Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - MURDERED MADDIE SOTO, 13, MOM GETS IMMUNITY!

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

The man accused of molesting and killing Madeline Soto shortly after her 13th birthday will go to trial next fall. Stephan Sterns, the boyfriend of Madeline’s mother, Jennifer Soto, faces charges of first-degree murder and 60 other offenses, including sexual battery, molestation, and possession of child pornography. Hundreds of evidence photos offer a detailed view of the Kissimmee condo where Madeline lived with her mother and several roommates. The townhome, located in the gated Venetian Bay Villages community, belongs to Jennifer Soto’s father. Soto and Madeline occupied the first floor, while two roommates lived in upstairs bedrooms. At one point, Stephan Sterns rented the third upstairs bedroom, which was otherwise unoccupied. As the investigation continues, a newly released interview shows that law enforcement has provided Jennifer Soto with “derivative immunity,” a legal protection ensuring her statements cannot be used against her in future prosecution. Soto gave the interview under an investigative subpoena and provided new details about her on-and-off relationship with Stephan Sterns and the hours leading up to her realization that Madeline was missing Joining Nancy Grace today:  Ray Guidice -  Defense Attorney, Host: "Your Day in Court" Dr. Marlena Ryba  - Forensic Psychologist and Research Consultant at Dr. Long and Associates; LINKEDIN: marlenamryba; Alli Neal – Co-Founder, Executive Director, Revved Up Kids (fighting to protect kids from sexual abuse and exploitation); Twitter: @RevvedUpKids Tom Smith - Former NYPD Detective, Co-Host of the GOLD SHIELDS Podcast,;FB & Instagram: @thegoldshieldshow Dr. Todd Barr – Board-Certified Anatomic/Clinical/Forensic Pathologist (Ohio); Featured in, “Thin Places: Essays From In Between,” by Jordan Kisner Shannon Butler - Investigative Reporter WFTV-9   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Murdered Maddie Soto, just 13 years old. Mommy gets immunity? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. I sent them to sleep upstairs in the guest bedroom

so that I could get a good night's sleep. I think we need to get you a lawyer. But that was me assuming that you guys had the wrong guy, not that he had done all this to her. I don't know why I wasn't thinking him. I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe that he had done anything equal to her. What you just said is the sex stuff is fine.

It's not fine. I look back and now I'm just like, he was lying. He was faking. You can believe the worst. She's pregnant. Have you ever found a pregnancy test at home? I have two underneath the kitchen, the bathroom sink, but I haven't seen if they're still there or not. Joining us an all-star panel to make sense of what we are learning now, not only do we learn that Maddie Soto's mother, Jen Soto, has gotten a form of immunity. What was so important that they needed, the state needed from Jen Soto, that she's getting almost a free pass. First, to Shannon Butler joining us, investigative reporter from WFTV9. Shannon, thank you for being with us. What do you believe it is the state can get from mom Jen Soto that's so valuable they would give her immunity from prosecution? Well, they didn't tell us that they had any valuable information. What they said is they couldn't find anything that would

connect her to any crime. So I think what they're doing is trying to use her to help with this case more than try to continue to go after her in case that hurts the case down the road. She at least knows his behavior. So she does provide them some information, but they told us they just didn't have enough to charge her with anything in any of these scenarios. Shannon, nobody gets immunity ever from the state unless they've got something to add testimony-wise. If you cannot pin a crime on someone, if they're not connected to a crime, fine. Don't prosecute them. But you don't have to give them immunity.

Listen. I said, you guys, I need a good night's sleep. I need to take my meds. I sent them to sleep upstairs in the guest bedroom so that I could get a good night's sleep. A person suggested that we all sleep together in the same bed together, but she's not the easiest person to sleep with. She rolls around, she punches, she kicks. We obtained crime scene photos.

Jen Soto and her then-lin boyfriend were kicked out of the condo while police effected a search. We've obtained those photos. First, 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. What more do we learn in the crime scene photos? Those boxers right there belong to Stefan Stern. They were pictured at, and that's Maddie's bedroom area. Those boxers in her laundry basket were pictured in the sex molestation 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 bedding proves the sex molestation happened in the home. So we now know that according to police, the molestation and the murder happened in the

home. It's extremely poignant that on her bed are her little stuffed animals, but to another shot, all of that bedding of course becomes state's exhibits. 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 are seeing crime scene photos that we obtained from police files. Back to Shannon Butler joining us, WFTV 9. Shannon, many would argue that sending your daughter to go sleep with your adult living boyfriend is gross neglect that exposed her

to sex molestation. I mean, the public here in Central Florida has said over and over again, we don't understand. We don't understand how she's not held to any accountability in this situation. But like I told you before, police just don't seem to have anything they want to charge her with. 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. Okay, Shannon Butler joining me, investigative reporter, WFT. I kept repeating that part. I was 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, WFTV9. 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 raping her daughter and videoing it on his cell phone. I think that's the picture that she's talking about. I believe this sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe he had done anything evil to her. OK, like rape and sodomy on a then 12 year old girl is not evil. 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.

