June 18, 2024 • 39 mins
The day Madeline Soto vanished, her mother, Jennifer, writes in a sworn statement that she saw her daughter getting ready for school that morning.
In a later interview, Jennifer Soto instead says she heard someone in the kitchen. She assumes it's Madeline, but that isn't the only change in the mother's story. Jennifer finally tells investigators she last saw her 13-year-old daughter the night before, when she sent Madeline to another bedroom with Stephan Sterns.
According to Mom, this is a common arrangement when she needs to get a good night's sleep.
Early in the investigation, Stephan Sterns was a person of interest. The day Madeline Soto is reported missing, investigators allegedly found 1,700 sexually explicit images on Sterns's cell phone. Investigators have also said they found images and video on Sterns’ phone showing he molested her for years.
Initially, Stephan Sterns tells investigators he drops the girl off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. However, around that same time, investigators say a license plate reader detected Sterns's car miles away from the school. Using data from license plate readers and surveillance video, investigators track Sterns's car as it travels east from Kissimmee toward St. Cloud and Old Hickory Tree Road, where Madeline Soto's body is found lying face down near bamboo trees covered in debris.
Investigators obtain surveillance video from the morning Madeline Soto is reported missing a trash compactor where a tread from Stephan Sterns's car is found as well as items belonging to Madeline Soto, like her black backpack. Sterns is caught on video throwing these objects in the trash compactor. Minutes later, Sterns is caught on surveillance video at 7:36 a.m. driving away from the Kissimmee, Florida neighborhood with a female in the front passenger seat.
Investigators believe the female seen at 7:36 a.m. in the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of Stephan Sterns's vehicle is Madeline Soto's dead body propped up and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person, but closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Sterns is caught on surveillance video again at 8:19 am when he is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood with a female, in the same position as the surveillance video.
Stephan Sterns's car is seen on surveillance footage again, this time turning into the parking garage of Holiday Inn Club Vacations in Orlando. He drives to the top level of the parking garage and gets out of his car around 9:42 a.m. A man matching Sterns's description is seen allegedly opening the trunk, walking around to the passenger seat, opening the door, and carrying what appears to be a "limp female body" to the trunk of the vehicle. At 9:44 a.m. the vehicle is seen on surveillance video leaving the parking garage and driving away.
The Florida State Attorney's office release more than 900 pages of information showing how investigators, using surveillance videos and license plate readers tracked Stephan Sterns leaving an apartment complex in Kissimmee on the morning of February 26, and driving to an area of St. Cloud where Madeline Soto's body is found four days later. It remains unclear as to how Madeline Soto died.
The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office announced that it filed 60 counts against Sterns, including:
- Eight counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12
- Five counts of Sexual Battery with a Child, 12-18
- Seven counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation
- 40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child, 10 or More
Stephan Sterns will face the death penalty if convicted of the murder of Madeline Soto.
JOINING NANCY GRACE TODAY:
- Terasina Niles - Madeline's Aunt
- Jarrett Ferentino – Pennsylvania Attorney/Homicide Prosecutor,; Facebook & Instagram: Jarrett Ferentino; Host: “True Crime Boss” Podcast
- Dr. Jorey Krawczyn – Police Psychologist, Adjunct Faculty with Saint Leo University; Research Consultant with Blue Wall Institute, Author: Operation S.O.S. – Practical Recommendations to Help “Stop Officer Suicide”
- Joe Scott Morgan – Professor of Forensics: Jacksonville State University, Author, “Blood Beneath My Feet,” and Host: “Body Bags with Joseph Scott Morgan;” X: @JoScottForensic
- Shannon Butler - Investigative Reporter at WFTV-9 Florida
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Little Mattie Soto, just thirteen, now believed to be dead
when she is actually buckled in with a seat belt
in the car of her mom's boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right. Is she actually buckled in dead and he's
driving around with her?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Because when you look very carefully at Granny's surveillance video,
she's tilted over to one side, her head is over
and her mouth is open. Is this after years of
sex abuse by mommy's live in. I'm just trying to
(00:49):
take it all in and from what I can determine
from our own investigation here at Crime Stories that sex
abuse by mommy's boyfriend and started around the time little.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Maddie was just eight years old.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I am learning now from a treasure trove of state's
documents that the night before Maddie, just thirteen years old,
went missing translation murdered. The night before she goes missing,
her mother sent her to bed with the live in
(01:36):
so mommy could get a good night's sleep. I Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So Madeline is thirteen years old. She has been missing
since eight thirty on Monday morning, when mom's boyfriend dropped
her off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. Uh, he dropped
her off actually near the Piece United Methodist Church on
Town Boulevard.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Okay, so she was supposed to be dropped off at school,
didn't make.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It to school.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her
up from school today and she never came out.
Speaker 7 (02:15):
They announced it over the speaker, and I'm just like,
maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walked here to
this office.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
I came here, nothing. I went back to the school.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
We closed.
Speaker 7 (02:23):
I got to notice an email from the school saying
she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher and
you looked at her entire tennis today and saw that
she was completely not at school today either.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
So she never made it.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Okay, what's her.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Name, Madeline? I'm a d e o I any, I'm.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
A d e out I any any last name? So ohto.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, you just heard the sheriff, who's an incredible sheriff,
John Mina, and he's saying that the boyfriend dropped Maddie
off that morning at school.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Now, we didn't when.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I heard day one that she got dropped off at
the pc Nity Methodist Church and not school, and there
was confusion about where she got dropped off right there?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know what, I know where I dropped my children off.
I know where they get out of the car.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
How come he did it? Why was there confusion about that?
That's a whole nother can of worms. If you don't
mind control room, please, I want to hear that again.
The girls missing, and he's like, hey, can I bumma
sing off here? He's just like, so chill, not worried
at all. Then I found out later that morning when
(03:40):
everyone is running around trying to find Maddie, he says
he's zonked out on sedatis because of his anxiety.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I bet okay.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
So she was supposed to be dropped off at school.
Didn't make it a school, didn't make it a school.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
I went to pick here up from school stay and
she never came out.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
They announced it on this speed, and I'm just like,
maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walk here to
this office.
Speaker 6 (04:04):
I came here nothing. I went back to the school
of a clothes.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
I got to notice an email from the school thing
she was absent.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
But I also messaged.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
Her teacher and you look at her entire tennts today
and saw that she was completely not at school today either.
Speaker 6 (04:16):
Okay, so she never made it.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Okay, what's her.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
Name, Madeline? I'm a d e O I Anny.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I'm ad al I any famous so us oh TiO.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, guys with me an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now, including Shannon Butler,
investigative reporter WFTV nine in Flora in this jurisdiction. But
first I'm going to go to a very special guest
joining us. It's Terracina Niles. This is a very dear
member of the family related.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
To Maddy Soto's bio dad wife.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So they're seeing it from a different because they're seeing
it from dad's angle. Terrosina, thank you for being with us.
I really appreciate it. You know, in the last days,
I've been reading all the new headlines and we went
further and got there's a nine hundred page document that
(05:20):
I have been, you know, wading through. I've got to
tell you, it just made my heart stop. And I
understand that you and Maddie's bio dad are reeling at
the new information, which, aspect of the new information just
(05:41):
released is the most concerning to you.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I think the biggest aspect has been the timelines that.
Speaker 9 (05:52):
You know, we weren't you're ready to hear, but you're
never ready to hear, and so seeing those kind of
layout and essentially a lot of my family and I
we haven't read through the documents, but I have seen
quite a bit from social media, and it's just it's
just devastating, and.
