Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / MADDIE, 13, SEAT-BUCKLED DEAD INTO CAR OF MOMMY'S LOVER

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MADDIE, 13, SEAT-BUCKLED DEAD INTO CAR OF MOMMY'S LOVER · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Little Mattie Soto, just thirteen, now believed to be dead
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: when she is actually buckled in with a seat belt
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: in the car of her mom's boyfriend.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: That's right. Is she actually buckled in dead and he's
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: driving around with her?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Because when you look very carefully at Granny's surveillance video,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: she's tilted over to one side, her head is over
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: and her mouth is open. Is this after years of
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: sex abuse by mommy's live in. I'm just trying to
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: take it all in and from what I can determine
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: from our own investigation here at Crime Stories that sex
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: abuse by mommy's boyfriend and started around the time little.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Maddie was just eight years old.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I am learning now from a treasure trove of state's
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: documents that the night before Maddie, just thirteen years old,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: went missing translation murdered. The night before she goes missing,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: her mother sent her to bed with the live in
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: so mommy could get a good night's sleep. I Nancy Grace,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: So Madeline is thirteen years old. She has been missing
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: since eight thirty on Monday morning, when mom's boyfriend dropped
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: her off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. Uh, he dropped
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: her off actually near the Piece United Methodist Church on
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Town Boulevard.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: Okay, so she was supposed to be dropped off at school,
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: didn't make.
• 2:10
  Speaker 5: It to school.
• 2:10
  Speaker 6: Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her
• 2:12
  Speaker 6: up from school today and she never came out.
• 2:15
  Speaker 7: They announced it over the speaker, and I'm just like,
• 2:17
  Speaker 7: maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walked here to
• 2:19
  Speaker 7: this office.
• 2:20
  Speaker 6: I came here, nothing. I went back to the school.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We closed.
• 2:23
  Speaker 7: I got to notice an email from the school saying
• 2:27
  Speaker 7: she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher and
• 2:29
  Speaker 7: you looked at her entire tennis today and saw that
• 2:31
  Speaker 7: she was completely not at school today either.
• 2:34
  Speaker 6: So she never made it.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, what's her.
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: Name, Madeline? I'm a d e o I any, I'm.
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: A d e out I any any last name? So ohto.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you just heard the sheriff, who's an incredible sheriff,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: John Mina, and he's saying that the boyfriend dropped Maddie
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: off that morning at school.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: Now, we didn't when.
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: I heard day one that she got dropped off at
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: the pc Nity Methodist Church and not school, and there
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: was confusion about where she got dropped off right there?
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: You know what, I know where I dropped my children off.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I know where they get out of the car.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: How come he did it? Why was there confusion about that?
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: That's a whole nother can of worms. If you don't
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: mind control room, please, I want to hear that again.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: The girls missing, and he's like, hey, can I bumma
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: sing off here? He's just like, so chill, not worried
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: at all. Then I found out later that morning when
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: everyone is running around trying to find Maddie, he says
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: he's zonked out on sedatis because of his anxiety.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: I bet okay.
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: So she was supposed to be dropped off at school.
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: Didn't make it a school, didn't make it a school.
• 3:54
  Speaker 6: I went to pick here up from school stay and
• 3:57
  Speaker 6: she never came out.
• 3:58
  Speaker 7: They announced it on this speed, and I'm just like,
• 4:00
  Speaker 7: maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walk here to
• 4:02
  Speaker 7: this office.
• 4:04
  Speaker 6: I came here nothing. I went back to the school
• 4:06
  Speaker 6: of a clothes.
• 4:07
  Speaker 7: I got to notice an email from the school thing
• 4:10
  Speaker 7: she was absent.
• 4:11
  Speaker 6: But I also messaged.
• 4:12
  Speaker 7: Her teacher and you look at her entire tennts today
• 4:14
  Speaker 7: and saw that she was completely not at school today either.
• 4:16
  Speaker 6: Okay, so she never made it.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Okay, what's her.
• 4:19
  Speaker 6: Name, Madeline? I'm a d e O I Anny.
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: I'm ad al I any famous so us oh TiO.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, guys with me an all star panel to make
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: sense of what we know right now, including Shannon Butler,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: investigative reporter WFTV nine in Flora in this jurisdiction. But
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: first I'm going to go to a very special guest
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: joining us. It's Terracina Niles. This is a very dear
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: member of the family related.
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: To Maddy Soto's bio dad wife.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: So they're seeing it from a different because they're seeing
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: it from dad's angle. Terrosina, thank you for being with us.