There was a lot of concern about that in the beginning. That's what started them really trying to take a look to see if there was any involvement with Jen Soto and what had happened to Madeline Soto. It was that comment right there that kind of started that ball rolling. She better have something explosive in exchange for immunity, which means she will not be prosecuted for anything deriving from those statements that she gave under immunity. But that's not all. Even after she realizes police are focusing on her live-in, listen. 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 um i feel like they're focusing on the wrong person. He kept saying the same thing. He kept repeating what I was repeating. That, um, they're focusing on the wrong person. Okay. Raymond Adjudice. Veteran defense attorney, former prosecutor.

The mom says, hey, live in. They're focusing on you. We got to get you a lawyer pronto. What? Okay. Whoa, hey, live in. They're focusing on you. We got to get you a lawyer pronto. What? Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. So she knows her daughter's missing. She knows the boyfriend was last with the daughter.

She knows the boyfriend somehow knows what the daughter's wearing when she goes missing. She's sending them to bed together when she wants a good night's sleep. How she could sleep through that, I do not know. But now when police let it be known, he is the suspect, the prime suspect. She's saying, hey, honey, we got to get you a lawyer. I mean, my fingers are tingling. What I would do if someone touched the twins and she's trying to get them a lawyer? Nancy, clearly prosecution here, and I think not to attack these deputies, they should have had a much more experienced either assistant district attorney or a serious investigator that specializes in crimes against women and children. They did not need to do the

statement this way and give her immunity. She hasn't. She hasn't been accused of anything. And I think that's the way it's going to be unless the prosecution, and it's a very high burden, can find evidence of a crime against her outside of this statement. And the burden shifts to the prosecution to prove that the statement did not lead to the finding of any new evidence they had enough evidence on his phone alone to put him with a no bond and that would be here in atlanta on the images the child porn images on his phone you let him sit you let him stew and you continue to investigate the case. But she's got immunity, and the prosecution, unless they know something else up their sleeve against

her, she's got that pass, Nancy, to get out of jail. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. like he had done all this to her. The most important thing today is to tell the truth. I also explained derivative use immunity, which means if you said that there was a gun, and obviously there's no gun in this case, buried in your attorney's yard, we couldn't go dig up that gun if you told us that, oh yeah, there was something. The gun that was used is right there.

We wouldn't be able to do that. We would have to show that we learned all those things independently from this interview. It's called derivative use immunity. Lawyers love to make everything sound so complicated, and they also like to throw in Latin phrases. So be ready for that. Derivative use immunity. Immunity is like an immunization, right? That protects you from, let's just say the measles or the mumps, the vaccine. Immunity. Immunity in this case means immunity from prosecution in exchange for your statement. Derivative use immunity means you can't be prosecuted from anything that derives,

comes from your statement. That is what derivative use immunity means. In a nutshell, Ray, yes, no. Yes, absolutely. I wouldn't do it in one word. You owe me a dollar. Okay. Yes. All right. Now, Ray, I want you to hear the bit that we've managed to obtain. Then I'll bring in the rest of the panel. We've gotten some of her new statement that she gave after getting immunity. For those of you just joining us, Maddie Soto was raped for years, years under her own mother's roof by mommy's part-time live-in. When I say part-time, the rest of the time he lived in his own mother's house. Okay. Not judging. That said, this went on for years. Little Maddie used to tell people, isn't this right? Shannon Butler joining us, WFTV9, that she would tell people as soon as she was old enough, which I believe she thought was 13,

she was leaving the home and going to live in the woods. I'm going to have to bring in a string on this. Uh, Dr. Marlena Ryba joining us, but Shannon, I've never heard one of my children say I'm moving out and I'm going to live in the wild rather than live in this house. That should have been a big red flag to everybody that she wanted to go live in a tree house rather than in her own condo. There was all sorts of things that the friends had said. And one of those was about living in the woods. But then another friend would say, you know, she really, really liked Steph and Stearns and they were very, very close and she was with him a lot and they had a really close relationship. So I think that maybe that had been more of a red flag if there wasn't such a flip flop on that, that she wanted to leave home, but that her friends just thought they had this really, really close relationship.

