True Crime Society - The murder of Madeline Soto

Madeline Sophia Soto was born on February 22, 2011 to Jennifer Soto and Tyler Wallace. Tyler does not seem to have been very involved in Madeline’s life – he has made some statements saying that Madeline wanted to live with him once she turned 13.

When Madeline was around 3 years old, Jennifer married a man named Steven Young. They divorced in 2017.

That same year, Jennifer met Stephan Sterns at Eco Homes, where they both worked. They were friends for around a year before they began an intimate relationship.

By 2018, Stephan started staying over at Jennifer’s home. Madeline was obviously there during this time.

Madeline attended Hunter’s Creek Middle School in Orlando, Florida. She lived in an apartment with her mother Jennifer, and Jennifer’s boyfriend, Stephan. Stephan was 37 in February 2024. Multiple roommates also lived in the home. One was named Nathalie and she was living in the apartment with her 15 year-old son. There was also another woman named Anjelica.

Her biological father Tyler lived in Texas and primarily communicated with Madeline through social media.

“Maddie was just the most important person to my wife and I,” he told the media.

Madeline loved music, dancing, art, drawing and journaling, according to community members who attended a memorial for her, per WESH.

Members of Madeline’s neighborhood and community have spoken about the teen.

“She was full of life, and she was trying to find her way.” said Nancy Roscka.

There are over 900 pages of court documents for this case, so we are going to attempt to summarize the most important parts and will link the whole documents on the blog.

In the months before Madeline disappeared, there are some reports that Jennifer and Stephan had broken up. Jennifer told her roommate Angelica that she and Stephan had not had a sexual relationship for over six months.

Police would also interview Stephan’s parents Chris and Debra.

At two points before Madeline was murdered, Stephan searched for Sevoflurane.

Thursday February 22, 2024 was Madeline’s 13th birthday. A party with a few friends and family was held on Sunday February 25, 2024. The party was held at Yolanda Zambrano’s home – she was Madeline’s maternal grandmother. Stephan did not attend the party as he was not liked by Jennifer’s family and was not involved. Jennifer – Madeline’s mother – also did not attend due to work. Madeline had been staying at Yolanda’s home around this time and she cried when she had to return to her own home.

Madeline was dropped home after the party at around 8.30pm on February 25. Stephan arrived at the apartment at around 8.40pm.

The roommate Nathalie has said that she did not see Madeline return home that night as she was already in bed.

Jennifer arrived home from work at around 10.30pm that night. She would later tell authorities that she saw Madeline before bed and Madeline showed her the gifts she had received for her birthday.

This is where things start to get really horrific. Stephan and Maddie shared a bed. Jennifer apparently shared the same bed despite being apparently broken up from Stephan. A 13 year old girl and a 37 year old man??

Jennifer apparently ‘sent’ Stephan and Madeline to bed at around 11pm. There was a downstairs bedroom where Jennifer also slept.

Madeline was reported missing on Monday February 26, 2024 at around 8pm. Stephan was meant to have dropped Madeline off to school that day.

Jennifer said that she woke up when Stephan took the dog for a walk earlier that morning and she went back to sleep. She never saw Madeline that day and apparently assumed she had arrived at school.

Stephan spoke to Jennifer during the day and said that he had somehow factory reset his phone while trying to update it.

Jennifer went to the school at about 4.30pm to pick her daughter up. According to Click Orlando, it was only then that she was told that Madeline had not been in school that day.

Madeline’s phone was found in the family home, which was unusual. We eventually learned some more about the movement of her cell phone. This info is a summary of court documents from Reddit which we have linked on the blog.

7:04 AM – Maddie’s phone is unplugged from the charger

7:05 AM – Maddie’s phone moves 113 steps

7:15 AM – Maddie’s phone moves 50 steps

7:16 AM – Maddie’s phone is powered off. This pattern of Madeline`s cellular phone use is not typical of her normal day. Which shows this activity was not physically done by Madeline

10:55 AM – Maddie’s phone moves 8 steps

February 27 was day two of the case. The Orange County Sheriff issued a press release, asking for information.

MISSING JUVENILE: 13-year-old Madeline Soto was last seen around 8:30 a.m. yesterday (Monday February 26) off of Village Park Drive (in the area of Town Loop Boulevard and Hunter’s Park Lane).

She was wearing a green sweatshirt, black shorts and white Crocs.

If you have seen Madeline, or if you have any information about where she might be, please call 911 or the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at 407-836-4357.

Stephen was questioned on this day. He was asked about exactly where he dropped Madeline off and what he did after. The detectives questioned some of his answers and Stephan changed his stories. He said he dropped her off at the school and then changed his story and said he dropped her off at a church and watched her walk towards the school.

On February 28, the sheriff’s office conducted a large-scale search.

Orange County Sheriff John Mina said that they had found information on Madeline’s phone indicating that she wanted to live in the woods once she had turned 13 – which happened on February 22, 2024. He also said that authorities had searched the area in which she was last seen and nothing had been found.

Stephan gave authorities consent to search his cell phone.

