Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Maddie Soto Murder: New Details from Slain Teen's Mom Revealed

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Interviews of Maddie Soto's mother, Jennifer Soto, and the man accused of murdering and sexually abusing her, Stephan Sterns, were just released by law enforcement. The interviews shed new light on what happened the night before Maddie was reported missing. The release of the interviews come as a Florida TV station reports that police don't plan to file charges against Jennifer Soto. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy breaks down the interviews including a possible motive in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Use the code LAW15 for 15% off at https://citybeauty.com/LCCrimeFix. That’s promo code LAW15 for 15% off your order!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Rich Schoenstein https://x.com/LawfulRichesCRIME 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. Did you see her on Monday morning? Visually see her? No. Did you hear her? I heard many people in the kitchen. I'm not sure if it was my roommate or her specifically. Maddie Soto's mother, Jen Soto, in her own words, talking to police in the hours after she reported her daughter missing. I have the interviews just released as a TV station reports that Jen Soto will not face charges in connection to Maddie's death and disappearance. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Annette Levy. For many months now, we've been telling you what Jen Soto told detectives

about the last time she saw Maddie through police reports recounting her statements. The police reports raised a lot of questions about what Jen Soto said, as at least one detective said she made inconsistent statements. But now we actually have audio of those police interviews conducted by detectives with the Orange County Sheriff's Office. WFTV in Orlando is reporting that police have no plans to charge Jen Soto in this case and they're citing sources. I reached out to the Kissimmee Police Department and I was told that they don't have charges for anyone else at this time but can't comment on that story. Maddie Soto vanished back on February 26th of this year.

It was a Monday. Her mom's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, claimed that he dropped Maddie off down the street from her school. We'll hear more of some of his interviews very shortly. But detectives say Stearns' claim was all a lie to cover up Maddie's murder. Stearns is charged with sexually abusing Maddie for years, and he's accused of murdering her. He could get the death penalty if he's convicted, and he has pleaded not guilty to the charges. Maddie's mom reported her missing on the evening of February 26th, and we've shown you the body camera video of her doing just that. But that's just a brief interaction. Now we're actually hearing her talk about the moment she realized something was wrong. This is Jen Soto talking to police late in the evening on February 27th, the day after

she reported Maddie missing. And when you get to the school, how do you realize that she's, she wasn't there? Um, so I left her, I went to go, I usually leave around 2 30 to pick her up she gets out of school at four so i wait that it takes me about 20 25 minutes to get to the school and then i wait about an hour for her to get out um i waited the whole time and then when the bell rang and then it was time for her to come out she wasn't one of the first kids like she normally is and i realized i was holding up the line because everyone behind me had children and they needed to get out because i was the first in line um so after about i'm gonna say i think it was like 4 10 She didn't come out and I was holding up the line.

So I drove away. I said, maybe I forgot to tell her that I was picking her up that day. Because I don't know if she knew that I wasn't working that day. But I had assumed that she thought, you know, she knew that I was going to go get her. So because she never came out, I left and I went. She lived, she works less than, I'm going to say it's like a three minute drive from the school. It's very close. Now, sometime during the day on February 27th, that was the day after Maddie was reported missing.

Sex crimes detectives from the Orange County Sheriff's Office near Kissimmee came in to take over the investigation. Maddie had celebrated her 13th birthday the evening before. That was Sunday. Oh, and then yesterday she had her or Sunday she had her birthday party, right? Sunday she had her birthday party. Okay, what time was that party at? It started at three o'clock. Okay, from 3 to what time? I'm not sure. I wasn't there. I was at work. Oh, okay. You weren't there. But I know my sister was at her home around 8.30.

Uh-huh. Was Stefan here at that time? I'm not sure if he was here at the time, but I think he got here a little bit after. And he was like, okay, she was already doing what she was supposed to. She had taken her nighttime meds and she was getting ready for bed, like taking a shower. She takes showers at night. So he's like, okay, she was already on it. I didn't get home until, I'm going to say 1030.

