(GoRealNewsNow.com) – Months after Florida teen Madeline Soto was killed by her mother’s boyfriend in a secluded wooded area, authorities revealed that her cause of death was homicide by strangulation.
Madeline was first reported missing on February 26, when her Orlando middle school noticed she had never shown up for class.
Four days later, her body was discovered in a wooded area in Osceola County, still wearing the clothes she had on when she disappeared.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department stated that Madeline was likely already dead before the search for her even began.
Stephan Sterns, who was dating Madeline’s mother, has been charged with her murder. The 37-year-old was the last person to see Madeline before she went missing.
“I dropped her off [at school] early, I could have waited longer. She looked okay she was walking towards the school,” Sterns tearfully told a local news channel on February 27, just before his arrest.
Furthermore, he was arrested the next day and initially charged with sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material. Police found images and videos on his phone that allegedly showed him sexually abusing a young girl.
While the criminal was later charged with first-degree murder, he was already a person of interest when Madeline’s body was found.
Though Sterns had factory reset his phone before his arrest, detectives managed to recover child pornography and evidence that he had been sexually abusing Madeline. An arrest affidavit published in early March revealed that Sterns allegedly began abusing her in 2022 when she was just 11 years old.
In addition, investigative reports stated that Sterns had allegedly been sleeping with Madeline in his room the night before she died.
After Madeline’s body was found, authorities noted that footage from that Monday morning showed Sterns driving his 2010 Lincoln MK with her dead body allegedly still inside.
He was later seen throwing several items into a trash bin, where police recovered her backpack and school-issued laptop.
Investigators also found that Sterns had driven to North Port, Florida, the day after Madeline went missing.
Sterns now faces multiple charges, including 40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child, five counts of Sexual Battery with a Child aged 12-18, seven counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, and eight counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12.
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