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: I really appreciate it. You know, in the last days,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I've been reading all the new headlines and we went
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: further and got there's a nine hundred page document that
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: I have been, you know, wading through. I've got to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: tell you, it just made my heart stop. And I
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: understand that you and Maddie's bio dad are reeling at
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: the new information, which, aspect of the new information just
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: released is the most concerning to you.
• 5:47
  Speaker 8: I think the biggest aspect has been the timelines that.
• 5:52
  Speaker 9: You know, we weren't you're ready to hear, but you're
• 5:54
  Speaker 9: never ready to hear, and so seeing those kind of
• 5:56
  Speaker 9: layout and essentially a lot of my family and I
• 6:00
  Speaker 9: we haven't read through the documents, but I have seen
• 6:06
  Speaker 9: quite a bit from social media, and it's just it's
• 6:09
  Speaker 9: just devastating, and.
• 6:12
  Speaker 8: The description of how she was found and just things
• 6:14
  Speaker 8: of that nature. Just you're never ready.
• 6:17
  Speaker 9: To hear something like that, especially when it's somebody that
• 6:21
  Speaker 9: you've watched grow up and you know it's it's truly devastating,
• 6:25
  Speaker 9: all of.
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: It, you know, Terrasina, everyone joining us is a special guest,
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Maddie's aunt, Terasina Niles.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: I don't think that.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: You should base hard on yourself at all, do you know,
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: to this day today, I have never gone to the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: scene where my fiance was murdered. Why because it would
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: just put me back at square one.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: I'd start all over again.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, sometimes it's just too much to take in.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: I've just been thinking so much about what I'm hearing,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: is especially the part the allegation that Maddie was being
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: molested by this guy as young as age eight, And
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: I bet anything she.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Never said a word to her dad about it.
• 7:23
  Speaker 8: No, we wouldn't be like, none of this would have happened.
• 7:29
  Speaker 8: We even had an inkling.
• 7:30
  Speaker 9: So it's I think that was another sorry, that was
• 7:34
  Speaker 9: another thing from the documents once we saw how many
• 7:40
  Speaker 9: other of her friends and people didn't know either, and
• 7:42
  Speaker 9: we're just it doesn't take the pain away or the
• 7:45
  Speaker 9: guilt that's there, but it does show that like nobody
• 7:51
  Speaker 9: knew that closest to her, and it really is devastating.
• 7:55
  Speaker 8: Other than the people that did know, I guess.
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: Ms Niles, did you guys had any idea that the
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: mother was letting was just basically sending Mattie off to
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: sleep with the boyfriend at night.
• 8:13
  Speaker 8: Not at all, Not at all, So all of this
• 8:18
  Speaker 8: is news.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: How is Mattie's dad reacting to all this? He must
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: be devastated.
• 8:24
  Speaker 9: It's been difficult to just see my brother in law
• 8:28
  Speaker 9: Tyler and my sister Tatsiana just go thick through any
• 8:32
  Speaker 9: of this just because they loved her so deeply, and
• 8:37
  Speaker 9: it's it's incomprehensible. I truly can't even find the words
• 8:42
  Speaker 9: to convey the devastation that I'm witnessing and seeing and
• 8:47
  Speaker 9: reading it just makes everyone really sick, really really really sick.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: I pray to God, Miss Niles. I pray to God
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: that one mother out there and one father, especially dads
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: who are not in the home when the parents are
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: divorced are separated, hear this and understand what's happening in
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: so many homes across our country. Guys, I want you
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: to take a listen to more of what the mom says. Well.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: Last scene where.
• 9:25
  Speaker 10: Green green, white cross, white cross, parents, shorts, black shorts, okay, shirts,
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  Speaker 10: all right?
• 9:39
  Speaker 4: Do you know she has a friends in area?
• 9:42
  Speaker 6: She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: She doesn't know where she live. Okay.
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: I ask all of them.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: Crime stories with Nancy Grace joining me an all star panel,
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and I going to go out to Shannon Butler. He
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: was an investigative reporter WFTV nine in Florida. Shannon, thank
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: you so much for being with us. I got to
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: tell you this new release of documents and information you've
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: seen a wrecking ball, right. It feels like a giant
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: wrecking ball just hit me in the head when I
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: see what was going on in that home and I'm
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: hearing the circumstances surrounding this little girl, thirteen year old
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: Maddie's death, her murder. This with the backdrop of the
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: boyfriend being charged with at least sixty sex counts on children,
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: be it taking videos, pictures, molesting, the whole shebang. And look,
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: the mom did not murder the daughter. He did according
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: to police. But wow, I mean letting the fox and
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: the handhouse. What was she thinking? And her story completely changed.
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: I can't help but feel blame toward mommy.
