Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MADDIE SOTO DEAD: MOM'S BF CLAIMS 'MADDIE STARTED IT'

Episode Date: July 4, 2026

This time last year Stephan Sterns was given 21 life sentences for the death of 13-year-old Madeline “Maddie” Soto. Maddie was reported missing  February 26, 2024, after she didn't made it to Hunter’s Creek Middle School in Orlando.   Mom's boyfriend, Sterns, initially claimed he had dropped Maddie off that morning, but surveillance footage showed the lie.  Two days later, March 1, 2024, Maddie's body was found in a wooded area near St. Cloud. Her death rules a homicide by strangulation.  Investigators believe she was already dead the morning she was reported missing and that Sterns moved her body that day when he said he was taking her to school.  Video evidence showed Sterns discarding items, including her backpack and school laptop, into a dumpster at the apartment complex where she lived.  Forensic analysis of Sterns’ phone revealed images and videos of child sexual abuse, dating back to when Madeline was as young as eight. When investigators initially looked at the phone, they found it had been factory reset. He claimed that was an accident.   Sterns was arrested February 28, 2024 on charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material, and later indicted for first‑degree murder and multiple sexual offenses. Sterns pleaded no contest to first‑degree premeditated murder and guilty to 60 other sex crime charges. He began serving his 21 concurrent life sentences with no possibility of parole at the Central Florida Reception Center.    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She was supposed to be dropped off at school. Didn't make it a school. Didn't make it a school. She was walking in that direction. She was rifling through her backpack.

Little Maddie Soto, just 13, is found just dumped, dumped. Dumped. I sent them to sleep upstairs so that I could get a good night's sleep. Years of sex abuse by mommies. live in. He's a pedophile. 35,000 videos and photos. He's a predator. I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe that he had done anything evil to her. Letting the fox and the hen house, what was she thinking?

Madeline is 13 years old. She has been missing since 8.30 on Monday morning when mom's boyfriend dropped her off near Hunter's Creek Middle. school. So she was supposed to be dropped off at school. Didn't make it to school. Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her up from school today and she never came out. They announced it over the speaker and I'm just like maybe she walked here because sometimes she'll walk here to this office. I came here, nothing. I went back to the school, they were closed. I got to notice an email from the school saying she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher and he looked at her entire tenants today and saw that she was completely not at school today either. So she never made it. Okay. What's her name?

Madeline. M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E. M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E. Last name? S-O-O-O-T-O. S-O-T-O. Yeah. Stop it. Stop it. I know it's your natural reaction to look at the person speaking. That would be Maddie's mother speaking.

The guy that hands over the cell phone is the living. I just want to er-r------------- around his neck. How dare he even stand there like that? I'm going to go to a very special guest joining us. It's Terracina Niles. This is a very dear member of the family related to Maddie Soto's Bio-Dadwife. Teresina, thank you for being with us. I really appreciate it.

you know, in the last days I've been reading all the new headlines and we went further and got there's a 900 page document that I have been, you know, waiting through. I've got to tell you, it just made my heart stop. And I understand that you and Maddie's bio-dad are reeling at the new information. Which aspect of the new information just released is the most concerning to you? I think the biggest aspect has been the timelines that, you know, we weren't, you're ready to hear, but you're never ready to hear. And so seeing those kind of layout, and I have seen quite a bit from social media, and it's just devastating. and the description of how she was found

and just things of that nature. Just, you're never ready to hear something like that. What was she last seen wearing? Green hoodie? Green hoodie? White crocs. White crocs. Either blue or black pants?

I think black shorts. Black shorts? Yeah. Black shorts? Mm-hmm. Okay. Black shorts. All right.

Do you know if she has, like, friends in the area? She does, but she doesn't know where they live. I want to go out to Shannon Butler. It was an investigative reporter, WFTV 9 in Florida. Shannon, thank you so much for being with us. I got to tell you this new release of documents and information. This was the backdrop of the boyfriend, Stephen Stern, is being charged with at least 60 sex counts on children,

be it taking videos, pictures, molesting, whole shebang. And look, the mom did not murder the daughter. He did, according to police. But wow, I can't help but feel blame toward mommy. Yeah, I think everybody, I mean, we have been following this case for months and we've had so many people call and email and say, what are they going to do about Jen Soto? We still have that piece of the timeline that we don't know yet of what happened between when she sent her daughter up to bed to sleep with Stefan Stearns and then in the morning when he was seen with her inside that car. Did she have like Apple Watch?

