OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. – The man accused of raping and murdering 13-year-old Madeline Soto was back in court Wednesday for a hearing discussing cellphone evidence connected to the case.
Soto was reported missing on Feb. 26, 2024, when she didn’t show up to Hunter’s Creek Middle School. Law enforcement later found her body on March 1 in the woods along Hickory Tree Road near St. Cloud. Authorities believe Soto was sexually molested, strangled and dumped in a wooded area by her mother’s boyfriend, Stephan Sterns.
Watch most recent hearing below where Stephan Sterns appeared in court.
Wednesday’s court hearing is about evidence found on Sterns’ cellphone that allegedly included images of him sexually abusing the teen. His public defender previously asked a judge to bar jurors from seeing evidence collected from Sterns’ cell phone and Google account, claiming investigators unlawfully seized and searched his phone.
Prosecutors contend that Sterns gave law enforcement consent to search his phone and that evidence from his Google account, which reportedly includes hundreds of sexually explicit photos of Soto, was properly obtained.
[RELATED: Madeline Soto’s accused killer seeks suppression of cell phone evidence]
As the suppression hearing got underway, Sterns was sworn in as a witness and testified that his cell phone was seized by detectives without a warrant.
“What was your understanding as to what they were going to do with it?” asked Alesha Smith, Sterns’ attorney.
“They were just going to check my Google Maps and check to see if I was logged into Google,” Sterns replied. “And that was it. It was all I agreed to.”
The judge has not yet ruled whether evidence found on Sterns’ phone will be admissible at trial.
Sterns’ lawyers were in court Tuesday trying to get this hearing delayed by saying they had “confidential information,” but they refused to say what it is, even behind closed doors.
Watch more coverage of Tuesday’s hearing below.
“I don’t know which way it’s going to go, if it’s going to be something that’s going to pan out,” his defense said.
Since the defense provided no details, the judge found no reason to postpone Wednesday’s hearing.
Learn more about the investigation into Stephan Sterns:
