Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Suspect in Teen's Kidnapping and Murder Faces 60 New Child Sex Charges

Starting point is 00:00:00 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. The prime suspect in the death and disappearance of Maddie Soto in Florida now faces 60 new sex charges involving a minor. We have the latest on the case against Stefan Stearns and whether he could soon face charges in Maddie's death. I'm Anjanette Levy and this is Crime Fix. Stefan Stearns now faces even more sex crimes involving a child. The charges include sexual battery of a child younger than 12, sexual battery of a child between the ages of 12 and 18 in a custodial setting. Lewd and lascivious molestations and 40 counts

Starting point is 00:00:46 of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child where there are 10 or more images. And that sounds like there are hundreds and hundreds of images. Some of those images could actually include children under the age of five enduring sadomasochistic abuse and even bestiality, according to the court documents that were filed on Tuesday. The information charging Stefan Stearns in this case says the abuse of a child younger than 12 goes all the way back to June of 2019. The name of the victim in the court records is redacted, but if it is Maddie Soto, she would have been eight years old at the time. Still, investigators have not filed charges in Maddie's murder, although they've said Stearns

Starting point is 00:01:30 is the prime suspect. Kissimmee Police Chief Betty Holland said in a statement, with this being a complex case with many facets, our work is not done and we are continuing our investigation into the timeline leading up to Madeline's death. Prior charges filed against Stearns said that he handed over his phone to detectives willingly, but that he claimed he accidentally factory reset it. Police said they found images of Stearns assaulting Maddie on that phone going back to 2022. Joe Giacalone is a retired cold case sergeant from the NYPD and also the host of True Crime with the Sarge. Joe Giacalone is a retired cold case sergeant from the NYPD and also the host of True Crime with the Sarge. Joe, your first thoughts on these new sex charges for Stefan Stearns.

Starting point is 00:02:14 Hi, Anjanette. Yes, I'm not very surprised by this, and I think that they're only scratching at the surface. So there's a lot of other things that they need to be looking at. It appears that, you know, they got this maybe off a cell phone or a tablet or a home computer or a laptop. So there's a lot of digital evidence and electronic stuff that they're going to have to go through. And there's a lot here, Joe. These charges are incredibly serious. Sexual battery on a child under 12. So we know this is before Maddie's 12th birthday, before she turned 12. Then sexual battery with a child between the ages of 12 and 18. This is with a familial or custodial authority. So we know that the victim is somebody under Stearns' authority, allegedly.

Starting point is 00:02:58 Looter, lascivious, molestation, unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child, 10 or more images. This is just an astounding number of charges. I'm kind of floored by this, but not completely surprised given what law enforcement has already said publicly. Yeah, this is turning out to be even worse than we've expected. And right now we're assuming that this is all of Madeline Soto too, right? This could be other potential victims we don't know just yet. But the issue that comes down to is I think investigators are actually dotting their I's and crossing their T's. This is a very serious case, and they're really putting this together in respect that they are

Starting point is 00:03:41 going to take this one step at a time. They're not going to rush this. I know the public wants to, you know, murder charges against him and the mother. Just be patient. They're working this case. They're doing exactly what they need to do. They're due diligence to make sure that they get a desired outcome. And let's talk about that, about the due diligence. They had posted on Facebook late last week, the Kissimmee Police Department did, that they know the public wants answers, but they're looking to get justice for Maddie and that they are doing a thorough investigation. Then all of a sudden, days later, 60 new charges are filed against Stefan Stearns, but they do not include murder charges. So are we to assume, you know, they get the dump on his phone, he turned his phone over and lo and behold, according to the prior court records we saw, he said, oh, oopsie daisy, I factory reset it, according to the court records, you know, big oops, but they were still able to get some information off of the phone. So are they just

Starting point is 00:04:43 painstakingly going through that data on that phone? And as they're able to verify what's on the phone, then filing additional charges and then working their way up to a possible murder charge, since they've said he's the prime suspect in Maddie's murder. Yeah. So the way this works with the electronics is that they have to drop subpoenas and or warrants on just about every one of these apps that they might be on the phone. And him trying to reset it or delete things could put law enforcement in a position where it's going to take them longer to gather that information. Because we do know on several other cases where people have tried to delete information, but it is still recoverable in most cases. So this takes a longer period of time. And when you're dealing with, you know,

Starting point is 00:05:26 the different companies and the different apps and the internet providers, this then becomes a huge undertaking administratively to make sure that the proper warrants are set to the places that they need to go to. So I think law enforcement is doing exactly what they need to do. And yes, the public, you know, has to understand that eventually these things will come, but justice doesn't have an expiration date and they need to understand that. And this has to be done this way. It has to be done this way because it has to be done right. And I know everybody wants immediate answers and they want answers quickly. They want it yesterday, but things do take time. And really, I mean, some of this has moved rather quickly. Am I wrong there, Joe? Because I think given the fact that he's already being held on some

