OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Stephan Sterns, the man accused of killing 13-year-old Madeline Soto earlier this year, according to the state attorney’s office.
Soto was reported missing on Feb. 26 and law enforcement later found her body on March 1 in the woods along Hickory Tree Road. Her mother’s boyfriend, Sterns, was arrested originally on charges of sexual battery and child pornography and later charged with first-degree murder.
He initially told deputies he “accidentally” performed a factory reset on his phone the day she was reported missing.
On Monday, the Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office announced it has filed an intent to pursue the death penalty in this case.
The decision is based off the following factors prosecutors intend to prove:
- The capital felony being committed while the defendant was engaged in the commission of, or an attempt to commit, aggravated child abuse.
- The victim being particularly vulnerable because the defendant stood in a position of familial or custodial authority over the victim.
- The capital felony was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.
- The defendant was previously convicted of another capital felony or a felony involving the use or threat of violence to the person. (The current sex charges against Sterns will serve as priors if he is convicted.)
[TIMELINE: Here’s where things stand in the Madeline Soto case so far]
State Attorney Andrew Bain said during an April news conference that his office had been considering the death penalty.
“We’ve got to look at accessory aggravating factors that are laid out in our report,” he said during that news conference. “Once we determine that we have sufficient evidence to prove those factors to the proper evidentiary standard, then we have to have a talk about whether this is a death penalty case.”
Body camera video released on June 3 shows the initial investigation into the girl’s disappearance from the night she was reported missing.
The first video shows the initial interviews with Jenn Soto, the 13-year-old’s mother, and Sterns.
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