Speaker 8 (06:12):
The description of how she was found and just things
of that nature. Just you're never ready.
Speaker 9 (06:17):
To hear something like that, especially when it's somebody that
you've watched grow up and you know it's it's truly devastating,
all of.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It, you know, Terrasina, everyone joining us is a special guest,
Maddie's aunt, Terasina Niles.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I don't think that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
You should base hard on yourself at all, do you know,
to this day today, I have never gone to the
scene where my fiance was murdered. Why because it would
just put me back at square one.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I'd start all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I mean, sometimes it's just too much to take in.
I've just been thinking so much about what I'm hearing,
is especially the part the allegation that Maddie was being
molested by this guy as young as age eight, And
(07:18):
I bet anything she.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Never said a word to her dad about it.
Speaker 8 (07:23):
No, we wouldn't be like, none of this would have happened.
We even had an inkling.
Speaker 9 (07:30):
So it's I think that was another sorry, that was
another thing from the documents once we saw how many
other of her friends and people didn't know either, and
we're just it doesn't take the pain away or the
guilt that's there, but it does show that like nobody
(07:51):
knew that closest to her, and it really is devastating.
Speaker 8 (07:55):
Other than the people that did know, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Ms Niles, did you guys had any idea that the
mother was letting was just basically sending Mattie off to
sleep with the boyfriend at night.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
Not at all, Not at all, So all of this
is news.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
How is Mattie's dad reacting to all this? He must
be devastated.
Speaker 9 (08:24):
It's been difficult to just see my brother in law
Tyler and my sister Tatsiana just go thick through any
of this just because they loved her so deeply, and
it's it's incomprehensible. I truly can't even find the words
to convey the devastation that I'm witnessing and seeing and
(08:47):
reading it just makes everyone really sick, really really really sick.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I pray to God, Miss Niles. I pray to God
that one mother out there and one father, especially dads
who are not in the home when the parents are
divorced are separated, hear this and understand what's happening in
so many homes across our country. Guys, I want you
(09:14):
to take a listen to more of what the mom says. Well.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Last scene where.
Speaker 10 (09:25):
Green green, white cross, white cross, parents, shorts, black shorts, okay, shirts,
all right?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Do you know she has a friends in area?
Speaker 6 (09:42):
She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
She doesn't know where she live. Okay.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
I ask all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace joining me an all star panel,
and I going to go out to Shannon Butler. He
was an investigative reporter WFTV nine in Florida. Shannon, thank
you so much for being with us. I got to
tell you this new release of documents and information you've
(10:15):
seen a wrecking ball, right. It feels like a giant
wrecking ball just hit me in the head when I
see what was going on in that home and I'm
hearing the circumstances surrounding this little girl, thirteen year old
Maddie's death, her murder. This with the backdrop of the
(10:37):
boyfriend being charged with at least sixty sex counts on children,
be it taking videos, pictures, molesting, the whole shebang. And look,
the mom did not murder the daughter. He did according
to police. But wow, I mean letting the fox and
(11:00):
the handhouse. What was she thinking? And her story completely changed.
I can't help but feel blame toward mommy.
Speaker 11 (11:11):
Yeah, I think everybody. I mean, we have been following
this case for months and we have had so many
people call an email and say what are they going
to do about Jen Soto? People are angry because of
everything that happened before they reported her missing.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We still have that piece of the.
Speaker 11 (11:29):
Timeline that we don't know yet of what happened between
when she sent her daughter up to bed to sleep
with Stephen Stearns and then in the morning when he
was seen with her inside that car. We have that
gap there in that timeline. I think that will tell
us some things. We have asked the Kassimi Police Department
(11:50):
time and time and time again, is there going to
be a rest made of Jen Soto? Because so many
people believe that she was complacent in this, that there
were things that she did that would have changed the
outcome of this situation if she hadn't done it. That
timeline we are waiting on and hopefully will tell us more.
But at this point, it just doesn't seem like police
(12:13):
are moving towards Jen Soto. You know, this is an investigation,
Dan's We've been through this millions unfortunately, and things can change.
But right now it seems their focus is just on
Stepan Stearns, and I know that is what so many
people do not want to hear too.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Jared Farantino, homicide prosecutor in Pennsylvania Jared Jarrettfarantino dot com
host a True Crime Boss podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Jarrett, thank you for being with us. JAREDT how manny
times have you seen it?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I've seen it so many times. I'm up to here
with it. Mothers that side with the molester. I remember
the first time I saw it. I couldn't believe it.
I remember the case. I took the case to try.
Oh I got held to content. Blah blah blah. Long
story short, mothers, girlfriends, lovers, mistresses siding with the guy
(13:10):
and that's molesting their child.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Nancy it's a power dynamic. It's crazy. What's going on
here in this case, the fact that Jen Soto is
continuing to protect Sterns. At a minimum, she lied images
of the investigation. And if we've learned anything from the
cases we've seen over the past, loved ones who are
lying about missing when there's someone missing about small details
(13:34):
or large details, it's hiding something, something very big. And
she's hiding to protect Sterns and very likely to protect herself.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, you know what, Jared Farantino, I want to follow
up on something that you just said, lying about details. Okay,
let's give it the benefit of the doubt for one moment. See,
I'm projecting again. I remember distinctly the last time I
saw Keith before.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
He was murdered.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I remember what we talked about. I remember what I
was wearing. I remember what he was wearing, the whole thing.
I remember how cold it was outside that morning in August.
I remember everything about it. How does she not remember
what happened? So I've got a problem with that, But
I'm not a shrink. Maybe Jory Crawdaughtter Crasing can explain
(14:23):
it to Joe Scott Morgan joining me guys. Joe Scott Morgan,
Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University with a state of the
art criminal procedure and Criminal justice program, Author of Blood
Beneath My Feet, host of Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan.
It's a hit podcast. I could go on and on
and on, but what really matters to me about Joe
(14:44):
Scott Morgan. He has investigated at least one thousand unexplained
deaths where he has to make the determination about what happened.
He is a death investigator. Joe Scott, I'm getting chills
on my arms. I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
How many child death cases have you seen where there
were years of warning signs?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Mommy, don't send your little girl to go sleep with
your boyfriend.
Speaker 8 (15:23):
Don't.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Hey, why is he even living in the house? Number one?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I sent him back to his mommy and daddy cod
right bye.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
That said, why wasn't he at work? What was he doing?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
How was he benefiting the family at all? The sign
you want to tell me, Joe Scott Morgan, that there
was no sign this little girl had been being molested.
She was at least eight years old, nothing, not even
a suspicion, and it happened?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
How happened? For years?
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I mean, the little girl told people I want to
go live in the woods. Why my daughter has your
son ever said that to you? My daughter and son never.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Said I just want to go live alone in the woods.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And they really mean it, and they say it over
and over for years that they want to get away
from home. Joe Scott, you see a dead child's body,
and you know, Joe Scott, from all the cases that
you have handle and investigated, that this could have been prevented.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
How do you do it?
Speaker 12 (16:34):
How do you do it? Excellent question, because we've seen
so many of these things where they just absolutely lose
any kind of responsibility is just lost out in the weeds.
And of course we have to remember the alleged perpetrator
here is whacked out of his mind. On Benzo's He
even says this, you know, he's suffering from terrible anxiety.
