Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Maddie Soto Murder: Teen's Mom Reveals New Details in Prosecution Interview

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

The state attorney in Maddie Soto's murder case gave her mother, Jennifer Soto, a form of immunity in an investigative interview conducted in April. The interview took place a week before a grand jury indicted Stephan Sterns for Maddie's murder. Jennifer Soto has not been charged in connection to her daughter's death. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through some of the more interesting details in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!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. Do you know anything about how she died? New audio of an interview with Maddie Soto's mom, Jennifer Soto, and the lead prosecutor in Maddie's murder reveals the questions investigators still had for Jen Soto after Maddie's murder. Did you see Madeline at all on February 26th of 2024, that Monday? And we're getting a look at new photos from Stefan Stearns' phone and the crime scene where Maddie's body was found. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Jennifer Soto spoke to detectives several times in the days after she reported her daughter, Maddie Soto, to detectives several times in the days after she reported her daughter, Maddie Soto, missing last February. But after the arrest of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, for the sexual battery of Maddie, the lead prosecutor in the case issued a subpoena to Jennifer Soto to compel her to be interviewed as part of the investigation. Assistant State Attorney Will Jay interviewed Jen Soto in April, and this happened about a week before prosecutors indicted Stearns for Maddie's murder. Jennifer Soto's lawyer was with her, and he said he had some concerns about her sitting down for this interview. Take a listen. Off the record, we had discussed our position on the concerns we

have. Ms. Soto was interrogated by law enforcement previously. She was under a tremendous amount of duress and stress, being that her child was missing and then she was informed was found deceased. There's been media posterity about this. There's been people asking for her to be prosecuted, tarred, feathered, executed. And so with that said, we have the concern that you brought up about if there's something said inconsistent today, not being used against her for filing a false police report. Soto's lawyer, Matthews Bark, isn't wrong. Police had stated in reports that

Jen Soto had made inconsistent statements and there had been major questions over her allowing Maddie to sleep in the same bed as Stefan Stearns. Most people can't understand or fathom why she would allow that. And you'll hear Jen Soto's explanation for allowing that here in a little bit. Will Jay address Soto's concerns over her possibly saying something different than she had previously and possibly being prosecuted for it? He said before they had started recording, he had explained derivative use immunity to Soto and her lawyer. All right. So, for example, if she said something that was false then and we have no idea that was false now before this interview, but she comes in and admits that it was false then. And we have no idea that it was false now before this interview, but she comes in and admits that it was false today. We can't use these statements or that admission that it was

false against her, just like we couldn't use anything else against her from this interview. So basically, Will J had told them that whatever Soto said to them in that interview that day on April 18th could not be used against her to prosecute her. Jay started at the very beginning with that Sunday night, February 25th, the evening of Maddie's 13th birthday party. Jen Soto said she got off work at 10 and arrived home about 25 to 30 minutes later. And when you get home, who is downstairs? If anybody, you have a two story, is it a townhome? Is that the best word for it? Yeah. If anybody is downstairs, if anybody? You have a two-story, is it a townhome? Is that the best word for it? Yeah, it's a townhome.

If anybody is downstairs, who is downstairs? I saw my daughter Madeline and Stefan. The prosecutor, Will Jay, then asked Jen Soto whether she remembers what Madeline and Stefan were wearing. I'm not going to play it because it's so hard to hear, but she says no. And I don't know in response to those questions. Um, I believe in one of your former interviews, you mentioned that Madeline might've gone over with you kind of what she got at the birthday party since you didn't have the chance to go because you were at work. When and where does that occur? That occurs right after I get home. It occurs in my bedroom.

Everyone's in my room. And so by everyone, let's just be clear since I understand you have some roommates. So what do you mean by everyone? Madeline, Stephan, and myself were in my bedroom. Okay. At this point in time, do you recall what Madeline was wearing? I don't know. Let me ask it a different way. Can you tell me whether or not she was wearing a long-sleeved green sweatshirt and jeans?

Oh, no. Okay. Would she have kind of been in her bed gear, or do you think she could have still been in the dress that she wore to her birthday celebration? She would have been in pajamas. I can't recall the exact pajamas, but she would have been in pajamas. She had already, by this point in the evening, she had already showered and changed out of that birthday dress. Jen Soto said that she, Stefan Stearns, and Maddie were in her bedroom for about 30 minutes. She talked about how Maddie had her favorite Puerto Rican foods at the party that was hosted by her grandparents.

And what kind of gifts did she get? She got a lot of money. That's what she ended up showing me. I think she had a few trinkets, but most of it was just a big wad of money that she was so excited for. All right. Is there any particular reason Stefan couldn't make it up to the party? Because it's my understanding he didn't exactly work or anything. He wouldn't have been invited. The party was held at my mom's house, and my mom and him have never had a great relationship.