• 11:11
  Speaker 11: Yeah, I think everybody. I mean, we have been following
• 11:14
  Speaker 11: this case for months and we have had so many
• 11:17
  Speaker 11: people call an email and say what are they going
• 11:20
  Speaker 11: to do about Jen Soto? People are angry because of
• 11:23
  Speaker 11: everything that happened before they reported her missing.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: We still have that piece of the.
• 11:29
  Speaker 11: Timeline that we don't know yet of what happened between
• 11:33
  Speaker 11: when she sent her daughter up to bed to sleep
• 11:35
  Speaker 11: with Stephen Stearns and then in the morning when he
• 11:39
  Speaker 11: was seen with her inside that car. We have that
• 11:43
  Speaker 11: gap there in that timeline. I think that will tell
• 11:47
  Speaker 11: us some things. We have asked the Kassimi Police Department
• 11:50
  Speaker 11: time and time and time again, is there going to
• 11:52
  Speaker 11: be a rest made of Jen Soto? Because so many
• 11:55
  Speaker 11: people believe that she was complacent in this, that there
• 11:58
  Speaker 11: were things that she did that would have changed the
• 12:01
  Speaker 11: outcome of this situation if she hadn't done it. That
• 12:05
  Speaker 11: timeline we are waiting on and hopefully will tell us more.
• 12:10
  Speaker 11: But at this point, it just doesn't seem like police
• 12:13
  Speaker 11: are moving towards Jen Soto. You know, this is an investigation,
• 12:16
  Speaker 11: Dan's We've been through this millions unfortunately, and things can change.
• 12:21
  Speaker 11: But right now it seems their focus is just on
• 12:23
  Speaker 11: Stepan Stearns, and I know that is what so many
• 12:26
  Speaker 11: people do not want to hear too.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Jared Farantino, homicide prosecutor in Pennsylvania Jared Jarrettfarantino dot com
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: host a True Crime Boss podcast.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Jarrett, thank you for being with us. JAREDT how manny
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: times have you seen it?
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: I've seen it so many times. I'm up to here
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: with it. Mothers that side with the molester. I remember
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: the first time I saw it. I couldn't believe it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: I remember the case. I took the case to try.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: Oh I got held to content. Blah blah blah. Long
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: story short, mothers, girlfriends, lovers, mistresses siding with the guy
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: and that's molesting their child.
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: Nancy it's a power dynamic. It's crazy. What's going on
• 13:15
  Speaker 5: here in this case, the fact that Jen Soto is
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: continuing to protect Sterns. At a minimum, she lied images
• 13:23
  Speaker 5: of the investigation. And if we've learned anything from the
• 13:26
  Speaker 5: cases we've seen over the past, loved ones who are
• 13:29
  Speaker 5: lying about missing when there's someone missing about small details
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: or large details, it's hiding something, something very big. And
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: she's hiding to protect Sterns and very likely to protect herself.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what, Jared Farantino, I want to follow
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: up on something that you just said, lying about details. Okay,
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: let's give it the benefit of the doubt for one moment. See,
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I'm projecting again. I remember distinctly the last time I
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: saw Keith before.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: He was murdered.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: I remember what we talked about. I remember what I
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: was wearing. I remember what he was wearing, the whole thing.
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: I remember how cold it was outside that morning in August.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: I remember everything about it. How does she not remember
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: what happened? So I've got a problem with that, But
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I'm not a shrink. Maybe Jory Crawdaughtter Crasing can explain
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: it to Joe Scott Morgan joining me guys. Joe Scott Morgan,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University with a state of the
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: art criminal procedure and Criminal justice program, Author of Blood
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: Beneath My Feet, host of Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: It's a hit podcast. I could go on and on
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: and on, but what really matters to me about Joe
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: Scott Morgan. He has investigated at least one thousand unexplained
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: deaths where he has to make the determination about what happened.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: He is a death investigator. Joe Scott, I'm getting chills
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: on my arms. I'll tell you why.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: How many child death cases have you seen where there
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: were years of warning signs?
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Mommy, don't send your little girl to go sleep with
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: your boyfriend.
• 15:23
  Speaker 8: Don't.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: Hey, why is he even living in the house? Number one?
• 15:28
  Speaker 2: I sent him back to his mommy and daddy cod
• 15:31
  Speaker 2: right bye.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: That said, why wasn't he at work? What was he doing?
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: How was he benefiting the family at all? The sign
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: you want to tell me, Joe Scott Morgan, that there
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: was no sign this little girl had been being molested.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: She was at least eight years old, nothing, not even
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: a suspicion, and it happened?
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: How happened? For years?
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, the little girl told people I want to
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: go live in the woods. Why my daughter has your
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: son ever said that to you? My daughter and son never.
