OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – Wednesday marks one year since the disappearance and death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, whose body was found days after in rural Osceola County.
Soto was reported missing on Feb. 26, 2024, when her mother went to pick her up at Hunter’s Creek Middle School and learned she had not shown up to school that morning.
Stephan Sterns, her mother’s boyfriend, was arrested originally on charges of sexual battery and child pornography and later charged with first-degree murder in the teen’s death.
[TIMELINE: Madeline Soto case]
Sterns is set to stand trial in May in the sexual battery case, though his lawyers have filed several motions, including one requesting that his pre-trial hearings be closed to the public. A similar motion was filed in Sterns’ separate homicide case.
[RELATED: Stephan Sterns, Madeline Soto’s accused killer, asks judge to ban public from court hearings]
“This is not uncommon. You know, you have seen motions like this before in the Casey Anthony case and other local cases as well, where there has just been a large amount of media coverage. These are the sort of motions that defense counsel are going to file,” said attorney Whitney Boan, News 6 legal expert.
His attorneys have also filed motions to suppress evidence, including data from his cellphone that prosecutors say contain explicit material involving Soto. They’re also challenging the death penalty in this case.
Sterns told investigators at the time of Soto’s disappearance that he had dropped off the girl near the school.
At some point during the day, Sterns told Soto’s mother that he had factory reset his phone while trying to update it. 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.
Authorities believe Sterns sexually molested the teen, strangled her to death and dumped her body in a wooded area outside of St. Cloud.
Investigators said 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.
Detectives interviewed Sterns and Soto’s mother after the girl’s disappearance, questioning the two on the events leading up to Soto going missing and what happened in the days following.
[RELATED: New video shows detectives questioning Stephan Sterns after disappearance of Madeline Soto]
Sterns has pleaded not guilty to sexually battering and murdering Soto. He faces the death penalty if convicted of killing the teen.
News 6 investigator Mike DeForest has pored over the evidence against Stern and learned how law enforcement concluded that he was their suspect. DeForest compiled everything he learned into a six-part series, Justice for Madeline.
All episodes of “Justice for Madeline” can be found here: