Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Vanished in Orlando: The Case of Maddie Soto

Episode Date: May 2, 2026

A 13-year-old Florida girl seemingly vanished early in the morning on a school day. The boyfriend of Madeline Soto’s mother said he dropped her off near her school, not at the front door, because she was embarrassed by him. Maddie’s mother, Jennifer Soto, went to pick her up from school, and she was nowhere to be found. Her disappearance sparked an all-out search while investigators collected evidence from that morning. Find out what happened to Maddie Soto on this episode of “Prime Crime with Jesse Weber.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is one of those cases that captivates America. It's every parent's worst nightmare. And there are a half a dozen different possibilities right out of the shoot as to what could have happened to this child. 911, we need police fire or medical? We already called pretty times. And the police didn't show up yet.

The police didn't show up. So they kept calling 911 hoping someone would respond. In my heart, I feel like somebody took her. No one could have imagined just how far this story would spiral. Are you, in the sense, blaming yourself? Sorry not too. Jennifer Soto went to pick up her daughter at school in the afternoon when she got to school. Madeline Soto wasn't there.

So she and her family called police. They quickly realized she never made it to school. She's white. She's white, 30 blonde hair, blue eyes. How long has it been, though, since you guys have last seen her? She was dropped off at school this morning, and apparently she never showed up. Time is of the essence, because the longer it takes

to find the child, the worst the end of the story might be. Madeline's mother, Jennifer, she was alerted by an automated recording from the school at 6 p.m. that Madeline had not made it to school that. that she was tardy, she was absent. So there was time lost. She was missing for a while before it was ever reported to police. Does she have a cell phone that she might keep on her person?

She had when she looked at home conveniently today. We'll have deputies out there to come and make a report with you, okay? That is a very odd word to use conveniently. So this is going to play into the cell phone or ADHD. She is forgetful. This is typical of Madeline. Multiple 911 calls came in because the original call you expect law enforcement to come right away. I just called 911. And when they didn't do that over and over again, they called trying to get some help. 911. What is the location of your emergency?

Hi, I called not that long ago reporting the missing child. I just wanted to know how long the cost could take to get here. The cost are currently pending. So no one's on their way yet. Not yet, no. Law enforcement has a priority system, so they don't divert resources to cases where someone's a runaway, for example, and not endangered. And when the 911 calls came in about Madeline, at first it was given the lowest priority, but she was only 13. The age of 13 is a little young to be a runaway. It happens, but it should have raised a red flag right away. And what's worse? Several hours go by, and they're still,

still no police response. So they have to call a third time. No, one, one, what is a location of emergency? We have a missing child. We already called three times. And the police didn't show up yet. I think panic sets in. They call law enforcement.

They don't show up. And I think they kind of felt disregarded. This little girl's been missing for hours at this point. It's an emergency. They got. We have the information, but it just didn't. They're trying to get the first. someone as soon as possible.

So this is not important for you guys? Really? But we're very distant area. I understand. They'll be there something like that. Okay. In those three hours, could something have been done? You know, because time is so critical in these situations. And for them, that's a terrible position to be in. Police finally respond three hours after that initial 911 call.

This is mom. Hey there. Hey there. What's going on? So my daughter was dropped off close to school this morning, but never me. I went to pick her up from school today and she never came out. Sometimes she'll walk here to this office. I came here, nothing.

I got to notice an email from the school saying she was absent. Jen Soto was upfront, right? And you saw her with this fear response. When someone's eyelids raise up so high that you literally can see the white all the way around the eyes, that's a high level of fear. In addition to that, she's actually rocking from side to side, that adrenaline rush. That's the panic. What was she last seen wearing? Green hoodie? Green hoodie? White crocs.

White crocs. Either blue or black pants. I think black shorts. Did she like have any places that you guys know that she would usually be at, any friends' house, any places that like she has to hang out? Typically. No. What was really interesting about that is that we had steps and stern in the back. He had his arms crossed. He was in a frozen but yet relaxed position. He didn't show any sort of support for mom. And you would hear him intercept every now and then.

She does, but she left her home today. I haven't. And I've already known through her messages. The only device she's got on her right now is her school laptop. She got dropped off. She was like, I, um, so she's embarrassed by this car. So she wanted me dropped off at school. She wanted to be dropped off like half a block away so she can walk. Did she have remote school? No, we called school.