I mean, for those of us who know the story now, that should have been a red flag, too. But it just wasn't to her little friends. They just thought, you know, that he was a nice guy, a boyfriend of her mom's that really took a, I don't want to say liking, but it made a close relationship with Madeline. But that, too, now we know is probably a bit of a red flag. Joining me, Allie Neal, longtime colleague, co-founder of Revved Up Kids, fighting to protect children from sex abuse and trafficking. It's worth a look at RevvedUpKids.org. Allie, thank you for being with us. Allie, that's a common misconception. Let me just first throw you something that you've taught for years. An

adult doesn't need a child's help. So if a child says, this guy asked me to find his puppy, don't get near that car. An adult doesn't need a child to help find the puppy. Same thing here. What is a grown man doing befriending a little girl and showing her such special interest? That should have been a signal. So, Nancy, that's a yes and a no, because this is the mother's longtime partner. This is a family dynamic. So it's different than a stranger asking someone to help with a lost puppy. This is somebody who lives in her home.

I'm sort of sticking on this runaway to live in the woods piece of it right now. And part of it might have been that this was a really dysfunctional couple. And that causes trauma to a child in the home, too. So I assume some of it was the sexual abuse that was occurring. But this man probably had groomed her to a place where she thought this was okay, and she thought this was part of loving somebody, and she may have had a very blurry line regarding the sexual abuse, but in all of this stuff that I've read and heard, these were two people who were highly dysfunctional, and when one of them was down, they typically dragged the other one

down. So it was just a really dysfunctional family environment that Madeline was swirling in. And all of it is incredibly unfortunate. Now look at this video. It's body cam video. Stefan Sturms with Jen Soto. This is after Maddie goes missing. And maybe I'm the crazy one, Dr. Marlena Ryba. but they don't look that upset. Look how calm he is. He knows, according to police, that he has raped, sodomized, and I mean anal sodomy, this child for years. She's just turned 13 and he knows that she's dead in this video and he's just chatting everybody up. How does that happen, Marlena Ryba? I mean, if I even tell that happen, Marlene? Right. I mean, if I even tell a lie, my face gets hot. I'm sure I'm going to get found out, which I always have.

I even think back on it and I almost feel sick to my stomach. How can you stand there so calm when you have just murdered a little girl and discarded her body? Yeah. So I think in this situation, unfortunately, it seems like there's a pattern of behavior that could be characteristic of someone that potentially demonstrates characteristics of someone with antisocial personality disorder. Joining me also is Tom Smith, former NYPD detective and Dr. Todd Barr, forensic pathologist. But guys, I want you to hear 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? 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 had broken up, but we weren't sure how to discuss it with Maddie because 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 when she did, we admitted to her that we were broken up.

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 we were broken up, I still considered him one of my best friends.

I wanted to give him the opportunity to live there, and he had just gotten a job at Disney when I was doing 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 with his own mental health. Okay.

So I just wanted to give him a chance to, like, do something, be something. Okay, let me understand something. Shannon Butler joining me, WFTV9. Does Stefan Stern have a job at Disney with children? Or is this more like a top mom Casey Anthony thing where she tells her whole family she works at Universal and even wears the uniform, but she really just sits on the sofa and eats chips all day when they leave. Did he really have a job at Disney? So there was a lot of confusion about that. So he didn't have a job at Disney at the time. He didn't have a job at the time. But there were reports that he had

previously worked at Disney because there was a woman who said, oh, I met him. We started dating because I met him when we worked at Disney. But when we had reached out to Disney, when this case first came about, Disney's like, he never worked here. So there was a lot of confusion of whether or not he worked there or not. We still don't really know. I mean, we know what the women said. We met him when we all worked at Disney.

Okay. But Disney claims he never worked there. I got a question. Allie Neal, you got to help me. You hear Shannon Butler, WFTV9. What is with women? A guy says, oh, yeah. Let's see.

I'm a brain surgeon and I work at Mount Sinai. You don't check that out? You bring a guy into your home and let him physically sleep with your little girl night after night after night and you don't check him out this guy didn't work at disney any more than i do honestly in this day and age nancy it shocks me that anybody doesn't do a deep dive background check on any new person coming into their life especially if they have children it's just it's just unfathomable to me that people don't go to Google and figure this stuff out. But also, there might have been nothing on Google that would have told her that he was a problem. He could put on his LinkedIn that he worked at Disney, and unless she called for a reference check, how would she know for sure?