(16:56):
I know, why in the hell you're suffering from terrible
anxiety At that moment, Tom, when you think, you know,
let's just go with this line of thought here.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Old on, I want to, as I say to the
twins when they have to go get a tutorilet skill,
suck in all the knowledge you can.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
So you just said correctly. It's really hard to argue.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
With you when you're mostly always right, Joe Scott, Remember
I put in mostly right there. He's whacked out on
Benzo's true. He is because of his anxiety, because he
just murdered Maddling there, That's why he's anxious. But he
had the wherewithal to dispose of her body, to lie,
(17:39):
to come up with all sorts of stories to explain
his circuitous route.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I don't know how whacked out he really was or
how much he just wants us to believe that. And
what's a Benzo? That's where I was starting.
Speaker 12 (17:52):
Yeah, you know, he claims that he's suffering from, you know,
kind of this anxiety disorder. Apparently that he has to
regulate himself with the meds in order to function day
in and day out. And I guess that's what you
do when you live in mom and dad's basement, or
you're the boyfriend that mooches off of a single mom
and perhaps perhaps is victimizing the deceased here since the
(18:17):
age of eight, since the age of eight, that's what
they're saying. And yeah, I can see why you would
need benzos on board.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
What's a benzo wants a benzo?
Speaker 12 (18:28):
Well, we think about Clineza Pam, for instance. We think
about things like Valum, you know, those types of things
that kind of soothe us and calm us down. And
there's so many of them out there just floating about.
And if he got his hands on these, he's going
to try to numb himself, perhaps because the reality that
he's having to deal with, or that he's not facing
(18:50):
up you at this moment.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
There's not a nice way to ask this, just Scott,
So I'll just ask it. How can you be so
as he says, his words, not mine, zonked out? How
can he be so quote zonked out? But yet he
could still affect a child rape? I'm not going into
the details, Okay, how can he be so lethargic and
(19:15):
sedated but he could still commit a child rape and
try to cover his tracks?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
And remember he also.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Said, I don't know how I did it, but I
did a total reset on my phone, a factory reset,
and I erased all my contacts. Hello, we still found
hundreds of child porn images and videos. He didn't do
that good of a job of it. So how high
was he really. Did you look at this video, Joe Scott,
(19:45):
Do you see him standing there? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (19:47):
Yeah, he seems completely lucid at that moment in Tom,
doesn't he you know, he's I mean, he's got his
arms crossed there. Maybe perhaps in a defensive posture. I
don't know, that's a doctor Joy question. But he seemed
to be present in moment. He's responding.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
What did they say?
Speaker 12 (20:02):
You know, just a moment ago, Control played the clip
of him. He was the first one to speak up
about her clothing, Nancy. How would he know about her clothing,
what she was wearing. Well, he's he's the he's the
person that's supposed to be conveying her to all these places.
You mentioned the twins, just a moment ago that you
know specifically where you let them out. I knew where
(20:22):
I let my kids out when I dropped them off
at school. You're gonna let her wander the streets? Oh
by the way, Yeah, I dropped him outside of a
Methodist church and not at school. Oh by the way, Yeah,
she was embarrassed to be seen with me. There's more
to the story.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
The initial information was that she said, hey, you know,
I'm embarrassed of this vehicle or whatever, so dropped me
off at this location. We're still following up on all
of that, but yes, certainly something that we will look into.
You know, why not why not drop her off at
the school, But we're looking into all that.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He did not drop her all PC United Methodist Church
because she didn't want to be seen with parents or
because she was embarrassed of the car.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
She was murdered and hidden behind a row of bamboo
very thick.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Her items were thrown into a dumpster, including her backpack
and her school issued computer, and he Stephen Stearns, was
spotted at that dumpster. A male called in with the
tips describing his vehicle and then he was outside the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
With a tire iron.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
At this moment, I don't know the official cod We
are waiting, but I want you to hear more of
what mommy and live in now murdered defendant said about
she had.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Like she's got a device sold right, she's got a man.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
Two year my so school on college.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Should be it'll try to connect anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And also I want you to hear where the live
in a KA.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Stephan Stearns describes where Mattie went, she got dropped off.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
She was like, so she don't want to be drop
off at school. She want to be black dropped off
or have a black way. She don't walk, so I
staying she's independently. But he dropped her off of the
black way and drove away.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Okay, did she ever go to school?
Speaker 8 (22:37):
Was walking in that direction?
Speaker 10 (22:39):
She was rifling through her backpack, slip her so much
thought maybe she was just looking for her headphones before
she kind of walking on.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yeah, but she was just coming, you know, shambling over
in that direction.
Speaker 13 (22:49):
I looked the same as any other morning.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Jarsina Niles, could you tell us about Madeline?
Speaker 9 (22:56):
Yes, Maddie was the light of my sister, touched on him,
my brother in law Tyler's eyes. She wasn't their entire world.
Their love for her definitely seeped into the rest of
us and the family, and we just had this hope
and prayer that one day we would be able to
(23:18):
have more time with her, spend more time with her,
watch her, you know, go through the milestones and make
memories as a family.
Speaker 8 (23:30):
But we weren't given that opportunity.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
So a lot of it was from watching Afar and
when they did get, you know, a chance to have
her and be with her, they spent every moment like
cherishing it. So it was very This is all very
difficult to understand, especially finding out in real time as
well with the rest of the world, the nightmare she
(23:54):
was living through and went through, and.
Speaker 8 (24:00):
It's just been incomprehensible for US.
Speaker 14 (24:03):
Investigators believe the female seen at seven thirty six am
and the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of
Stephan Stern's vehicle is Madelin Soto's dead body, propped up
and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person,
but closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning
toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Stearns is caught
on surveillance video again at eight nineteen am, when he
(24:23):
is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood
with a female in the same position as the surveillance
video captured at seven thirty six am.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Jarrett Farentino joining me Venmin, homicide prosecutor at Jarrettfarentino dot com,
host of True Crime Boss podcast, Jarrett, I've been looking
at this guy's statement.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
His as we just saw on video. The level of
detail he is giving.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
It's amazing how when people lie, they will go through
so much detail, superfluous detail that really.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Comes back to bite them in the neck.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
For instance, he claims that that morning he and Maddie
had to turn around and go all the way back
to Kasimi because they left behind the gate remote to
get into their neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
He then claims he had a flat tire. He then
claims that he got lost and on the.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Way to taking her to school and he couldn't recount
his exact direction. And this is because police kept asking
him questions, asking him questions about where he went that
morning and why he was spotted going eastbound on the highway.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
How does anybody tell that lie?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Jarrett Farantino, It's a complete horror show, and he's desperate
at that point.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
He's got to know the gig is up, Nancy. He's
in lie upon life. Anybody in close proximity of a
missing child for a murder who then claims they were
just driving around or has erratic driving patterns nine out
of ten times is the person responsible. But you know
what I thought was notable about that video we showed
initially when they were recording he knew exactly what Maddie
(26:16):
was wearing. Jeans and the green sweatshirt.
Speaker 12 (26:19):
Mom got it wrong.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Mom says he was wearing black shorts, So he was
telling the truth about certain items and lying about others.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I'm going to go to doctor Jory cross in joining
US Psychologists Faculty, Saint Leo University. You can find him
at Dodtorjory dot com doctr jury. I'm always amazed at
the level of detail liars include in their statements, But
more fascinating is why women.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Choose to be blind to.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The molestation of their children and actually sided with the predator.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I've seen it over and over when you look, there's.
