Latest / NO FILTER / The Sick Plan to Cover-Up Her Murder_ The Heart-Breaking Case of Madeline Soto [Crime Documentary]

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The Sick Plan to Cover-Up Her Murder_ The Heart-Breaking Case of Madeline Soto [Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The day following her thirteenth birthday party, Madeline Soto went missing.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: The Orange County Sheriffs in Florida proceeded on the best
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and only information they had, the story offered by Mattie's mother,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Jennifer and her partner Stefan. As investigators spoke with others
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: in her life and made attempts to retrace the young
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: girl's last movements, they began to discover the shocking and
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: disturbing secrets that likely led to the end of Mattie's
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: young life. Hi there, I'm Kevin, and welcome to Just
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Thought Lounge. Today's case is a heart wrenching story that
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: has already captured national and international attention. This story is
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: both sad and disturbing. Some of our viewers may find
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: aspects difficult to hear. We will not be dwelling on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: unnecessary details, but I nonetheless offer a word of warning
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: that some of you may find certain references upsetting. Let's
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: take a look. On February twenty second, twenty twenty four,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Madeleine Soto turned thirteen years old. That weekend, she celebrated
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: with a birthday party at a family member's home in
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: central Florida. Mattie lived with her mother, Jennifer, at the
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Venetian Bay Village Complex in Kissimi, just south of Orlando.
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: She was a student at Hunter's Creek Middle School. Mattie
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: may not have received the best grades, but she was
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: described by her teachers as a sweet girl. She was
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: simply prone to distraction. The thirteen year old was diagnosed
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: with ADHD. Mattie told friends that the medication she was
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: prescribed would make her tired, so more recently she had
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: just stopped taking it. What was concerning were reports by
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: teachers that she was often fatigued in class, her head
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: down her eyes closed. Friends reported that Mattie was often sad.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: They said that she cried without offering a reason. At
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: other times, she complained to them about her mother. She
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: called Jennifer bipolar and said that they argued frequently of
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Jennifer's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns. Madeleine spoke affectionately to her friends.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: They reported that she was close to her stepfather, often
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: texting or even facetiming him throughout the day. It may
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: not have seemed relevant at the time, but in early
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty four, Madeleine also spoke about her desire to
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: run away from home. She told friends that she would
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: build a house out in the woods as soon as
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: she was thirteen. She said she plan to pack up
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: and leave home. On Monday, February twenty sixth, the day
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: after Mattie's birthday party, Jennifer Soto drove to Hunter Creek
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Middle School to collect her daughter. She waited as the
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: children streamed out from the doors. As they dispersed, it
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: became clear that Madeleine was not amongst them. Thinking that
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Mattie maybe with her grandmother, Jen walked to her mother's
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: office building. It was close to the school in somewhere
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Mattie had walked to in the past at the end
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of a school day, but she wasn't there. School administrators
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: checked each period's attendance records and informed Jen that her
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: daughter had not attended classes that day at all. She
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: began immediately to search the surrounding area in her car
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and on foot. By just after four thirty pm, with
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: no signs of Mattie, two unidentified women made calls to
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: nine point one on behalf of the day stressed mother
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: from her mother's office building near to the middle school,
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Jen and others waited for police, there were no more
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: obvious locations to search and no sign of Madeline and
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the child that you're trying to report missing.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Are you calling on behalf of.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: The of the parents?
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: Yes, he has on behalf of the mother. She's like, okay,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: and then so, ma'am, I just want to confirm though.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: Was she last seen from this address before you guys
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: last saw her?
• 4:31
  Speaker 4: No? No, no, no.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: She was least seen at the church next to Hunt's
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Creek Middle School.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: I think it's called Peace Church.
• 4:38
  Speaker 5: I'm not sure if he's back to dress.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Does she have a self on that she might keep
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: on her person?
• 4:44
  Speaker 5: She does it?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: She had when she looked at home conveniently today.
• 4:48
  Speaker 6: Okay, we have a nassy child since this morning we
• 4:55
  Speaker 6: already called three.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Kinds because I see it is a way for a dibity,
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: rem the way for.
• 5:01
  Speaker 4: A decade to respond, yes, ma'am.