She's got a device, the only device she's got on her right now is her school laptop. Her school laptop. Is that trackable? I don't think so. I don't think so. Do she like have any places that you guys know that she'll usually be at? Any friends house? Any places that like she has to hang out? typically no she got dropped off she was like I was in what spot was in the car she wanted me dropped off at school she wanted me dropped off like half a block

away so she can walk to name this thing she's in the face but he dropped her off a half a block away and drove away okay did she have remote school though no we called school she was walking in that direction she was rifling through her backpack slitting or something I thought maybe she was just looking for headphones before she got her walking on yeah But she was just kind of, you know, gambling over in that direction. Look the same as in the other morning. Yeah, that's not true. He did not drop her off at Peace United Methodist Church

because she didn't want to be seen with parents or because she was embarrassed of the car. She was murdered and hidden behind a row of bamboo, very thick. Her items were thrown into a dumpster, including her backpack and her school-issued. computer and he, Stefan Stearns, was spotted at that dumpster. A male called in with a tips describing his vehicle and that he was outside the vehicle with a tire iron. Listen to this. Investigators believe the female seen at 736 a.m. in the surveillance video in the front

passenger seat of Stefan Stern's vehicle is Madeline Soto's dead body propped up and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person. But closer in. of the video shows her head leaning toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Stearns is caught on surveillance video again at 8.19 a.m. when he is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood with a female in the same position as the surveillance video captured at 736 a.m. To Shannon Butler joining me, WF TV. Her dead body is propped up and buckled into the car. Did I get that right, Shannon Butler? Yeah, and that was part of his story, right? So he goes in and out of that apartment complex, which they did in the morning on the way to school.

So that way, if any of the neighbors or anything saw him drive out, it wouldn't be unusual for Madeline to be buckled into the seat. What he said to us and to investigators is that she slept on the way to school and she was asleep. I mean, according to investigators, buckled that seatbelt and let her sit there leaned over. It's just unbelievable, really. I want you to hear the boyfriend, Stefan Stern, speaking to police, and what a wild story he gives. Reminds me a little bit of top mom, Casey Anthony. Her story kept changing and changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger of a lie. Same here. Listen.

At 8.10, your car is seen going southbound at this intersection, so meaning going toward Kissimmee. Mm-hmm. I had forgotten some of my gate clicker. I'm sorry, I forgot I had gone back to the house real quick after we left because I forgot my gate clicker. I actually had to go through the front gate and use my parking pass to grab my clicker. So it was a wrong time. I'm sorry.

Like I said, I was guesstimating these times. I'm not a morning person. Investigators release information about Stefan Stearns and tracking the silver Lincoln he was driving. But now, detectives say they tracked another vehicle, a white Nissan owned by Maddie's mother, Jennifer, making an identical trip as was made in the Lincoln from the apartment to where Maddie's body was found. Detectives don't get a clean look at the driver, but the Nissan was driven from the apartment to the body in the middle of the night, 12 hours after Stearns was seen driving his Lincoln to the same area. Okay, straight out to Shannon Butler joining us.

What can you tell me about mommy's car going to the location where Maddie's body is ultimately found? The running theory is that it was Seth and Stearns that went back to the alleged scene of that crime. But there is so much speculation and doubts surrounding Madeline Soto's mother that it's hard for people not to question whether or not she was behind the wheel and went back down to that same location. where Maddo's body was, could it have been Jen Soto? There are 60 charges against the live-in, Stefan Stearns. Many of them sex battery on a child. And I'm wondering if they're not getting a lot of that from his phone. Of course, he said that morning he did a massive factory reset.

Wow, that's quite the coincidence, is it not, that he does a factory reset on his phone? the moment she goes missing. On what are the sex battery on a child charges predicated? I think they knew the minute he reset that phone that they needed to get to that phone. When they downloaded it, there was horrific, horrific images, 1,700 images on that phone.

That was, at the moment they realized, you know, something was terribly wrong here. 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 arrested. 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.