She was walking in that direction. She was rifling through her backpack. Look the same as in the other morning. But here's the interesting thing is he said that we took her to school and we saw her walk across the street. And then it dropped to, he took her to school because he was the one that drove her. So there was some ambiguity whether who was the one that dropped off.

Was it them together or was it just him doing it solo? And was the last time you seen or do you know that what time? Around 830, 840 when we dropped her off? At that point in time, he takes his hat and shoves it down. Now why is this important? So when we look at these nonverbal cues, it's highly suspicious that something else is going on. His affect is not the same.

He's not showing sadness or concern. Was it here? There's a long as a stretch, there's nobody at that it was on where these communities were. And it's just like in this district, like we could see the overpass down there. We just came down and we drove about halfway down

and she was like, that's good right here. All right. I don't believe that this day and age. She's no care of what's going on in the line. Police canvassed this entire area around the spot where Madeline was allegedly dropped off. And surveillance footage at a nearby church, at a nearby church, that seemingly gives investigators their first brain.

You know how I keep thinking of? She basically ran away with her boyfriend. She looked for me. It's like that feels intentional. Like, I don't want to be tracked. She got up. She's walking. Oh, yeah.

And she walked away. It's going to why she's gone. So nobody picked her up. The video from the church, it showed a young woman, well, Adeline Soto was just walking away, then that shows that if she didn't make it to school that day, that's because she decided not to show up to school. She perhaps was a runaway. It's possible that she came here, blurry video, but it looks like an Alice Child sitting right there. The people here said that they were out of it.

They seen her on the property. But like I said, it's a blurred video. And I don't see her getting into anybody's car in the video. I see you're sitting on property for, give it or take 10 minutes and then locking off property. I don't know which way she went from there. So now we have a possible sighting of Madeline, but no one has any idea where this young teenager is gone.

And the clock is ticking. Everything and everyone kicks it into high gear to try to find her. Immediately you think, eh, did she skip school? It is pretty normal for. for us not to go out and search and choose to cover a story and tell law enforcement says this child is missing or person is missing. But there was just something in my gut that said,

you guys probably need to go down and just interview the parents just in case. In my heart, I feel like somebody took her. She had a birthday party on Sunday. She had a great time. I told her good night and yeah, that was it. I was the one who took at her school in the morning. That was my partner.

He seemed very emotional right now, explain to us. I dropped her off. Everything looked fine when I drove away. Celeste, we saw her. Are you, in the sense, blaming yourself? Sorry not, too. It's the reality to keep dating. We don't know where she is.

We don't know she's safe. We just want a baby girl back. Jen Soto and Stefan Stearns had an on and off again relationship, but he was still visiting the family. It took us a few days to try to figure out what that relationship was, because they called themselves boyfriend, girlfriend. They said it was her fiance.

Then we found out in the end, they didn't even live together at the time. They had broken up. So there was a really weird dynamic between the two of them, with this little girl kind of in between, he describes, and so did she, a close relationship between Madeline Soto and Stefan Stearns.

You don't want to think it's a possibility, but we know in this world, and I've investigated thousands of predators over many years, you have to look at people closest to the victim because there are the ones with the opportunity. And sadly, in this world, predators will seek vulnerable people. I feel like I can't breathe.

All I keep thinking about is where is she? That interview immediately raised questions for us about what happened. It wasn't about what they said. It's about how they acted. It was not normal behavior. She's not the type that we just went off. We were scared. We just want her home.

Fethy. Not the boy, Fethy. I don't know. was trying to walk back home on her own or she was trying to go to her friend's house. Probably the most outstays she would walk back to the job. But the grandmother never saw her. Grandma said she knows. Okay.

Investigators put every resource into locating Madeline, canine tracking, officers on foot, canvassing around the neighborhood, anything they can do to try to drum up some kind of lead. Hey guys. So, um, we're just going to try to see if we could be. full one more clothing. That's okay with you guys? Yeah, we're gonna have the dog sniff it out again. The searches from the canines were not successful because Madeline never made it to school. Hello, if you see this child?

She's looks? Yes. So if you guys see her somewhere, just give us a call. Is this about that love girl? Oh my god, I've been crying all day long. I kept saying to myself, I said, I'm hoping she skipped school today. Unfortunately, you know, we still haven't found her. and we're looking for any information possible.

