Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Maddie Soto's Accused Killer Wants Sex Abuse Evidence Tossed

Episode Date: April 24, 2025

Stephan Sterns is asking a judge to suppress evidence seized from his cell phone and his Google drive that detectives said showed him sexually abusing Maddie Soto over a number of years. Soto, 13, was found dead in Osceola County, Florida last year. Sterns said he only allowed police to look at certain parts of his phone. Sterns and detectives testified about their interactions with him at a hearing. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes over the testimony in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: High blood pressure kills silently. Fight back with 120/Life. A daily drink to help lower BP naturally. See results in 2 weeks or your money back. https://www.120life.com/products/120-life-free-shipping?code_bp=CRIMEFIX — Code CrimeFix saves 15%.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Producer:Jordan ChaconCRIME 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/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. He said he had accidentally factory reset his phone. Detectives are pushing back against Stefan Stearns as claims they violated his rights when they searched his phone as he tries to get evidence in his sexual battery case involving Maddie Soto thrown out. Did they have a warrant? They did not. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Stefan Stearns is asking the judge presiding over his sex crimes case to throw out evidence. This is the case where he faces more than 60 counts of sexual battery related to Maddie Soto. Stearns is also charged

with murdering Maddie in February of 2024 at the condo she shared with her mom, Jen Soto, in Kissimmee. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges. The murder case is a separate case, and if convicted in that case, Stearns could get the death penalty. Now, while investigating Maddie's disappearance, Kissimmee police detectives and detectives with the Orange County Sheriff's Office interviewed Stearns, and they asked to see his cell phone on two occasions on February 27, 2024. This exchange was audio recorded. Is it okay if I go in your settings real quick? I just want to see if you're logged onto your Google.

I am not logged onto my Google with that, actually. Is it okay if I check? Yeah. Now, Stearns claims the detectives should have had a warrant, despite him allowing them to look at his phone. He wants the evidence found on the phone suppressed, along with the evidence recovered from his Google Drive. Police have said they found more than 1,700 images of Stearns sexually abusing

Maddie on that Google Drive that was connected to his phone. Stearns testified at this hearing briefly. law enforcement in February of 2024? I did. During your contact with law enforcement, did they seize or take an item from you? Yes, they did. What item was that? That would be my cell phone. Do you know what kind of cell phone it was? It was a Samsung Galaxy. I believe it was a 24.

And what was your understanding, if any, as to what they were going to do with it? They were just going to check my Google Maps and check to see if I was logged into Google and that was it. That was all I could read you. Were you stoned or did they have a warrant? They did not. Then it was the prosecutor's turn to question Stearns. Pursuant to the questions you were just asked, you had indicated that you did not consent to the search of your cell phone. I consented only to looking at the Google Maps and checking to see if I was on the Google in the first place. Did you have the opportunity to see what law enforcement was doing on your cell phone?

No. As a constant, I was still talking to me. Tadler walked away and became certain of those things. Is that true that she actually handed your phone back to you? Briefly, once she told me to, I put my hand in because I walked myself. The burden is now on the state. The prosecutors have to show that detectives did not violate Stearns' rights. Here's Detective Mara Tagler talking with Stearns about his cell phone back in February of 2024.

And then I also noticed, I was checking your call history, I noticed that you don't have anything before this morning. Is that unusual on your phone? No, it's a new phone.'m stupid i went to do an update yesterday morning um and i don't know what the fuck pardon me um i don't know what the heck i did but somehow during the massive os update i managed to factory reset my phone and lose all of my contacts all my information what time was that do you remember oh sometime while i was hanging out with her i looked at her and said what what did i just do okay she might know better i don't know what time it was. It was when I was here with... Okay. I don't think I have any other questions.

Do you, Louis? I don't know where my head was yesterday. It was so far up my backside. That's okay. We understand. In the meantime, while we're waiting for all this to get sorted out, I am going to hold on to your phone, okay? I'll give it back to you when we're done. Okay. Okay? Do you have any questions for us? Um, how long are you going to need my phone? That's I'm not sure.

I'm waiting for my supervisor to call me my dad. It's just, my dad's using that to get ahold of me and get updates. They can call Jen's phone. Did you know that high blood pressure is the number one risk factor for mortality? One in two adults have it, and many don't even realize they're at risk. It's a silent killer lurking unnoticed until it's too late. But here's the good news. You don't have to rely on big pharma to manage it. 120 Life is a blend of great tasting super fruit juices that's been shown to actually help lower blood pressure. It's trusted by hundreds of doctors

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don't let high blood pressure be the threat you never saw coming. Take control today. Visit 120life.com slash crime fix and use code crime fix or scan the QR code that you see on your screen to save 15% right now. Orange County Sheriff's Detective Francis Hunt was actually the first detective to speak with Stearns. And when you did that, that's when you learned about him being sleepy, it sounds like? I don't think he was sleepy, but it sounded like he woke up about 9 o'clock. Okay. Woke up about 11 a.m.? It sounds like the interview was in English, right? Right.