I sent them upstairs, and I went to bed. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. An IR Radio Experience. Weekend gold tickets to Ilsoniq. One, two, three. Montreal with Dom Dalla, Chris Lakin Friends, Woolley, Deadmouse, Above and Beyond, Subfocus, and more. With flights from Porter Airlines,

three nights at Residence in Downtown Montreal, and $1,000 cash. Enter for your chance to win at iHeartRadio.ca. Ilsonique in Montreal, every day you enter is another chance to win. I've been more arrested. 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.

I sent them upstairs, and I went to bed. She sends her daughter to go sleep with her lover the night before she's dead. If you look at the timeline, can we just talk about that one moment? Because I have a theory that Maddie was murdered by Stefan Stern the night before. because we've got him the next morning, 7.7.30 a.m. He's already throwing out Maddie's backpack and her school laptop. So why is he getting rid of her possessions at 7.30 a.m.? That means she's already dead at 7.30 a.m.

She's killed in the night. And mommy, what, just slept all the way through it? I mean, analyze a timeline for me, Shannon Butler. We know for a fact at 730 that she was, in fact, that is what the Orange County Sheriff's Office believed, the original investigators on this case. But those hours in the night, that's where all the question is. They believe she was killed, but they don't know exactly what time. And it seems the medical examiner can't figure that out either. But they do know that in those hours before 730 and after they went to bed, something happens.

there. The mother never woke up. She didn't see her daughter before she went to school. And because of that, that is why it's so hard to pinpoint an exact time. She told the original responding deputy that she did see her in the morning get ready for school. You said when you woke up around nine, you left your house at 930 for your doctor's appointment. And Stefan hadn't come home yet. And then he called you at 10. 15, yeah. 10.15-ish. Yeah, she didn't want McDonald's. So he came home. I think he had accidentally left his phone at home. Yeah.

So he was just letting me know because I had called him multiple times. He was just returning my call going. I'm so sorry. I left the phone at home. I went to the dave store. I waited there for a little bit. Nothing. Nobody was there.

When Madeline's body was removed from underneath the dry grass and hay, detectives were able to immediately identify her by a mole she has on her cheek. Her body shows signs of decomposition to one side. of her face and her hands. Madeline is wearing a green hoodie with the hoodie covering the top of her head, blue jeans and white socks. The police report notes that Madeline's socks were clean, indicating she did not walk anywhere or the socks would have dirt on the bottom.

Someone carried Madeline to the place she was found. Shannon Butler joining us from WFTV 9. Where was she found? So this is a ranch in rural osteola County. that area of Florida has, you know, big cattle ranches, orange groves, things like that. Along that side of road, remember, he got a flat tire so he had to pull over and change that flat tire. Right in that area, there was one of those big ranches, but you can't get on the ranch because there was a big fence around it. So the only thing he could do, police say, was to toss her over.

And when the detectives got out there, when they were searching, looking in that area, they called the rancher, said, can you let us on the property? There's no problem right down the street. I'll be right there. And when they came in, she was actually the first time they looked, they didn't see her because she was kind of behind like bales of hay. And so they had to, when they got through,

they walked around and they could see that she was laying there in that wooded area. Stefan Stearns was arrested while the search for Madeline was ongoing when Orange County Sheriff's Office found disturbing evidence on Stern's phone. Stephen Stearns turns his phone over to the police to aid in the search for Madeline and tells them he accidentally did a factory reset on his phone the day Madeline vanished. I've got to show you this video we found of him in the back seat of the patrol cruiser where he's whining. Listen to this guy, wine. He needs a little cheese to go with that wine. Listen. I mean, I took it there was like a degree or two lower than you shouldn't be. Wow.

I could regulate sleeping on bare metal. The first one of the concrete floor of the oil toilet paper for a fellow. Nothing else. I'm begging for a blanket or a pad to sleep on for like two days. I love the guy driving the cruiser. Did you see him he's going on? As he listens to accused child rapist killer, Stefan Stern's, whine, it was like a degree or two lower than it should have been. And the deputy goes, wow, I bet he just wants to, uh-huh, Stefan Stearns.