There was a lot of people in that area, which kind of made it even more strange that no one would have seen this little girl because it wasn't like you were in the middle of nowhere. This is right in the middle of a very busy area of Orlando. We're here looking for a missing child. Do you guys have any video surveillance at all? No cameras?

No. It shocks us because it happens in our neighborhood. It happens, I think, every day, which is just it's different on its nearby. At this point, it is so important to cast a wider net, spread word around the entire state, even across the country in the hopes of getting some answers. This is every parent's worst nightmare.

We have well over 100 deputies, detectives, intelligence analysts, and specialized personnel searching for Madeline right now. We will not stop until we find. The community immediately rallied around this little girl. The online traffic for this case was insane. That then gets all the attention of the Instagrammers and the bloggers and the YouTubers. It's now been more than 24 hours since Madeline Soto was last seen.

So investigators need to speak with Jennifer and Stefan and they sit them down for formal interviews. Can you tell me when is the last Last time you were with saw. Saw her, I'm gonna say Sunday night. Sunday she had her birthday party, right? What time was that party out? I started at three at five.

Okay, from three to what time? I'm not sure I wasn't there out without work. That party was significant because early on, we were trying to figure out, did something happen at that party? There was no indication from that party that anything was wrong. I heard her one day getting ready for. getting ready for school. Where did she go to bed? She actually slept upstairs with, we were all going

to sleep together in the same bed, but I got a new job recently. I haven't been more arrested. I needed some sleep. And Stefan is the one you're referring to, right? Yeah, Steph and Sir. Do you guys normally all sleep together? She sleeps in with me typically. When he comes to the town, he'll sleep in the guest bed. He moved the way back in December. So no arguments at home recently or anything? No, nothing like that. At first, the conversation went that they, all slept in a downstairs bedroom, all three of them in the same bed. Then when the pictures come out, we see that there was an empty room that he was sleeping in. And then you see this kind of blocked off room in a common area.

And that was Madeline Soto's bedroom. She did not have a bedroom with the door of her own. It is inappropriate for a young teen girl to be in bed on a regular basis with her mother's boyfriend. It's not healthy, it's not good, and in this case, it was a predictor of criminal activity. What time does she normally leave for school? We usually leave around 8.50 at the latest. The previous night, you and Stefan had agreed that he was going to get and take her in the morning. Okay. And they were going to stop at McClain. McDonald's and get breakfast, but she changed her mind.

When Stefan called me around 10, 18 in the morning, he had just let me know that he just got back home from running a few errands. It is crucial to separate the parties out. We want them to tell from the beginning to the end the way they remember it. We want to know, is their language similar or is it word for word verbatim,

which would lead to the two of them have already corroborated, had this discussion, and already planned out what they were going to say. When you said you dropped her off, like in the area, where exactly did you drop her off? So if you pulled down the street going towards the school, it was in that stretch of sidewalk. They kept going back to Stefan's story.

And each time you could see some cracks. When you keep asking those questions, that person has to repeat. Every time they deviate from that, that could be incriminating. So after you dropped her off, do you remember? or what you did after? Yeah, after I left her, you know, I was just driving away. She looked like she was making her way towards a school like normal, so I went on with my day.

I had a couple errands to run over on 192. Their account would be more similar if they were experiencing it exactly at the same time. We know Jen was not there to drop her off. What she was doing was parroting what he told her. She then took it on as being her story. You'd say you guys have a pretty good relationship. Yeah, definitely a very strong bond. Would she say she's usually like a happy, good, you know,

very happy? She brings a lot of joy. She was so happy to. She was looking forward to my visit here. She was looking forward to us all being together. Once it became a parent that the mother's boyfriend had an unusually close relationship with the mother's daughter, you have to really dig into that. What was going on there?