Speaker 15 (27:02):
So much to the answering of that question. Because there's
so much involved here. You can see that there's definitely
a different type of relationship between the mother and the
living boyfriend. When that first video you watch the body
language of both of them, they're almost in support of
(27:23):
one another with their story. It's like mother has a
knowledge that there's some complicity on her part of this
involvement here, and that she may not have all of
the information from the boyfriend right now, and so she's
kind of almost treading softly even maybe fearing the worst
(27:44):
has happened. But they're complicit in their actions and I
don't think they've gotten time to be alone to either
share what's going on. And I don't think that the
living boyfriend for sure, has told the mother that he
has killed her daughter.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It's amazing to me that women will stand by a
guy that is molesting their child. I don't get it
to Tarratina de Nils. This is Maddie's aunt. On the
dad's side, Tarasena has do you know whether the bio
dad has confronted Mattie's mother confronted her in the past
(28:29):
about other things or well, yes, that's a good start,
thank you. Did he ever confront her about the living
situation with the boyfriend?
Speaker 8 (28:38):
No, I don't think a lot of us were aware
of any of that.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Ah, so that was hidden hidden from the bio dad.
Has he tried to get in touch with the mom
since her body was discovered.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Everything has gone through the correct action to communicate with
the liaisons that they have in place.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I'm worried that Maddie's dad is blaming himself and he
should not, is he, because that's a very normal reaction.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
To many degrees for sure. With my brother in law
and my sister and the rest of the family in general.
It's hard not to.
Speaker 9 (29:21):
There was no signs, but it's looking back you just
what if, what if we could have done, or what
if we would have known, And it's really hard not
to live in.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
That and see them going through it. So it's definitely
been a challenge.
Speaker 16 (29:35):
We know this case has gained significant public attention because
Madeleine had just celebrated her thirteenth birthday and was just
a child. The evidence shows an individual that was interested
to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeleine's
belongings and place her body in a wooded area before
she was ever reported missing. For the four days following
(29:55):
her disappearance, the entire community was actively looking to find
Madeleine's safe and alive.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace, I want you to hear
the boyfriend Stefan Stern speaking to police and what a
wild story he gives reminds me a little bit of
Top Mom Casey Anthony. Her her story kept changing and
(30:28):
changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger of a lie.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Same here. Listen, your car is seen.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Going south down at this intersection, so meaning going toward
kissing me.
Speaker 13 (30:44):
I had forgotten. So I had forgotten my gay clicker.
I'm sorry I forgot. I had gone back to the
house real quick after we left because I'd forgotten my
gay clicker. I actually had to go through the front
gate and used my parking pass to go on my thinker.
So it was a wrong time. I'm sorry, I said,
(31:06):
I was scustimating these times.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I'm not a morning person, not a mourning person. To
death investigator Joseph Scott, Morgan, not a mourning person. The
daughter is missing, and he's not a morning person, so
he can't answer police questions. Joe Scott, you and I
have very carefully investigated the case, studied this most recent
(31:32):
outpouring of documents, and I want to hear your theory
about what happened to thirteen year old Maddie.
Speaker 12 (31:39):
In my opinion, she was deceased when she went into
that car, Nancy, Now you know. For me, I think
that it was something that took place in a very
private location in order the facilitation of her death I'm
speaking of, and then he had to secret her out
of that location into the vehicle and transport her way.
(32:00):
That vehicle itself is going to play a key role,
I think, because we have to consider all things. Remember,
her autopsy report has not been released, and by virtue
of Florida statute, it's not going to be apparently because
we have an involved minor here. But here's the thing.
She's you know, we talk a lot about primary scenes
(32:21):
and secondary scenes and tertiary scenes. This car itself is
a crime scene. I want to know what physical evidence
they found in there. And I know, before everybody jumps
to the conclusion, well, her DNA will just naturally be
in there because she frequents the use of that car
with this fellow. However, I want to know what the
(32:41):
source of the DNA is Their blood in that car specifically,
that's something that you would not anticipate being in there,
and that's going to give us an ideas to perhaps
what may have happened. He's riding around at this point
with this deceased young child in the car with him
that he has posed Nancy. Remember what was said. She's
(33:02):
leaning over to the left, her head is tucked down,
her mouth is open, Nancy. He's trying to find a
place to deposit her remains and not just her remains,
but all kinds of evidence that would link him back
to her relative to her personal belongings. I don't know
where she went, dropped her off at the church, you know,
But later on they're going to find all of these
(33:25):
items in the dumpster perhaps and then her discarded and
apparently covered, which goes to this idea of him thinking,
thinking about what to do. He's not so out of
his mind that he doesn't have control over what's happening.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Joining us is Shannon Butler VESSI had a reporter WFTV nine.
There are sixty charges against the live in Stephon Stearns,
many of them sex battery on a child, and I'm
wondering if they're not getting a lot of that from
his phone. Of course, he said that morning he did
(33:59):
a massive factory resets. Those are his words, not mine.
Massive factory reset. Wow, that's quite the coincidence, is it not?
That he does a factory reset on his phone the
moment she goes missing. So on, what are these sex
battery on child charges predicated?
Speaker 9 (34:23):
So?
Speaker 11 (34:24):
I think that was the first red flag for investigators.
I think they knew the minute he reset that phone
that they needed to get to that phone. When they
downloaded it, there was horrific, horrific images, seventeen hundred images.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
On that phone.
Speaker 11 (34:43):
That was at the moment they realized, you know, something
was terribly wrong here, and that was what they originally
arrested Stepan sterns On. It wasn't until later that they
filed those murder charges, but those videos gave them a
very good indicat of what was going on since she
was eight years old, and that gave them plenty to
(35:06):
go on to start to look at other things.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Well, she last scene where.
Speaker 8 (35:13):
I want something.
Speaker 10 (35:15):
Green hoodies green, wait cross white, cross.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
Blue or black parents. I think black shorts, black shorts.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Yeah, black shorts, okay, abel shorts?
Speaker 15 (35:28):
All right?
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Do you know she has a friends in area?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
She doesn't know where she live.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Okay, I asked all of them, guys.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I've been looking at the particular charges and I want
to go straight out to Jarrett Fiorentino, former homicide prosecutor
in Pennsylvania. There's so many to look at. There's sixty charges,
but I'm looking. Of course, there's all the sex batteries
on a child under twelve, So we know the claims go.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Back for years. I believe they go back to age
eight for this little girl.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
But listen to this Jared unlawful possession of materials depicting
a sex performance by a child. That says to me,
there's a strong possibility he actually videoed the sex abuse
on Madeline Nancy.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
That is certainly a possibility based on the charges against
him at this point, and it could even go to motive,
intent and opportunity to have killed Maddie to cover up
what he was doing. I also note recovered in his
vehicle was a phone tripod used for filming, which again
that's just my mind assessing the evidence and looking at
(36:46):
what was recovered here. It's not too much of elite
to think that somebody collecting child sexual abuse materials wouldn't
be documenting the abuse he's committing on Maddie. So those
charges may be just that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
To Tirasena Niall, this is Maddie's aunt, Terrasena, what is
your message to parents listening tonight.
Speaker 9 (37:09):
I when Maddie passed away at the funeral, we all
went as a family and promised her that she didn't
die in vain, and I wanted to work really hard
and ensuring that with you know, taking care of being
strong for my family and also being strong for her.