Authorities also searched the family home. Jennifer and Stephan drove to an Orange County hotel at that time. Jennifer’s mother has said that Stephan was ‘very panicky’ because he wanted his phone back. Stephan snuck out that night and drove all the way down to North Port for “unknown reasons” before returning by the next morning, an investigative report reveals.

On Thursday February 29, 2024, Stephan was arrested as the prime suspect in Madeline’s case.

In a release, investigators said that detectives discovered hundreds of “disturbing” images and videos of child pornography when they searched his phone and Google Drive account, and a review of the device’s data showed that someone had tried to delete the evidence ahead of time. Authorities also found nude photos of one of the roommates on Stephan’s phone. It is believed that Stephan put his cell phone under the roommate’s door to take the photos.

Detectives were able to pinpoint some of these images and videos to the family’s home in Kissimmee, court records show.

Stephan was arrested and held on no bond. He was charged with sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse materials.

Stephan would tell authorities about the sleeping arrangements in the home. He said that he shared a bed with Madeline and Jennifer and that Madeline always needed human contact when going to sleep.

Stephan said it was normal and usual for him to go to bed with Madeline alone. This was so Jennifer could get some sleep.

Authorities would interview an ex of Stephan’s. They had a brief relationship in 2022. Stephan would refuse to spend the night with this woman. He said he had to be back with Jennifer and Madeline as they could not sleep without him there.

The woman ended the relationship after she found out about the sleeping arrangements.

On March 1, 2024, a lot of evidence was released. We will now backtrack a bit as this is when we find out what actually happened on the day that Madeline disappeared and was murdered.

Police believe that Madeline was killed between 12am and around 7am on Monday February 26, 2024. “Our detectives have determined that Madeline was never dropped off on the morning of Feb. 26 near her school,” Mina said during a news conference. “Instead, we believe she was already dead at the time, and that Stephan Sterns moved her body in the early morning hours of that day.”

At 7.30am on that day, Stephan was seen driving his vehicle to a dumpster in Venetian Bay, Florida. He exited his vehicle and threw two large white trash bags in the dumpster. In the passenger seat of the vehicle, a white female can be seen. The female was wearing a green sweatshirt and had her head slumped to the left. Her position was described as abnormal and she didn’t move at all while Stephan was getting in and out of the vehicle.

CCTV of Stephan dumping items in a dumpster at the apartment complex at 7.35am was also found. Authorities would later find Madeline’s backpack and her laptop in the trash there.

Stephan was later seen driving his vehicle, with Madeline’s body still in it. He was seen changing a tire on the side of the road.

More video of Madeline in the vehicle was found at 8.19am, 8.33am, 9.01am. This confirms that Stephan obviously did not drop her off at school at 8.30am as he originally stated.

At 9.40am, Stephan entered a parking garage at a Holiday Inn in Orlando, Florida. He parked the vehicle and opened the trunk. He then carried a limp body from the passenger seat to the trunk.

Stephan left the garage and when the vehicle was seen on CCTV again at 10.14am, Madeline was no longer seen in the passenger seat.

Stephan went back to the apartment. Angelica said that he was acting odd – he was going in and out of the apartment. She also said he was washing his clothes which she had never seen him do previously.

At 10.54am, Stephan was seen on CCTV in different clothing, throwing something into the complex dumpster.

Jennifer had some appointments that morning. She left the apartment at around 9.30am and returned back at around 11am.

Stephan left again at around 11.03am. At 11.22am, he stopped at a vape shop and made a purchase.

At 12.12pm, a factory reset was carried out on Stephan’s phone. He apparently told Jennifer this was accidental but it requires navigating through settings and possibly entering a password. He would later do another factory reset on February 27, 2024 at 12am.

Stephan returned to the apartment complex at 2.43pm. Between around 3.25pm and 4.36pm, Stephan went to the dumpster three times to discard items.

Between 3.19am and 4.30am on February 27, Stephan left the complex in Jennifer’s vehicle and returned.

After Stephan was arrested, police held a press conference and said they were confident that Madeline was deceased.

“Last night, detectives from the Kissimmee Police Department met with Madeline’s mother and they had to tell her the very devastating news that although we have not found Madeline, we are now confident that she is dead,” Sheriff Mina said.

The press conference was held at 1pm. By 4.30pm that day, Madeline’s body was found in a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County.

In a release, Kissimmee police Chief Betty Holland provided the following statement:

“It is with a heavy heart I inform everyone that as we expected, Madeline Soto is deceased. I am thankful that she was found and for the coordinated efforts of the Kissimmee Police Department, Saint Cloud Police Department, Orange County Sheriff’s Office and the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office that are able to bring some closure to the family. This is a sad day for our community and we mourn the loss of such a young life.”

On March 1, 2024, Jennifer was interviewed. She said that Stephan was a ‘master liar’ and a ‘master manipulator.’

Jennifer claimed she had no idea that he was sexually abusing her daughter. She insisted she tried “watching her like a hawk,” but added that she was “oblivious to everything.

She said that she originally wanted to believe he was innocent but had changed her mind after being shown evidence by authorities.