Were they just, you know, a stepfather, stepdaughter type situation relationship? Or was there something more nefarious? The other detective mentioned that you did not have your phone yesterday? Correct. I left my phone at home in the morning, too. I was so busy. 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. I went to do an update yesterday morning. I don't know what the heck I did, but somehow I managed to factory reset my phone and lose all of my contacts, all my information. How many times in the history of your cell phone ownership have you accidentally wiped out the call record of your phone. I have never done it. This guy now under the harsh light of scrutiny for the disappearance of his girlfriend's daughter. What are the odds that magically this happens to him? It is very suspicious. It stinks to hell. In the meantime while we're waiting for all this to get sorted out, I am going to hold on to your phone okay? Law enforcement was able to recover what was on that

phone. That was the moment that people knew, oh, something is terribly wrong. Do you have any idea where she would be? No. None whatsoever. How was your name? I don't know what I should get very good sleep. Just give us a few more minutes. I'm just waiting for somebody else to come, okay? He was asleep when detectives walked in. Step on.

How you doing, sir? That's okay. Didn't mean to wake you up. We just talked to Jennifer a little bit. So I may ask you things that you've already answered probably three or four times. And I apologize as well. My memory is not super reliable.

His behavior of sleeping over the years, he was always tired, he said, right? He was always up at night and he didn't sleep. And he was all groggy and having that conversation and he used that groginess as an excuse. What are the sleeping arrangements? Sunday night? We're in the same bed together.

same bed together so she used to do you and stood at the gas room upstairs me coming up there so it's a snuggle time that that would suffice in the gym get to sleep in peace so you say snuggle time what's what is that like to be alone she's extremely dependent morning time comes around walking throughout got out early the plan was to get some McDonald's away so we got out nice and early Remember what time you left? Roughly? Not 100%.

Sorry. Sorry. My memory is stopping super reliable. Maybe 3745. He never really looked at the police officers in the eye, never consistently always look down or around. And then he would make excuses. I'm so sorry.

Also politeness, overly politeness and excuses are also a deceptive indicator. But we leave the house. start making her way to the school. How would she like on the car ride there? Just get calmed down, sleeping. His vocal tone is down. He's got this kind of scratchy, performed sort of sadness.

Yet his eyebrows never pinched up. The expressions and movements within his face never showed authentic sadness. What, you do the rest of the day? The next stop I wanted to go to was the make shop. Maybe new, or 1 o'clock. I have a few errands to ride. And I wanted to go check out some kingdom shops.

What I wanted to be back in time first to go . I'm 92, flat at some point, which made me late. So I got home and called her and said, hey, I'm so sorry, I got a flat. She already left. Now, at this point, detectives have collected several pieces of evidence, but it's something they find in the garbage that piques their interest about Stefan Stern's movements. Before Madeline Soto was even reported missing.

Did you take any trash out from the apartment? It was it night before I think I did? I'm not sure. I took the trash out at some point. They started asking him questions. Hey, did you ever go to the trash? And I'm not sure at that point he knew what they were necessarily getting at. Nowadays, cameras are everywhere.

Okay. We see you go by the dumpster. What was in the trench? That's trash. Okay. When you for school, Did she have her backpack with him? Yes.

She did. Well, I can confidently tell you she did not go to school with her backpack. I was there? Because we found in the trash. They already knew that his story didn't match up. The video from that apartment complex had shown him throwing her backpack away in the dumpster. I have kids. He's got kids. And this little girl's out there somewhere.

girls out there somewhere that we need to nowhere. And I really, really, really think you can help us. That was the moment you could tell that he knew he was caught. You know, she's ever been sexually active with anybody in the past. I'm not that I'm aware of. I heard there was some sort of incident when she was much younger. She did something with a phone or a camera, but got scolded for it. For what I understand that you gave the deputies consent to look through your phone. What do you think was on the phone? Text messages.

Emails. Pictures? Yeah. What kind of pictures do you're on there? Uh, training card pictures, lightsaber pictures, Disney pictures. When the suspect deletes things, They somehow believe that just pressing delete just clears their history forever. It doesn't work like that.

Law enforcement is really powerful in this area. They've got advanced technology. Do you have a Google account? Yeah. Do you save pictures to your Google account? Sometimes. Can we pack of pictures of you? Probably, I mean, went to Disney, took selfies on the train.

I see this all the time when I interview predators during our sting operations. they get to a point where they're boxed in and then you lower the boom you present this evidence this digital evidence that just can't be explained away any other pictures anything of here's where i'm going to be portally honest with you there's and i'm pretty sure you know what some of those pictures are about so do you want to add to the list of pictures Sure. Should I be talking with a lawyer right now? I can't answer that question. I feel like I should probably have a lawyer president at this point.

