Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Maddie Soto Murder: Mom's Boyfriend Charged in Teen's Slaying

Episode Date: April 25, 2024

Stephan Sterns, the boyfriend of Florida teen Maddie Soto, has been charged in her murder nearly 8 weeks after she vanished. Maddie disappeared on February 25, shortly after photos showed her celebrating her 13th birthday with friends. Sterns also faces dozens of sex crimes charges. While Sterns faces a murder charge, questions remain about Maddie's murder and whether other people were involved. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the questions that remain with retired NYPD cold case sergeant Joe Giacalone in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Joe Giacalone https://www.youtube.com/@JosephGiacaloneCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest 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/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee 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. Today we're announcing that Stephan Stearns has been indicted by the grand jury on first-degree murder for the killing of Madeline Soto. Nearly two months after 13-year-old Maddie Soto vanished, her mother's boyfriend is charged with killing her. The evidence shows an individual that was entrusted to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeline's belongings and place her body in a wooded area. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Maddie Soto had just turned 13 on February 22nd,

and photos posted on social media showed her celebrating her birthday at a party three days later. But then the next morning, Maddie had vanished. Her mother reported her missing while her mother's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, tearfully claimed he dropped her off at school and that everything seemed fine. Deputies in Osceola County, Florida, searched tirelessly for Maddie, hoping to find her alive. Stearns told WFTV in Orlando that he dropped Maddie off at school that day and that she had actually been sleeping in the car before he did. I dropped her off. Everything looked fine when I drove away.

It's the last time we saw her. What were the conversations that y'all had in the car when you dropped her off? Not much, she was asleep for most of the way. Told her have a good day at school when she got out and I love her. Said thanks, love you too. That was it. But Stearns quickly became a suspect. Our detectives have determined that Madeline was never dropped off on the morning of February 26th near her school. Instead, we believe she was already dead at the time and that Stefan Stearns

moved her body in the early morning hours on that day. Now at the time, Sheriff John Mina said that they had other evidence implicating Stearns in the murder. We have video evidence that shows Stefan Stearns discarding items in a dumpster in that apartment complex in Kissimmee at 735 on Monday, February 26. Detectives later recovered Madeline's backpack and her school-issued laptop from that dumpster. Stearns was arrested and charged with more than 60 sex-related crimes. Following his arrest, police said images of Stearns engaged in sex acts, presumably with Maddie, were found on his phone going back a couple of years. The charges Stearns faces include sexual battery of a child younger than 12,

sexual battery of a child between the ages of 12 and 18 in a custodial relationship, lewd and lascivious molestation, and 40 counts of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child where there are 10 or more images, which sounds like there are hundreds upon hundreds of images. Some of those images could include children under the age of five and sadomasochistic abuse and even bestiality, according to court documents. The information charging Stefan Stearns in this case says the abuse of a child younger than 12 actually goes back to June of 2019. The name of the victim in the court records is redacted. If it is indeed Maddie Soto, then she would have been eight years old at the time. Now more than eight weeks later, an announcement many had anticipated. Today we're

announcing that Stephan Stearns has been indicted by the grand jury on first degree murder for the killing of Madeline Soto. More than seven weeks after Maddie went missing and her remains were found, Stearns, the man who was supposed to be basically her de facto stepfather, was charged with murdering her, a premeditated crime, according to police. The evidence shows an individual that was entrusted to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeline's belongings and place her body in a wooded area before she was ever reported missing. For the four days following her disappearance, the entire community was actively looking to find Madeline safe and alive. Tragically, on March 1st, Madeline's remains were found.

The indictment says this is a capital case, meaning the state attorney can pursue the death penalty. The death penalty in this case, we have not decided what decision we're going to make in that case. We're going to continue those discussions going forward, and we'll let you know again when we make that decision as to whether we're going to seek the death penalty in this case. And there are still questions about whether anyone else was involved in covering up Maddie's death. Her mother appeared in interviews with Stearns. At this time, the only person being charged is Stefan Stearns. And again, this is not over. There is an ongoing investigation to uncover more evidence, and therefore we can't comment. This is what Maddie's mother told WFTV in Orlando after she disappeared. I feel like I can't breathe.

All I keep thinking about is where is she? Is she safe? Is she okay? But we're all a wreck. My entire family is a mess. We're just so worried. Stearns is scheduled to make his first court appearance on the murder charge next Monday, but so far he has not appeared in court once on those sex crimes charges. He's waived all of his

appearances. There are still so many questions left unanswered. We know Maddie's death is indeed a homicide. That's clear because Stefan Stearns is now charged with killing her and her remains were found in a wooded area. But prosecutors and police still won't say how Maddie died. Although an indictment has been returned this afternoon, it is still an open and ongoing criminal investigation. So much of this information cannot be disclosed until Mr. Stearns' attorney, if he does so, elects to participate in discovery. And then all of you in the media know how to go about seeking information through public records. The state attorney also addressed the public's concerns that it appeared it was taking far too long

to file charges in Maddie's murder. There has been some questions as related to the length of investigation. I just want to let you know again that my office and the Kissimmee Police Department have been working visionally in making sure that we had every opportunity to get every piece of evidence that we could. I want to thank the Kissimmee Police Department and their tireless efforts. They've done an amazing job in the heavy lift that we've asked them to do, as well as the prosecutors that have been assigned to this case and making sure that we got every piece of evidence reviewed and gathered in this case. While death investigations usually take around five to six weeks or longer, we were able to get this one done relatively quickly and get the case to the front of the grand jury, like I said earlier today.