During autopsy of Madeline Soto, medical examiner Dr. Stephen Giles expressed concern over Madeline's hyoid bone in her neck. Giles stated the right portion of the bone was not intact, which could possibly be related to her being strangled. The autopsy determined that Madeline Soto died by strangulation. We can go even worse. She's pregnant. That's what questions last night led me to believe when we started talking about her period. I was told that her and her friend, and granted, I'm a male, never had a period, but that somebody found it weird that they were no longer on the same cycle. Could be different because she's a teenage girl.

could be that she missed your period. Have you ever found a pregnancy test at home? That wasn't yours? I have two underneath the kitchen, the bathroom sink, but I haven't seen if there's still there or not. Hannah McKenzie, joining us, Fox 35. She says that's what questions last night led me to believe when we started talking about her period.

Who was talking about her period, Hannah McKenzie? Before the pregnancy, test was even brought up. They were kept asking her about her cycle, about her period. And Jennifer is on camera saying, I tracked her period. I knew when she was on her period. And the detective in the office at the time said, well, did you notice any feminine hygiene products being used in February? And Jennifer kind of sits back for a second and says, no, I didn't realize any feminine hygiene products were being used in February. I didn't notice that. Let's look at Maddie's room.

Her room was essentially part of the downstairs living room, and it was essentially a bed cordoned off by this see-through partition there on the bottom level of the home. Those boxers right there belong to Stefan Stern, and that's Maddie's bedroom area. those boxers in her laundry basket were pictured in the videos that were found on his phone. And then in the next photo, you see her bedding, Maddie Soto's bedding, which also appeared in the sex molestation videos on Stefan Stern's home, according to police. That betting proves happened in the home. So we now know that, according to police, and the murder happened in the home. We believe this is another room where Stefan Stearns slept on occasion.

And we know that the room where he slept with Maddie at her mother's direction had a lock on the door. And I mean, not just the kind that go with the doorknob, full-on locks. You were seeing crime scene photos that we obtained from police files. And speaking of Mom Jen Soto's response after Maddie first goes missing, this is what she said. When you guys showed me the picture of her, I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe that he had done anything equal to her. I'm like, no, what if he did this stuff fine, but what if she's still missing out there? What if somebody took her?

I still wanted to believe his, I believed him. I believed his whole story. So I was just like, I kept repeating that part. I'm just like, what if she did get dropped off? What if she got abducted? What if she's missing? Okay, Shannon Butler joining me, investigative reporter WFTV-9.

Did I just hear Mommy correctly? She says, when you showed me the picture of her, which I think is a euphemism for her boyfriend, her daughter and videoing it on his cell phone. I think that's the picture that she's talking about. I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe he had done anything evil to her. Yeah, and you can hear from that interaction with those deputies.

There was a lot of pause that they took even after we talked about this later on, about why she didn't quite understand that what was happening. there, at least in that interview, was evil and was wrong. But that was me assuming that you guys had the wrong guy. I wanted to think he was a good guy still, but clearly he's not. After everything you guys have told me and have shown me, I know he's the worst person on this face of the earth. I started saying to him, like, I think they're focusing in on you. Like, you need to call your dad and I think we need to get you a lawyer.

I feel like they're focusing on the wrong person. the wrong person and he kept saying the same thing he kept repeating what i was repeating that um they're focusing on the wrong person how do you feel when you're saying he's a lawyer he didn't believe me like when i told him like don't you see forensics is closing down the house they know something or there's something like they know something something's happening they wouldn't be locking down the house this way if they didn't have suspicions of something but in my I wasn't thinking, I don't know why I wasn't thinking him. Like, I was just like, no, they've got the wrong guy.

And he ugly cried in front of the camera too, so he was fucking face sob crying. Are you saying that now, or do you... I'm saying that now. I didn't think that at the time. At the time, I thought he was truly heartbroken and not that he had done all this to her. I look back at shit now, I'm just like, he was fucking lying. He was faking.

What else has he been lying to me about? I know he's like a master liar and manipulator. because he's done it to his parents, and he's told me and shown me the lies he's done to his parents. But I don't know why I never thought, not me. But you didn't know that then. They didn't. Then you offered a guy who the police suspected of kidnapping, abducting, assisting the disappearance of a lawyer. And then we don't have to roundtable that.