Do you want to know what you're being detained for? Yeah. Capital sexual battery and possession of child pornography. He violated every single layer of that trust when he tried to develop a relationship with his child. And I would argue that he had planned this. He had planned this all along. And he groomed this child. And each time he got a little closer

and a little further down the grooming trail, he could justify this in his own mind. And all of a sudden, detectives present him with his digital, forensic, undeniable evidence of a crime. And there's no way out. The content on Stern's phone and other hard drives that were found in his storage, That dates back years.

Police even find these lewd drawings in Madeline's school notebook. Thanks to Stefan Stern's father, law enforcement were alerted to that hard drive. And it wasn't just images of Madeline, but also images of Jennifer's roommate. People lie, but photos generally don't. And when you can recover 35,000 images,

it shows motive. But it also is a separate crime in itself. 35,000 images. images, it'll get you locked up for life. And sexual abuse of a child, as was found on that hard drive, that could get you the death penalty in Florida. This guy clearly needed to be stopped. I don't think anybody saw this case taking that kind of turn.

And so now police want to speak to Jennifer again. I was a-woken up at some time. For the longest time, I've been saying he woke me up at 8 o'clock in the morning. But, Maloney, I don't know what time he woke me up. He told me he was gonna go out cruising that night to go look for him. I didn't question that. I asked him, are you sure it's a good idea? You should probably sit tight.

Eventually, reporters come to the house and do an interview. And he ugly cried in front of the camera too. So he was f***ed. Fayecky. At the time, I thought he was truly heartbroken and not that he had done all this shit to her. Like, I look back at now, I'm just like, he was lying. He was faking. What else has he been lying to me about? Jennifer says, man, looking back now, I noticed all of these things that did seem to be off with Stefan. I think Detective Hunt came or somebody came and asked Stefan for his cell phone. He started getting very anxious and very panicky going, I want my phone back. I want my phone back.

And I'm just like, do you, are you trying to make yourself more suspicious? At one point, he takes my phone. I think from my phone he was trying to log into his emails. I started saying to him, like, I think. they're focusing it 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 and he kept saying the same thing do you offering him a lawyer's very weird I know I know the main thing is is that she was in constant denial the fact that she was duped shocked her so what we saw in her was the shaking

and the trembling the white face the wide eyes all of these responses physiological responses She was replaying things in her subconscious mind that can't possibly be him. The living situation with them, I'll be honest, seems weird. It's weird to me. Originally, the plan was that all three of us were going to sleep in my bed together. It wasn't until June that he got his own bedroom and I sent him upstairs. That's where the, that's where the requests for sleepover started. Okay.

And I kept telling her no. When you guys slept in the same bed together, did you ever wake up and find the cuddling? Did you ever wake up and find them closer than you thought they should be? They would, they would stumble. Yeah. But I, we all snuggle. And you never found that weird. I think people felt like Jen Soto led her daughter into that situation by allowing her to sleep with Stefan Stearns.

And people wanted to know, aren't you asking questions about it? that the daughter has never told you anything about what goes on in that room and this had been going on for years since she was like eight years old let's be very clear there's only one man responsible but yes the mother of this child she's got some culpability here and i've seen this many times over the years the mother either doesn't want to believe it or purposefully looks the other way. Now you know, you victimized her for a long time, right? Out of your roof.

With you home, most likely. We can tell you that today, they're still downloading his Google drives. We are still going through his social media. And we can now piece back her victimization in your house under your care to 2020. We're looking at a minimum of three and a half years. So at a certain point,

I do believe you became aware of what was going on. No. This has been an ongoing thing. and her age, I think she probably thought they were in relationships. She probably thought they were in love. Yes, the mother should have known, should have kicked him out of the house, and removed the daughter from harm's way. Absolutely. That's a parent's job.

But you have to understand the level of manipulation that takes place on the part of these predators. It's a horrifying thing to think about what this child went through. If I knew anything, I promise you, I would tell you, like, I am willing to take a lie detector test. I was oblivious to this every four years. Minimum. That's just how far back the cloud goes. It's so f***. This man has all of these videos on his phone for years.

Then you find out he's got child porn images on other files. They had specific videos of Madeline Soto and Stefan Stearns, and the thing that that he was doing to her. The video showed everything that the police needed to know at the time, that something bad was going on inside that house for years. Because here's the deal. We don't go home until she's found. I believe Stefan killed her.

