126: EXPLICIT ADVISORY! Madeline Soto: 13-Year-Old Vanishes and Mom's BF Arrested
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Hey, true crime besties. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to an all-new episode of Serialistly with me, Annie Elise. If you are a returning listener and checking out another episode, thank you so much for listening to the podcast. And if you're a brand new listener and you are listening to this episode for the first time, welcome. I appreciate you taking a chance on it. Let me kind of break down for all the new listeners what it is we're doing over here on Serialistly. So it, of course, is a true crime podcast, right?

But what I really like to do when I'm explaining these cases is I try to do it in more of a conversational way rather than using all the flowery, fluffy language. I really want to break it down with you as though you're a friend of mine. We're at my house. We're sitting on the couch. Maybe we're having a glass of wine and I'm just talking about the case with you, sharing the facts, some of my opinions, some of just...

I'm not sure what you're talking about.

So before we get into today's episode and the content of today's case, I do want to give a massive warning. Today's case is especially explicit. It is very difficult to hear. There is a lot of horrifying, barbaric, gruesome details, and it's one that I just feel as though if I didn't give you that warning ahead of time, I would be doing you a disservice. So I want to be clear.

It's also a case that, to be quite honest, I wasn't sure that I was even going to jump on the mic and cover, but so, so many of you have been requesting it. It's one that is breaking right now in Florida. It is one that makes me truthfully sick to my stomach, and that's also part of the reason I wasn't sure if I was going to cover it. But so many of you have been requesting it. We now have more information, new facts that have been released from law enforcement, and so I decided to jump on the mic and talk with you about it.

Now, this is a case that has absolutely taken the media by storm. And as I mentioned, so many of you have requested it. But now, because there has been new information released by law enforcement, everything about this case just keeps getting more and more disturbing. Honestly, almost to the point where I can now say that in many ways, we haven't seen a case like this unfold since maybe Letitia Stouck or even Chris Watts.

And you're going to see why as we get towards the end of the case. So just again, another blanket warning for all of you. I want you to prepare yourself to feel shocked, disgusted, horrified, heartbroken, angry, and honestly, probably outraged. That is probably the key feeling that all of you are going to feel because this case has a roller coaster of emotions.

Now, because this case is still ongoing, everything in this episode is alleged and it is sourced from law enforcement press conferences, news media, and court documents. Anything else is strictly my opinion only. Also, since this case is still unfolding, as new details come up, I will definitely be doing an update episode and jumping back on the mic.

mic. So let's get right into it, guys. 13-year-old Madeline Soto from Kissimmee, Florida, was last seen on Monday, February 26th.

This was one day after she and her family celebrated her 13th birthday. Around 4.30 p.m. on Monday, her mom went to pick her up from her school, Hunters Creek Middle School. However, Madeline wasn't there. So Madeline's mom thought that maybe she went on a walk, or maybe she could have walked to her grandmother's office after school since it was nearby. So she drove around in the area for a little bit, but she couldn't find Madeline anywhere. She

So at this point, she now drove back to the school, and she realized that the school was closed. She contacted some of Madeline's friends, and none of them had seen from her or heard from her either. So her

So her mom then emailed one of Madeline's teachers. But this teacher told her that Madeline actually never even made it to school that day. She was marked as absent all day. At that point is when I called 911 because I realized something was truly wrong. Madeline was officially reported as missing around 8 p.m. that Monday. She was last seen wearing a green jacket, black shorts and white Crocs.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement is issuing a missing child alert from Madeline Soto. Orange County Sheriff's Office shared her missing person poster earlier today. The 13 year old was last seen around 8:30 yesterday morning near Town Loop Blvd and Hunters Park Lane in Orlando. Now the last person to see Madeline was her mom's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns. He dropped her off at school around 8:30 that Monday morning.

So the question that everybody had in this moment, of course, was what on earth happened that morning? How did she not make it to school if she was dropped off at 8.30? Well, I want you to listen to Madeline's mom's account of what took place that morning. Well, um, Monday morning, we took her to school. We dropped her off close to school, across the street from a church, which is very, it's right next to the school. Um, she crossed the street, um,

And walk to school, what we thought walked to school. My boyfriend who drove her to school, drove away at that point. It was seen on video footage that she hung out in the parking lot of the church for a few minutes and then got up and walked towards the school. But she never made it that walk from that was around 9 a.m. when she got up. She never made it to school after that. Yeah.