She's never liked him. So he wouldn't have been invited to the party at all. It just would have been my whole family and then me if I hadn't worked, I would have been there. The Maddie Soto case is absolutely heartbreaking and it's a prime example of how every parent has to make sure the people they're allowing around their children are safe.

Truthfinder.com can help you with that. And I'll show you how. I put Stefan Stern's name into Truthfinder and I came up with his past addresses and his age and his relatives, of course. But most importantly, the murder charge that he now faces in Maddie's death appears right there in the results for criminal records. It also shows that he faces a sexual battery and other charges in the search results criminal records. It also shows that he faces a sexual battery and other charges in the search results. Truthfinder is great because it will show you the sex offenders who live in your neighborhood.

Right now, Crime Fix listeners and viewers can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix to save 50% off and start accessing information about almost anyone. There's been some discussion about what Maddie was wearing when she was found. Typically, Jen Soto said Maddie picked her clothes out in the morning, but not that time. Okay. What about this specific evening? Do you remember anything about it?

Yes. This evening, I had already discussed prior to Stefan coming to visit that he was going to help me take my age of school that day um so because i knew that that was what was going to happen that night i had asked maddie pick up your clothes have everything ready have your backpack ready your water bottle everything you need ready so that that way you could just grab your stuff and head out. It won't be too much, too much of a hassle in the morning. And so she did. She picked up her clothing. I asked her what she was wearing. She told me what she had picked out. I said, OK, bye. Jen Soto said she knows she awoke the next morning to Stefan Stearns in her bedroom around 8 a.m. trying to put the leash on her dog in her bedroom.

What's the first thing you remember when you wake up after having gone to sleep? I wake up to Stefan trying to put the leash on the dog. Okay. Now, is this the first time that you've ever woken up to Stefan trying to put a leash on your dog or is that something that has occurred before in the past I'm gonna say this is the first time it's not normal for any of us to put the leash on the dog on the bed because if he's on top of any like bed couch anything he'll pee he gets really nervous you have to do it on the floor so I found it really weird that he did that alright so let me ask it a little more broadly

is this the first time Stefan's ever come into your room while you're sleeping to take the dog out for you in the morning I can't recall did you find it unusual then or what did you think when this was occurring? When it happened, I think I was more... I found it off, but I was more worried over the dog. I was like, please don't pee on the bed. I don't want to do laundry. Okay. So I was more worried over the dog. I was like, please don't pee on the bed. I don't want to do laundry.

Okay. So I was more anxious over that. He put the dog on the leash and told me to lay down and go back to sleep. Soto said this hadn't happened before, and it's not clear why Stearns would have been putting the leash on the dog, but the Orange County Sheriff had said previously that Stearns had driven around with Maddie's dead body in his car that morning. In this period of time that you have been awoken by Stefan, do you hear or see anybody else in your household? I hear somebody in the kitchen. I'm not sure who it was. I'm not sure who it was. Could you identify it by size, like their steps? Could you identify gender by their voice? Anything

like that? All I heard was sounds of like cabinets shutting, like somebody in there shutting, like looking for something and shutting. Now, this goes to the inconsistent statements that police say Jen Soto made. She had said previously that she heard Maddie that morning, but later said she may have just heard people getting ready. Did you see your daughter this morning on the 26th? No. Did you have any texts or phone calls or any other type of communication through any possible app on your phone?

Like, hey, mom, love you, at school, whatever. Any communications from Madeline? No, nothing. All right. How about from Stefan by the time that you wake up at 9? Any texts or communication from him? Maddie's dropped, I'm off to the game store or whatever he's doing? No.

I didn't hear back from Stefan until 10, like 10, 20-ish. And he had told me he left his phone at home that whole morning by accident. And I had asked him how the morning went. How was Maddie? And he let me know that this morning went great. We made great time. She got busy super quick. He was going to take her to McDonald's for breakfast, but she changed her mind.

All she wanted to do was sleep in the car. So he let her sleep. He took her to school and dropped her off where he said he dropped her off. And that was it. Jen Soto was working nights and had a doctor's appointment that morning on February 26th and saw Stearns after that. And you had a 1015 appointment for a blood draw? Yes. And did you go anywhere else prior to getting to your appointment for your blood draw? Did you go directly there or not directly there? That's basically the question. Oh, I went directly there.

All right. And after your blood draw, did you go directly back home? Yes. About what time did you get home? Sometime between 11.15 and 11.30. Did you have any other appointments or doctor's appointments later in the day? I was supposed to have had one, but I canceled it. When did you cancel it? That same day. Why did you cancel it?