• 5:04
  Speaker 6: And how long more do we need to wait?
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: It's a child.
• 5:08
  Speaker 6: I understand that, man, but I'm just not able to
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: give our EP. I don't know when they'll be there, so.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: How long do we need to wait? Emergency?
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: Maybe were very visiting here, alis Iunderson as they'll be there.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: So the big end okay.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: It was nearly eight pm when deputies responded to the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: call out with Jen, we're a handful of individuals offering support,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: including her boyfriend, Stefan Stearns.
• 5:35
  Speaker 7: Was my school didn't make it a school.
• 5:38
  Speaker 6: Didn't make it a school. I went to pick her
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: up from school to say and she.
• 5:41
  Speaker 8: Never came out. They announced it all the speaker, and
• 5:44
  Speaker 8: I'm just like, maybe she won't here, because sometimes she'll walk.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: Here to this office jam hear nothing. I went back
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: to the school with clothes.
• 5:51
  Speaker 8: I got to notice an email from the school saying
• 5:54
  Speaker 8: she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher, and
• 5:56
  Speaker 8: you looked at her entire.
• 5:57
  Speaker 6: Ten day, saw that she was really not at schools
• 6:00
  Speaker 6: they either, so she never made it.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: According to the school, teachers have until three point thirty
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: in the afternoon to report their student's attendance. The automated
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: call notifying Jen that Maddie had not been in class
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: would not be made until five point forty five that night.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: By that time, Madeline had been missing for nearly eight hours.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: The mother was already in a panic, walking the surrounding area,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: searching for signs of Madeline and making calls to police.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: Shoe last scene wearing got another play my allfighter on.
• 6:34
  Speaker 5: Greens Cross, White Cross either a.
• 6:40
  Speaker 6: Blue or black pear. I think black shorts? Black shirts?
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: Ye, black shorts, Okay, shorts.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Police would learn that it was Stefan that drove Mattie
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: to school that morning. He chimed in to provide a
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: description of what she was wearing. Notably, Jen inserted to
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: clarify that matt had been wearing black shorts. That Jen
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: seemed to know what Maddie was wearing that day suggests
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: that she saw her daughter before she left for school,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: a fact that would later be questioned. Jen searched her
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: phone for the most recent photo of Madeline, one taken
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: from her birthday party the day before. Maddie had forgotten
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: her cell phone at home that day. According to Jen,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: her forgetfulness was not uncommon. It was a symptom of
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: her a d h D.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: So she left at her homestake.
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: I have.
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: I already know her mention?
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: How about did she have an apple?
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: She got a device? Sold right, It'll try to Nick
• 8:03
  Speaker 6: only episode circle here.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Maddie's school issued laptop was trackable, though it had not
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: been turned on since Sunday, the day prior. Stephan then
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: told police that we implying that both he and Jen
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: dropped her off a block away from the school that
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: morning at roughly eight thirty or eight forty a m.
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: When was the last time you've seen her?
• 8:29
  Speaker 6: Do you know that we're around when we dropped her off?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: Wait twelve?
• 8:43
  Speaker 9: Does she have any markings on her, like, any.
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: Scars, distinctive beauty mark on her face on her.
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: Face on the face, Yeah, right that area there, and
• 8:53
  Speaker 6: it's very distinctive. You'd know if you saw her.
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: Big Stephan spoke into dependently with deputies. Following the missing
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: person's report, the officers were beginning to piece together a
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: timeline of Maddie's last known movements. They learned that Stefan
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: had taken her to school that morning, something that he
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: claimed to have done on occasion, but was in fact
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: a rare task for the self proclaimed stepfather. Madeline was
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: commonly taken to school by her mother or grandparents. Her
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: biological father kept in touch with her, but was not
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: actively in her life. It was Stefan who claimed to
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: have assumed this fatherly role.