You went back to you what you just said is the sex stuff is fine. It's not fine. I know it's an emotional thing and I know it sucks to hear. But where I'm coming from is it seems like something that you can't hide forever. You guys live in a small space, close quarters, you sleep in the same bed. You guys all talk, you guys all share things. You're an observant person for the most part, I assume. Outside of taking medications and going to sleep, it seems very difficult.

A lot of grown-ass adults can't hide an affair with somebody who doesn't live with them. Yeah. let alone somebody who does live with them. So at a certain point, I do believe you became aware of what was going on. No. After she's been warned to tell the truth, they're giving her immunity. This is what she says. So now you've broken up with Stefan in December of 2022, right?

Mm-hmm. He's still paying rent, and he's there full-time in bedroom number four. Is that where he goes after you break up? No. He stayed in my room for a few months. We've broken up, but we weren't sure how to discuss it with Maddie because it was the beginning or it was the middle of the school year and I didn't want to affect her in any way. So we just played it off, acted like everything was normal and fine for the first six months. And then eventually she caught on. And then once she did, we admitted to her that we were broken out. And then yeah, at that point is when he moved up to bedroom four.

Okay. It's my understanding that it's December of 2022 that you and Stefan kind of break up. Yes. But he still remains. in the townhome yes why is that so even though you're broken up I still considered him one of my best friends I wanted to give him an opportunity to live there and he had just gotten a job at Disney the mr. and well okay and I didn't want him to continue to lose that because he had been struggling for a long time to get a job or do anything his own mental health okay so I just wanted to give him a chance to like do something be be something once he moved up to bedroom before where there are 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 happens. Okay. The night that Jen Soto's condo is searched, she and Stearns have to get out. So where do they go?

They go to a hotel along with Stearns' parents. Listen, what happens in the middle of the night. We checked into the rooms. I brought my stuff up, went over and said good night, and then hit the sack. After you guys went to your separate ways, when's the next time you talk to something? I got up at 6.30 an hour sleep and went to the office because I figured he would be sleeping in, crashed and burned. and didn't speak to Jen until 1045-ish. And she called and asked if Stefan was with me.

And I said, no, why? Well, he's not here. Here's Stefan Stern's explanation of why he was missing for 300 miles. Okay. That's several hours driving through Florida in the middle of the night. Well, he had an energy drink in his hand. He said he got lost. And you know, in the back roads, hell, I got lost.

And I had a QPS. So like my partner said, we're not here to waste your time. You've been in this line of work before. Did he tell you he was in Northport today? I'm assuming he did it based on the reaction. So what does Stefan Stern's mother, Deborah, have to say when she finds out he showed up at her house, 150 miles away in the middle of the night to log onto her Wi-Fi and delete photos? Listen.

You know what? You know what stopped you from getting in the house? He didn't have a garage door opener. The front door lock is not working well. Yep. And I had put the lock on the slider. Now, speaking of his walkabout, gone six hours in the middle of the night, while Maddie is apparently missing,

this is what Stefan Stearns has to say happen that night. Is there some explanation of the, I came up, Wednesday morning, next to the hotel, early in the morning, and is there some explanation why you left and went where you went? I was driving around. I had wanted to grab a few things and get my ducks in a row, kind of prepare myself for whatever was coming, but I couldn't find what I was looking for. And then I ended up just kind of driving around in with me.

You were hearing a video call from behind bars. This is what Father Christopher Stearns has to say. Look, he spent a lifetime lying to us. And it's just never gotten better. Before I left the house the other night, I turned to my wife and I said, do we really know Stefan? Can we honestly say we really know?

And she got really kind of offended, defensive a little bit. I said, yeah, I'm not saying that he did something, but can we honestly say we really know. I've always told him that my biggest fear is that this would turn into a Woody Allen situation where the stepdaughter fall or the dad grooms the child and the child turns 18 and he ends up running away with him. I told him like that was my biggest fear and I don't ever want that happening. Like you can't do that to me. So we go back to 2020, we're looking at a minimum of three and a half years. Three and a half years where I'm sure you guys are sexually active.

Yes. So for three and a half years under your care in your house, not only is he being sexually active with you, in high sexual relationship. Listen, and you're there. For heart-wrenching knockouts. The world's biggest stage! And breathtaking triumph.