Because it was a $350 Botox appointment that I didn't want to spend the money on. I changed my mind last second. The prosecutor is trying to nail down why Jen Soto did the things that she did that day, like canceling that doctor's appointment at the last minute. Also, if you followed this story, you know that Stefan Stearns told detectives that he accidentally factory reset his phone the morning of February 26th. Detectives would later say that they found a Google Drive on that cell phone that contained images of Stern sexually abusing Maddie. He did mention at one point, oh, while he was sitting there, that he had to reboot his phone

or that he had to update his phone. And what was it? He had to update his phone. So I told him, and what was it he had to update his phone so I told him stop avoiding it do it like it's a bait to take a while like do it and while he was updating his phone he said I don't know what I did but I just factory reset my phone

and I said that's weird I didn't know that you could do that he said yeah a button popped up and I pressed it and it just reset my phone. And I said, that's weird. I didn't know that you could do that. He said, yeah, a button popped up and I pressed it and it just reset my entire phone. And I'm like, oh, that sucks. Stearns had also told law enforcement that he and Maddie both just happened to leave their phones at home that morning

when he took her to school. Police reports had shown that Maddie's phone went upstairs the night before, but then took some steps the next morning. At some point in the morning, I was organizing and putting things away, and I walked into her bedroom and I saw her phone on her dresser. And I just assumed, oh, she must have left it here while getting dressed and forgot it. Okay. Was it on?

Yes. And sometimes when you bump or move phones, the notification screen comes up. Did you happen to do that? And did you see if there was any incoming notifications that she had missed? I hadn't seen any. Detectives would later write that the movement on Maddie's phone lined up with Jen Soto's description of finding it that morning, but that it had moved earlier in the morning. So had Stearns moved it? We don't know what the theory on that is at this point, but we know that Maddie's friend said she did not receive the typical text from Maddie that morning. Another thing that raised suspicion about Jen Soto were some of the statements that she made

early on saying we dropped Maddie off at school when it was actually Stearns who was supposed to have done so. Here's an exchange about that. During your previous interviews, and you did it once today, you kind of interchanged I, we, or Stefan dropping Madeline off at school. Did you see Madeline at all on February 26th of 2024, that Monday. Do you know anything about how she died? Did Stefan tell you anything about how she died? Did Stefan tell you about his plans to go back down to Northport in your car that Wednesday morning? Now, one of the things that has been so upsetting to people watching this case unfold is the fact that Jen Soto allowed Maddie to sleep in the same bed as Stefan Stearns alone. Stearns was her on again, off again boyfriend.

He was not Maddie's father. Prosecutor Will J. asked Jen Soto to explain the sleeping arrangements at the home. Prior to Madeline having her own bedroom set up in the living room, where was she sleeping in that townhome? In my bed with me. Okay. And this is during a time frame when you work together with Stefan, so is it the three of you every night? Well, when we had first moved in, it was just me and Maddie, so it was just me and her on the bed. Then I think we eventually got her her own bedroom. Stefan moves in eventually and then, yeah,

at that point it does become the three of us on the bed. So Madeline's 12, and she has her own bedroom. How often does she sleep in her own bed alone? Hardly. She doesn't like sleeping alone. And she doesn't like the living room. It's too big, too quiet. She says it would be too dark, and then there would be spiders. She would see spiders. So you say hardly. Were there ever nights where she just slept alone in her bed?

Or is it 100%? Because there's a difference between hardly ever and 100% to me. If she ever slept on that bed, it was like once. In the fall of 2023, Stearns and Jen Soto were technically broken up and Stearns was sleeping in bedroom four of the condo until he finally moved out in December. The prosecutor pressed Jen Soto on why she allowed Maddie to sleep in the same bed as Stearns alone. And once he moved up to bedroom four, were there instances where Madeline would sleep alone upstairs with him? I'm going to say... I want you to think carefully before you answer because obviously we've gone through your phone and we've seen all the

conversations that you've had with Stefan so it's clear that that's occurring. So I'm giving you the chance to answer the question. Yeah, I'm just trying to figure out how many times it's happened. Okay. Why are you allowing that to occur? I saw Stepin as someone that I completely trusted with my life, my child's life. I thought he had cared for her as a father would.

He had been in her life for more than half of it, playing the father role. I thought he cared for her the way I did. So Jen Soto said she considered Stefan Stearns one of her best friends. But in February of this year, he was living nearly three hours away with his parents in Northport, Florida. And Jen Soto had family near her in Kissimmee who could help her care for Maddie. That led to more questions about why Stearns was in Kissimmee in February. And your sister and other family members would help with Maddie getting to school because of your job? Yes, my mom, my mom and my sister, yes.

Why is it that now Stefan on February 26th is coming up to help as opposed to any of your family members helping getting Madeline to school? I had asked for him to come and help me because I think I was working a lot of night shifts or like really late shifts. And I just wanted the opportunity to see Maddie. I wanted to spend more time with my daughter throughout the week while I was working, uh, versus had she had stayed at my mom's, I wouldn't have seen her all week. Um, so that was just me wanting to see her and spend time with her.

