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

[TTF14]

But she did swear to LE in writing and verbally that she saw her getting ready for school at 8am on the day she was reported missing. That is huge. Its also not possible in my view. She may have seen her - I'll give her that - but she was NOT getting ready for school. Dead kids do not get ready for school. MOO.

yes, that's huge because it was a huge lie. When I said she didn't say she saw her, I meant the night before after the party.

She's lying.

Why?

 

[Beekarina]

duplicate post dbm

 

[Beekarina]

I do not know her level of awareness/involvement/denial/betrayal is, but SS violated the whole family (mother and child). Just how much was she lied to? Over the years. That 24 hours..

Observed her.

I saw her suggests seeing in real time in shared space.

Observed suggests looked at. Watched.

Did anyone ask her if she saw SS that morning? Or the night before?

Did SS snow her?

Did he tell her MS fell asleep on the drove home from the party and he'd already carried her into bed?

Did SS show JS an expired reel of MS getting dressed, but from a different day? A day she genuinely did wear shorts...

Did he tell JS that MS was already up and dressed and waiting in the car

Did he return to the house only to grab her backpack and laptop in order merely to disappear them?

Thought he could outsmart the cameras?

How much did SS manipulate JS over the years in order to maintain his access to abuse? Offer to sleep beside MS under the auspices of fatherly comcern... meanwhile, a very young, very groomed child might take that as endorsement. Mom knows. Leaving her to feel like no one can save her. It's her own job to be a good girl and do as she's told, message internalized.

It's awful to think that's the only childhood MS ever knew. Serial, normalized abuse.

Such complex abuse. Insidious.

JMO

It would be helpful to know how late the party ran. We do know from the grandmother's Telemundo interview (previously linked) that MS had two of her friends at the party. I think it is reasonable to also assume there may have been cousins or other younger relatives there as well. Being a school night, I would think things wrapped up at a reasonable hour so kids could get home, shower, change, settle in, anything of that nature to prepare for the week ahead.

I looked into hours for different call center type positions Disney has and they all end by 7pm EST on Sunday. The exact nature of JS' job is not clear to me, but like many of you, I've been curious about why she was working through her daughter's 13th birthday party, and also why she was working "late" on a Sunday, and also frankly why she was so exhausted as to not be able to drive a few miles down the road on Monday morning, even though she was awake enough by her own statement at 8am, which is well before the 9:30 start time for MS school. Nothing about JS work story makes ANY sense to me!

Out of everything you listed, I could see SS saying he ran back in the house to grab a forgotten backpack, but then why would HE be the one to do that, and not MS? He'd have to combine it with a second lie too, like "Forgot my wallet, MS needs her laptop..." He may have done this. I think MS was already dead though.

A video of MS outfit doesn't make any sense to me, as a parent of older children. If JS was claiming to be so exhausted she couldn't drive and needed help with the school run, she would probably be thinking "Hooray! They are out of the house and I am going back to sleep! Why on earth are you showing me a video of MS outfit?" You also normally wouldn't need a lie about MS being in the car. And the thing is, if there was one, say SS had made up a bunch of crap that morning like "Hey we're just going to leave right now and grab some breakfast on the way. Love you! MS is outside already" then JS should have said as much.

Same with carrying MS into the house and putting her to bed. She was at a birthday party at a relative's house, so not far from home. And again, she was 13, not 3. You wouldn't carry a healthy, normal 13 yo into a house, upstairs and tuck them in, asleep the entire way. How the heck would you open all the doors, for one?

If SS did something to MS that night, which I agree seems very possible, then I think JS is aware.

JS also said MS went right to sleep after the party. Did she go right to sleep or did she die?

 

[Wishbone]

All I heard today from Vinnie Politan youtube was that the dumpsters are located by the back gate. It does not have a manned gatehouse but evidently has cameras.

 

[ttjo]

Sorry, I was talking about the night before/after the party.

No worries, it's hard to keep track of all the different stories, whats true, whats not.

 

[Vanilletx]

yes, that's huge because it was a huge lie. When I said she didn't say she saw her, I meant the night before after the party.