“I asked her what she thought Stephan was guilty of, and she replied, ‘He’s been grooming and abusing my child,’” an investigative report reads.

Stephan waived his first appearance in court on March 2, 2024. He was represented instead by his attorney. He was not granted bond.

Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez posted a confidential crime scene photo showing Madeline’s body on Instagram on that day. The agency later said it had been ‘accidentally shared’ with the public.

The clothes seen in the photo are consistent with the outfit Madeline was said to be wearing when she disappeared.

A caption below the picture read, “Great day with our seniors,” followed by an emoji of a smiley face with a halo.

“Earlier today a post was made on social media about a community event for seniors,” an unnamed Osceola County spokesperson said in an email to News 6. “In the post, an investigative photo was accidentally included. The photo was immediately removed. We deeply apologize for any confusion or disturbance this may have caused. As with any investigation, the information obtained is confidential and any mistaken disclosures will be immediately rectified.”

On March 6, 2024, court records were released that showed Stephan had been sexually abusing Madeline for years. Even though he tried to wipe his phone, investigators were able to recover the files which stemmed back as far as 2022.

“Upon reviewing the contents of Stephan’s phone, several images and videos were located, which depicted the missing juvenile,” the affidavit reads.

There is information in the court documents about the type of photos which were found which we will not go into detail here but many of them seemed to occur while Madeline was sleeping/drugged.

On March 7, one of the roommates said that she heard ‘noises’ coming from the bedroom where Stephan and Madeline were on the night of the murder.

“In order for her to hear noises, it would have to be significant based upon the noise would have to travel through two closed doors and across a hallway,” an investigative report reads.

On March 12, 2024, the Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office announced that it filed 60 counts against Stephan, including the following:

8 counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12

5 counts of Sexual Battery with a Child 12-18 (Familial/Custodial Authority)

7 counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation

40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child Ten or More Images

One USB device that was retrieved contained over 35,000 images of CP.

Police held a press conference on March 21, 2024 to provide updates.

Police Chief Holland was asked whether Jennifer’s mother was considered a suspect or a person of interest.

In response, she said, “Everyone (who) was close to Madeline is considered a suspect until we have proven otherwise.”

On April 18, 2024, Jennifer and her attorney were taken in for another interview. Jennifer was asked why she allowed Stephan to stay at the home even after they had broken up.

“(Soto’s mother) stated Madeline would sleep with her a majority of the time, and when Stephan began staying there, the three of them would sleep in the same bed. (She) stated Madeline never wanted to sleep alone in her bedroom. (Soto’s mother) couldn’t remember how many times she let Madeline sleep with Stephan alone in his bedroom. (She) stated she allowed it because she trusted Stephan, and he treated (Soto) as his daughter. When (Soto’s mother) stated she and Stephan ended their relationship, Madeline had an idea but never spoke about it. (Soto’s mother) said she spoke with Stephan about possibly moving back to help him get on his feet, but she didn’t know if it was going to be permanent or temporary.”

On April 24, 2024, Stephan was indicted on a first-degree murder charge in relation to Madeline’s death.

“The evidence shows an individual who was entrusted to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeline’s belongings and place her body in a wooded area before she was ever reported missing,” said Kissimmee Police Chief Betty Holland.

On June 10, 2024, it was announced that prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Stephan.

Madeline’s cause of death was revealed in August 2024. Her cause of death was ruled as homicide via strangulation. The hyoid bone in her neck had been broken.

In February 2025, Stephan’s attorney filed motions seeking to drop the death penalty, arguing that it was unconstitutional.

His attorney also sought to suppress evidence that had been found on Stephan’s phone, arguing that it had been unlawfully seized. The attorney argued that Stephan had not been given a choice regarding the seizure of the phone and LE had not obtained a search warrant at the time.

His attorney also said that Stephan was under the influence of medication and had not eaten all day at the time when he allowed detectives to take his phone.

Madeline’s case never went to trial. On July 21, 2025 Stephan pleaded no contest to murder and pleaded guilty on all 60 other sex crime charges. He was sentenced to 21 concurrent life sentences in state prison with no chance of parole.

Jennifer did not attend the court session and she did not provide any prepared remarks.

Madeline’s father Tyler spoke in court.

“I can’t grasp the selfishness of you, the deplorability of your actions. You’re depraved, you’re weak, you’re a coward,” he said. “It doesn’t heal with time.”

Stephan was allowed to speak.

“Yes, your honor. I’d like to make a brief statement.

I agree that it is not fair that Madeline (Soto) is not here anymore. It’s been a hard time contemplating a world where she’s not around. A world which feels less vibrant, less colorful than it did before. I’ve prayed to God countless times to trade places with her, to take me instead. And, unfortunately, that’s just not how he works.

I have nothing but sorrow for her loss, and I miss her all the time. Her passing has torn me and my family apart as well. And she truly was a joy.

I pray to God that she is in heaven and that he’s taking good care of her. And I hope she gets to join the choir because she had a beautiful voice.

I will miss her all the time. I will never not honor her memory. I apologize for all the pain.”