ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The Orange County Sheriff’s Office released body-camera video on Monday showing the initial investigation into the disappearance of Madeline Soto from the night she was reported missing.
The first video shows the initial interviews with Jenn Soto, Madeline Soto’s mother, and Stephan Sterns, the mom’s boyfriend and the man who would ultimately be named the prime suspect and charged in the 13-year-old’s death.
Madeline Soto was first reported missing on Feb. 26.
The video begins with the deputy meeting Jenn Soto and Sterns. Jenn Soto can be heard explaining that she had gone to pick up her daughter from Hunter’s Creek Middle School, but the girl never came out.
[TIMELINE: Here’s where things stand in the Madeline Soto case so far]
“I got a notice from the school saying she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher, and he looked at her entire attendance today and saw that she was completely not at school today,” Jenn Soto told the deputy in the video.
As they continue the description, Sterns tells the deputy, “She just had her 13th birthday.”
Sterns can also be heard telling the deputy what she was last seen wearing.
“A green hoodie, white Crocs and either blue or black pants,” he said in the video.
“Black shorts, I think,” Jenn Soto responded.
The next video shows Jenn Soto explaining to deputies that Madeline Soto left her phone at home. In addition, Jenn Soto claimed that Madeline had wanted to be dropped off down the road from her school.
At the time, investigators were told Sterns dropped Madeline Soto off near the middle school around 8:30 a.m.; however, Sheriff John Mina would later say that the girl was “already dead at the time.”
“She was embarrassed by his car, so she didn’t want to be dropped off at the school,” Jenn Soto said in the video. “She wanted to be dropped off half a block away.”
Two more videos from the sheriff’s office show deputies as they searched for Madeline Soto during the initial phases of the investigation.
Another body-camera video shows deputies continuing to search for Madeline Soto, though Sterns can be heard explaining where he claimed he had dropped her off earlier that morning.
“It was along this stretch. I can’t tell you the exact spot, but it was around where these communities were,” Sterns said in the video.
A sixth video released by the sheriff’s office shows detectives looking at surveillance footage from the church near where Sterns claimed to drop Madeline Soto off for school.
While deputies put a black box over the footage to obscure the surveillance video, it reportedly shows someone — whom deputies originally thought could have been Madeline Soto — sitting on the property for around 10 minutes. However, the surveillance video was too blurry for deputies to tell for certain.
The last video provided by the sheriff’s office shows a deputy speaking with church staff before speaking with Jenn Soto about the investigation.
In the video, the deputy tells Jenn Soto that investigators were going to try to contact other people in the area who might have more surveillance footage that could help with the investigation.
“Do you know any spots that (Madeline Soto) probably hangs out at? That she doesn’t want to tell Mom or Dad?” the deputy asked her.
“She never goes here,” Jenn Soto answered, pointing at the church. “And if she did, they would’ve said something right away. I don’t know if she knows anyone out here.”
A few days after the search on Feb. 29, Sterns would be arrested and named the prime suspect in the 13-year-old’s disappearance.
On March 1, Madeline Soto’s body was found in the woods along Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County.
Nearly two weeks later, Sterns would be hit with multiple child sex abuse charges. Investigators said they found pictures and videos of the man sexually abusing a child.
It would be several more weeks before Sterns would be indicted in Madeline Soto’s death. He is now awaiting trial.
News 6 is still reviewing the body-camera videos released by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. This story will updated as we gather more information.
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