She's lying.

Why?

My hope is that SS entrenched JS in a web of deceit. That he convinced JS that however MS died, JS needed to help cover for him. If she died that night, it was too much melatonin or something he said . Not to call 911 but help him as it looks bad .

I don’t think Js believed MS about the abuse and never would believe that SS would cross her. He was a manipulative monster. I’m sure he told JS the police would blame him for her death and that they needed to be unified as a team: Js and SS. That he would hide Ms and they would make it look like a kidnapping. Js allegedly was doing a lot of px drugs to make her sleep so she knew she was feeling like a bad mom. I don’t think she knew the depths of his deceit.

Since JS is involved in a coverup lie she can’t speak out. The police are trying to unravel what really happened before coming out with charges.

MOO

 

[Gemmie]

All I heard today from Vinnie Politan youtube was that the dumpsters are located by the back gate. It does not have a manned gatehouse but evidently has cameras.

Well that answers that Q for me. Thank you! Now, do we know where the back gate is?

 

[Phoenix11:11]

I just rediscovered Websleuths.....I haven't been here in over a decade. It's been nice to read some comments here about this case. Over on YT there are some truly wild rumors, accusations, insinuations and it's been ridiculous. To start, I do not at all sense/believe that Jenn Soto is involved in any way. I can only imagine the nightmare she is currently living. Her Soul has been ripped from her body, and my heart is broken for and with her. Until I hear different, I hold the entire family up in Love and Light, and I feel compassion and empathy for what they are enduring, especially her as a mother. There's a lot to say about it, but before getting more into that part, I wanted to add a few things. I haven't seen it discussed here yet, but I haven't yet read all posts, to be fair. So, here are some tidbits I have heard so far. SS's mother (Debbie, I think), once paid off a roommate of SS to keep quiet about child *advertiser censored* images/videos he (the ex roommate) discovered on the shared computer. This apparently happened when he was in his early 20's. According to another friend, SS has a habit of cracking his knuckles when he's trying to 'appear' tough. He was doing it to be intimidating to Jenn in the interview, as he hovered behind her. Another guy that has been recent friends with SS (gaming friends), said that SS once told him he has/takes Lunesta, and that it's 'powerful enough to knock someone out fast/easily'. So that last one had me wondering about whether he has used that on Jenn, as well as Maddie. Time will tell. Lastly, I thought Maddie spent the night at her grandmothers on Sunday night. This could explain some of the timeline.....he picked her up from grandma's early Monday morning, with the understanding to take her back home to get ready for school, which is why he was out and about so early. I think he dumped her backpack and laptop in the dumpster right on site because he thought it would be getting emptied that morning. It would be interesting to know if it was garbage day that Monday. Maybe trash gets picked up on Monday mornings. As for Jenn, I think she was in a real time nightmare during the interview, trying to tell his story he told her, lost in confusion, her daughter seemingly abducted (so she thought), and her pupils looked dilated to me, like she was under an influence of meds. Now that I've hear Lunesta....did he drug her? I know we don't know much and won't until we do. Until then, I'm not going to blame or shame JS. She is in a world of hurt, her pain is already immeasurable.

 

[arielilane]

Sterns will be arraigned on the charges on April 2.

According to the State Attorney's Office, sexual battery on a child under 12 is a capital felony and is punishable by life in prison or death if convicted. His other charges carry sentences of up to life in prison, or 15 years in prison for each count.

Stephan Sterns faces 60 new charges in Madeline Soto disappearance, death case, police say

The State Attorney's Office on Tuesday has filed 60 new criminal charges against Stephan Sterns, the “prime suspect" in the disappearance and death of Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in Osceola County after she was thought to be missing for a week. Sterns has not yet been...

www.fox35orlando.com

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

Ok so this says she OBSERVED Madeline getting ready to school. Why say observed ? Did she just hear her? Is observed just visual?