And then at 11, I sent them to bed. Now, something that many people following this case cannot understand is why Jen Soto allowed Maddie to sleep in the same bed as Stefan Stearns. He was not Maddie's father, and he's now accused of sexually abusing her for years. Here's what Jen Soto said to a male detective the morning after Maddie was reported missing. And where did she go to bed? Was she in her room, your room or something else? She actually slept upstairs with we have a guest bedroom. We were all going to sleep together in the same bed, but I needed some good sleep and I had not, I got a new job recently. I haven't been more rested. I needed some sleep. So I asked, hey, can you guys go to the guest bedroom upstairs?

I knew he was going to get her ready. Now, later that day on February 27th, as I mentioned, the sex crimes detectives came in and they asked Jen Soto about this habit of allowing Maddie to sleep in the same bed as Stefan Stearns. Is it normal for both of them to sleep in the same room? Sometimes when I really need a good night's sleep, I will send them upstairs. But when also a lot of times we will sleep together in the king-size bed, all three of us. Or sometimes Stefan will go upstairs and our bed alone. So it just really depends on what's going on that night with our schedules and what we're doing. Okay, where were you sleeping?

Downstairs in the king-size bed. Now, I've told you before that police said in reports that Jen Soto made some conflicting statements about when she last saw or heard Maddie. What is consistent throughout these interviews is Jen Soto saying the last saw or heard Maddie. What is consistent throughout these interviews is Jen Soto saying the last time she saw Maddie was at 11 p.m. on Sunday night after the birthday party. Can you tell me when is the last time you were with her? I saw her, I'm going to sunday night okay heard her i heard her one day getting ready for school so you last saw her sunday night about what time i would say 11 p.m before she went to bed

now in that last clip you probably noticed that jen soto said she heard Maddie getting ready for school one day, but Jen Soto later said she wasn't sure if she heard her or not. And so about what time did you hear her on Monday morning? I heard everyone getting ready around, I'm going to say 7.30, 8 o'clock. And was it just Stefan? Who else lives there? I have roommates. And you just heard all of them, or did you hear anyone in specific?

No, I just heard, if anything, Stefan came and woke me up accidentally because he was trying to let the dog out, and the dog gets really nervous sometimes. I was trying to help him with that, get him on his leash. But he got him situated and took him for a walk. Okay. Did you hear around 7 or 8? I heard noises in the kitchen, but I'm not sure, you know... Not sure who it was exactly?

Who it was exactly, yeah. Gotcha. It could have been any of the roommates. But you didn't see her leave Monday morning. Were you still in bed or still in your room? I was still asleep, yeah. Gotcha. What time does she normally leave for school?

We usually leave around... 8.50 at the latest. Jen Soto described seeing Stefan Stearns the day Maddie disappeared after she returned home from a morning doctor's appointment. We chatted for a little bit. I asked him what had happened because he had called me earlier at 10. Pretty sure he called me around 10 at 10. Let me see. Pretty sure he called me around 1018. What did he call you for? To let me know.

To let me know that they didn't go to McDonald's as planned. He had asked her multiple times if she wanted to stop at McDonald's because that was the plan the night before, that they were going to wake up early. He was going to take her to McDonald's, do like a special McDonald's breakfast and then drop her off at school early because she wanted to get there a little early. But on his way to school, she was very sleepy and wanted to sleep in the car. And she said she did not want to do McDonald's. She just wanted to be dropped off. The murder of Maddie Soto is an awful, horrible case, but I'm able to share the details

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Stefan Stearns really made a big deal about this whole McDonald's thing during his police interviews, and we're still not sure why. Jen said, though, that it was not typical for Stearns to take Maddie to school. So it's typical of him to be able to get her ready in the mornings and drop her to school. Do you all tend to split that responsibility or what does that look like? Typically I do it. Okay. This morning because of my work schedule, because I've been so exhausted, I asked him to take over and do it and he said he would. Okay. Has he done it before though? is he familiar with how to drop her off and i'm gonna say he's done it once before once or twice before i'm not too sure

in the time since he's been back well not this time because he's only come back over the weekend but in the other times he's done it maybe once or twice. I'm going to say, yeah. And even Stearns had to admit in one of his first interviews with law enforcement that taking Maddie to school was not something that he would usually do. How common is it of you to drop her off to school in the morning? It's not common for me to do it most of the time, but I'm up here and I'm helping out as much as I can and working. So she was trying to get as much sleep as possible. I was doing the school run this morning. Now, one thing to keep in mind with this case is that prior to