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: Said I just want to go live alone in the woods.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And they really mean it, and they say it over
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: and over for years that they want to get away
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: from home. Joe Scott, you see a dead child's body,
• 16:23
  Speaker 2: and you know, Joe Scott, from all the cases that
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: you have handle and investigated, that this could have been prevented.
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: How do you do it?
• 16:34
  Speaker 12: How do you do it? Excellent question, because we've seen
• 16:38
  Speaker 12: so many of these things where they just absolutely lose
• 16:43
  Speaker 12: any kind of responsibility is just lost out in the weeds.
• 16:45
  Speaker 12: And of course we have to remember the alleged perpetrator
• 16:49
  Speaker 12: here is whacked out of his mind. On Benzo's He
• 16:52
  Speaker 12: even says this, you know, he's suffering from terrible anxiety.
• 16:56
  Speaker 12: I know, why in the hell you're suffering from terrible
• 16:58
  Speaker 12: anxiety At that moment, Tom, when you think, you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 12: let's just go with this line of thought here.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: Old on, I want to, as I say to the
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: twins when they have to go get a tutorilet skill,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: suck in all the knowledge you can.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: So you just said correctly. It's really hard to argue.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: With you when you're mostly always right, Joe Scott, Remember
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: I put in mostly right there. He's whacked out on
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: Benzo's true. He is because of his anxiety, because he
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: just murdered Maddling there, That's why he's anxious. But he
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: had the wherewithal to dispose of her body, to lie,
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: to come up with all sorts of stories to explain
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: his circuitous route.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: I don't know how whacked out he really was or
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: how much he just wants us to believe that. And
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: what's a Benzo? That's where I was starting.
• 17:52
  Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, he claims that he's suffering from, you know,
• 17:55
  Speaker 12: kind of this anxiety disorder. Apparently that he has to
• 17:58
  Speaker 12: regulate himself with the meds in order to function day
• 18:02
  Speaker 12: in and day out. And I guess that's what you
• 18:04
  Speaker 12: do when you live in mom and dad's basement, or
• 18:07
  Speaker 12: you're the boyfriend that mooches off of a single mom
• 18:11
  Speaker 12: and perhaps perhaps is victimizing the deceased here since the
• 18:17
  Speaker 12: age of eight, since the age of eight, that's what
• 18:20
  Speaker 12: they're saying. And yeah, I can see why you would
• 18:23
  Speaker 12: need benzos on board.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: What's a benzo wants a benzo?
• 18:28
  Speaker 12: Well, we think about Clineza Pam, for instance. We think
• 18:32
  Speaker 12: about things like Valum, you know, those types of things
• 18:36
  Speaker 12: that kind of soothe us and calm us down. And
• 18:39
  Speaker 12: there's so many of them out there just floating about.
• 18:42
  Speaker 12: And if he got his hands on these, he's going
• 18:44
  Speaker 12: to try to numb himself, perhaps because the reality that
• 18:48
  Speaker 12: he's having to deal with, or that he's not facing
• 18:50
  Speaker 12: up you at this moment.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: There's not a nice way to ask this, just Scott,
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: So I'll just ask it. How can you be so
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: as he says, his words, not mine, zonked out? How
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: can he be so quote zonked out? But yet he
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: could still affect a child rape? I'm not going into
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: the details, Okay, how can he be so lethargic and
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: sedated but he could still commit a child rape and
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: try to cover his tracks?
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And remember he also.
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: Said, I don't know how I did it, but I
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: did a total reset on my phone, a factory reset,
• 19:30
  Speaker 2: and I erased all my contacts. Hello, we still found
• 19:36
  Speaker 2: hundreds of child porn images and videos. He didn't do
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: that good of a job of it. So how high
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: was he really. Did you look at this video, Joe Scott,
• 19:45
  Speaker 2: Do you see him standing there? Yeah?
• 19:47
  Speaker 12: Yeah, he seems completely lucid at that moment in Tom,
• 19:49
  Speaker 12: doesn't he you know, he's I mean, he's got his
• 19:52
  Speaker 12: arms crossed there. Maybe perhaps in a defensive posture. I
• 19:55
  Speaker 12: don't know, that's a doctor Joy question. But he seemed
• 19:58
  Speaker 12: to be present in moment. He's responding.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: What did they say?
• 20:02
  Speaker 12: You know, just a moment ago, Control played the clip
• 20:04
  Speaker 12: of him. He was the first one to speak up
• 20:07
  Speaker 12: about her clothing, Nancy. How would he know about her clothing,
• 20:11
  Speaker 12: what she was wearing. Well, he's he's the he's the
• 20:14
  Speaker 12: person that's supposed to be conveying her to all these places.
