Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Maddie Soto Murder: Detectives Grill Teen's Mom in New Interview

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

In the days after Maddie Soto's mother reported her missing, police spoke to her several times about her actions and statements. Kissimmee Police detectives were trying to find Maddie but quickly realized she was dead after examining surveillance cameras they said showed Maddie dead in Stephan Sterns' car. Stern is charged with murdering and sexually abusing Maddie. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the newly-released interview in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. I thought I could trust him that he was safe, that he was a good guy. Maddie Soto's mother, Jen Soto, quizzed by detectives in a newly released interview days after Maddie goes missing. I've always told him that my biggest fear is that this would turn into a Woody Allen situation. I'm breaking down the details revealed the questions asked and how Jen Soto reacted when she was told her daughter was dead. I'm Anjanette Levy and this is Crime Fix. Just when I think I've heard all of the interviews from Jen Soto, we find out there are

more. Kissimmee police talked to her a lot the week that Maddie went missing in late February, the morning after her 13th birthday. And of course, they talked to her a lot because they needed information. They were trying to find her. Where could Maddie be? The police were hoping to find her alive and safe. She didn't show up for school the morning of February 26th after Jen Soto's on-again, off-again boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, claimed he dropped Maddie off at a church down the street from her school. Stefan Stearns, of course, is now charged with sexually abusing Maddie for years and murdering her. An Orange County Sheriff's deputy's body camera recorded Jen Soto reporting her daughter missing that evening. Green hoodie. White Crocs. White Crocs. Are they blue or black pants?

I think black shorts. Black shorts. Yeah. Black shorts? Mm-hmm. Okay. Black shorts. All right.

Do you know if she has, like, friends in the area? She does, but she doesn't know where they live. She doesn't know where they live. Okay. I asked all of them. Um, okay. Now, that exchange piqued the interest of these Kissimmee police detectives. They interviewed Jen Soto several times and they had a lot of questions on the evening of February 29th.

That was the Thursday of that week. The detectives talked to Jen Soto about how she knew what Maddie was wearing the morning she disappeared. When the deputies first talked to you when you're reporting her missing. Yeah. You remember writing a statement? Yes. Okay. In that statement, you say you saw Maddie. I saw, I know. I misremembered. I didn't see her. I wanted to believe I saw her, but I didn't. But when you're talking to the deputy on his body cam, you describe what she's wearing. Because she had picked it out the night before. Okay. I told her to set up her clothes the night before to have it ready so she was ready to go.

Now, remember, Jen Soto said she was sleeping that morning and Stefan Stearns later woke her up. So, of course, they're wondering how she knew what Maddie was wearing. So Jen Soto said she knew what Maddie was wearing because she didn't see her that morning, but because Maddie had picked out her clothes the evening before. The conversation then turned to Stefan and Jen's sex life. Now, this is probably an important point given the allegations of sexual abuse in this case. Now, the relationship that you had with Stefan, you told me that you haven't had sex in a while. Yeah. When you guys were together and intimate with each other is maybe a little uncomfortable, but something that we have to discuss is When you guys were intimate with each other, a lot of people call it vanilla sex. Some people call it whatever kind of sex you want to call it.

How would you describe you and Stefan when you guys were intimate? Pretty vanilla. I would say just missionary and oral, but nothing, nothing more than that. Now, keep in mind, this conversation is happening while Stefan Stearns is being charged with sexually abusing Maddie. The detective said they had found 1700 images on Stearns' Google Drive of Stearns performing sex acts on Maddie, some of them when she was sleeping. So these detectives are clearly trying to figure out whether Jen Soto was allowing the abuse or whether she's involved in Maddie's disappearance. The conversation turned to Stearns' claim that he accidentally factory reset his phone the morning he claimed he dropped Maddie off at school.

Take a listen. He discussed having to reset his phone even though he didn't want to, or no, not reset his phone. He discussed needing to update his phone because he's been avoiding an update for so long. But I think it's time to do it. And I said, just do it. Stop avoiding it. Just do it. And he started the update. And then through the update, he's like, oh my God, I don't it. And I said, just do it. Stop avoiding it. Just do it. And he started the update.

And then through the update, he's like, oh, my God, I don't know what button I pressed, but I just factory erased my entire phone. And I said, that was stupid. How did you manage to do that? He goes, I don't know. I wasn't paying attention. And I just clicked the button and it happened. And I said, oh, okay, that's unfortunate. Or did he tell you he meant to reset his phone?

No, he didn't tell me he meant to reset his phone. He acted like and said that it was an accident. Did you find that odd? Of course I find that f***ing odd. That's as suspicious as hell. I don't think anybody, anybody is buying the accidentally factory reset the phone explanation. Now, the detectives were also very interested in this whole thing about Jen Soto, Maddie and Stefan Stearns sleeping in the same bed together. And then at times, Maddie and Stefan sleeping in bed together alone.