I still think this could mean via video footage, which may have been previously recorded but sent to JS by SS, so she could say, ' I SAW her getting ready,' and it would not be a lie. Well, it would be a lie but JS wouldn't know it was at the time.
If I was working or away and called my husband to make sure the kids were getting ready for school, I can see him taking a short clip and sending it and then if asked I would say that I SAW them getting ready. It doesn't have to be physically seeing them in the flesh, if you know what I mean.
ETA: using the word, observed would fit even more with this

 

[Ontario Mom]

...I do not at all sense/believe that Jenn Soto is involved in any way. I can only imagine the nightmare she is currently living. Her Soul has been ripped from her body, and my heart is broken for and with her. Until I hear different, I hold the entire family up in Love and Light, and I feel compassion and empathy for what they are enduring, especially her as a mother.

RSBM

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this.
Based purely on LE's actions and the lack of new charges (or any charges against JS), I'm likewise reluctant to believe she's involved.

jmo

 

[iusedtofloat]

Sterns will be arraigned on the charges on April 2.

According to the State Attorney's Office, sexual battery on a child under 12 is a capital felony and is punishable by life in prison or death if convicted. His other charges carry sentences of up to life in prison, or 15 years in prison for each count.

Stephan Sterns faces 60 new charges in Madeline Soto disappearance, death case, police say

The State Attorney's Office on Tuesday has filed 60 new criminal charges against Stephan Sterns, the “prime suspect" in the disappearance and death of Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in Osceola County after she was thought to be missing for a week. Sterns has not yet been...

www.fox35orlando.com

i cannot get over the "since she was 8 years old". this poor baby had her innocence entirely stolen from her by a creep, a maggot, a monster. she never got the chance to enjoy a TRUE childhood of fun, freedom, excitement, joy. she didn't get to have a crush turn into a boyfriend turn into holding hands and kissing, innocent and wholesome. she didn't have a chance to have a serious relationship. she didn't have a chance to go to college or even highschool. all because a selfish, lower than dirt, deserving of nothing, pedophilic (is that a word?) predator decided she was his for the taking (gag) and not a human being with human rights. it makes me absolutely sick beyond measure.

i wish she would've been able to live with dad & stepmom who truly loved her. why couldn't she?

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

I agree with you except for being clueless. her first interview she was so clear saying the last interaction with her daughter was before bedtime. seems to me she did not anticipate info would ultimately be released as to what she told investigators which is a glaring contradiction.... but more importantly, why did she distance herself from the morning when speaking to the media?

her second interview, the trembling begins right away. then stops when asked about when she went missing, etc. then the bird thang starts. stops trembling, actually smirking. continues with the script...dropping off close to school, etc...no trembling, then pauses "I dont know what I am allowed to share." as soon as the interviewer mentions 'conversations with detectives', the shaking beings again, but stops abruptly when telling the 'spotted on camera' story.

then it starts again when she says the word 'detectives' having Madeline's phone. and it continues off and on.

IMO, the trembling was contrived.


we do not know any of JS's movements any time that day, during the party, after the party, that nite and into the next morning AND afternoon other than she went to pick her up. did she leave the complex for 'work'? did she move the car any time sunday nite or sometime in the morning? also the one written interview released which is the initial 'missing' report, IMO speaking with investigators wasnt a one and done. Im confident they had several followup conversations with her which were recorded and or written down, and not released to the public.

To be fair, if I was being interviewed on TV, I would be trembling like a leaf too. I would likely freeze up speaking too. Way too uncomfortable, I cant even handle being on video in zoom calls/meetings.

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

I do not know her level of awareness/involvement/denial/betrayal is, but SS violated the whole family (mother and child). Just how much was she lied to? Over the years. That 24 hours..

Observed her.

I saw her suggests seeing in real time in shared space.

Observed suggests looked at. Watched.

Did anyone ask her if she saw SS that morning? Or the night before?

Did SS snow her?

Did he tell her MS fell asleep on the drove home from the party and he'd already carried her into bed?

Did SS show JS an expired reel of MS getting dressed, but from a different day? A day she genuinely did wear shorts...

Did he tell JS that MS was already up and dressed and waiting in the car

Did he return to the house only to grab her backpack and laptop in order merely to disappear them?