All right. At any point, did you ever seek a warrant for any of the cell phones or anything? No, I didn't. Okay. Did you ever look at a cell phone? Yeah. Did you ever ask him about a cell phone? Yeah. Pretty much.

Of course. Detective Tagler testified about red flags they noted early on in Stephan Stearns' story. He had traveled southbound three times on South Jungin Parkway towards Kissimmee, which was away from the direction of Madeline School. Are all of these times early morning and late morning? Both. And then did you also get some information that in the afternoon the car was traveling in and out of St. Cloud, Florida? Yes.

Specifically, the travel on southbound South John Young Parkway, were those times consistent with what the defendant had described to law enforcement as his locations were. They were not. Tagler had received information from Detective Hunt about Stearns that raised some suspicion when it came to Maddie's disappearance. Detective Hunt told me that Madeline and Stefan had slept together in room number four because Jennifer needed to get more rest that morning.

Equipped with this information, did you come into contact with Stephan Stearns? Yes. How did you know who was Stephan Stearns and how to find him in the area? Detective Hunt pointed him out. Was your encounter with Mr. Stearns audio recorded? Yes. Then the questioning turned to whether Stearns was free to leave at any time and whether he consented to Detective Tagler looking at his phone. Was Mr. Stearns path of travel impeded by either of you?

It was not. Was Mr. Stearns free to leave? Yes. Did Mr. Stearns ever communicate with you either verbally or by body language or physically a desire to end the communication with you? He did not. At some point during your interaction with him, do you request for Mr. Stearns to take out a cell phone? Yes. Or to look at his cell phone? Yes. Can you remember where the cell phone was, where the defendant's cell phone was when you asked this question? I do not. It was in his possession, but I don't recall where he grabbed the phone from.

Did the defendant consent to allowing you to look at his phone? Yes. And do you remember if Mr. Stearns' cell phone was password, passcoded, protected? It was. Who entered the passcode into the phone? Stefan. After Mr. Stearns entered the passcode in the phone and unlocked the phone, what did Mr. Stearns do with the phone? He handed me the phone. While you are holding the phone, where are you standing? In the same position next to Stefan. Do you hold the phone in a way to allow others to see what is on the phone? Yes. Where is

Mr. Stearns at as you are looking at the phone? Directly standing next to me. And initially, the interaction and how the cell phone comes out, you bring up looking at maps in the phone. Correct. Are you familiar with the type of phone that the defendant had? I am not. Okay. Do you also inquire as to taking a picture of, quote-unquote, your history, the defendant's history.

Do you remember that? Yes. And that's also encompassed in the audio-recorded interview. Correct. Correct. Does the defendant ever communicate to you any limitations on what it is that you're doing? He does not.

Detective Tagler then answered questions about asking Stefan Stearns to see his phone a second time and seeing a lack of call history on the phone. Do you again ask Mr. Stearns to unlock the phone? Yes. How does that happen? Explain that process. He again enters the code and hands me the phone. At some point, do you bring up the lack of call history to the defendant? I do. What was the defendant's explanation? He said he had accidentally factory reset his phone.

I'll get to more on what it takes to actually factory reset a phone in a bit. The questioning of Detective Tagler continued. Was Mr. Stearns free to leave at the end of the interview? Yes. In fact, he did leave your presence as well as Nation Bay, correct? Correct. Was Mr. Stearns' demeanor the same or different? It was the same. Did you have any issue communicating with Mr. Stearns? I did not. Was Mr. Stearns cooperative with you? Yes. And during this second interview, did you explain what law enforcement was seeking to do with Mr. Stearns' phone? I did.

What did you tell him? I asked him if we wanted to, or I told him that we wanted to download the phone to see if we can get more information from his maps. And then he said that that was fine. Are you sure that you specifically said that you wanted to download information, specifically the maps? Not just the maps, just any information on his phone. I told him that we wanted to get more information from his cell phone. Do you remember using the words we want to download your phone, we want to go through your phone? Yes. During this encounter with him

you request specific consent from him to be able to go through the phone, right? Yes. Do you explain to him in your question what is going to happen or what your alternative route to obtaining that cell phone download is? Yes. What did you say? When I explained to him what we wanted to do with the cell phone, I asked him if I had his consent to download the phone or if I had to obtain a search warrant. And did the defendant consent to downloading his phone?

Yes. Did the defendant provide you verbally with the passcode to his phone? He did. At the time that this interaction happened, did you or Detective Acosta impede or restrict Mr. Stern's movements in any way? We did not. At any point in time, did Mr. Stern seek to limit the scope of the cell phone download?

He did not. Then Stephan Stearns' lawyers questioned Detective Tagler about what exactly she viewed on his phone. At no point did you say, do you mind if I dig through your entire phone at this point, right? I did not. Okay. And then when you get to the next question, it's do you mind if I take a picture of your history, right? Yes. Okay.