It's right next to the school. I don't know why she didn't make it. I don't know if something happened on her walk along the way or she got taken, but she never made it. So Madeline was actually not dropped off at school, but instead she was dropped off in a church parking lot, Peace United Methodist Church. And this church was across the street from her school, but yet somehow she never made it across the street to go to school that morning.

Madeline also left her phone at home that day, which her mom did say is not that unusual. And it's happened in the past because apparently Madeline is forgetful and she also has ADHD. So then they also decided they were going to try tracing her school laptop. Maybe that would have a ping in it. Maybe it would show her location. However, the laptop was turned off.

So since her phone was left behind at home, Madeline's mom decided she was going to go through it. She wanted to see if there was any sort of lead, tip, maybe a text message that had been exchanged that would indicate where she was, where she had gone, or who she was last coordinating with, who she was last speaking with.

She also said that Madeline was very open with her, and she would always just tell her, even if she had a crush on somebody, things like that. But she still needed to search her phone. She needed that reassurance, and rightfully so. Even though Madeline was completely open with her, maybe there was a chance that Madeline hadn't been completely forthcoming about somebody she had met through the apps that she had or the online games that she played. We know a lot of times that games on the phone and games online are literally things

a praying ground for disgusting ass predators out there. So maybe there was something that Madeline hadn't shared. So her mom decided, I'm going to search this phone. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. So she checked her text messages. She also checked her deleted messages.

But there was nothing in there, nothing that indicated that Madeline was planning on running away or that she was planning on meeting somebody. And I have to ask this, and I know I hate doing it, but is she the type that would run away? Has this happened in the past or anything? Has she ever threatened to run away?

Now, like her mom previously said, Madeline was seen on surveillance footage hanging out in the church parking lot.

She didn't personally see this video, though, and she doesn't have it. But she said that her sister, who is Madeline's aunt, was at the church location searching for Madeline, and that that's when law enforcement went up to her and let her know what they saw on the camera. So because of all of that, her mom was now worried that maybe she had been abducted when she was crossing the street to go to school. She had been seen at the church, so how did she not make it across the street to get to school in time?

Now, Madeline's aunt also spoke to the media, and she said that she doesn't believe that Madeline would ever just pick up and run away with no trace of anything. PenFed Free Checking offers zero fees and zero balance requirements for zero hassle. PenFed Access America Checking lets you earn money on your balance for dreams big and small. Choose the best account for you and start making the most of your money. Learn more at PenFed.org.

federally insured by ncoa to receive any advertised product you must become a member of pen fed credit union but i want to go back to when right after madeline was reported as missing that monday night

Law enforcement immediately started searching for Madeline. Then on Tuesday morning, the Orange County Sheriff's Office launched a massive search, a huge search effort to find Madeline. They had more than 50 members of the Orange County Sheriff's Office response team searching for her. Sheriff deputies also used canines and a piece of Madeline's clothing so that they could try to track her scent with it.

The next day, on Wednesday, now two days after going missing, a press conference was held to update the public and to spread the word about Madeline's disappearance. They wanted to spread this as much as possible to see if anybody saw anything, if anybody knew anything. Time was now ticking, and this 13-year-old girl is missing and in danger.

So during a press conference, the Orange County Sheriff's Office said that the search now included well over 100 people, including deputies, detectives, intelligence analysts, and other specialized personnel, all different people involved in the search for Madeline. So our missing persons detectives responded to take over the investigation. So they did interviews with mom, mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school.

We were able to access Madeline's phone and there is information on the phone that indicated that she told people when she turned 13, which was on February 22nd, she actually wanted to go live in the woods. So that was in her phone. Now, I got to be honest with you guys. As soon as I heard that Madeline was telling people that she wanted to go and live in the woods when she turned 13 years old,

It made me question things. It made me think that maybe something was afoot here. Something was wrong. Of course, the timing of all of this is certainly alarming and also a little suspicious because she just turned 13 years old and now here we are and she's missing. But even more so, it makes you think and it kind of begs the question, what's going on that would be causing a 13-year-old to want to leave the comfort of their own home and go live outside in the woods?