Thought he could outsmart the cameras?

How much did SS manipulate JS over the years in order to maintain his access to abuse? Offer to sleep beside MS under the auspices of fatherly comcern... meanwhile, a very young, very groomed child might take that as endorsement. Mom knows. Leaving her to feel like no one can save her. It's her own job to be a good girl and do as she's told, message internalized.

It's awful to think that's the only childhood MS ever knew. Serial, normalized abuse.

Such complex abuse. Insidious.

JMO

I just posted something similar but not as articulate.
I do feel JS has been completely blindsided by this. SS likely groomed her before he even started on MS. She trusted him, She comforted him. I think she genuinely believed he loved MS as a father. It is such a devastating situation.
I could be completely wrong and she has been involved since the beginning, but I just don't feel that is the case.
JMO

 

[Observant-ADHD-ENFP-BSc]

I just rediscovered Websleuths.....I haven't been here in over a decade. It's been nice to read some comments here about this case. Over on YT there are some truly wild rumors, accusations, insinuations and it's been ridiculous. To start, I do not at all sense/believe that Jenn Soto is involved in any way. I can only imagine the nightmare she is currently living. Her Soul has been ripped from her body, and my heart is broken for and with her. Until I hear different, I hold the entire family up in Love and Light, and I feel compassion and empathy for what they are enduring, especially her as a mother. There's a lot to say about it, but before getting more into that part, I wanted to add a few things. I haven't seen it discussed here yet, but I haven't yet read all posts, to be fair. So, here are some tidbits I have heard so far. SS's mother (Debbie, I think), once paid off a roommate of SS to keep quiet about child *advertiser censored* images/videos he (the ex roommate) discovered on the shared computer. This apparently happened when he was in his early 20's. According to another friend, SS has a habit of cracking his knuckles when he's trying to 'appear' tough. He was doing it to be intimidating to Jenn in the interview, as he hovered behind her. Another guy that has been recent friends with SS (gaming friends), said that SS once told him he has/takes Lunesta, and that it's 'powerful enough to knock someone out fast/easily'. So that last one had me wondering about whether he has used that on Jenn, as well as Maddie. Time will tell. Lastly, I thought Maddie spent the night at her grandmothers on Sunday night. This could explain some of the timeline.....he picked her up from grandma's early Monday morning, with the understanding to take her back home to get ready for school, which is why he was out and about so early. I think he dumped her backpack and laptop in the dumpster right on site because he thought it would be getting emptied that morning. It would be interesting to know if it was garbage day that Monday. Maybe trash gets picked up on Monday mornings. As for Jenn, I think she was in a real time nightmare during the interview, trying to tell his story he told her, lost in confusion, her daughter seemingly abducted (so she thought), and her pupils looked dilated to me, like she was under an influence of meds. Now that I've hear Lunesta....did he drug her? I know we don't know much and won't until we do. Until then, I'm not going to blame or shame JS. She is in a world of hurt, her pain is already immeasurable.

Thank you for your post. I also agree that JS is not involved. I think she has been groomed and manipulated over the years to think SS was only out for hers and MS best interests. I also think that her choice of words in interviews, were not her choice of words and she was manipulated by SS to say things a certain way. He likely made her think if she didn't SHE would look like a bad parent. I also agree with his demeanour in the video of her interview, he seems to be making sure she knows he is there and to remember the right words.
Just imagine your child is missing, you slept in ,your partner (or whatever he is) convinces you that if you say you were not awake or not there it will look suspicious, you are being interviewed on TV, he is there in the background making noises, cracking his knuckles, and you know you have to get it right. I'd be shaking like a leaf and my adrenaline would be through the roof

 

[Mack the Knife]

Sterns will be arraigned on the charges on April 2.

According to the State Attorney's Office, sexual battery on a child under 12 is a capital felony and is punishable by life in prison or death if convicted. His other charges carry sentences of up to life in prison, or 15 years in prison for each count.

