OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Months after the body of 13-year-old Madeline Soto was discovered in Osceola County, new investigative documents have revealed her cause of death.
The documents state that Soto’s death was ruled a homicide via strangulation.
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Soto was originally reported missing in late February and her body was discovered about four days later in a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County. Detectives said they were “confident” Soto was already dead by the time they began their search.
While Soto’s mother and Stephan Sterns — the mother’s boyfriend — initially claimed that Sterns had dropped Soto off at school that morning, investigators announced that their stories didn’t quite line up.
[TIMELINE: Here’s where things stand in the Madeline Soto case so far]
In fact, Sterns had been caught on surveillance cameras throwing items into a dumpster at a Kissimmee apartment complex on the morning Soto went missing. Soto’s backpack and school-issued laptop were later found in that same dumpster.
Soto’s body was also spotted inside Sterns’ car that day while he was driving around, though she was likely no longer alive by that point, according to authorities.
Despite Sterns factory-resetting his phone, detectives said they were able to find child pornography and evidence that Sterns had been sexually abusing Soto as far back as 2022.
Sterns was arrested and now faces the following charges:
- premeditated murder
- 40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child Ten or More Images
- 5 counts of Sexual Battery with a Child 12-18 (Familial/Custodial Authority)
- 7 counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation
- 8 counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12
The newly released investigative reports have also revealed that Sterns and Soto were sleeping together in Sterns’ room at the family’s Kissimmee home on the night before her death.
Additional details provided by Kissimmee police show that on the day after Soto went missing, Sterns had driven to North Port. His parents live in the area, and he was known to stay there when he wasn’t staying with Soto’s mother in Kissimmee, police said.
Detectives said they believe that the North Port trip was an attempt by Sterns to scrub evidence of the sexual abuse he’d perpetrated.
A status hearing in Sterns’ case is scheduled for Oct. 14.
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