All we can do now is trying her as quickly as possible. I want to believe he killed her. I want to believe she's still alive and that she got kidnapped, but that doesn't seem like that's the case. Well, it's not wrong. this community thought there was a little girl who had vanished. Now they realized that she was living in a house of hell. When you guys show 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. And the community was outraged

at that moment, not at Stefan Stearns at Jen Soto. Now you've had an arrest of the mother's boyfriend, the living boyfriend. So of course you're going to look and scrutinize the mother. What did she know? Should she have known? So that's why a lot of people are wondering, why isn't she arrested for something? But you've got to have enough evidence. Prosecutor says can't go on hunches. Although we have not found Madeline, we are now confident that she is dead. Our detectives have determined that Madeline was never dropped off on the morning of February 26th near her school.

Instead, we believe she was already dead. that Stefan Stearns moved her body in the early morning hours on that day. He stuck to the story that Madeline Soto was asleep in the front seat. That made sense if you're thinking about what if somebody sees me going in and out and they saw her slumped over. They had video and knew immediately he was driving around with her dead in the front seat of that car. The evidence is just piling up.

And as we've seen in so many different cases before, the video surveillance, that could be the key piece of evidence that takes Stefan Stearns down for the murder of Madeline Soto. We have video evidence that shows Stefan Stearns discarding items in a dumpster in that apartment complex. We have evidence that shows Stefan Stearns returning to the complex and Madeline was visible in that vehicle. We believe she was already dead at that time. What does he do? He goes into a parking garage. cameras everywhere around you. They could see him taking this lifeless body and putting it into the trunk all on camera. This is when law enforcement really digs in. They collect several items from the apartment for testing, cell phones from anyone and everyone who is in Madeline's inner circle,

and they also collect Jennifer and Stefan's cars. When the canines got a scent of Madeline in Jennifer's car and not Stefan Stern's car. That does complicate things because it does provide the defense with some sort of way out, where perhaps if they introduce that to a jury, that could be reasonable doubt. And the fact that Madeline Sent was found in her mother's car does not change the focus from Stefan Stern's, but it is something that law enforcement and prosecutors would have to deal with. We've all heard about the missing child, Madeline Soto. Please, if you think or feel, you may have heard or seen something, call.

Give us a tip. We need your help. And breaking news at six sources just confirmed at Channel 9. The body of missing 13-year-old Madeline Soto has been found. There had been a massive search for Madeline. And investigators with the sheriff's office got a tip that a man had been seen matching Stefan's description, changing. a tire. He had a flat tire. And so they go out there to the area to check it out. They find a tire. They search further. And sadly, they find the remains of Madeline's body.

And it is as awful as we all suspected. Madeline Soto was strangled. Her body was found feet away from a rural road behind some hay and brush beside a fence in Osceola County. know how long it would have been before we found Madeline Soto's body if that man hadn't called. He knew exactly where Stefan Stearns was when that car had a flat tire. And on March 1st, we received information placing Stern's vehicle in a rural area of St. Cloud, where ultimately Madeline's body was discovered. At this time, Stearns is facing a total of 60 charges related to our investigation. Police had no problem. telling the public what a horrible guy he was.

This community felt like this little girl had no ally in her home. They had a huge memorial for a little girl they didn't know. They felt like the protectors of Madeline Soto, even in her death. So months after Stearns was initially charged with just dozens of crimes related to child sexual abuse and possession of child pornography, the homicide case is presented to a grand jury. I know the community and the media have been anxious for us to give an update on this case. Stefan Stearns has been indicted by the grand jury on first degree murder for the killing of Madeline Soto. So it's just threading all of the pieces together, knitting it all together, which led to only one person, which was Stefan Stearns.

You don't have a man who sleeps with a child and has videos of assaulting her on your phone and then she goes missing. And you don't know how it ends. You know how it ends. Now, instead of grouping all of these charges together, the child sexual abuse charges, the homicide charge, prosecutors do something interesting. They decide to actually try these cases separately. I think the reason why the prosecutors here severed the case was because they saw the child sexual abuse as an easy case to prove. Whereas first three murder is a little more difficult. Remember, a lot of the case is circumstantial.