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: Very strong bond. You know, I'm the person she goes
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: to when her mom gets in a fight with her
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: and she needs someone to comfort her and come and
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: that person for her. You know, this girl knows nothing
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: but love here in the sanity.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: According to the stepdad, when he does take Maddie to school,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: she asks that he does not drive her all the
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: way to the building, but rather prefers to be dropped
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: at a distance so she can walk up. The reason
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: for this is that she thinks Stefan's vehicle, a silver
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: twenty ten Lincoln, is unattractive. Stephan agreed to drop her
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: near to Peace United Methodist Church, located at Town Loop Boulevard,
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: which is approximately a five minute walk away from Hunter
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: Creek Middle School.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: Early the plan was that we were going to get
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: McDonald's by fished on the way. So we made amazingly
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: good time. Ok neither of us were here yesterday, so
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: you can be kind of like specific about like times
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that. Okay, woke up around seven seven
• 10:38
  Speaker 3: fifteen somewhere around there. She's an early start for us,
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: but we had talked about getting McDonald's back. We did
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: make good time. We got out the door maybe some
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: thirty five ish, maybe got over to that area. She
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: was asleep in the car most of the time, just
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: snooze until we got there. We got to McDonald's, close
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: to McDonald's, I said, still on it. She wasn't interested
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: in McDonald's anymore, so we continued on and she wanted
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: to be dropped off a little down the ways from
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: the school. She's got this phase that she's been into
• 11:15
  Speaker 3: lately where she very particularly about what car she's seen
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: getting out of the school. She commers the mom's car.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: That was sometime probably between eight twenty and eight forty ish,
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: somewhere in there. It was along the stretch of the
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: road that on the right side it has all the
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: communities on it before you get to the overpass. You
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: could see the overpassing wolves. So it was on that
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: side on that stretch of road.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: He stated that after he parted ways with Maddie, he
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: watched as she looked through her backpack.
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: She said she was going to go wait for her friends.
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: She's going to find them to hang out and wait
• 11:54
  Speaker 3: for her friends. Care I asked if that was gonna
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: be okay. So, yeah, it's fine. Kids get dropped off
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: early enough as it is, since not totally unusual for
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: that to happen. She's not usually that early that I
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: dropped her off. She school runs every once in a
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: while for her. Is it okay? Let her out, have
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: a good day. Love you, thanks, love you too. And
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: I turned around and was driving. Wayne was watching her
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: in my review here and make sure that she was
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: lam we're supposed to go, and she was moving in
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: that direction. But she was rummaging around in her backback
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: or something when I assumed was probably headphones or something.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: I know she forgot her phone here, so she may
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: have been roomy for her phone.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Jen Soto told police that she saw Maddie at eleven
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: pm the night before, when her daughter and Stefan went
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to bed together in the same room. Jen told deputies
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: in two separate conversations that the three of them regularly
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: slept together in one bed as a family, but as
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: Jen had recently started a new job, she chose to
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: sleep separately from Mattie and Stefan in order to get
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: a better sleep. Queried if it was common for her
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: to leave her boyfriend and daughter alone. Reports show Jen
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: offered different responses. In one instance, she said it was
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: rare for this to take place. In another conversation, she
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: admitted it was not an uncommon arrangement in the house,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: but one that did not concern her. She stated that
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: she had been hypervigilant with Mattie around Stefan, but had
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: grown more relaxed over the years. The two had been
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: together on and off for roughly seven years. Throughout that
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: period of time, Stefan and Madeleine, she said, had grown
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: very close. Steffan's description of his movements that morning became
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: a focal point of the investigation. Immediately, the thirty eight
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: year old took police to the location by the church
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: where he claimed to have left Mattie to walk the
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: rest of the way.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: Was they here, I can't remember the spot, but it
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: was around where these communities were, thank you. So it's
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: like around where these communities were, okay, And it's just
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: like in this stretch, Like we could see the overpass
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: down there, just on the other side of the overpass,
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: so some were on here. So yeah, somewhere, maybe not
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: this one, but the next one Parkway is right in
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: this stretch. We just came down and we grove about
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: halfway down. She was like, that's good, right here all right.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: Initially, this story appeared to check out. A camera was
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: located in front of the Peace Church property at the
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: intersection of tail Loop Boulevard and Hunter's Park Lane, right
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: where Stefan claimed to have stopped. Deputies checked the church camera.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: It appeared to show a juvenile enter the property from
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: tail Loop Boulevard at approximately eight forty am and sit
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: down on the ground in the parking lot. The figure
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: then stood to leave at eight fifty eight and walked
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: off in the direction of the school. But there were
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: issues with the footage. It was of extremely poor quality.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: As a result, the figure could not be confirmed to
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: be Madeline. Not even the clothing could be seen clearly
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: enough to discern a match to what she was thought
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: to have been wearing. Additionally, what was somewhat visible on
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: the recording was the vehicle that dropped off the blurry figure.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: It appeared to be a dark Sedan, not a silver Lincoln. Indeed,
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: traffic cameras did capture Stefan's car driving around the school
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: area that morning, but not all the way to the location,
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: he stated. As his vehicle approached the school, he appeared
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: to make a turn and began traveling in the opposite direction.