(37:32):
I know that with since this has all started and happened,
I've worked with many advocates that are local in Florida,
and they've really helped kind of bring all these communities
that have reached out to my family. And I am
supporting us during all of this, and it's solely on
Maddie's behalf, and that's been It hasn't gone unnoticed, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
It's amazing to me that you and Maddie's father can
put one foot in front of the other. And I
want to thank you for being with us today. Thank
you and sounding the warning for other parents out there.
Because Mattie never mentioned any of this to her father.
(38:15):
He didn't see any signs, not just him. You didn't,
the stepmom didn't, the teachers didn't. Very rarely do child
molestation victims actually speak out. They think it's all their
fault and they're embarrassed, so they go to great links
to actually cover it up. And I hope her dad
(38:36):
knows that. Guys, I want to report that this is
a death penalty case. They're in Florida and Florida typically
doesn't just give the sentence of death penalty, They carry
it out. We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Nancy Grace finding off, good night friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Little Mattie Soto, just thirteen, now believed to be dead
when she is actually buckled in with a seat belt
in the car of her mom's boyfriend.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That's right. Is she actually buckled in dead and he's
driving around with her?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Because when you look very carefully at Granny's surveillance video,
she's tilted over to one side, her head is over
and her mouth is open. Is this after years of
sex abuse by mommy's live in. I'm just trying to
(00:49):
take it all in and from what I can determine
from our own investigation here at Crime Stories that sex
abuse by mommy's boyfriend and started around the time little.
Speaker 1 (01:03):
Maddie was just eight years old.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I am learning now from a treasure trove of state's
documents that the night before Maddie, just thirteen years old,
went missing translation murdered. The night before she goes missing,
her mother sent her to bed with the live in
(01:36):
so mommy could get a good night's sleep. I Nancy Grace,
this is Crime Stories, Thank you for being with us.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
So Madeline is thirteen years old. She has been missing
since eight thirty on Monday morning, when mom's boyfriend dropped
her off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. Uh, he dropped
her off actually near the Piece United Methodist Church on
Town Boulevard.
Speaker 4 (02:06):
Okay, so she was supposed to be dropped off at school,
didn't make.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
It to school.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her
up from school today and she never came out.
Speaker 7 (02:15):
They announced it over the speaker, and I'm just like,
maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walked here to
this office.
Speaker 6 (02:20):
I came here, nothing. I went back to the school.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
We closed.
Speaker 7 (02:23):
I got to notice an email from the school saying
she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher and
you looked at her entire tennis today and saw that
she was completely not at school today either.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
So she never made it.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
Okay, what's her.
Speaker 6 (02:36):
Name, Madeline? I'm a d e o I any, I'm.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
A d e out I any any last name? So ohto.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, you just heard the sheriff, who's an incredible sheriff,
John Mina, and he's saying that the boyfriend dropped Maddie
off that morning at school.
Speaker 1 (02:58):
Now, we didn't when.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
I heard day one that she got dropped off at
the pc Nity Methodist Church and not school, and there
was confusion about where she got dropped off right there?
Speaker 1 (03:12):
You know what, I know where I dropped my children off.
I know where they get out of the car.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
How come he did it? Why was there confusion about that?
That's a whole nother can of worms. If you don't
mind control room, please, I want to hear that again.
The girls missing, and he's like, hey, can I bumma
sing off here? He's just like, so chill, not worried
at all. Then I found out later that morning when
(03:40):
everyone is running around trying to find Maddie, he says
he's zonked out on sedatis because of his anxiety.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
I bet okay.
Speaker 4 (03:51):
So she was supposed to be dropped off at school.
Didn't make it a school, didn't make it a school.
Speaker 6 (03:54):
I went to pick here up from school stay and
she never came out.
Speaker 7 (03:58):
They announced it on this speed, and I'm just like,
maybe she walked here, because sometimes she'll walk here to
this office.
Speaker 6 (04:04):
I came here nothing. I went back to the school
of a clothes.
Speaker 7 (04:07):
I got to notice an email from the school thing
she was absent.
Speaker 6 (04:11):
But I also messaged.
Speaker 7 (04:12):
Her teacher and you look at her entire tennts today
and saw that she was completely not at school today either.
Speaker 6 (04:16):
Okay, so she never made it.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
Okay, what's her.
Speaker 6 (04:19):
Name, Madeline? I'm a d e O I Anny.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I'm ad al I any famous so us oh TiO.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, guys with me an all star panel to make
sense of what we know right now, including Shannon Butler,
investigative reporter WFTV nine in Flora in this jurisdiction. But
first I'm going to go to a very special guest
joining us. It's Terracina Niles. This is a very dear
member of the family related.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
To Maddy Soto's bio dad wife.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So they're seeing it from a different because they're seeing
it from dad's angle. Terrosina, thank you for being with us.
I really appreciate it. You know, in the last days,
I've been reading all the new headlines and we went
further and got there's a nine hundred page document that
(05:20):
I have been, you know, wading through. I've got to
tell you, it just made my heart stop. And I
understand that you and Maddie's bio dad are reeling at
the new information, which, aspect of the new information just
(05:41):
released is the most concerning to you.
Speaker 8 (05:47):
I think the biggest aspect has been the timelines that.
Speaker 9 (05:52):
You know, we weren't you're ready to hear, but you're
never ready to hear, and so seeing those kind of
layout and essentially a lot of my family and I
we haven't read through the documents, but I have seen
quite a bit from social media, and it's just it's
just devastating, and.
Speaker 8 (06:12):
The description of how she was found and just things
of that nature. Just you're never ready.
Speaker 9 (06:17):
To hear something like that, especially when it's somebody that
you've watched grow up and you know it's it's truly devastating,
all of.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
It, you know, Terrasina, everyone joining us is a special guest,
Maddie's aunt, Terasina Niles.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
I don't think that.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
You should base hard on yourself at all, do you know,
to this day today, I have never gone to the
scene where my fiance was murdered. Why because it would
just put me back at square one.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
I'd start all over again.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
I mean, sometimes it's just too much to take in.
I've just been thinking so much about what I'm hearing,
is especially the part the allegation that Maddie was being
molested by this guy as young as age eight, And
(07:18):
I bet anything she.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Never said a word to her dad about it.
Speaker 8 (07:23):
No, we wouldn't be like, none of this would have happened.
We even had an inkling.
Speaker 9 (07:30):
So it's I think that was another sorry, that was
another thing from the documents once we saw how many
other of her friends and people didn't know either, and
we're just it doesn't take the pain away or the
guilt that's there, but it does show that like nobody
(07:51):
knew that closest to her, and it really is devastating.
Speaker 8 (07:55):
Other than the people that did know, I guess.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Ms Niles, did you guys had any idea that the
mother was letting was just basically sending Mattie off to
sleep with the boyfriend at night.
Speaker 8 (08:13):
Not at all, Not at all, So all of this
is news.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
How is Mattie's dad reacting to all this? He must
be devastated.
Speaker 9 (08:24):
It's been difficult to just see my brother in law
Tyler and my sister Tatsiana just go thick through any
of this just because they loved her so deeply, and
it's it's incomprehensible. I truly can't even find the words
to convey the devastation that I'm witnessing and seeing and
(08:47):
reading it just makes everyone really sick, really really really sick.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
I pray to God, Miss Niles. I pray to God
that one mother out there and one father, especially dads
who are not in the home when the parents are
divorced are separated, hear this and understand what's happening in
so many homes across our country. Guys, I want you
(09:14):
to take a listen to more of what the mom says. Well.
Speaker 4 (09:19):
Last scene where.
Speaker 10 (09:25):
Green green, white cross, white cross, parents, shorts, black shorts, okay, shirts,
all right?