The prosecutor quizzed Jen Soto on a text message she had sent to Stearns about the sleeping arrangements back in June of 2023. Now, June 16th of last year at 9 30 PM and 27 seconds, you texted Stefan this, Maddie's no longer sleeping with me. I can't risk it. What does that mean? I have no idea. How often was Maddie sleeping with you? Often. All the time. Well, you keep on saying often versus all the time. Was it 100% of the time or not 100% of the time?

If she wasn't with my mom and she was with me, then yeah, she was sleeping with me. And if she's at mom, she's 100% of the time sleeping with mom? With my mom or she does have her own room, I guess. Like there's another spare room she could use, but for the most part, she prefers to sleep with my mom. Now, Maddie Soto took medication for ADHD and allergies. The allergy medicine was called hydroxine. The prosecutor questioned Jen Soto about whether Maddie may

have been given too much hydroxine or possibly the wrong medication. And were there ever any instances where she had taken too much of the medicine? Perhaps you and Stefan had given her medicine, not knowing that the other person had? Yes. How many more? Just once or more? I want to say once. Okay.

Were you taking medicinal marijuana in pill form at any point, or THC? Yes. And what do those pills or tablets or capsules look like? They're purple capsules. Did you ever suspect or confront Stefan about giving those medications to Madeline? No. So during this incident where Madeline had been double dosed for throtroxazine, do you recall any conversation you had with Stefan and inquiring as to whether or not he had accidentally given her any of your THC? That hadn't occurred to me.

I had asked him the day that... The one morning Maddie wouldn't wake up and get ready for school, and she was just out of it I thought it was I assumed it was medication related but I didn't really I'm like did this one medication hit her too hard because we gave it to her late I called poison control I needed to see what would happen with at this point I think I had gotten stuff in to admit that he gave her a second dose of the sleeping meds as well, because he thought I had given it to her in

the first place. But that was with hydroxyzine. I didn't know anything about THC, the marijuana. We don't know exactly why the prosecutor was asking about the medication, but we know from prior police reports that detectives said that Stearns had searched for sevoflurane, a powerful anesthetic used for children undergoing surgery, and whether it would show up in a drug test earlier in February. The prosecutor also questioned Jen Soto about Maddie's menstrual cycle and how she was tracking it. Now, my understanding is that you had some sort of period tracker that you kept track of Madeline's period with? I had a calendar app that I would write. I would write what days she would get her period. And obviously Madeline doesn't have a job, so she's not going out and buying the products that she would need if she had her period, right? You would have to do that for her? Is that a yes? Yes. So do you remember her? Mm-hmm. Is that a yes? Yes.

So do you remember her using any of those products at all in February? Because I assume you take the trash out, or does she take the trash out, or how does all this work? I take the trash out. In February, no, I didn't notice her using any of her feminine hygiene products. Did you have any conversations with her about that? No, but I didn't notice until after everything. Because it would have been due at the beginning of February,

and this all happens at the end of February, so she's almost due again in March. So you never had any conversations with her about not having her period at the beginning of February? No, there have been, she's had other periods that have been missed or like super late. So I just assumed this was going to be one of those situations again. So it sounds like Maddie missed her period in February. And we don't know if that is relevant to this investigation, given the allegations of sexual abuse in this case. Jen Soto had previously said she didn't allow Stefan Stearns to drive her car, but later in the day when Maddie was missing, she did.

You did let him drive your car after this occurred though, right? Yes, but he was very insistent because he wanted to go look for Maddie and he had a spare on his car because he had a flat so he couldn't drive his car. So he just really wanted to go out. So I just let him, but I wasn't comfortable with it. Investigators later found evidence of that flat tire outside of the farm where Maddie's body was found. A man saw Stearns changing that flat tire and a tip from him led to the discovery of Maddie's body in Osceola County. Kissimmee police released new images from the search of that farm that went into the evening on March 1st. Now back to that interview of Jen Soto, a Kissimmee police

detective asked Jen Soto about her phone and her Apple watch. One more question. Does anybody use your phone other than you? No, except for the day that we were sitting in front of my house and forensics was in the house. That was the only time I've ever let anyone use my phone. That was Stefan. Stefan had my phone. What about, do you wear an Apple Watch? Yes. Does it track any of your movements or anything like that that you know of? Do you sleep with your watch on?

No. I hardly ever put it on when I'm asleep. It's not clear why the detective asked those questions. Did Jen Soto's phone and watch show movements? At this point, we really don't know. But we do know, and I want to be clear, that Jen Soto is not facing any charges related to her daughter's death or disappearance. Stefan Stearns faces the possibility of the death penalty

if he's convicted of Maddie's murder. He'll be back in court next month. To date, he's waived all of his appearances and has pleaded not guilty. 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.