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: So keep in mind, all of this is still northound, Okay,
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: right down on John YOUNGK Parkway. Why is your car
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: seen going southbound at eight ten? Your car is seen
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: going southbound at this intersection, so meaning going toward kissing me.
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: I had forgotten. So I had forgotten my gay clicker.
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: I'm sorry, I forgot. I had gone back to the
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: house real quick after we left because I forgot my
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: gate clicker. I actually had to go through the front
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: gate and use my parking pass to ground my clicker.
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: So it was a wrong time. I'm sorry. Like I said,
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: I was guestimating these times. I'm not a mining person.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: The Orange County Sheriff's Department organized a massive search effort
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: to find Madeline. Over fifty members of the Emergency Response
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Team combed through hiking trails in woodland near to the
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: school grounds. Dogs tracking Mattie scent walked the paths while
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: ATVs and horses were utilized to cover the rough terrain.
• 17:02
  Speaker 10: We were able to access Madelin's phone, and there is
• 17:04
  Speaker 10: information on the phone that indicated that she told people
• 17:09
  Speaker 10: when she turned thirteen, which was on February twenty second,
• 17:13
  Speaker 10: she actually wanted to go live in the woods, so
• 17:16
  Speaker 10: that was in her phone.
• 17:19
  Speaker 6: Well.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: The search was ongoing. Jen and Stefan spoke with the
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: local news media to help get the word out.
• 17:28
  Speaker 8: My boyfriend who drove her to school, drove away at
• 17:30
  Speaker 8: that point. It was seen on video footage that she
• 17:36
  Speaker 8: hung out in the parking lot of the church for
• 17:38
  Speaker 8: a few minutes and then got up and walked towards
• 17:41
  Speaker 8: the school. But she never made it from that walk
• 17:45
  Speaker 8: from and that was around nine am when she got up.
• 17:49
  Speaker 8: She never made it to school after that. It's right
• 17:54
  Speaker 8: next to the school. I don't know why she didn't
• 17:56
  Speaker 8: make it. I don't know if something happened on her
• 17:58
  Speaker 8: walk along the way or she got taken.
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: But she never made it.
• 18:04
  Speaker 8: And I looked at their messages. Nothing was weird. I
• 18:06
  Speaker 8: looked at all of her messages, all of her deleted messages.
• 18:09
  Speaker 8: Nothing seemed weird. It didn't seem like she was talking
• 18:11
  Speaker 8: to anyone. So I don't feel like that's the case.
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: I feel like she may have been taken, because this
• 18:18
  Speaker 8: is not like her at all to just disappear and
• 18:20
  Speaker 8: not tell us, not let us know where she's going
• 18:23
  Speaker 8: or who she's with. So I'm not sure. I'm not
• 18:26
  Speaker 8: sure where to go from here. I'm just contacting the
• 18:30
  Speaker 8: news to get the word out to get some help
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: because I'm desperate. I'm a wreck right now.
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: I'm just I'm scared for her. I want her to
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: be okay, and I want her to be safe. I
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: don't want I don't want her to come back home.
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: I just I just want her back, whatever that means.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: I just want her back.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: Stefan reiterated what he told the deputies.
• 19:00
  Speaker 5: Emotional right now, explained to us, I dropped her off
• 19:06
  Speaker 5: Jersy looked fine when I drove away, so last time
• 19:10
  Speaker 5: we saw her. More the conversation that you had in
• 19:13
  Speaker 5: the car when you dropped her.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: Off, No might she was asleep for most of the way.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: Told her to have a good day at school. When
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: she got out, I love her, said thanks, love you too.