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Do you know she has a friends in area?
Speaker 6 (09:42):
She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
Speaker 4 (09:44):
She doesn't know where she live. Okay.
Speaker 6 (09:46):
I ask all of them.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace joining me an all star panel,
and I going to go out to Shannon Butler. He
was an investigative reporter WFTV nine in Florida. Shannon, thank
you so much for being with us. I got to
tell you this new release of documents and information you've
(10:15):
seen a wrecking ball, right. It feels like a giant
wrecking ball just hit me in the head when I
see what was going on in that home and I'm
hearing the circumstances surrounding this little girl, thirteen year old
Maddie's death, her murder. This with the backdrop of the
(10:37):
boyfriend being charged with at least sixty sex counts on children,
be it taking videos, pictures, molesting, the whole shebang. And look,
the mom did not murder the daughter. He did according
to police. But wow, I mean letting the fox and
(11:00):
the handhouse. What was she thinking? And her story completely changed.
I can't help but feel blame toward mommy.
Speaker 11 (11:11):
Yeah, I think everybody. I mean, we have been following
this case for months and we have had so many
people call an email and say what are they going
to do about Jen Soto? People are angry because of
everything that happened before they reported her missing.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We still have that piece of the.
Speaker 11 (11:29):
Timeline that we don't know yet of what happened between
when she sent her daughter up to bed to sleep
with Stephen Stearns and then in the morning when he
was seen with her inside that car. We have that
gap there in that timeline. I think that will tell
us some things. We have asked the Kassimi Police Department
(11:50):
time and time and time again, is there going to
be a rest made of Jen Soto? Because so many
people believe that she was complacent in this, that there
were things that she did that would have changed the
outcome of this situation if she hadn't done it. That
timeline we are waiting on and hopefully will tell us more.
But at this point, it just doesn't seem like police
(12:13):
are moving towards Jen Soto. You know, this is an investigation,
Dan's We've been through this millions unfortunately, and things can change.
But right now it seems their focus is just on
Stepan Stearns, and I know that is what so many
people do not want to hear too.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Jared Farantino, homicide prosecutor in Pennsylvania Jared Jarrettfarantino dot com
host a True Crime Boss podcast.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
Jarrett, thank you for being with us. JAREDT how manny
times have you seen it?
Speaker 2 (12:45):
I've seen it so many times. I'm up to here
with it. Mothers that side with the molester. I remember
the first time I saw it. I couldn't believe it.
I remember the case. I took the case to try.
Oh I got held to content. Blah blah blah. Long
story short, mothers, girlfriends, lovers, mistresses siding with the guy
(13:10):
and that's molesting their child.
Speaker 5 (13:12):
Nancy it's a power dynamic. It's crazy. What's going on
here in this case, the fact that Jen Soto is
continuing to protect Sterns. At a minimum, she lied images
of the investigation. And if we've learned anything from the
cases we've seen over the past, loved ones who are
lying about missing when there's someone missing about small details
(13:34):
or large details, it's hiding something, something very big. And
she's hiding to protect Sterns and very likely to protect herself.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, you know what, Jared Farantino, I want to follow
up on something that you just said, lying about details. Okay,
let's give it the benefit of the doubt for one moment. See,
I'm projecting again. I remember distinctly the last time I
saw Keith before.
Speaker 1 (14:00):
He was murdered.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I remember what we talked about. I remember what I
was wearing. I remember what he was wearing, the whole thing.
I remember how cold it was outside that morning in August.
I remember everything about it. How does she not remember
what happened? So I've got a problem with that, But
I'm not a shrink. Maybe Jory Crawdaughtter Crasing can explain
(14:23):
it to Joe Scott Morgan joining me guys. Joe Scott Morgan,
Professor Forensics, Jacksonville State University with a state of the
art criminal procedure and Criminal justice program, Author of Blood
Beneath My Feet, host of Body Bags with Joe Scott Morgan.
It's a hit podcast. I could go on and on
and on, but what really matters to me about Joe
(14:44):
Scott Morgan. He has investigated at least one thousand unexplained
deaths where he has to make the determination about what happened.
He is a death investigator. Joe Scott, I'm getting chills
on my arms. I'll tell you why.
Speaker 1 (15:06):
How many child death cases have you seen where there
were years of warning signs?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Mommy, don't send your little girl to go sleep with
your boyfriend.
Speaker 8 (15:23):
Don't.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
Hey, why is he even living in the house? Number one?
Speaker 2 (15:28):
I sent him back to his mommy and daddy cod
right bye.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
That said, why wasn't he at work? What was he doing?
Speaker 2 (15:38):
How was he benefiting the family at all? The sign
you want to tell me, Joe Scott Morgan, that there
was no sign this little girl had been being molested.
She was at least eight years old, nothing, not even
a suspicion, and it happened?
Speaker 1 (15:59):
How happened? For years?
Speaker 2 (16:02):
I mean, the little girl told people I want to
go live in the woods. Why my daughter has your
son ever said that to you? My daughter and son never.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Said I just want to go live alone in the woods.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And they really mean it, and they say it over
and over for years that they want to get away
from home. Joe Scott, you see a dead child's body,
and you know, Joe Scott, from all the cases that
you have handle and investigated, that this could have been prevented.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
How do you do it?
Speaker 12 (16:34):
How do you do it? Excellent question, because we've seen
so many of these things where they just absolutely lose
any kind of responsibility is just lost out in the weeds.
And of course we have to remember the alleged perpetrator
here is whacked out of his mind. On Benzo's He
even says this, you know, he's suffering from terrible anxiety.
(16:56):
I know, why in the hell you're suffering from terrible
anxiety At that moment, Tom, when you think, you know,
let's just go with this line of thought here.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Old on, I want to, as I say to the
twins when they have to go get a tutorilet skill,
suck in all the knowledge you can.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
So you just said correctly. It's really hard to argue.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
With you when you're mostly always right, Joe Scott, Remember
I put in mostly right there. He's whacked out on
Benzo's true. He is because of his anxiety, because he
just murdered Maddling there, That's why he's anxious. But he
had the wherewithal to dispose of her body, to lie,
(17:39):
to come up with all sorts of stories to explain
his circuitous route.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
I don't know how whacked out he really was or
how much he just wants us to believe that. And
what's a Benzo? That's where I was starting.
Speaker 12 (17:52):
Yeah, you know, he claims that he's suffering from, you know,
kind of this anxiety disorder. Apparently that he has to
regulate himself with the meds in order to function day
in and day out. And I guess that's what you
do when you live in mom and dad's basement, or
you're the boyfriend that mooches off of a single mom
and perhaps perhaps is victimizing the deceased here since the
(18:17):
age of eight, since the age of eight, that's what
they're saying. And yeah, I can see why you would
need benzos on board.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
What's a benzo wants a benzo?
Speaker 12 (18:28):
Well, we think about Clineza Pam, for instance. We think
about things like Valum, you know, those types of things
that kind of soothe us and calm us down. And
there's so many of them out there just floating about.
And if he got his hands on these, he's going
to try to numb himself, perhaps because the reality that
he's having to deal with, or that he's not facing
(18:50):
up you at this moment.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
There's not a nice way to ask this, just Scott,
So I'll just ask it. How can you be so
as he says, his words, not mine, zonked out? How
can he be so quote zonked out? But yet he
could still affect a child rape? I'm not going into
the details, Okay, how can he be so lethargic and
(19:15):
sedated but he could still commit a child rape and
try to cover his tracks?