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Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Straight out to Shannon Butler joining us. Investigative Reporter, WFTV, Channel 9 in Florida, where this happened. Shannon Butler, the... Those little gulps should have happened when she first... thought she had a, quote, Woody Allen situation between her living boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, and her little girl, then 12. Yeah, early on in this investigation, when we first talked to investigators, right after those

interviews, just hours after those interviews, they felt the tears and the anguish was much more about Stefan Stearns and what was going on there than about her daughter. and that always troubled those investigators early on in those interviews there. I want you to see new video that we have obtained of the defendant, Stefan Stearns, acting out

how. Maddie was asleep in his car. She was saying anything. She was just asleep. She was just reclined in the chair, sleeping. Okay, explain to me, like reclining backwards? Thank you. Well, put your hands behind your back.

Did you get a really good picture of this right here, this whole area? Were you expecting these charges? No. A burden charge? Oh, well, sure. We never get much. Okay, so you got blindsided by that. Yeah, obviously, you know, it's not true.

You know, I never would have wanted her gone to any reason, so, you know, premeditated first degree is kind of a, you know, is kind of a dis-funch. I want you to hear the dad asking, how did this whole thing come about? And Stefan Stearns essentially says, she started it. Listen. You know, you and I can have a conversation.

All of us could have a conversation to understand what's taking place, how this came about, how you arrived here, because it would help us, help us better understand the situation because we're just at a loss for understanding how all this came about. I mean we're just totally totally baffled. Well I didn't start it. Well you didn't start it but you participated in it which is just as bad is not starting it but

some woman got on a J-2 thing and said that you weren't even at the party. party? Yeah, her birthday party. Yeah, I haven't gotten there yet. I went up there Sunday evening and got there after she was done at her party. Oh, okay. And it was, we were very happy that I was there. They were very happy to this three of us were together.

It was shaping up to be a great week and a great visit. There was, there's no reason for anything to happen. That happened. This place is filthy and unsanitary and one little thin, scratchy wool blanket. surrounded by crazies all the time. Well, it's not the ritz. Not the rits. You're charged with murder,

Stefan Sterns, the murder of a 14-year-old little girl. Hello. I know you're watching, the jailhouse TV. On your phone, according to police, thousands of images of 14-year-old Maddie Soto were found, naked, being raped, and more. Okay? That's you. And now, you're

complaining about your mattress? Going so far as to give the jail a one-star review on Yelp? What are you thinking? Seeing her pale face and blue lips and how

ice cold she was and it's great. I was going to stay with you. Yeah, I remember seeing my brother when he had passed away and this is the last thing I remember seeing of him. So You know, it's just you can tell.

Yes, you can. My dad, yeah. When they're gone, really, really truly gone, it's just, it's nothing you can do. There's no coming back. Yeah. Well, you could get the death penalty. You could do that. But whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay.

With me and All-Star Pound makes sense of what I'm hearing. And I've got a ton of these jailhouse calls. I don't know if I can even get through them all, because each one is a bombshell. This is going to be hard, but Joe Scott Morgan, Professor Forensics, one word,

what was this girl's COD cause of death? One word. Yeah, it was strangulation, Nancy, up close and personal, with his hands wrapped around her neck. You know, Stefan, I can't help but get the feeling that none of this

that was on the phone was a surprise. She was aware that she had certain feelings towards me. Yeah, well, then why would she send her in like a sleep with you? She used to joke about it, you know, called an electro complex. You should joke and say, you better not leave me for my daughter when she's older, things like that. She'll laugh about it, and they used to both ogle over me and comment on me and talk about me together and giggle and look about how nice I looked,

and it was not an appropriate situation. Now, here he seems to blame Maddie's murder on lack of boundaries and poor, quote, sleeping arrangements. Listen. You know, always had an issue with boundaries. She never respected any boundaries without her. You know, he'd gotten arguments on more than one occasion about the sleeping arrangements. So, you know, would bake her, you know, please make me go sleep her own room and said, well, no, no, you hear this way for me to wake her up when she's near me.

What is Stefan Stern's response? He says, no one respected my boundaries. And then he blames the whole thing because Jen Soto didn't give him any privacy. You have got to hear this. We didn't have any privacy. You know, just didn't have any space to ourselves. and she would suggest, well, maybe you should go sleep bed instead. You know, it's like a twin bed, and I'm, you know, six plus feet.