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: Who was there?
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: Are you in the sense blaming yourself?
• 19:32
  Speaker 9: Sorry not too. Why the dropped her off early? They
• 19:37
  Speaker 9: could have waited longer. She looked okay. She was walking
• 19:41
  Speaker 9: towards the school when I saw her. It was like
• 19:43
  Speaker 9: any other day, So I went on with my day.
• 19:47
  Speaker 9: I'm sorry not to blame myself.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: The Sheriff's department had been tracking Steffan's movements all over
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Kassimi and the surrounding area. Using traffic cameras and building
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: security footage, what they found was that the turn he
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: made away from the school at eight ten am was
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: not the only oddity in his course of travel that day.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Security camera footage next to the apartment complex dumpsters captured
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Stefan discarding items into it at seven thirty am. After
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: he claimed to do the school drop, he drove to
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: a vape shop, only to find that it hadn't opened yet,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: he said. He returned to the apartment complex for a time,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: then left again to go back to that vape shop.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: After that, he set off to a game store called
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: House Rules, But just like numerous other locations that he
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: said he intended to visit that day, Stefan drove towards
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: them but never actually reached these destinations. In this way,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: he explained why his car was captured in different locations
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: around Orange and Osceola Counties but was never on camera.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Entering a restaurant or shop sometime between noon and two pm,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: the thirty eight year old had to change a flot tire.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: When he did so, he said he was pulled over
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: somewhere on US one ninety two, a rural road that
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: sees little traffic, He could not specify where exactly on
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the roadside he stopped to swap out the flat cameras
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: placed him driving out to this area, but could not
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: determine the full route he took. A search warrant was
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: obtained for the home and Stefan's car. During the execution
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: of the warrant, deputies requested access to Stefan's cell phone.
• 21:29
  Speaker 8: In the meantime, while we're waiting for all this to
• 21:31
  Speaker 8: get sorted out, I am going to hold onto your phone. Okay,
• 21:35
  Speaker 8: I'll give it back to you when we're done.
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: Okay, do you have any questions for us? I'm not sure.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: I waiting for my supervisor to call me. My dad.
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: It's dad's using that to get a hold of me
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: and get updated.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: Stefan reluctantly granted access to his device, which he claimed
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: he had accidentally reset to its factory settings. In fact,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: forensics teams found that on the day Mattie disappeared, he
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: performed a factory reset on his phone not once, but twice.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Detectives also traced the trash from the apartment complex dumpster
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: to the facility, where it was separately emptied. The Orange
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: County Sheriff's Office forensics unit located the intact tread of
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: a tire. The pattern matched the rear passenger tire of
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Steffan's vehicle. In close proximity to the tire, the crime
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: scene investigators located a white trash bag. It was this
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: bag that Steffan was seen tossing into the apartment dumpster
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: before the school run around seven thirty am. The trash
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: bag contained a black backpack with what appeared to be
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: purple Hawaiian print and one white croc. The matching shoe
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: was found in one of the bedrooms inside the house.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Inside the backpack, CSI's located in Orange County Public School
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: computer with Madeleine Soto's name on it.
• 23:06
  Speaker 10: So thank you for being here. We have some important
• 23:09
  Speaker 10: developments in this case that we want to share with
• 23:12
  Speaker 10: our community. I wish we were here to tell you
• 23:16
  Speaker 10: that we have found Madeline, but we have not found her.