Speaker 1 (19:21):
And remember he also.
Speaker 2 (19:23):
Said, I don't know how I did it, but I
did a total reset on my phone, a factory reset,
and I erased all my contacts. Hello, we still found
hundreds of child porn images and videos. He didn't do
that good of a job of it. So how high
was he really. Did you look at this video, Joe Scott,
(19:45):
Do you see him standing there? Yeah?
Speaker 12 (19:47):
Yeah, he seems completely lucid at that moment in Tom,
doesn't he you know, he's I mean, he's got his
arms crossed there. Maybe perhaps in a defensive posture. I
don't know, that's a doctor Joy question. But he seemed
to be present in moment. He's responding.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
What did they say?
Speaker 12 (20:02):
You know, just a moment ago, Control played the clip
of him. He was the first one to speak up
about her clothing, Nancy. How would he know about her clothing,
what she was wearing. Well, he's he's the he's the
person that's supposed to be conveying her to all these places.
You mentioned the twins, just a moment ago that you
know specifically where you let them out. I knew where
(20:22):
I let my kids out when I dropped them off
at school. You're gonna let her wander the streets? Oh
by the way, Yeah, I dropped him outside of a
Methodist church and not at school. Oh by the way, Yeah,
she was embarrassed to be seen with me. There's more
to the story.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
I know.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
The initial information was that she said, hey, you know,
I'm embarrassed of this vehicle or whatever, so dropped me
off at this location. We're still following up on all
of that, but yes, certainly something that we will look into.
You know, why not why not drop her off at
the school, But we're looking into all that.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Yeah, that's not true.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He did not drop her all PC United Methodist Church
because she didn't want to be seen with parents or
because she was embarrassed of the car.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
She was murdered and hidden behind a row of bamboo
very thick.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
Her items were thrown into a dumpster, including her backpack
and her school issued computer, and he Stephen Stearns, was
spotted at that dumpster. A male called in with the
tips describing his vehicle and then he was outside the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
With a tire iron.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
At this moment, I don't know the official cod We
are waiting, but I want you to hear more of
what mommy and live in now murdered defendant said about
she had.
Speaker 7 (21:52):
Like she's got a device sold right, she's got a man.
Speaker 8 (21:57):
Two year my so school on college.
Speaker 6 (22:04):
Should be it'll try to connect anyway.
Speaker 1 (22:09):
And also I want you to hear where the live
in a KA.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
Stephan Stearns describes where Mattie went, she got dropped off.
Speaker 6 (22:19):
She was like, so she don't want to be drop
off at school. She want to be black dropped off
or have a black way. She don't walk, so I
staying she's independently. But he dropped her off of the
black way and drove away.
Speaker 4 (22:34):
Okay, did she ever go to school?
Speaker 8 (22:37):
Was walking in that direction?
Speaker 10 (22:39):
She was rifling through her backpack, slip her so much
thought maybe she was just looking for her headphones before
she kind of walking on.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Yeah, but she was just coming, you know, shambling over
in that direction.
Speaker 13 (22:49):
I looked the same as any other morning.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Jarsina Niles, could you tell us about Madeline?
Speaker 9 (22:56):
Yes, Maddie was the light of my sister, touched on him,
my brother in law Tyler's eyes. She wasn't their entire world.
Their love for her definitely seeped into the rest of
us and the family, and we just had this hope
and prayer that one day we would be able to
(23:18):
have more time with her, spend more time with her,
watch her, you know, go through the milestones and make
memories as a family.
Speaker 8 (23:30):
But we weren't given that opportunity.
Speaker 9 (23:31):
So a lot of it was from watching Afar and
when they did get, you know, a chance to have
her and be with her, they spent every moment like
cherishing it. So it was very This is all very
difficult to understand, especially finding out in real time as
well with the rest of the world, the nightmare she
(23:54):
was living through and went through, and.
Speaker 8 (24:00):
It's just been incomprehensible for US.
Speaker 14 (24:03):
Investigators believe the female seen at seven thirty six am
and the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of
Stephan Stern's vehicle is Madelin Soto's dead body, propped up
and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person,
but closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning
toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Stearns is caught
on surveillance video again at eight nineteen am, when he
(24:23):
is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood
with a female in the same position as the surveillance
video captured at seven thirty six am.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Jarrett Farentino joining me Venmin, homicide prosecutor at Jarrettfarentino dot com,
host of True Crime Boss podcast, Jarrett, I've been looking
at this guy's statement.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
His as we just saw on video. The level of
detail he is giving.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
It's amazing how when people lie, they will go through
so much detail, superfluous detail that really.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Comes back to bite them in the neck.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
For instance, he claims that that morning he and Maddie
had to turn around and go all the way back
to Kasimi because they left behind the gate remote to
get into their neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
He then claims he had a flat tire. He then
claims that he got lost and on the.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
Way to taking her to school and he couldn't recount
his exact direction. And this is because police kept asking
him questions, asking him questions about where he went that
morning and why he was spotted going eastbound on the highway.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
How does anybody tell that lie?
Speaker 2 (25:48):
Jarrett Farantino, It's a complete horror show, and he's desperate
at that point.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
He's got to know the gig is up, Nancy. He's
in lie upon life. Anybody in close proximity of a
missing child for a murder who then claims they were
just driving around or has erratic driving patterns nine out
of ten times is the person responsible. But you know
what I thought was notable about that video we showed
initially when they were recording he knew exactly what Maddie
(26:16):
was wearing. Jeans and the green sweatshirt.
Speaker 12 (26:19):
Mom got it wrong.
Speaker 5 (26:20):
Mom says he was wearing black shorts, So he was
telling the truth about certain items and lying about others.
Speaker 2 (26:27):
I'm going to go to doctor Jory cross in joining
US Psychologists Faculty, Saint Leo University. You can find him
at Dodtorjory dot com doctr jury. I'm always amazed at
the level of detail liars include in their statements, But
more fascinating is why women.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Choose to be blind to.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The molestation of their children and actually sided with the predator.
Speaker 1 (26:59):
I've seen it over and over when you look, there's.
Speaker 15 (27:02):
So much to the answering of that question. Because there's
so much involved here. You can see that there's definitely
a different type of relationship between the mother and the
living boyfriend. When that first video you watch the body
language of both of them, they're almost in support of
(27:23):
one another with their story. It's like mother has a
knowledge that there's some complicity on her part of this
involvement here, and that she may not have all of
the information from the boyfriend right now, and so she's
kind of almost treading softly even maybe fearing the worst
(27:44):
has happened. But they're complicit in their actions and I
don't think they've gotten time to be alone to either
share what's going on. And I don't think that the
living boyfriend for sure, has told the mother that he
has killed her daughter.
Speaker 2 (28:04):
It's amazing to me that women will stand by a
guy that is molesting their child. I don't get it
to Tarratina de Nils. This is Maddie's aunt. On the
dad's side, Tarasena has do you know whether the bio
dad has confronted Mattie's mother confronted her in the past
(28:29):
about other things or well, yes, that's a good start,
thank you. Did he ever confront her about the living
situation with the boyfriend?
Speaker 8 (28:38):
No, I don't think a lot of us were aware
of any of that.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Ah, so that was hidden hidden from the bio dad.
Has he tried to get in touch with the mom
since her body was discovered.
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Everything has gone through the correct action to communicate with
the liaisons that they have in place.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
I'm worried that Maddie's dad is blaming himself and he
should not, is he, because that's a very normal reaction.