Or ask for his Disney ID, maybe? Go to Disney? You think I haven't been to my husband's office? Oh, yes, I have. There's more. Yeah. There's more about the breakup and mommy deciding for some reason, some obscure reason,

he should stay there because of his fake job. There's more. So now you've broken up with Stefan in December of 2022, right? 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.

It was the beginning or 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 up and then yeah at that point is when he moved up to bedroom four okay Tom Smith former NYPD co-host of Gold Shields podcast. Tom, isn't that taking the charade a little too far? Did you hear for the first six months, how long was she going to give him? He slept in her bed after the breakup because he was her quote, best friend.

What is wrong with this? Well, she enabled everything that happened in this situation to happen. She didn't check him out. He's a predator. He is an evil, evil person that just preyed on her daughter. And she just shrugged it off. I mean, you hear the way she talks and her just calmness of everything going on. You know, part of interviews, Nancy, as you know, is getting the information, but also observing how it's being talked about and how it's being given to you. And those are signs that should lead detectives looking more into what her actions are and what she knows and what the enabling part of this situation was her fault. You know, Ray Giudice, I agree with Tom Smith. Ray Giudice, I agree with Tom Smith. Ray Giudice, she said he paid rent.

Nancy, look, dysfunctional family is not a crime. She hasn't been charged with anything. She hasn't been indicted. And again, I agree with what Detective Smith just said. He and I have done shows with you together. I have a lot of respect for him. But that's not a crime. And somewhere in that interview, if the detectives felt that they were stumbling

or about to stumble on a crime, they should have terminated that interview, retracted and cut off the immunity at that point, gone up to the DA's office and gotten a charge against her, but they don't have one and they're probably not gonna have one. And again, I'll go back to it again.

She didn't have a lawyer to negotiate this immunity and they just handed it over to her i believe the sexual stuff but i didn't want to believe that he had done anything evil to her what you just said is the sex stuff is fine it's not fine i look back now i'm just like he was lying he was faking once he moved up to bedroom four 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's happened. Okay. This is the testimony for which the state has given mommy immunity, derivative use immunity. And she's broken up with Stefan Stearns, according to her, but they sleep in the same bed for at least the next six months, except when he's sleeping alone with her 12-year-old daughter, Maddie Soto, now dead. This is particularly heartbreaking.

We hear Jen Soto describe her daughter, Maddie, desperately wanting to sleep at her little friend's house. Listen. She wanted to really sleep over her best friend's house. And I just kept saying, no, no, no, you never know what could happen.

I don't know the dad. I don't know the brother. I don't know anybody there. Like, I don't know what can happen to you. So I'm just afraid of her getting assaulted. Excuse me, Jackie, is my earpiece working? Because I'm pretty sure Shannon Butler, I heard the mom saying, no, no, no, no, you cannot sleep over a little friend's house because I don't know the dad and I wouldn't want you to get sex assaulted. I know. Every time we listen back to these interviews, we find something else.

They're like, what? What did she just say? She claims to not have known about the abuse in her own home. This is always what struck me. Look at this picture, Nancy, that you just put up there. His boxer shorts in her hamper. I always wondered why there wasn't a question by her to say, how did your underwear get in my daughter's makeshift bedroom? I mean, they're right there.

Joining us now, Dr. Marlena Ryba, joining us out of Myrtle Beach, forensic psychologist and research consultant. Dr. Marlena, how do you not know what's in your laundry, your dirty laundry? I see way too much of our family dirty laundry. I know what's in there. Yeah. And so I think, you know, to the average person hearing that, that immediately raises a huge red flag. And so I think this really all comes back to the mother's parental fitness, right, and her capacity to protect her child. And so there were, you know, there's obviously a lot of details in this case that would suggest that she was not really doing a good job in any capacity in that regard, right? So we have the fact that she introduced unfit people to her children. There was a lack of reaction from her, you know, in terms of being concerned about what was going

on up until the disappearance of her child. There's certainly evidence that she was very permissive in terms of what was going on between her daughter and her boyfriend. And it seems to me also that sort of the measures that she was, you know, taking. Following up on what Dr. Marlena Ryba just said. Here you see the mom, Jen Soto, worried about another person that could molest Maddie. Maddie had the opportunity to go visit her biological father in the fall out in Texas. Is that a yes? Yes. All right. Do you remember texting the biological father, hope nobody touches Maddie or tries or films her under the bathroom. Remember sending that text?