The evidence in this case is very much. very strong. But having a good case and having a successful prosecution are two different things. And so prosecutors have to really assemble all this evidence in a way that they can present to a judge and or jury to convince them. In the beginning, you had evidence of abuse. He was driving around with her dead. then dumped her in a field in the middle of nowhere. So you think you've heard it all. It cannot get any worse.

And then you get the jail calls. So I was not in my right mind after after her sound her. All I know is, when I look at a picture of you and I look into your eyes, I don't see a monster there. I don't see a bad person there. I see my son who I love. Were you expecting the charges? No.

The murder charge. So you got blindsided by that. Yeah, obviously, you know, it's not true. You know, I never would have wanted her gone for any reason. So, you know, premeditated first degree is kind of a t-de-ch. It almost sounds like you didn't know she had something that had happened to her. Well, I discovered her in the state that she was in. But, no, I was not aware that she had passed on.

I didn't discover what had happened until the, just around Holland. Hmm. Okay. And then I see. Because I discovered that she was made cool. He tells the story to his parents on these jail calls, and all of a sudden was like, oh, I found her. What? Oh, so now you found her body.

You didn't call 911? You didn't scream for help. None of that. Then he says, oh, we were upstairs in the bedroom. When you see the pictures, that door has a lock. on it. It's like a house of horrors. So Stearns has a lot on his plate. He's got two separate trials on the horizon, dozens of serious charges that he's facing. And he's got to say to himself, is there any chance I could beat this at trial or should I just put an end to all of this right

now? What was surprising is he was a little bit defiant in the beginning, like, I don't know what happened to her, that I thought he may take this all the way to trial, but you could tell that reality was starting to sink in. He wasn't getting out of this. The court has received two plea forms. Concerns, how do you plea to first degree premeditated murder? No contest. And as to counts one through eight capital sexual battery of Madeline Soto,

comes nine through 13, sexual battery. It counts 14 through 20, lewd or lascivious molestation. How do you plead? Guilty. There was direct evidence that Stefan Stern's killed Madeline. The fact that he had all the motive in the world here, this was a very strong case with the prosecution. I think they would have gotten a death penalty if they pursued it, but decided to cut a plea deal instead.

He knew that that evidence on his phone, that was it. I agree that it's not fair, that Madeline is not here anymore. I still have a hard time contemplating a world where she's not around. Her passing has torn me and my family apart as well. And she truly was a joy. And I apologize for all the pain. But in this statement, he only seems to be sad for himself. He still doesn't really explain what happened to Madeline or why he did what he did.

Just look at the language and just lay it out. And he doesn't really apologize until the end. What he didn't do is to really take ownership. All he's doing is giving lip service. He is telling the judge and everybody else what he's expected to say. In the victim impact statements, we get to hear from Madeline Soto's relatives. The loved ones who had no idea, no reason to believe that Madeline was in any kind of danger under her own mother's roof. I just miss you and your presence, that unfortunately was taken from us.

I have so much hatred in my heart's physical. specifically for the creature that's sitting in this room today. I would give up my life of him at having you here with us. Madeline Soto was my daughter. She was happiness. She was a joy to be around. Because of the actions of this depraved man, I will never meet the woman she was becoming.

And I can only hope that he lives a long time in prison and has those same horrors revisited upon him by his fellow inmates. This monster took advantage of her trust and her innocence. and her innocence. This parasite robbed us of every moment we could have had with Maddie. And our lives will never be the same. As to first degree premeditated murder of Madeline Soto,

your adjudicated guilty and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. As to the capital sexual battery for each count you are sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Stearns was ultimately given an astounding 21 life sentences, and he will never see freedom on the outside ever again.

My heart breaks for Madeline. This poor child did nothing wrong. She was taken advantage of, she was abused and ultimately killed by a predator. In our children are our most precious asset. And so it's crushing to think about what this child's last moment were like, what her life was like, the abuse that this guy normalized.

And for every predator we take down in one of our investigations, it sends a message to a guy like this that you're not going to get away with it. You wish that somebody would have seen a sign and that somebody would have stepped in earlier. It didn't happen one day. It happened for years. How did no one know? Why didn't anybody pay attention? The injustice of that is what we all struggle with and should struggle with because we have to make sure that that's not acceptable, because bad things do happen. And it takes all of us to make sure that our children are taken care of and protected.