Speaker 8 (29:10):
To many degrees for sure. With my brother in law
and my sister and the rest of the family in general.
It's hard not to.
Speaker 9 (29:21):
There was no signs, but it's looking back you just
what if, what if we could have done, or what
if we would have known, And it's really hard not
to live in.
Speaker 8 (29:30):
That and see them going through it. So it's definitely
been a challenge.
Speaker 16 (29:35):
We know this case has gained significant public attention because
Madeleine had just celebrated her thirteenth birthday and was just
a child. The evidence shows an individual that was interested
to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeleine's
belongings and place her body in a wooded area before
she was ever reported missing. For the four days following
(29:55):
her disappearance, the entire community was actively looking to find
Madeleine's safe and alive.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace, I want you to hear
the boyfriend Stefan Stern speaking to police and what a
wild story he gives reminds me a little bit of
Top Mom Casey Anthony. Her her story kept changing and
(30:28):
changing and getting bigger and bigger and bigger of a lie.
Speaker 1 (30:31):
Same here. Listen, your car is seen.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Going south down at this intersection, so meaning going toward
kissing me.
Speaker 13 (30:44):
I had forgotten. So I had forgotten my gay clicker.
I'm sorry I forgot. I had gone back to the
house real quick after we left because I'd forgotten my
gay clicker. I actually had to go through the front
gate and used my parking pass to go on my thinker.
So it was a wrong time. I'm sorry, I said,
(31:06):
I was scustimating these times.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
I'm not a morning person, not a mourning person. To
death investigator Joseph Scott, Morgan, not a mourning person. The
daughter is missing, and he's not a morning person, so
he can't answer police questions. Joe Scott, you and I
have very carefully investigated the case, studied this most recent
(31:32):
outpouring of documents, and I want to hear your theory
about what happened to thirteen year old Maddie.
Speaker 12 (31:39):
In my opinion, she was deceased when she went into
that car, Nancy, Now you know. For me, I think
that it was something that took place in a very
private location in order the facilitation of her death I'm
speaking of, and then he had to secret her out
of that location into the vehicle and transport her way.
(32:00):
That vehicle itself is going to play a key role,
I think, because we have to consider all things. Remember,
her autopsy report has not been released, and by virtue
of Florida statute, it's not going to be apparently because
we have an involved minor here. But here's the thing.
She's you know, we talk a lot about primary scenes
(32:21):
and secondary scenes and tertiary scenes. This car itself is
a crime scene. I want to know what physical evidence
they found in there. And I know, before everybody jumps
to the conclusion, well, her DNA will just naturally be
in there because she frequents the use of that car
with this fellow. However, I want to know what the
(32:41):
source of the DNA is Their blood in that car specifically,
that's something that you would not anticipate being in there,
and that's going to give us an ideas to perhaps
what may have happened. He's riding around at this point
with this deceased young child in the car with him
that he has posed Nancy. Remember what was said. She's
(33:02):
leaning over to the left, her head is tucked down,
her mouth is open, Nancy. He's trying to find a
place to deposit her remains and not just her remains,
but all kinds of evidence that would link him back
to her relative to her personal belongings. I don't know
where she went, dropped her off at the church, you know,
But later on they're going to find all of these
(33:25):
items in the dumpster perhaps and then her discarded and
apparently covered, which goes to this idea of him thinking,
thinking about what to do. He's not so out of
his mind that he doesn't have control over what's happening.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Joining us is Shannon Butler VESSI had a reporter WFTV nine.
There are sixty charges against the live in Stephon Stearns,
many of them sex battery on a child, and I'm
wondering if they're not getting a lot of that from
his phone. Of course, he said that morning he did
(33:59):
a massive factory resets. Those are his words, not mine.
Massive factory reset. Wow, that's quite the coincidence, is it not?
That he does a factory reset on his phone the
moment she goes missing. So on, what are these sex
battery on child charges predicated?
Speaker 9 (34:23):
So?
Speaker 11 (34:24):
I think that was the first red flag for investigators.
I think they knew the minute he reset that phone
that they needed to get to that phone. When they
downloaded it, there was horrific, horrific images, seventeen hundred images.
Speaker 6 (34:41):
On that phone.
Speaker 11 (34:43):
That was at the moment they realized, you know, something
was terribly wrong here, and that was what they originally
arrested Stepan sterns On. It wasn't until later that they
filed those murder charges, but those videos gave them a
very good indicat of what was going on since she
was eight years old, and that gave them plenty to
(35:06):
go on to start to look at other things.
Speaker 4 (35:09):
Well, she last scene where.
Speaker 8 (35:13):
I want something.
Speaker 10 (35:15):
Green hoodies green, wait cross white, cross.
Speaker 6 (35:21):
Blue or black parents. I think black shorts, black shorts.
Speaker 4 (35:24):
Yeah, black shorts, okay, abel shorts?
Speaker 15 (35:28):
All right?
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Do you know she has a friends in area?
Speaker 6 (35:32):
She does, but she doesn't know where they live.
Speaker 4 (35:34):
She doesn't know where she live.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Okay, I asked all of them, guys.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
I've been looking at the particular charges and I want
to go straight out to Jarrett Fiorentino, former homicide prosecutor
in Pennsylvania. There's so many to look at. There's sixty charges,
but I'm looking. Of course, there's all the sex batteries
on a child under twelve, So we know the claims go.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
Back for years. I believe they go back to age
eight for this little girl.
Speaker 2 (36:02):
But listen to this Jared unlawful possession of materials depicting
a sex performance by a child. That says to me,
there's a strong possibility he actually videoed the sex abuse
on Madeline Nancy.
Speaker 5 (36:23):
That is certainly a possibility based on the charges against
him at this point, and it could even go to motive,
intent and opportunity to have killed Maddie to cover up
what he was doing. I also note recovered in his
vehicle was a phone tripod used for filming, which again
that's just my mind assessing the evidence and looking at
(36:46):
what was recovered here. It's not too much of elite
to think that somebody collecting child sexual abuse materials wouldn't
be documenting the abuse he's committing on Maddie. So those
charges may be just that.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
To Tirasena Niall, this is Maddie's aunt, Terrasena, what is
your message to parents listening tonight.
Speaker 9 (37:09):
I when Maddie passed away at the funeral, we all
went as a family and promised her that she didn't
die in vain, and I wanted to work really hard
and ensuring that with you know, taking care of being
strong for my family and also being strong for her.
(37:32):
I know that with since this has all started and happened,
I've worked with many advocates that are local in Florida,
and they've really helped kind of bring all these communities
that have reached out to my family. And I am
supporting us during all of this, and it's solely on
Maddie's behalf, and that's been It hasn't gone unnoticed, for sure.
Speaker 2 (37:55):
It's amazing to me that you and Maddie's father can
put one foot in front of the other. And I
want to thank you for being with us today. Thank
you and sounding the warning for other parents out there.
Because Mattie never mentioned any of this to her father.
(38:15):
He didn't see any signs, not just him. You didn't,
the stepmom didn't, the teachers didn't. Very rarely do child
molestation victims actually speak out. They think it's all their
fault and they're embarrassed, so they go to great links
to actually cover it up. And I hope her dad
(38:36):
knows that. Guys, I want to report that this is
a death penalty case. They're in Florida and Florida typically
doesn't just give the sentence of death penalty, They carry
it out. We wait as justice unfolds.
Speaker 1 (38:59):
Nancy Grace finding off, good night friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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