No, why would I want to do that instead of sleeping in our king's-sized bed, you know? I should have broken up for a long time ago. We were all very happy to be reunited. It had been months since we'd all seen each other, and there's no reason that I would have given all of that up for literally no reason to hurt her and trade it all in for this. No, there isn't. But there's jealousy on the other side, too.

I mean, he told you, I hope you don't need you for my daughter. That tells me that she was thinking about that for a while. We hear Stefan Stern's and mother Deborah Stern's stating, Jen Soto had been thinking about this for a long time. They're basically trying to blame Jen Soto for her daughter's murder. Guys, there's more of Stefan Stern's whining, and I haven't even gotten him whining about his mattress and the food. So far, he's been blaming Jen Soto for Maddie's death. And we're all angry.

The Jen Soto allowed a situation where her daughter slept night after night after night with her mooch-live-in boyfriend. But to blame her for the murder itself is a whole other thing. And that sounds like what he and his mommy and daddy are cooking. up. Remember, the mommy and the daddy not charged with anything. Oh, and I haven't even got to, them claiming that he has PTSD because he found the body. I mean, really? But that said, listen to this. I wish I had done the correct thing to begin with. You know, I wish I'd run downstairs and shaking her awake and the cold 911 and all that and deserved the... Well, I wish you had to. I wish you had to. Maybe she could have been saved, but I, I, you know,

You know, she was, she was beyond that. Listen to the new theory emerge. She was in a different part of the house? Yeah. She wasn't with you? Well, she had gone to be with me earlier in the night, but I left her alone for quite a while. Were you awake when she, when she had been in her into the room with you?

Yeah. And she was fine when she came into your room. What time at night was that? Maybe 11-ish or so, I'm not sure. Okay, so she was fine, so what happened between 11 and whenever you found it? Well, that's the million-dollar question, isn't it? Oh, the devil is in the detail.

Stern, please, keep talking. Listen to this. Well, I discovered her in the state that she was in after everything was said and done. So, I mean, obviously, I can't get into detail, but no, I was not aware that she had passed on. As you know, I'm up and down throughout the night, and I was not in the room the whole time. Mm-hmm.

So he wasn't aware she was passed on, yet he found her cold to the touch with her lips blue. Now, the dad realizes the story is not jelling. Listen. Like you, you know, you just suddenly feel someone's ghost to pass away from them. You know, it's a discovery. Well, I'm assuming that they are treating you for PTSD because you found the body, not to mention everything else that went along with that. No, not treating you for anything except my blood pressure.

Well, they need to do the PTSD because you're not sleeping. I'm myself that has to maintain my faith, felt, faith, and trust in God. I have nothing. Now listen to this. Does anybody know the meaning of narcissistic? Here we hear Stefan Stearns asking his parents to dump money into an account for a trust fund for him after they die. Job prospects are going to be difficult to come by. I might need some sort of resources to help me get back on my seat immediately until I can work out the income situation. Yeah. Don't know what that would be, but because we may be gone by the time you get out.

I don't know. I don't know if there's any way we might be able to sit up some sort of trust funds or something. Joe Scott Morgan, have you seen it all now? Stefan Stearns wants a trust fund set up by mommy and daddy. Yeah, one of the most glaring things is that when his dad actually said, well, we might be gone. Did you hear that? And then he just continues on with this through line of all about him. He didn't pause for a moment and say, well, my God, that's horrible.

Please don't say that, that you're going to be gone or the mama's going to be gone. That's not what it's about. That shows you the level of callousness. And he's doing this to his parents. How much more so? How much more so, Nancy, a 13-year-old little girl that he's been victimizing, allegedly, lo these many years. He's that callous.

He's that very callous. He's not genetically connected to her, Nancy. He just views her as something that is disposable. And as we found out, she was kind of tossed away like rubbish, wasn't she? Maddie Soto was not disposable. We remember American hero, Deputy Sheriff Cantoros Taylor, Bibb County sheriffs, killed in the line of duty, survived by grieving fiancé, Jamisa, children killing,

London, Carter, American hero, Deputy Sheriff, Canteris Taylor. Thank you to all of our guests for being with us, but especially to you. Nancy Grace, signing off. I'll see you tomorrow night. And until then, good night, friend. This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.