Not take a picture of his lock screen? No. Not take a picture of your history, right? Yes. Okay, not take a picture of his lock screen? No. Not take a picture of his home screen? No. Not take a picture of his call history? It was his history. Not take a picture of his emails? I did not. Not take a picture of the entirety of his phone, just his history, right? Correct. Okay, and then when you get to the next thing, you say, is it okay, we'll make sure this is right, is it okay if I go in your settings real quick? I just want to see if you're logged onto your Google, right? Yes. And at that point, Mr. Stearns tells you that he is not logged into his Google, right? Correct. Okay. But then you keep pressing and you say, is it okay

if I check? I asked, I didn't press press you asked if it's okay he checked yes okay and at that point it was just to check whether he was logged into his Google right correct not going through the entirety of his phone correct you never asked him can I go through the entirety of the phone was standing next to me while I was on his phone okay so it's your your basis that he has to say no you can just keep digging until he says stop? Correct. Really? He was standing next to me and he saw what I was doing on his cell phone. And did you ever ask him to go through the rest of your cell phone?

I did not. Did you ever ask him to go into his call history? I did not. Did you ever ask him to go through his Google Drive on the phone, if it even was there? I never looked at his Google Drive. Okay. But you were looking at the rest of his phone, right?

I looked at his call history and his Google Maps. Okay. Because you were looking at the rest of his phone, right? I looked at his call history and his Google Maps. Okay. Because you were trying to figure out that timeline, right? Correct. That's the only thing you were looking for at this point. Correct. Okay. During the second interview of Stearns on that evening,

Detective Tagler told him she was going to keep his phone since they wanted to download it. Okay. And that's the point where you told him, well, you can just talk to him through Jen's phone, right? Yes. Okay. And at no point was he asked to consent to seizing his phone, right? Correct. At no point did you ever give him any form or anything to consent to seizing his phone?

I did not. Everything's audio recorded. Okay. And at no point did you ever get a form from him consenting to downloading his phone? I did not. Okay. Because everything's audio recorded. Correct. Stearns's layers have also brought up the fact that he was taking a medication used to treat anxiety when detectives were questioning him. He became aware that Mr. Stearns had taken medication, right? He said he had the night before. Yes. Because he said he couldn't sleep and that he was very stressed and couldn't stop crying. Right, and he was also having panic attacks, right? Yes. Okay. You knew that? Yes, the night before. Why your question? During the

first interview? Correct. And the second interview? Correct. Got it. You're aware what Ativan does? I don't take Ativan, so no. Okay. You ever deal with anybody that taken Ativan? No. Detection relevance. Detective Louis Acosta also testified about his involvement in the case. What information did you have together about the Madeline Soto investigation? So aside from what we had before that she had been missing for over 24 hours, he was the last person to see her. There were many inconsistencies surrounding the time frame that he stated he dropped her off and other things and then the tag readers and information that we had about his his movement. Had the defendant been straightforward with you and detective Tagler regarding his movements? No.

I should be more clear. His movements the morning of February 26, 2024. He told us certain movements that didn't correlate to the information that he regularly used his cell phone to get places, look up addresses, get store hours, directions, things like that? Yes, I believe that was brought up. Were you aware that there was very limited location data and mapping location data that was in his phone when Detective Tagler checked that? Yes. Were you aware also of information that was located in Madeline Soto's cell phone as far as communications between her and the defendant. Yes.

What information did you have about that? They communicated extensively, including very late at night. On cross-examination, Acosta is asked about Stearns' phone and whether getting a warrant was ever discussed. During that conversation, did anybody ever mention, hey, let's get a warrant to download that? Not to my recollection. Okay. After you take the phone to the sheriff's office, do you ever interact with the phone again?

No. Okay. So you just hand it off to the forensics guys and you're done? Yes. Okay. And... Did you ever ask Mr. Shurns if he could download the entirety of this one? I did. I had conversations with him as secretary. And did you ever see the warrant for the download?

I did not. Did you ever attempt to draft a on your phone? I didn't. Did you ever attempt to drive the warning or anything? I didn't. Now back to Stephan Stearns claiming that he accidentally factory reset his phone the morning that Maddie disappeared. Sergeant Darkos Domenic testified about what it takes to factory reset a phone. Once you go into there, you have to scroll to a button that says factory reset. Once you press the factory reset button, it asks you a couple of times if you're sure. It makes you type in your pin code to the phone again to verify that it's you to reset the

password, to reset the phone. I'm sorry. So it's multiple steps to actually accomplish a factory reset. It is, yes. Now, Stearns had said earlier he was not logged in to his Google Drive on his phone. Stamenik testified about that. So once when you're resetting the phone, it asks you to log back into your Google account and then information that you have backed up on Google will repopulate onto the phone. The judge has not ruled on Stefan Stearns' motions to suppress the evidence gathered from his phone and his Google Drive.

And his trial on that sexual battery charge has now been continued to July. It was supposed to start in May. His trial on the murder charge is set for December. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.