• 20:17
  Speaker 12: You mentioned the twins, just a moment ago that you
• 20:20
  Speaker 12: know specifically where you let them out. I knew where
• 20:22
  Speaker 12: I let my kids out when I dropped them off
• 20:24
  Speaker 12: at school. You're gonna let her wander the streets? Oh
• 20:27
  Speaker 12: by the way, Yeah, I dropped him outside of a
• 20:28
  Speaker 12: Methodist church and not at school. Oh by the way, Yeah,
• 20:32
  Speaker 12: she was embarrassed to be seen with me. There's more
• 20:35
  Speaker 12: to the story.
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: The initial information was that she said, hey, you know,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: I'm embarrassed of this vehicle or whatever, so dropped me
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: off at this location. We're still following up on all
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: of that, but yes, certainly something that we will look into.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: You know, why not why not drop her off at
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: the school, But we're looking into all that.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's not true.
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: He did not drop her all PC United Methodist Church
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: because she didn't want to be seen with parents or
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: because she was embarrassed of the car.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: She was murdered and hidden behind a row of bamboo
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: very thick.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Her items were thrown into a dumpster, including her backpack
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: and her school issued computer, and he Stephen Stearns, was
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: spotted at that dumpster. A male called in with the
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: tips describing his vehicle and then he was outside the vehicle.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: With a tire iron.
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: At this moment, I don't know the official cod We
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: are waiting, but I want you to hear more of
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: what mommy and live in now murdered defendant said about
• 21:51
  Speaker 2: she had.
• 21:52
  Speaker 7: Like she's got a device sold right, she's got a man.
• 21:57
  Speaker 8: Two year my so school on college.
• 22:04
  Speaker 6: Should be it'll try to connect anyway.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: And also I want you to hear where the live
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: in a KA.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: Stephan Stearns describes where Mattie went, she got dropped off.
• 22:19
  Speaker 6: She was like, so she don't want to be drop
• 22:24
  Speaker 6: off at school. She want to be black dropped off
• 22:26
  Speaker 6: or have a black way. She don't walk, so I
• 22:28
  Speaker 6: staying she's independently. But he dropped her off of the
• 22:32
  Speaker 6: black way and drove away.
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: Okay, did she ever go to school?
• 22:37
  Speaker 8: Was walking in that direction?
• 22:39
  Speaker 10: She was rifling through her backpack, slip her so much
• 22:42
  Speaker 10: thought maybe she was just looking for her headphones before
• 22:44
  Speaker 10: she kind of walking on.
• 22:45
  Speaker 4: Yeah, but she was just coming, you know, shambling over
• 22:48
  Speaker 4: in that direction.
• 22:49
  Speaker 13: I looked the same as any other morning.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Jarsina Niles, could you tell us about Madeline?
• 22:56
  Speaker 9: Yes, Maddie was the light of my sister, touched on him,
• 23:01
  Speaker 9: my brother in law Tyler's eyes. She wasn't their entire world.
• 23:08
  Speaker 9: Their love for her definitely seeped into the rest of
• 23:12
  Speaker 9: us and the family, and we just had this hope
• 23:15
  Speaker 9: and prayer that one day we would be able to
• 23:18
  Speaker 9: have more time with her, spend more time with her,
• 23:22
  Speaker 9: watch her, you know, go through the milestones and make
• 23:26
  Speaker 9: memories as a family.
• 23:30
  Speaker 8: But we weren't given that opportunity.
• 23:31
  Speaker 9: So a lot of it was from watching Afar and
• 23:35
  Speaker 9: when they did get, you know, a chance to have
• 23:38
  Speaker 9: her and be with her, they spent every moment like
• 23:41
  Speaker 9: cherishing it. So it was very This is all very
• 23:44
  Speaker 9: difficult to understand, especially finding out in real time as
• 23:50
  Speaker 9: well with the rest of the world, the nightmare she
• 23:54
  Speaker 9: was living through and went through, and.
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: It's just been incomprehensible for US.
• 24:03
  Speaker 14: Investigators believe the female seen at seven thirty six am
• 24:06
  Speaker 14: and the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of
• 24:08
  Speaker 14: Stephan Stern's vehicle is Madelin Soto's dead body, propped up
• 24:11
  Speaker 14: and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person,
• 24:14
  Speaker 14: but closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning
• 24:17
  Speaker 14: toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Stearns is caught
• 24:20
  Speaker 14: on surveillance video again at eight nineteen am, when he
• 24:23
  Speaker 14: is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood
• 24:25
  Speaker 14: with a female in the same position as the surveillance
• 24:28
  Speaker 14: video captured at seven thirty six am.