I mean, sure, many people want to get off the grid. They want to go and kind of isolate themselves, live off the radar. Sure, in the woods even. But at 13 years old, especially when you think that there's no Wi-Fi, there's no wall plug-ins to charge any sort of devices or electronics, and those are pretty much the number one things in most 13-year-olds' lives, right? They want their device. They want their phone or their laptop.

And not only that, but even if she could sacrifice the electronics and all of the digital stuff and she wanted to truly just live off the grid in nature, Florida is completely infested with swamps, with alligators. So this is pretty dangerous. Again, at just 13 years old, something, to me at least, wasn't really equating. And we will talk more about that later on. But to me, it made me kind of wonder almost like, okay,

The timing of all this, sure, super convenient, little suspicious, but it almost seemed like the perfect setup or the perfect excuse for her disappearance. She wanted to be off the grid, so she left her cell phone, her laptop behind because she knew that she wasn't going to have a way to charge them, that kind of thing. Too convenient. And we always say kind of where there's smoke, there's fire, and something just ain't smelling right here.

And as it turns out, Madeline's disappearance and this claim of hers was about to take on an entirely new spin with a breaking detail that was going to unleash all hatred.

It's now been two days after Madeline's disappearance. And on Wednesday, February 28th, the mom's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, was arrested. But he was not arrested for anything related to Madeline's disappearance. He was arrested for sexual battery and possession of explicit child sexual abuse material.

Now guys, I am talking extremely horrific content on this monster's phone. So barbaric and so graphic that it makes my stomach turn. Now at the time of this arrest, although he was not charged with anything related to Madeline's disappearance, he was named the primary suspect in the investigation. Was that because of the material or was that because he was the last person to be seen with Madeline?

We were about to find out. So authorities stated that upon examining Stefan's phone, they found, quote, unsettling images, along with evidence that he tried to wipe his phone entirely. Now, Stefan says that he did factory reset his phone, and he did this by accident, according to him. But coincidentally, this happened the same day that Madeline disappeared. She

She disappears, and he just coincidentally, accidentally factory resets his phone. Not smelling right, right? It's not Landon for me. Now what's worse, and even more of a red flag, is the sheriff's office said that the crimes depicted in the images and in the videos that were found on his phone were committed from inside the family home.

Now, I want to read this exact excerpt from the affidavit because it really does paint a picture of how severe this material was and who this monster truly is. But again, please, please, please be warned. This material is explicit in nature. Names are also redacted, and I will be saying that as I'm reading this, but we will discuss more about it a little bit later on.

An interview was conducted with blank Stephan Stearns, who advised he picked blank up and dropped her off in front of Peace United Methodist Preschool. This was down the street from the school, and he dropped her off at 8.40 a.m. Hunters Creek Middle School begins class at 9.30 a.m. A license plate reader captured Stephan's vehicle with Florida tags driving blank.

During the interview with Stephan, he provided consent to search his phone. However, he stated that he accidentally performed a factory reset on his phone on February 26, 2024, the same day that blank went missing. Blank.

The next section says, There were also pictures and videos depicting Blank's vagina and mouth being penetrated by a penis.

As such, the files depict the sexual performance of a child. It should be noted, the penis observed penetrating blank had distinct markings on it which consisted of bright pinkish colored skin below the head of the penis until approximately a quarter of the length down of the shaft of the penis.

Several other pictures capturing this distinct pattern were observed on the phone. Further, as your affinient was reviewing the pictures and videos, I was observing several different pieces of clothing to include patterned underwear, shirts, blankets, and sheets. Then a bunch of the sentences are redacted, and it continues and says, Based on the totality of the circumstances, your affinient has probable cause to believe that Stefan committed a sexual battery. Blank.

So this was not only a huge bombshell because it showed how truly disgusting this creep is and he's videoing himself. He has images. The name has been redacted, but do with it what you want. Form your own opinions. I'm not going to share anything else on that, but he's videoing himself. He has all these images, full penetration images.