Joe Giacalone is a retired NYPD cold case sergeant. He's also the host of the YouTube channel True Crime with the Sarge. Joe, you've been following this case very closely. This was not a cold case. This was always a hot case. So your thoughts on Stefan Stern being indicted on this murder charge regarding Matty Soto's death? Yes, I think a lot of people are relieved that these murder charges came down, including myself. I mean, not that I was worried per se, but the issue that comes down to is they had him for those, the pornography charges

and the underage kid pictures and videos, but that was going to keep him in jail probably the rest of his life anyway. But everyone, he was looking for justice for Madeline. I mean, she was just this young, innocent girl taken way too soon. And I think that's what everybody was counting on this day. There's no statute of limitation on murder. And the police chief had said previously he wasn't going anywhere and they wanted to do this right and get it right. So explain to our audience why this may have taken longer than a lot of people would have anticipated since the cops said shortly after she disappeared, he is the prime suspect. Obviously, they felt they needed more evidence to make that case. Right. So the way you want to go is that once you have this person and they're

not going anywhere, you can then take that time to build a case. And I'm sure the district attorney did not want to have two trials, right? So go one trial with the underage pictures and then have another trial down the road for murder. So they were hoping to get this all together. And they took their time. They didn't rush it. They didn't let the social media crew and even the media crew and a lot of people that were demanding action and demanding murder charges all along, you know, get in and step in their way. Because, listen, you only get one chance to do this right. And because of the fact that you're dealing with such a young victim, you want to make sure you dot your I's and cross your T's and be able to make sure that when you present this to a grand

jury, that it's a slam dunk indictment. And apparently that looks like what happened today. I'm assuming they were waiting possibly on toxicology test results. We already knew from the sex charges that they filed against Stefan Stearns that they had his phone. They had a copy of all of the photos and other information from his phone, so they were able to file that charge comfortably. So do you think toxicology was something they were waiting for to maybe determine just exactly how Maddie died or so they could finalize the cause and manner of death. Yes. Right now, the attorney at the press conference today said that he would not answer what the cause and manner of death were so that we're just going to have to keep on guessing

until the trial starts. However, you know what? The way these investigations work, they put these pieces together and they make sure that they have a solid case. And in this way, you have to deal with the autopsy report, the toxicology reports, and all the different aspects of it. Remember, they had video surveillance of him dropping her items in the garbage pail. The video of him driving around with her in the car, whether she was alive or not, we don't know for sure. But the issue that comes down to is we only know, I think, probably about half the amount of information that they have. And then we're going to see the rest of it once the pretrial starts in July. We know this was a premeditated murder charge. That's what the indictment said. So

this was premeditated, meaning there was some forethought here. There may have been some planning even. And this happened right after, according to the indictment, Maddie's birthday party, her 13th birthday party. She had only been 13 for a matter of days, and then she had the party, and then she disappeared. What significance does that – is that significant to you, that date, that timeframe? Well, it could be in respect of when you're dealing with individuals like this who like certain children at a certain age, and once they get to an age that they don't really are interested in anymore, they kind of discard them. And this is where I was hoping that we would hear from more individuals that might have dated this man in order to maybe come forward with maybe some sort of pattern about when the kids got to a certain age,

he would just pack up and leave. But you know what? He also took advantage of the fact that the mother was not at home, and there's probably a couple of other factors involved. At the press today, they did say that there was nobody else in the house when this crime occurred. So that was another little interesting tidbit because, remember, a lot of people were talking about who was holding the camera while this filming was going on. So those

videos and photographs might have happened at a much earlier date. There were also questions, a lot of people have questioned whether or not anyone else was involved in her murder, specifically her mother. I mean, this is a mother, a grieving mother. So Jen Soto, Maddie's mother, has been the subject of a lot of suspicion online. The police have never said that. They've said they've interviewed her and that she cooperated. They've never said that she was a suspect. So do you think that this is it? That Stefan Stern is the end of the line as far as Maddie's murder goes? Well, they asked that at the presser today and the state attorney general said it was still an act of an ongoing investigation, that they weren't going to make any comments in regards to that. I look at it this way. If they had probable cause to arrest her or anybody else in this case, I think it would have been done already. Mother or not, if they have the evidence, they're going to push forward to it because this is a horrific event that started in the way back when years ago and unfortunately culminated with her death. Joe Giacalone, thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

And we'll, of course, continue to follow this case very closely for you and bring you the latest. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Manjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here next time.