No. Orange County Sheriff's Office back in February? No. Because that seems like a very oddly specific thing to text the father. So you didn't know anything about what was going on filming underneath bathroom doors? No idea. I don't know why I would have texted him. Yeah, I don't know why I would have texted them. Yeah, I don't know why I would have done that. Raymond Giudice, you do know

that another person that lived in the condo, this condo belonged to Matty Soto's grandfather and the grandfather rented out different bedrooms to different people and they could all use a common area. Okay. That's how that worked. One of the other people that lived there, Raymond was a lady, a woman. And as it comes out on Stefan Sturm's phone, when they're looking at all these pictures of him raping and sodomizing Maddie, her picture comes up, the renter naked in her room. And what Stefan Sturtz had been doing was putting his iPhone at the bottom of the door where there's a crack to where you could look up and see the woman walking around naked. She had no idea that that was happening. Now, what I'm

asking you, you keep saying there's no evidence of a crime. I hear you. I hear you. I don't necessarily agree, but I get what you're saying. What about this? What is she clairvoyant? Like Scott Peterson? This is going to be my first Christmas without my wife. She's dead. And then poof, she was. Here, Jen Soto is saying to the bio dad, I hope nobody touches Maddie or tries, expletive, or films her under the bathroom

door. Wow. Isn't that quite the co-incident, Ray? Well, Inspector Clouseau gives her the get out of jail pass. And that now includes includes as we continue to expand this interview any of these text messages that she may or may not have sent to link it to any charges against her so you know she's not charging anything i keep repeating it and probably the reason is or at least a solid reason is this ridiculously ridiculously tactically improper interview and the grant of the immunity. So Nancy, she should get a lawyer, but these guys really, quite frankly, have made it that she doesn't have to waste the money. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining us now is Dr. Todd Barr, board certified anatomic, clinical and forensic pathologist.

He is at the Franklin County Forensic Science Center and the Office of the Coroner in Columbus and featured in Thin Places, Essays from In Between. Dr. Barr, thank you for being with us. Dr. Barr, we also learn that Maddie's mother, Jen Soto, kept a very scientific chart of Maddie's menstrual periods and even had multiple pregnancy tests in the homes. It would be arguable that she knew her 12 year old daughter was having sex. But with who? You would think so. I mean, she is as much admitted to this that she knew about this, that this was going on and makes excuses for him, which I just don't understand this. I mean, she basically had the power to save her own daughter's life. Dr. Todd Bart joining us, guys, board certified anatomic clinical

and forensic pathologist. Even with the degree of decomp, it had only been a couple of days before her body was found, but she is out in the elements and it is Florida. How would you be able to tell? This is precautionary, doctor, and you've been through plenty of trials to understand my concern. I think the video will come in off of his cell phone, but what if it doesn't? The state's got to be ready to prove that he, Stefan Stearns, raped and sodomized Maddie Soto, who had just turned 13 years old. So how can we go about proving, even with the body in a partial state of decomposition, how can we prove she was raped and how can we prove she was sodomized? Well, they would most likely have collected a sexual assault kit in this particular case.

Now, sexual assault kits are only valuable up to a point. After three or four days of decomposition, being able to get viable sperm from a sexual assault kit would be difficult. That being said, it has been done, but the longer time goes on, the less evidence you're going to have. But they would also be able to obtain evidentiary information from the clothing that she was wearing, whatever swabs that they could collect from the clothing, from her body, and do DNA testing. Of course, with him living in the condo with her, his DNA is going to be on her. 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.

They had 239. I had 203. Opposite ends of the building. I brought my stuff up, went over and said goodnight and then hit the sack. After you guys went to your separate ways, when's the next time you talked to Stefan? I got up at 6.30 for the 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 10.45-ish, and she called and asked if Stephan was with me. And I said, no. Why? Well, he's not here.

Well, I think we know where he was. Shannon Butler joining me, WFTV 9. Shannon, isn't it true that he and Jen Soto are at one end of the hotel, his parents are at the other, his dad and stepmother at the other end of the hotel. And he sneaks out around 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning and drives 300 miles. Yeah, if you know where North Port, Florida is, it is south near Sarasota.