The focal points being the breast, the vagina, the anal opening. I mean, it is so disturbing and foul. And not only that, but towards the end of this affidavit, when they say we observed the exact same underwear, shirts, blankets, sheets that we observed in the home, it showed that this material was taken inside the family home. It is truly a crime.

haunting, haunting realization to think about what truly was happening in that house. What the dynamic really was between Stefan and Madeline. Stefan, where's Maddie? Did you hurt her? Are you a pedophile?

What's on your cell phone? Why aren't you talking to investigators? Where was Maddie last seen? Why aren't you helping her mother and her family? This is a little girl. Help them find Maddie. Where is Maddie? What is, where is she? What did you do with her? Tell us something.

So following his arrest, Stephan exercised his right to an attorney, and he remained silent during questioning. But as all of this was going down, as all of this was unfolding and he was arrested, searches for Madeline were still ongoing because she still had not been found. And these searches continued throughout Thursday and Friday, with law enforcement giving the public updates on their investigation all along the way.

But you can imagine that now with the news of this arrest and also with Madeline still being missing, this investigation was not looking promising. However, all of a sudden on Friday, day five of Madeline missing, the Orange County Sheriff's Office shared shocking and grim news. In a press conference, the Orange County Sheriff's Department said that investigators are, quote, confident that Madeline Soto is dead.

And worse, they believe that the mom's boyfriend, Stefan, never even took Madeline to school that morning. And they say that they believe that because they believe she was already dead. Now, they announced that at this point, this was a recovery search only and not a rescue anymore. They also announced that they notified Madeline's family with this news on Thursday night, the previous day.

Now I'm going to be honest with you guys. When I first heard this news, my heart dropped into my stomach, my stomach dropped into my butt. It made me sick to my stomach because as a mother, if I were ever notified that my child was no longer alive, yet they hadn't even found a body yet,

I personally don't believe that I would be able to accept that news. I think I would be in denial. I'd be like, no, you haven't found a body yet. What are you talking about? How are you making this announcement in the public? I would be reeling. I would also be extremely pissed off because they're making this announcement publicly to where people aren't going to be searching anymore. People aren't going to be wondering if they can spot her at the local grocery store or anything like that. And

As a mother, my mind would be going to the darkest places of you haven't even found a body yet. You're now basically calling off the search. You're deeming my child is dead. How do you know this? How can you say this with 100% certainty? And I just really felt for her mother in this moment because it made me truly sick to my stomach.

Now, this was also, aside from like the personal feelings that her mother may have been feeling in that moment, this was also extremely shocking news to the public. Because at this point, it had only been five days since Madeline had disappeared. And we generally don't hear that they believe that a case is shifting from a rescue to a recovery that quickly after somebody has gone missing.

So this led many people, myself included, to think that investigators must have had some sort of evidence that indicated that Madeline was in fact no longer alive. Especially for authorities to make such a public announcement and with such certainty. But what could that evidence be?

If they didn't have a confession, they didn't have Madeline's body. We are going to take a quick break in today's episode to hear from our first sponsors. Life is full of adventures. Do you take this man to be your husband? I do. Welcome home. We did it. He has your eyes. He's perfect.

Make the most of them all with PenFed checking and savings accounts. Learn more at PenFed.org. Federally insured by NCOA. To receive any advertised product, you must become a member of PenFed Credit Union. Okay, so to recap, at this point, the police have now made this public announcement. We no longer believe that Madeline is alive. We think she's dead. This is a recovery. We've also notified her parents.

They also found all of this explicit material on the boyfriend's phone, and he's been charged. But, reminder, charged with crimes not pertaining to Madeline's disappearance.

But then a huge break was about to come because investigators discovered video footage showing Stefan throwing items into a dumpster behind their apartment complex. And this was done around 7.30 a.m. the day of Madeline's disappearance. Not long after discovering this footage, investigators discovered Madeline's backpack and her school-issued laptop in the trash.

They also said that they found video surveillance that showed Stephan returning to the complex at 8.19 a.m. and Madeline was visibly in the car in this footage. We have evidence that shows Stephan Stearns returning to the complex and Madeline was visible in that vehicle. We believe she was already dead at that time.