February 26th, Stefan Stearns hadn't been to the apartment where Maddie lived with her mom since December. One detective asked Jen Soto about whether Maddie had a boyfriend. Does she have any kind of boyfriend or significant other at school that she's ever talked about or expressed? No boyfriend. She did recently tell Stefan that she had a crush on a boy. Oh, OK. And we saw messages between them and nothing seemed weird, but you can look through that as well. His name is? I assume another middle school boy. Yeah. Okay. Now, as I mentioned earlier, Stefan Stearns has pleaded not guilty to the charges of murdering

and sexually abusing Maddie, But this information raises the question, could Maddie being interested in a boy her age be a potential motive? Stearns became upset when recalling what he said Maddie said that Sunday night. Tell me about Sunday, Sunday night. Tell me about Sunday into Monday. What do you remember? She just had a party. She's excited. Sorry. It's okay.

She's talking about mentioned crushes? Kind of interesting. Stearns was a little upset when he mentioned crushes? Kind of interesting. Stearns was arrested two nights later. Deputies said they found photos on his phone of him sexually abusing Maddie. Rich Schoenstein is a trial lawyer. Rich, your thoughts on this report where they're quoting sources saying that Jen Soto, there are not plans to charge her criminally in this case. Well, I think it's really interesting because I could have very easily seen the mother being charged either for direct misconduct or as an accessory

to the boyfriend or somehow assisting him. It seems hard to imagine that she didn't have some inkling of what was going on. And Ang you know, we've seen in the reports, for example, that she permitted her daughter to sleep in a bed with her boyfriend separately without her being there. And that that to me is atrocious. I guess I don't know if it's criminal standing alone, but it's terrible parenting. And a lot of people have raised questions about that. Even if it's somebody who is a father figure, this is not her biological father. And so having your young daughter, any child for that matter, sleep with somebody who is not their parent, or even maybe a grandparent, just raises a lot of questions and a lot of red

flags and actually sending them off to another bed so you can get good sleep. Yeah, that's bad. And not a biological parent, but also not an adoptive parent. It's not like he became the girl's parent, and then you might think there could be a little flexibility. So it's really, really troubling. And apparently here, you know, there was years of misconduct and abuse. And I think the authorities probably looked at that, maybe are still looking at it to determine if the mother knew about it or in any way, condoned, assisted, allowed it, right? Any of those could potentially lead to criminal charges. It seems like a strange kind of dynamic as well to have all three of them sleeping in the bed together too. She said that in some of her interviews, that typically they would all sleep in the bed together, which I don't understand either. Yeah, I don't, I mean, I don't understand either. Yeah, I don't like that. When my children were young,

they would sleep in our bed sometime, but we were a consistent family unit. We were the original family unit, and it didn't seem so troubling. This does seem odd. There's a lot of evidence, the state says, pointing to Stefan Stearns. I mean, they've laid out a lot of it. This is a death penalty case. So what are your thoughts on how this case proceeds? And they're saying there's no plans to charge her. Do we then glean from that or infer from that that she will be testifying for the state at trial as a cooperating witness? I would assume that's the case. So,

you know, there's a couple points of decision making here. One is, can you charge her? Can you successfully prosecute her? And then, of course, should you do that? Because she is a mother, she's lost a child, she probably isn't a threat to others. There's no risk of recidivism in this kind of crime. And maybe didn't act intentionally, maybe acted foolishly. But you bring up the other part, which is if she can help prosecute the guy who is the clear bad actor, and I think that's an understatement of what he is, if she can be useful in that endeavor, then maybe they've decided not to prosecute. Then either they have an agreement she'll testify, or at least she has no reason to invoke the fifth because she's not being prosecuted. Well, it is a case that is just

beyond the pale. It's sad. Maddie Soto endured horrific things, according to police, and she should still be here. Rich Schoenstein, thank you so much. My pleasure. Good to see you. 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.