Madeline Soto, the 13-year-old who was allegedly murdered by her mother’s boyfriend earlier this year, died of strangulation, authorities have revealed.
The girl was found dead in a remote wooded area in Florida’s Osceola County on March 1, days after she’d gone missing ostensibly on her way to school.
Authorities initially said they would not release her cause of death because it was related to a domestic violence incident involving a minor and was thus exempt from being made public, according to Florida state law.
However, the information was recorded in an 80-page document obtained by Sarasota’s ABC 7 from the Kissimmee Police Department.
Her mother’s boyfriend, 37-year-old Stephan Sterns, had been tasked with taking Madeline to school the morning of Feb. 26, but she never arrived. The girl’s mother, Jennifer Soto, reported her missing at 8 p.m.
The night before, Jennifer Soto “sent” Madeline to sleep in a guest bedroom with Sterns, Orlando’s Fox 35 reported last week. It wasn’t unusual for the trio to sleep in the same bed, but on that particular night, Soto said she “needed some good sleep” as she’d recently started a new job and “hadn’t been well-rested.”
Soto said she last saw her daughter around 11 p.m. that night, but didn’t see her leave for school Monday morning.
Later surveillance images recorded Sterns with Madeline slumped in the front passenger seat of his vehicle early the morning of her disappearance, leading police to believe she was already dead by that time.
The same video evidence showed Sterns throwing things into a dumpster outside Orlando, which is where authorities later recovered Madeline’s backpack and school laptop.
Police immediately considered Sterns the prime suspect, and he was arrested even before they found Madeline’s body. Detectives encountered images on his cellphone considered “criminal and sexual in nature” and alleged he’d been sexually molesting and abusing Madeline since she was 11.
His initial charges were for sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material, but two weeks later, 60 additional charges were added after more lurid images came to light.
Sterns was officially charged with Madeline’s murder in April. Prosecutors in June said they would seek the death penalty. Sterns has pleaded not guilty.