Stephan Sterns faces 60 new charges in Madeline Soto disappearance, death case, police say

The State Attorney's Office on Tuesday has filed 60 new criminal charges against Stephan Sterns, the “prime suspect" in the disappearance and death of Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in Osceola County after she was thought to be missing for a week. Sterns has not yet been...

www.fox35orlando.com

(Respectfully aimed at the reporter and not at you, arielilane)

This is annoyingly sloppy reporting! Yes, that is the law right now, but as has been discussed in this forum, the victim was not under 12 while the law was in place, so (as far as we can tell) the law is not applicable. A bit of diligence and the reporter could have engaged with the question as we have.

This bit will likely leave article-readers believing that the State Attorney gave a statement on these charges, when I bet the reporter pulled it from the State Attorney website.

 

[photographer4]

It would be helpful to know how late the party ran. We do know from the grandmother's Telemundo interview (previously linked) that MS had two of her friends at the party. I think it is reasonable to also assume there may have been cousins or other younger relatives there as well. Being a school night, I would think things wrapped up at a reasonable hour so kids could get home, shower, change, settle in, anything of that nature to prepare for the week ahead.

I looked into hours for different call center type positions Disney has and they all end by 7pm EST on Sunday. The exact nature of JS' job is not clear to me, but like many of you, I've been curious about why she was working through her daughter's 13th birthday party, and also why she was working "late" on a Sunday, and also frankly why she was so exhausted as to not be able to drive a few miles down the road on Monday morning, even though she was awake enough by her own statement at 8am, which is well before the 9:30 start time for MS school. Nothing about JS work story makes ANY sense to me!

Out of everything you listed, I could see SS saying he ran back in the house to grab a forgotten backpack, but then why would HE be the one to do that, and not MS? He'd have to combine it with a second lie too, like "Forgot my wallet, MS needs her laptop..." He may have done this. I think MS was already dead though.

A video of MS outfit doesn't make any sense to me, as a parent of older children. If JS was claiming to be so exhausted she couldn't drive and needed help with the school run, she would probably be thinking "Hooray! They are out of the house and I am going back to sleep! Why on earth are you showing me a video of MS outfit?" You also normally wouldn't need a lie about MS being in the car. And the thing is, if there was one, say SS had made up a bunch of crap that morning like "Hey we're just going to leave right now and grab some breakfast on the way. Love you! MS is outside already" then JS should have said as much.

Same with carrying MS into the house and putting her to bed. She was at a birthday party at a relative's house, so not far from home. And again, she was 13, not 3. You wouldn't carry a healthy, normal 13 yo into a house, upstairs and tuck them in, asleep the entire way. How the heck would you open all the doors, for one?

If SS did something to MS that night, which I agree seems very possible, then I think JS is aware.

JS also said MS went right to sleep after the party. Did she go right to sleep or did she die?

How long after Maddie was thought to be dead in SS car was it before mom appeared on cam in the news? Did she look exhausted? I didn’t think she did in the interviews I saw that she gave from her home.

 

[BeeGirl]

I was reminded that tomorrow will be spring when reading the poem Lines Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth earlier:

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man

It made me think of sweet Madeline so much. I hope spring brings true justice for Madeline with it this year. Hoping for more charges before summer. Naming it to claim it for her.

 

[charminglane]

Are there any more pictures from the birthday party that have been released, other than Maddie in the dress with the cake?

 

[Pruddennce]

To be fair, if I was being interviewed on TV, I would be trembling like a leaf too. I would likely freeze up speaking too. Way too uncomfortable, I cant even handle being on video in zoom calls/meetings.

I respect your opinion. her first interview: not a tremble the entire interview. a brief sniffle. no pics of Madeline to be shown to the public. her second interview, the trembling..off and on. she begins telling the same account but stops...she adds "Im not sure what I am allowed to share". (???) for starters, again, she should have been providing pics of Madeline to the media to focus their camera on.

instead, SS is presented. her comforting him. JS decided to do the united front thang....IMO, she attempted to have the public believe: *see, he's really not the creepy BF you saw hovering in my first interview... he was soooooo distressed, he couldnt be on camera with me*.