KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Newly released discovery documents give insight into how law enforcement officers came to arrest Stephan Sterns as part of the investigation into the disappearance and death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto in February.
The state attorney’s office on Thursday released several redacted reports, as well as new audio from an interview detectives conducted with Sterns on Feb. 27, the day Orange County sheriff’s detectives began their investigation.
Sterns is charged with first-degree murder in Soto’s death. While the documents released do not give insight into why Sterns was charged with Soto’s death, it does show why Sterns was arrested on charges of sexual battery and child pornography.
According to a case supplemental report, a detective interviewed Sterns at the residence he shared with Soto and Soto’s mother. Corresponding audio from the interview shows Sterns was asked exactly where he dropped Soto off, and where he went afterward. Over the course of the conversation, detectives question some details, which appears to lead to Sterns changing his story. You can listen to the interview below.
After the interview, the detective checked out video from the complex’s security gate. The report says the detective saw Sterns’ vehicle leaving with a female wearing a green sweater in the front passenger seat.
“The female was slumped over to her left, which is an abnormal way for a person to be seated in a vehicle,” the report said.
That led detectives to secure the home so they could get a search warrant, the report states.
While that search warrant was executed, detectives also executed a search warrant on Sterns’ phone. Sterns had told the detectives that he had accidentally done a factory reset on the device, but detectives did find images saved to a Google Drive. Once they got access to the drive, the report says they found over 1,700 photo and video files depicting graphic images of a naked child, and also of the child performing sex acts.
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The report said the Google Drive had files going back to at least 2019.
The report also details an interview with a redacted witness, who talked to the detectives about the relationship between Sterns, Soto and Soto’s mother, where detectives showed the witness one of the pictures from the Google Drive. The witness became “visibly upset.”
Detectives then interviewed Sterns at the sheriff’s office on Feb. 28 and asked about his relationship with Soto’s mother, as well as the sleeping arrangements at home. The report says Sterns told detectives that he typically shared a bed with Soto’s mother and Soto, and someone (name is redacted) always needed human contact when going to sleep. As the detectives segued to the images on the Google Drive, the report says Sterns agreed to having his phone searched, and admitted to having a Google Drive.
When detectives asked Sterns about the nature of the photos he had saved, Sterns requested an attorney, according to the report. He was then arrested.
Soto’s body was found in a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County on March 1.
A grand jury returned a first-degree murder indictment against Sterns on April 24.
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