OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – A jury trial in Osceola County court is set to start in May for the main suspect in the disappearance and death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto.
Stephan Sterns, 37, waived another court appearance on Tuesday. His arraignment, according to the clerk of courts office, is scheduled for April 2, a pretrial hearing was scheduled for April 24 and his jury trial was set to begin May 13.
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The Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office announced Tuesday it filed the following 60 new counts against Sterns:
- Eight counts of sexual battery on a child under 12
- Five counts of sexual battery with a child 12-18 (familial/custodial authority)
- Seven counts of lewd or lascivious molestation
- 40 counts of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child 10 or more
If convicted, Sterns faces life in prison. He’s still being held on no bond amount and does not currently face any charges related to Soto’s disappearance and death. Kissimmee police said the investigation is ongoing.
Orange County Public Schools in the meantime has confirmed it’s making changes in its student absence notification system following Soto’s death.
Sterns is the boyfriend of Madeline Soto’s mother and was the last person confirmed to have seen the girl alive, according to investigators. The girl was reported missing around 8 p.m. Feb. 26 after Sterns claimed he dropped her off that morning near Hunter’s Creek Middle School, yet when Madeline’s mother arrived at the school around 4:30 p.m. to pick her up, she was told Madeline had never come to school that day.
He was arrested Feb. 28 after detectives said their investigation into Soto’s disappearance led them to “images and videos that were criminal, and sexual in nature” during a forensic examination of Sterns’ phone, which he claimed to have “accidentally” wiped via factory reset on the day Madeline was reported missing. He was held on no bond to face charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse materials as the search for Madeline continued, investigators said.
During a news conference on March 1, Orange County Sheriff John Mina said investigators were confident Soto was already dead, having been killed at her Kissimmee home before Sterns moved her body. Deputies would soon locate and recover Soto’s body that evening from a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County.
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