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: Jarrett Farentino joining me Venmin, homicide prosecutor at Jarrettfarentino dot com,
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: host of True Crime Boss podcast, Jarrett, I've been looking
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: at this guy's statement.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: His as we just saw on video. The level of
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: detail he is giving.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: It's amazing how when people lie, they will go through
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: so much detail, superfluous detail that really.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: Comes back to bite them in the neck.
• 24:59
  Speaker 2: For instance, he claims that that morning he and Maddie
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: had to turn around and go all the way back
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: to Kasimi because they left behind the gate remote to
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: get into their neighborhood.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: He then claims he had a flat tire. He then
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: claims that he got lost and on the.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: Way to taking her to school and he couldn't recount
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: his exact direction. And this is because police kept asking
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: him questions, asking him questions about where he went that
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: morning and why he was spotted going eastbound on the highway.
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: How does anybody tell that lie?
• 25:48
  Speaker 2: Jarrett Farantino, It's a complete horror show, and he's desperate
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: at that point.
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: He's got to know the gig is up, Nancy. He's
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: in lie upon life. Anybody in close proximity of a
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: missing child for a murder who then claims they were
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: just driving around or has erratic driving patterns nine out
• 26:07
  Speaker 5: of ten times is the person responsible. But you know
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: what I thought was notable about that video we showed
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: initially when they were recording he knew exactly what Maddie
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: was wearing. Jeans and the green sweatshirt.
• 26:19
  Speaker 12: Mom got it wrong.
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: Mom says he was wearing black shorts, So he was
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: telling the truth about certain items and lying about others.
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go to doctor Jory cross in joining
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: US Psychologists Faculty, Saint Leo University. You can find him
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: at Dodtorjory dot com doctr jury. I'm always amazed at
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: the level of detail liars include in their statements, But
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: more fascinating is why women.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Choose to be blind to.
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: The molestation of their children and actually sided with the predator.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I've seen it over and over when you look, there's.
• 27:02
  Speaker 15: So much to the answering of that question. Because there's
• 27:05
  Speaker 15: so much involved here. You can see that there's definitely
• 27:10
  Speaker 15: a different type of relationship between the mother and the
• 27:14
  Speaker 15: living boyfriend. When that first video you watch the body
• 27:19
  Speaker 15: language of both of them, they're almost in support of
• 27:23
  Speaker 15: one another with their story. It's like mother has a
• 27:28
  Speaker 15: knowledge that there's some complicity on her part of this
• 27:31
  Speaker 15: involvement here, and that she may not have all of
• 27:35
  Speaker 15: the information from the boyfriend right now, and so she's
• 27:38
  Speaker 15: kind of almost treading softly even maybe fearing the worst
• 27:44
  Speaker 15: has happened. But they're complicit in their actions and I
• 27:52
  Speaker 15: don't think they've gotten time to be alone to either
• 27:55
  Speaker 15: share what's going on. And I don't think that the
• 27:58
  Speaker 15: living boyfriend for sure, has told the mother that he
• 28:02
  Speaker 15: has killed her daughter.
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: It's amazing to me that women will stand by a
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: guy that is molesting their child. I don't get it
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: to Tarratina de Nils. This is Maddie's aunt. On the
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: dad's side, Tarasena has do you know whether the bio
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: dad has confronted Mattie's mother confronted her in the past
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: about other things or well, yes, that's a good start,
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: thank you. Did he ever confront her about the living
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: situation with the boyfriend?
• 28:38
  Speaker 8: No, I don't think a lot of us were aware
• 28:39
  Speaker 8: of any of that.
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: Ah, so that was hidden hidden from the bio dad.
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: Has he tried to get in touch with the mom
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: since her body was discovered.
• 28:53
  Speaker 9: Everything has gone through the correct action to communicate with
• 28:59
  Speaker 9: the liaisons that they have in place.
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: I'm worried that Maddie's dad is blaming himself and he
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: should not, is he, because that's a very normal reaction.
• 29:10
  Speaker 8: To many degrees for sure. With my brother in law
• 29:14
  Speaker 8: and my sister and the rest of the family in general.
• 29:18
  Speaker 8: It's hard not to.
• 29:21
  Speaker 9: There was no signs, but it's looking back you just
• 29:25
  Speaker 9: what if, what if we could have done, or what
• 29:28
  Speaker 9: if we would have known, And it's really hard not
• 29:30
  Speaker 9: to live in.
• 29:30
  Speaker 8: That and see them going through it. So it's definitely
• 29:34
  Speaker 8: been a challenge.
• 29:35
  Speaker 16: We know this case has gained significant public attention because
• 29:38
  Speaker 16: Madeleine had just celebrated her thirteenth birthday and was just
• 29:41
  Speaker 16: a child. The evidence shows an individual that was interested
• 29:45
  Speaker 16: to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeleine's
• 29:49
  Speaker 16: belongings and place her body in a wooded area before
• 29:52
  Speaker 16: she was ever reported missing. For the four days following
• 29:55
  Speaker 16: her disappearance, the entire community was actively looking to find
• 29:59
  Speaker 16: Madeleine's safe and alive.