Starting point is 00:06:12 very serious charges and being held without bail, they've now come up with 60 additional counts that are very serious counts. And it doesn't seem like it's taken that long. It just seems as if it's taking long, right? But it really hasn't. They've really put this case together pretty quickly. Remember, they got not only cell phone records, but internet records and surveillance video. And then they had to go through all of that to see for the different pieces of evidence, like the laptop being thrown away. I mean, it takes time to go through all of that. So yes, they've worked pretty quickly. And like I said earlier, they have

Starting point is 00:06:45 to rely on these internet companies to get them the data. And sometimes that data doesn't come within 24 hours. It might come within two or three days or sometimes even a week. So I still think that there's other data that they're waiting for. And I think we'll see additional charges in the very near future. We want to thank Morgan & Morgan for sponsoring today's Law & Crime YouTube Takeover. If you've seen our videos, you know that Morgan & Morgan is a proud sponsor of ours and that our content proves the world is not always safe. When you are hurt, it can be confusing. It can be scary and you don't always know where to turn. Well, Morgan & Morgan, America's largest injury law firm, can help.

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Starting point is 00:07:52 at www.forthepeople.com slash YouTube takeover or by dialing pound law. That's pound 529 on your cell phone. There have been a lot of people questioning Maddie's mother and questioning how could she have not known they lived in this apartment together. She has not been charged with anything. I know I've reached out to her for comments that she and she has not returned any of my messages. But she is somebody who was out there pleading with the public for people to come forward. I saw it on her Facebook page as well. She was

Starting point is 00:08:31 asking for people to come forward with information that could help locate her daughter. So your thoughts on the mom here, whether or not she might be cooperating with law enforcement. There are some people who are curious as to whether she may have been involved in her daughter's death and disappearance or may have ignored signs. I mean, these are all things we don't know at this point. It's all speculation. Right. Well, we know that some of her inconsistencies in the stories haven't helped her and put her in a good light, right? So the court of public opinion is far worse than any other court that you could go to. But right now, the police need evidence in order to be able to do something. So like I said earlier, they are doing their due diligence. They are going through every possible scenario, looking for that evidence to make sure that they charge whoever needs to be

Starting point is 00:09:18 charged in this case. And if she hasn't lawyered up already, she probably has by now, and I don't think you're going to see Jennifer talk to the public ever again in regards to this case. So it is what it is, so to speak, when you're talking about it in law enforcement. So if she's helping or cooperating, that's a good thing. But if she chooses not to talk anymore, of course that's her right, but it also then puts her in a bigger spotlight with the public. And we should reiterate, Jen Soto has not been charged with a crime. She is Maddie's mother. There's a lot of speculation out there.

Starting point is 00:09:52 There have been some news reports from, quoting anonymous sources, saying her statements that she made to law enforcement were inconsistent. I've tried to reach out to law enforcement to verify that, and they are not commenting. So we have tried to do some homework on that issue. So we're just going to have to wait and see. So, Joe, where do you see this investigation going next? We have 60 additional sex charges that he is facing. Do you think that they go to a murder charge next? I mean, or do they take this to the grand jury instead of maybe just charging it through a complaint? Well, I think they go through all of the images and all

Starting point is 00:10:31 the different evidence that they have right now about the exploitation for the children, for sure. And I do think that they either have either publicly or not gotten some information from other members out in the community. Maybe there's other women out there that he dated with children that their age and maybe somebody else has come forward, which would then compound the investigation, meaning that they now have to do two or three different investigations. That's just unfortunately how some of these cases wind up going, right? Other people see this person, hear what happened and, oh my God, I was involved with this guy. Maybe I should come forward and see if there's anything that had happened to my child and that's that's what you generally see and yes they probably will put it

Starting point is 00:11:08 into a grand jury but right now they want to make sure they have him for this other stuff rock solid and then you can worry about the murder charges later on as long as you can find the evidence to do so and right now everything is circumstantial but you can build your case on circumstantial evidence but you want to make sure that you can build the best possible case that you can so that the prosecutor can mail it home. Yeah. You do not want to make any mistakes in a case like this, especially a murder case and taking their time. It's going to pay off in the long run to take time, to make sure that the case is done properly, to get it right. And that's what's going to be best for all involved. Joe Giacalone,

Starting point is 00:11:52 thank you so much for joining me as always. Thanks for having me, Anjanette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you back here next time. Until then, have a great night. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel. Daniel Camacho does our video editing. Our head of social media is Bobby Zoki. Our senior director of social media is Vanessa Vine. Savannah Williamson is one of our producers. Diane Kay and Alyssa Fisher book our guests. And Brad Mabey is our audio editor.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Suspect in Teen's Kidnapping and Murder Faces 60 New Child Sex Charges

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Suspect in Teen's Kidnapping and Murder Faces 60 New Child Sex Charges

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