Now let's talk about Stefan's whereabouts the morning that Madeline disappeared and when he claims to have dropped her off. And then we are going to go back to this footage about seeing her in the car, also going back to the church footage that indicated that she was at the church. We're going to go through all of that.

So Stefan was spotted driving on Monday, the day of her disappearance, between 1 p.m. and 2.30 p.m. He was driving near State Road 192 and Old Hickory Tree Road. He was also driving near Old Hickory Tree Road and Nolte Road. He apparently had a flat tire, and that's when he was spotted.

Now when I first heard this, I don't like to give criminals a lot of credit, to be quite honest. But I started kind of playing through the timeline in my head of everything, wondering what makes sense, wondering how they were so sure that he was the main suspect. Was it stuff that they found on his phone? How calculated is this guy? How smart is this guy? Because remember, there was also that message about the Woods, about right after she turns 13, she's going to go and live off in the Woods.

I had to ask myself, is this guy truly calculated? Was this premeditated? And did he lay the groundwork for this whole thing? Meaning...

whether it was premeditated or not let's table that I guess for a moment but did he create those messages about her claims of wanting to go and live in the woods because that was going to be the story the alibi for him like he wouldn't be involved they wouldn't even look his way because she had claimed she wanted to go off in the woods I I just started having a lot of questions but in any event at this point still Madeline's body had not been found so there were still so many unanswered questions

But then, just hours after the press conference, the search for Madeline ended, and her body was found. It was found around 4.30 p.m. by search teams in a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road, right where Stefan was spotted with that flat tire the day of Madeline's disappearance. And

And breaking news at 6, sources just confirmed at Channel 9 the body of missing 13-year-old Madeline Soto has been found. We have learned that a tip called in after this afternoon's press conference with Orange County Sheriff John Mina led detectives to her body. Law enforcement from several agencies still out at the scene right there off of Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County.

This is certainly a heartbreaking update to this major story we've been following for you since Monday. This morning, the main suspect who you see here in her disappearance, Stephen Stearns, was taken from the Orange County Jail to the Osceola County Jail. And then this afternoon, the Orange County Sheriff told us investigators believe Madeline was dead.

But at the time, they had not found her body. The Kissimmee Police Department is now leading what they're calling, obviously, a murder investigation. We have live team coverage on this major story for you tonight from Orange to Osceola County following the latest developments. We start with Channel 9's Nick Papantonis, who is live near the scene where, again, sources confirm for us Madeline's body has been found. Nick, what are you seeing out there?

So we're on the other side of this field on Hickory Tree Road. We're going to zoom in all the way to where deputies have set up a light. We can see a couple cars with the flashing lights. Hickory Tree Road shut down for a good couple mile stretch. We're inside of that perimeter right now as we watch them.

somewhat to their investigation. A long line of vehicles on the side of the road there. They appear to be focusing their efforts on the woods just off to the side of the road. Yeah, Chris, under these changing circumstances, they say now it's time to mourn with the community, the family and Maddie's classmates. It broke my heart because the first thing that came to my mind was my own daughter.

And I'm sure that everybody thinks of that at a tragic moment like this one. From a missing person to a homicide, community members are trying to come to grips with what is now a death investigation in the disappearance of 13-year-old Madeline Soto. Stefan is currently in the county jail in Florida, and he's facing charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material.

But I want to take a pause here, and I want to talk about some of the interviews that were done and Stefan's behavior leading up to his arrest. Now, when the first interview of Madeline's mom came out, it confused a lot of people, myself included. And when you listened to it at the beginning of this episode, you might have been confused because she continuously interchanges he and we. Well, um...

Monday morning, we took her to school. My boyfriend who drove her to school drove away at that point. When we dropped her off at the school versus he saw her that morning or he dropped her off. Also, in the actual video of this interview, you can see Stefan pacing back and forth behind her before then he finally sits down on something.

Then when he sat down, he was still in the camera view, but now he was slightly cut off, so you could only see half of his body, and he was right behind her as she was talking the entire time. Now first of all, that right by itself, watching Stefan, who I do believe is responsible for Madeline's death. He's literally pacing back and forth while her mom is doing this interview, and it's crazy.