• 23:21
  Speaker 10: Last night, detectives from the Kassimi Police Department met with
• 23:25
  Speaker 10: Madeleine's mother and they had to tell her the very
• 23:29
  Speaker 10: devastating news that although we have not found Madeleine, we
• 23:34
  Speaker 10: are now confident that she is dead. So our efforts
• 23:39
  Speaker 10: will be focused on recovering Madeleine. Our detectives have determined
• 23:44
  Speaker 10: that Madeleine was never dropped off on the morning of
• 23:49
  Speaker 10: February twenty sixth near her school. Instead, we believe she
• 23:55
  Speaker 10: was already dead at the time.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Just after tossing the white trash bag into the compactor,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: at seven thirty a m. Stefan returned to his vehicle.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: This camera footage has not been released. After hearing what
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: is captured, the decision to keep a private is easy
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to understand, according to police. Visible in the front passenger
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: seat of the Lincoln was a female wearing a green hoodie,
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: her head tilted onto her left shoulder. One police report
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: described the young girl as slumped over in an abnormal
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: way for a person to be seated. At roughly eight
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: twenty a m. Stefan drove out through the complex's gates,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: briefly interacting with a security guard. Just over an hour later,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: after driving his slumped over passenger towards different destinations, Stefan's
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: vehicle entered a parking garage at a holiday inn. There
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: he parked. Police say. The security footage in the parking
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: garage shows the driver exit the car lift what appears
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: to be a limp body from the front passenger seat
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: and move her into the trunk. The car then exited
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the lot. Stefan's vehicle was captured driving on Old Hickory
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Tree Road and Nulty Road. Later that day, somewhere in
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: this area, he stopped to change his tire. By four
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: forty pm, he had returned to the complex, where he
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: tossed tire treads into the dumpster. Roughly around this time,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: Jensoto was at the Hunter Creek School frantically trying to
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: locate her daughter. Stefan Stearns was arrested and held in custody,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: but not at least initially for murder. That charge was
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: certainly on the police's radar, but they had uncovered a
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: wealth of other incriminating evidence that compelled an immediate arrest.
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Detectives found that a Google drive was linked to Stefan's phone.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: The drive contained disturbing materials of a sexual nature, dating
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: over a period of roughly two years throughout twenty twenty
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: two and twenty twenty three. A number of these over
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: seventeen hundred images in videos depicted madelin. A notable physical
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: feature of Stephon's was visible in many of these images,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: which removed any doubt that he was the adult male pictured.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: After a thorough inventory of the contents were made, Stepan
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: Stearns was charged with sixty counts, including sexual battery and
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: charges specifically relating to his actions with a minor. Metadata
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: containing the date that each picture or video was taken
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: meant that many of the charges applied to a child
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: under the age of twelve, particularly heinous and vile crimes.
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: In fact, recent changes in Florida law meant that had
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the dates on these files varied by even a few months,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: he could have faced the death penalty if convicted of
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: the abuse charges. A law applying a potential death sentence
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: for these crimes was signed into Florida law in December
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: of two thousand twenty three. As it stood, the sixty
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: charges against him could still yield a term of life
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: in prison if convicted on all or most counts. On
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: Friday March first, twenty twenty four, law enforcement received a
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: tip that Stefan Stearns had been spotted changing a flat
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: tire in the area of Hickory Tree Road in Saint Cloud.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: The witness placed him with his vehicle very near to
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: the last camera that had captured him driving that way
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: on the afternoon of February twenty sixth. At about four
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: thirty that afternoon, the Sheriff's Department contacted the landowner of
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the field behind a locked gate opposite the section of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the road where Stefan was thought to have pulled over.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: Opening the gate, they wandered to the left where there
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: is a long line of timell bamboo trees. At that point,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the captain noticed blue jeans. Just a few feet into
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: the bamboo tree line. Under the trees, they spotted what
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: appeared to be a body. Her top half was covered
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: by a green colored hooded sweatshirt. She wore blue jeans.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: It seemed that the young girl was covered by pieces
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: of hay or dry grass.
• 28:25
  Speaker 11: So what we did was we sent our units out
• 28:27
  Speaker 11: here and we did discover what appears to be a body.
• 28:31
  Speaker 11: The body has clothing very similar to what the victim
• 28:36
  Speaker 11: was last seen wearing. We cannot say it is the
• 28:40
  Speaker 11: victim's body at this time until it's confirmed from the
• 28:43
  Speaker 11: medical examiners.