How long has that been going on? OK, so... I'm going to say back in June. It was primarily the three of us sleeping in bed together all the time. And why? how did that start maddie has always slept in the bed with me she's always slept in my room only when we lived in that apartment in northport did she have her own bedroom and she could we could afford for her to have her own room um so that was the only time she's actually had her own room here. She's always shared a room with

me. Um, when she was a baby, she had her own bedroom here for a few years, but once she got older and we started having roommates and all that stuff, she started just staying with me in my bedroom. Um, Stefan, well, during the times that we did live with Stefan, it would be the three of us in this bed down here, down in the master bedroom. It wasn't until June of last year that we had broken up and I said, okay, I don't want to sleep in the same bed with you. Please move upstairs. And he moved upstairs. At this point, Maddie pretty much slept with me all the time. I think I can count maybe on one hand how many times she's gone upstairs to sleep with him alone

because I even I wasn't comfortable with it I was like no that this it doesn't look right like it just doesn't seem right like I'm not comfortable with it Maddie you gotta sleep with me and I've told him that but there are times that they beg for sleepovers like please please we just want to stay up late watching movies and I would be too tired to stay up late. So I would say, fine, go ahead and do it. But just this once, like. The detectives then asked Jen Soto how she felt about Maddie and Stefan sleeping in the same bed together. When did you start becoming comfortable with it? I don't know if I was

ever comfortable with it but you told them to go Sunday night to go sleep together I did that was a selfish move on my part because I wanted a good night's sleep. I didn't want her kicking me or rolling into me or waking me up or to hear her alarm so that it woke me up. I wanted to keep sleeping until I needed to sleep because I just had had not with my training schedule. I

have had not, I have not had a good night's sleep. My medication was out of whack. This next exchange is kind of shocking. It left me kind of going like, what? Given that Jen Soto said she didn't know about the sexual abuse and that she trusted Stefan Stearns. He's never said anything to you or anything about it. If anything, I've always, I've always told him that my biggest fear is that this would turn into a Woody Allen situation where the stepdaughter or the dad grooms the child and the child then turns 18 and ends up running away with him. I told him that was my biggest fear and I don't ever want that happening. You can't do that to me.

Why would you say that to him? Because I never trusted. I grew up being told never trust a man. My mom put that in my body. Never trust a man. And like, I did not completely 100% trust the man. So it's interesting that Jen Soto is saying she had this fear about this turning into a Woody Allen type thing, but that she still allowed her young daughter to sleep in bed alone with Stefan Stearns. Many mothers, including me, can't understand this at all. The detectives confront Jen Soto with evidence that Stearns has been sexually abusing Maddie. Much of it is redacted.

I thought I could trust him, that he was safe, that he was a good guy and that he was taking care of my baby and loved her the way I loved her. Much of it is redacted. He tells you that he took Maddie to school and drops her off somewhere near the school so she could walk. Because she doesn't want to be seen inside of his car. Yeah. Okay, do you believe him? I don't think so. Why? Because of the evidence. Because of the photos.

Because of what you're telling me. Because he's clearly a liar. I want to hope my daughter's alive and out there and that she was taken. But I don't know anymore. Well, I can be fairly confident that no, a stranger did not take Maddie. The only person she was with was Stefan. Now, remember, police have said that Stearns drove around with Maddie's dead body in his car that morning for quite some time. They also tell Jen Soto that Stearns dumped Maddie's backpack in one of her crocs in a dumpster. The detective showed

Jen Soto photos of Maddie in the car. That's Maddie asleep in the car. Maddie's not asleep in the car. What do you mean? Do you believe Maddie's asleep there? Is she dead? I don't know. We don't know where she's at. The detectives are clearly suspicious of Jen Soto. They ask her about her reactions to some of the evidence.

We are literally having a conversation right now about Maddie possibly being dead. Yeah. And you have yet to shed a tear. But when I mentioned to you that he... You were crying violently, almost. Do you understand what I'm saying? Because that was physical proof. That was proof of what was happening. Mm-hmm.

That destroyed me. Until... That picture of her asleep or not asleep in the car is not proof to me until I see a body. I have hope that she's still alive, but I don't know what you're telling me. I'm starting to fucking doubt everything. But I can't tell you why I broke down over one and I'm being really serious now. The next day, deputies found Maddie's body on a farm on Hickory Tree Road in between two trees. Before that, detectives spoke to Jen Soto again.

I haven't gone out looking for her because I don't know where to search. And I haven't. The only place I thought of where to search would be Shekel Creek behind her school because of the whole woods comment. But you guys have been doing that and I didn't want to get in the way of that. Jen Soto volunteered that sometimes Stearns could get angry, that he was negative and could have a temper. But it was usually about everyday stuff. And with Maddie, about stuff like you're not doing what you're supposed to do. She was then asked about her efforts to find a lawyer for Stefan Stearns. We were in the beginning of all of this. We were all under the impression that I had given Stefan the benefit of the doubt, right?

I assumed he dropped her off, that she went missing, and that he had nothing to do with it. I believed him. He's a master liar and a master manipulator. Me and Stefan's dad have discussed this already. Like we had a conversation, like, what does he like to you about? What does he like to me about in the past about things? And it's stupid stuff, but he's a liar. So I'm realizing he's been lying to me about this whole time. And I just haven't had the slightest idea. Now, as I mentioned, some of this conversation is redacted when it comes to discussing sexual abuse and sexual assault.

Detectives had already told Jen Soto that they were treating this as a homicide and that they believed Maddie was dead. They appear to ask Jen Soto what she thinks. At this point, I do. Why do you say that? Because when you guys told me that picture of her slipped over, she could be asleep or drunk. But if he was driving around and she just disappeared like that to me feels like he dumped her body somewhere. Where? I don't know. Sometime after this, Maddie's body is found. And I want to be clear, Jen Soto has not been charged in Maddie's death and was interviewed in April before the grand jury indicted Stephan Stearns for Maddie's murder. He'll be back in court next month.

He faces the possibility of the death penalty if he's convicted of Maddie's murder. And we don't even know if he'll show up for that court appearance because to date, he has waived his appearance at every scheduled hearing. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.