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Crime stories with Nancy Grace, I want you to hear
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: the boyfriend Stefan Stern speaking to police and what a
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: wild story he gives reminds me a little bit of
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: Top Mom Casey Anthony. Her her story kept changing and
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger of a lie.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: Same here. Listen, your car is seen.
• 30:36
  Speaker 4: Going south down at this intersection, so meaning going toward
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: kissing me.
• 30:44
  Speaker 13: I had forgotten. So I had forgotten my gay clicker.
• 30:46
  Speaker 13: I'm sorry I forgot. I had gone back to the
• 30:48
  Speaker 13: house real quick after we left because I'd forgotten my
• 30:52
  Speaker 13: gay clicker. I actually had to go through the front
• 30:56
  Speaker 13: gate and used my parking pass to go on my thinker.
• 31:03
  Speaker 13: So it was a wrong time. I'm sorry, I said,
• 31:06
  Speaker 13: I was scustimating these times.
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: I'm not a morning person, not a mourning person. To
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: death investigator Joseph Scott, Morgan, not a mourning person. The
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: daughter is missing, and he's not a morning person, so
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: he can't answer police questions. Joe Scott, you and I
• 31:27
  Speaker 2: have very carefully investigated the case, studied this most recent
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: outpouring of documents, and I want to hear your theory
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: about what happened to thirteen year old Maddie.
• 31:39
  Speaker 12: In my opinion, she was deceased when she went into
• 31:42
  Speaker 12: that car, Nancy, Now you know. For me, I think
• 31:47
  Speaker 12: that it was something that took place in a very
• 31:50
  Speaker 12: private location in order the facilitation of her death I'm
• 31:54
  Speaker 12: speaking of, and then he had to secret her out
• 31:57
  Speaker 12: of that location into the vehicle and transport her way.
• 32:00
  Speaker 12: That vehicle itself is going to play a key role,
• 32:05
  Speaker 12: I think, because we have to consider all things. Remember,
• 32:07
  Speaker 12: her autopsy report has not been released, and by virtue
• 32:10
  Speaker 12: of Florida statute, it's not going to be apparently because
• 32:14
  Speaker 12: we have an involved minor here. But here's the thing.
• 32:18
  Speaker 12: She's you know, we talk a lot about primary scenes
• 32:21
  Speaker 12: and secondary scenes and tertiary scenes. This car itself is
• 32:26
  Speaker 12: a crime scene. I want to know what physical evidence
• 32:29
  Speaker 12: they found in there. And I know, before everybody jumps
• 32:32
  Speaker 12: to the conclusion, well, her DNA will just naturally be
• 32:35
  Speaker 12: in there because she frequents the use of that car
• 32:38
  Speaker 12: with this fellow. However, I want to know what the
• 32:41
  Speaker 12: source of the DNA is Their blood in that car specifically,
• 32:44
  Speaker 12: that's something that you would not anticipate being in there,
• 32:48
  Speaker 12: and that's going to give us an ideas to perhaps
• 32:50
  Speaker 12: what may have happened. He's riding around at this point
• 32:53
  Speaker 12: with this deceased young child in the car with him
• 32:57
  Speaker 12: that he has posed Nancy. Remember what was said. She's
• 33:02
  Speaker 12: leaning over to the left, her head is tucked down,
• 33:05
  Speaker 12: her mouth is open, Nancy. He's trying to find a
• 33:08
  Speaker 12: place to deposit her remains and not just her remains,
• 33:12
  Speaker 12: but all kinds of evidence that would link him back
• 33:15
  Speaker 12: to her relative to her personal belongings. I don't know
• 33:18
  Speaker 12: where she went, dropped her off at the church, you know,
• 33:22
  Speaker 12: But later on they're going to find all of these
• 33:25
  Speaker 12: items in the dumpster perhaps and then her discarded and
• 33:29
  Speaker 12: apparently covered, which goes to this idea of him thinking,
• 33:34
  Speaker 12: thinking about what to do. He's not so out of
• 33:37
  Speaker 12: his mind that he doesn't have control over what's happening.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Joining us is Shannon Butler VESSI had a reporter WFTV nine.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: There are sixty charges against the live in Stephon Stearns,
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: many of them sex battery on a child, and I'm
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: wondering if they're not getting a lot of that from
• 33:57
  Speaker 2: his phone. Of course, he said that morning he did
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: a massive factory resets. Those are his words, not mine.