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: It was later confirmed that the girl found in the
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: tree line was Madeline Soto. Due to the assumed nature
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: of the crime involving domestic violence and that she was
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: a miner. The cause of death was not officially released.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: Local news reported that they had come to believe, from
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: speaking with their sources in the Medical Examiner's office, that
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: Madeleine had died of strangulation. There has been a predictable
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: amount of speculation relating to what Jennifer Soto knew about
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: what was happening in the home and when she knew
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: about it. The inconsistencies in the mother's story did not
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: help with her credibility, though it must be acknowledged that
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: a certain amount of confusion is understandable and expected given
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: the stress of losing her daughter. One deputy reported that
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: Jen stated that she last saw her daughter in the morning,
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: getting ready for school at approximately eight a m. This
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: sighting would explain how she thought she knew what her
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: daughter was wearing that day, though her description did not
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: match what Mattie was found wearing under the bamboo trees.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: In a later interview, Jen stated only possible hearing her
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: daughter that morning. Jen now states that she did not
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: in fact see Mattie the morning she disappeared. She awoke
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: around seven or eight a m. And heard Stefan taking
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: the dog for a walk. She did not hear Mattie
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: in the house at all. Jen then left for an
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: appointment at roughly nine point thirty. Stefan had not yet
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: returned from taking Mattie to school, she said. According to
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Kissimi p d. Jen is not a suspect in the case.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: Detective Morris, who took lead in the investigation upon the
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: discovery of materials on Steffan's cloud account, confronted Jennifer with
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: some of the images. The detective wrote that when confronted,
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Jen denied being able to identify the people in the photos.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: He reported that it was clear what was being depicted,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: but despite this, Jen insisted that she didn't recognize anything
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: in the picture, as if she was in denial. However,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: he wrote, she became visibly upset. Detective Morris had spoken
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: with Jen on February twenty seventh, three days before Madeleine
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: was found. He noted in his report that the distraught
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: mother referred to her daughter throughout the interview in the
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: past tense. Stephan Stearns was indicted for first degree murder
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: for the death of Madeline Soto. He has subsequently refused
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: to appear in court for any hearings. He had expressed
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: his discontent over the conditions offered at the county jail.
• 31:33
  Speaker 3: I don't know why they don't do that, you know,
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: I don't why don't they just kind of like at
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: least give you blank.
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: Contempt was down.
• 31:45
  Speaker 12: Shared regulations, fellow, nothing else today's conscs.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: The state of Florida has declared its intention to seek
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: the death penalty. Legal commentators have speculated that if Stefan
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: does push for a trial, it would only be to
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: save him from death row. Based on what has been uncovered,
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: there is no realistic case to be made for his innocence.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: In Florida, a jury no longer needs to be unanimous
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: in its decision to use capital punishment. A vote of
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: eight to four jurors in favor is sufficient to hand
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: down this sentence. Madeline Soto is deeply mourned by family
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and friends. Her closest friends at school cried as they
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: told police about their time with Mattie and how much
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: they missed her. A community prayer for her safe return
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: tragically shifted to a vigil. On the night that she
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: was found.
• 33:03
  Speaker 3: The first thing that came to my mind with my
• 33:05
  Speaker 3: own daughter, and I'm sure that everybody thinks of that
• 33:08
  Speaker 3: as a tragic moment.
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: It's heartbreaking and saddening to kind of see this happening.
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: Your children are supposed to be protected, and unfortunately, in
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: this case, she was exposed.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: That was the tragic case of Madeline Soto. Thank you
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: once again for joining me here today, and a special
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: thanks to e Wall Scooby Bee and Santino Stevens for
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: joining the members lounge. I'm Kevin this it just thought
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: lounge and I'll see in the next one.
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: Repeat.
• 33:50
  Speaker 13: Gotta take my time because these crimes get deep, but
• 33:52
  Speaker 13: these stories can't. Let me find my seat. Kevin, go
• 33:55
  Speaker 13: ahead and settle in. Gott to be selective, doing er research,
• 33:58
  Speaker 13: keeping it objective. Always been a cauld say he got
• 34:01
  Speaker 13: a neck picked the letter. You see how Newton got
• 34:03
  Speaker 13: his back. Yeah, the content that you need to cook
• 34:05
  Speaker 13: be a new sign. Talking the comments they got in the.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: Few lines, tune in and had like loved that.
• 34:10
  Speaker 13: It's true. Con feels like the whole world