transfer of CSAM… I’ve mentioned before that I think the initial arrest warrant’s description of the images seemed too obscene to be photos meant just for personal consumption. I’m not sure though if that could be something they’ve ruled out, or if they are open to more charges later.
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I'll preface this by saying that my knowledge of CSAM distribution is primarily informed by the Josh Duggar situation...so take it for what it's worth.

I *believe* the transfer/distribution of CSAM is a federal crime (I posted the statute and commentary in discussion #3) and any charges for this crime will come from the FBI.
I think he WILL face federal charges, and I think others will be charged too (not implying JS- people with whom SS exchanged or sold or bought or whatever from).

(Multiple edits for grammar!)
 
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Mimimom said:
It's a shame they didn't catch him before Madeline died.
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Imagine all her friends at school who now have heard what was happening to her at home? Where kids are meant to be the safest they ever will be - at their homes. With their loving families and who knows how long she was unsafe for. She wasn’t safe when he was there in her life. She may* not have been safe when mom was around because mom may* not have been available to or able to protect her. The hell and horrors this kid endured are astounding. All while mom somehow just didn’t notice? Ugh.
 
oviedo said:
After Randall Pruitts’ I’ve never read another AA ….. this seems even worse
JMO
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Yeah. Not LE, but I have a job that often requires me to read awful stuff. Over the years I’ve gotten pretty skilled at skimming for key details and not reading the worst parts to the point where they “stick,” if that makes sense. I don’t know how investigators who have to read (much less actually VIEW) abusive horrors in detail handle it.

The people investigating Sterns (and others like him) deserve medals of honor for fortitude alone. And with the sheer volume in this case, I’m wondering if it was only poor MS or if the contents of SS’s electronics are going to lead to additional victims (and maybe even additional perpetrators).
 
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