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: Massive factory reset. Wow, that's quite the coincidence, is it not?
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: That he does a factory reset on his phone the
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: moment she goes missing. So on, what are these sex
• 34:19
  Speaker 2: battery on child charges predicated?
• 34:23
  Speaker 9: So?
• 34:24
  Speaker 11: I think that was the first red flag for investigators.
• 34:27
  Speaker 11: I think they knew the minute he reset that phone
• 34:29
  Speaker 11: that they needed to get to that phone. When they
• 34:33
  Speaker 11: downloaded it, there was horrific, horrific images, seventeen hundred images.
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: On that phone.
• 34:43
  Speaker 11: That was at the moment they realized, you know, something
• 34:47
  Speaker 11: was terribly wrong here, and that was what they originally
• 34:50
  Speaker 11: arrested Stepan sterns On. It wasn't until later that they
• 34:54
  Speaker 11: filed those murder charges, but those videos gave them a
• 34:59
  Speaker 11: very good indicat of what was going on since she
• 35:02
  Speaker 11: was eight years old, and that gave them plenty to
• 35:06
  Speaker 11: go on to start to look at other things.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Well, she last scene where.
• 35:13
  Speaker 8: I want something.
• 35:15
  Speaker 10: Green hoodies green, wait cross white, cross.
• 35:21
  Speaker 6: Blue or black parents. I think black shorts, black shorts.
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, black shorts, okay, abel shorts?
• 35:28
  Speaker 15: All right?
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: Do you know she has a friends in area?
• 35:32
  Speaker 6: She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
• 35:34
  Speaker 4: She doesn't know where she live.
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: Okay, I asked all of them, guys.
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: I've been looking at the particular charges and I want
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: to go straight out to Jarrett Fiorentino, former homicide prosecutor
• 35:45
  Speaker 2: in Pennsylvania. There's so many to look at. There's sixty charges,
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: but I'm looking. Of course, there's all the sex batteries
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: on a child under twelve, So we know the claims go.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: Back for years. I believe they go back to age
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: eight for this little girl.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: But listen to this Jared unlawful possession of materials depicting
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: a sex performance by a child. That says to me,
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: there's a strong possibility he actually videoed the sex abuse
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: on Madeline Nancy.
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: That is certainly a possibility based on the charges against
• 36:27
  Speaker 5: him at this point, and it could even go to motive,
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: intent and opportunity to have killed Maddie to cover up
• 36:35
  Speaker 5: what he was doing. I also note recovered in his
• 36:38
  Speaker 5: vehicle was a phone tripod used for filming, which again
• 36:42
  Speaker 5: that's just my mind assessing the evidence and looking at
• 36:46
  Speaker 5: what was recovered here. It's not too much of elite
• 36:48
  Speaker 5: to think that somebody collecting child sexual abuse materials wouldn't
• 36:53
  Speaker 5: be documenting the abuse he's committing on Maddie. So those
• 36:56
  Speaker 5: charges may be just that.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: To Tirasena Niall, this is Maddie's aunt, Terrasena, what is
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: your message to parents listening tonight.
• 37:09
  Speaker 9: I when Maddie passed away at the funeral, we all
• 37:15
  Speaker 9: went as a family and promised her that she didn't
• 37:19
  Speaker 9: die in vain, and I wanted to work really hard
• 37:23
  Speaker 9: and ensuring that with you know, taking care of being
• 37:26
  Speaker 9: strong for my family and also being strong for her.
• 37:32
  Speaker 9: I know that with since this has all started and happened,
• 37:35
  Speaker 9: I've worked with many advocates that are local in Florida,
• 37:39
  Speaker 9: and they've really helped kind of bring all these communities
• 37:42
  Speaker 9: that have reached out to my family. And I am
• 37:45
  Speaker 9: supporting us during all of this, and it's solely on
• 37:51
  Speaker 9: Maddie's behalf, and that's been It hasn't gone unnoticed, for sure.
• 37:55
  Speaker 2: It's amazing to me that you and Maddie's father can
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: put one foot in front of the other. And I
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: want to thank you for being with us today. Thank
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: you and sounding the warning for other parents out there.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Because Mattie never mentioned any of this to her father.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: He didn't see any signs, not just him. You didn't,
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: the stepmom didn't, the teachers didn't. Very rarely do child
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: molestation victims actually speak out. They think it's all their
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: fault and they're embarrassed, so they go to great links
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: to actually cover it up. And I hope her dad
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: knows that. Guys, I want to report that this is
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: a death penalty case. They're in Florida and Florida typically
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: doesn't just give the sentence of death penalty, They carry
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: it out. We wait as justice unfolds.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Nancy Grace finding off, good night friend,