He drove there because that's where his parents lived. Police say that he drove there not only for a hard drive and a flash drive, but that he wanted to use their internet so he could log onto Wi-Fi and they believe delete images that he had of sexually explicit things. It's a long, long drive to Yosemite. According to police who followed, we now know, tracked the two cars, including Jen Soto's car, through license grabbers, red light cams, surveillance cams to a garage where he reportedly took Maddie's body out of the seatbelt and put it in the trunk. So, hey, Ray Giudice, that's not odd at all that you wake up at three, four o'clock in the morning and drive 150 miles each way to your mom's home and try to log on to the Wi-Fi. Not odd at all, right? Well, his story doesn't line up.

And I keep going back to why did they take this statement and give immunity? Because as we go through this story today in a systematic approach, the detectives had all of that tracking. They have what you just brought up, which is extremely suspicious at the minimum and lots of evidence. So why did they give her immunity? I guess they really feel that she didn't commit a crime. That's the only thing and lots of evidence. So why did they give her immunity? I guess they really feel that she didn't commit a crime. That's the only thing I can think of. Well, take a listen to what. This is Stefan Stern's father, Christopher, speaking in a police interview.

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. Listen. Well, he had an energy drink in his hand. He said he got lost. And you know, in the back rows, hell, I got lost and I had a GPS. 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 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 your reaction. To Tom Smith, former NYPD detective, co-host of a hit podcast, Gold Shields. You can find him at thegoldshieldshow.com. Tom, so the little girl is missing.

They have to get out of the condo for the condo to be processed by police. And he drives 100, what, about six hours round trip in the middle of the night, shows up and says he got lost. Yeah, not buying it. Sorry. 30 years of experience would lead me to believe that's a lie. But here's the other thing you know if you're up on him and you're thinking of him as a suspect and they move away from that area set up a surveillance on him set us up a surveillance on where he's staying just in case something like this happens you don't have

her body yet which means it's still out there the more police pressure that's put on him the more he's going to panic and make a move like this. So why not set something up in the area just in case something like this happened? You follow him, then you got him. So what does Stefan Stearns' mother, Debra, have to say when she finds out he showed up at her house 150 miles away in the middle of the night to log on to her Wi-Fi and delete photos? Listen. That mother****, you know what? You know what stopped him from getting in the middle of the night to log onto her Wi-Fi and delete photos? Listen. That mother****, you know what? You know what stopped him from getting in the house? He didn't have a garage door opener. The front door lock is not working well. And I had put the lock on the slider. He couldn't get in.

Detectives now believe Stearns never intended to enter his parents' home, but wanted to use their Wi-Fi to delete images and videos depicting his years-long abuse of Maddie from his Google account. Stearns was unsuccessful, and investigators recovered the deleted files. Despite the turn away from Christopher Stearns' storage unit, he still decides to search the items inside. Stearns discovers two flash drives in a box of his son's belongings. Investigators find one of the drives containing nearly 35,000 images of child pornography. 35,000 images of child porn to Shannon Butler, WFTV 9. What?

I know even we were shocked at that number when they first charged him because remember they charged him with that before they charged her or charged him with Madeline Soto's murder. And we knew that there was video on the phones. They told us that very early on, but then when they got this flash drive and told us 35,000 images, we were like, how long has this been going on? How long has he been, you know, downloading these videos? We still don't have an answer to that. I mean, we know it was years, but we don't know if it was 20 years or just the years he had been abusing her. It was just, it was, it just got worse and worse as time went on as we started to look

into this case. And then he moves in with Maddie Soto. 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 happened 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 aimlessly. Yeah, he was looking for his mom's Wi-Fi password. That's what I was looking for. And then I ended up just kind of driving around aimlessly. Yeah, he was looking for his mom's Wi-Fi password. That's what he was looking for. So, long story short, you were hearing a video call from behind bars. When will they learn to you, Tom Smith, that every phone call is recorded? They never learn, and thankfully for that. You have the right to remain silent goes over their head, and don't talk on the phone goes over their head.

And thankfully for that, because there's so much information that's given or taken from those calls that are vital to the investigation, just like this one. Well, this is what Father Christopher Stearns has to say. Look, he spent a lifetime lying to us. Okay. And it's just never gotten better. And he fed me some bulls**t the other day. And 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? Yeah. And she got really kind of offended, defensive a little bit. I said, I'm not saying that he did something, but can we honestly say we really know? Will he be able to convince a jury of his innocence? Remember, both he and Jen Soto are innocent in our country until proven guilty in a court of law beyond a reasonable doubt. At this time, Jen Soto has not been named a suspect or a person of interest. In fact, the state has entered a deal with her, giving her immunity in exchange for testimony.

Nancy Gray signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.