Then adding in another layer on top of that, knowing what we know now, it kind of seems like the mom might have been fed a complete bullshit story. Then she was pressured to kind of co-sign this story to boost his credibility, his innocence, all while he is just standing behind her, hovering over her, pacing behind her, almost in this intimidating manner, making sure that she sticks to the story, she sticks to the script.

A lot of the language that she was using in that audio went back and forth from when she said we, when she said he, almost like she was getting confused on what exactly she was supposed to be saying. And it genuinely makes me wonder what was going on in this house. And is the boyfriend abusing the mother as well? Is she scared of him?

I would be remiss if I did not include that many people who have been following this case and possibly some of those listening do believe that the mom may have been involved in the cover-up and that she might have known more about what was taking place inside that house regarding the alleged sexual assault.

But personally, I'm not so sure because there has been no evidence to indicate that at this point. So aside from that interview, another very disturbing interview, an on-camera interview at that, and this was of Stefan.

And what he said while Madeline was quote missing, especially knowing what we know now, it's like staring into the soul of a fucking sociopath. I mean, full stop. I don't have any other words. And I'm going to play it for you in a second here. But the interview starts with Madeline's mom, where she clears up a few things from that first interview that she did, which we listened to in the clips of the beginning of this episode.

So the first question is if I can have your first and your last name and spell them both out for me. Okay. Jennifer Soto. J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R-S-O-T-O. Mother. Mother. Jennifer, tell me how you feel right now. I feel like I can't breathe. All I keep thinking about is where is she? Is she safe? Is she okay? But we're all a wreck. My entire family is a mess. We're just so worried.

When did you first realize or when did you file a missing report? We filed a missing report. We called the police at like 4:45 yesterday, 4:45 p.m. But she actually went missing early that morning around between 8:45 and 9 o'clock in the morning she went missing. We had dropped her off close to the school. She wanted to walk the rest of the way. That should be it. Sorry about that.

We dropped her off at school, close to school. She wanted to walk the rest of the way. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to share. You can share whatever you feel comfortable sharing. I know you had conversations with detectives. I'm not sure what that conversation is, but whatever you feel comfortable sharing, we'll put the awareness out there. Yeah, she was spotted walking around.

What has the school said?

Have you been in contact with the school? Yes. That they're doing everything they can. They've given me all their resources. The principal's called me. They've looked at their cameras. I don't think they've caught anything on the cameras. It's too far away from the sidewalk. Everything is too grainy, so they can't see specific faces. But they've looked. I'm just waiting to hear anything else from them. Is this normal behavior? Not at all. To just not...

show up or call or text or anything? - Not at all, no. She, from time to time, she will leave her cell phone at home accidentally and that's actually what happened yesterday. She left her phone at home. She went to school. But that happens from time to time. She's got ADHD. Her memory, she's very forgetful. So yeah, there's no way to track her right now 'cause I have, well, the detectives don't have her phone.

but this isn't normal behavior, no. - What was the last thing, I guess, the conversation that you two had, you and your daughter? - We spoke about her birthday party. She had a birthday party on Sunday. She had a great time. I couldn't make it 'cause I was working, but she had an amazing time. She was so happy with all her gifts. I told her goodnight and yeah, that was it. I was the one who took her to school in the morning. That was my partner.

13? She's 13 years old, yes. Madeline? Madeline. Madeline. What are you thinking right now? In my heart, I feel like somebody took her. This isn't like her to just pick up and run away or just not go to school. I don't know what to think. Friends?

The friends, parents, you've contacted and went through every single person? Everyone that we know that she knows, we've contacted them all, reached out to them. The parents have gone out to search and look for her as well. And we haven't come up with anything yet. I've seen a lot of posts on Facebook, Hunters Creek, rants and raves and what have you. Did people say that they were going to conduct some type of search party or anything? A lot of people have contacted.

asked me to volunteer, like if there is one, if they can do one. I have people passing out flyers going to every store in that vicinity, gas station, church. I think people were being stopped in the street this morning in front of the school to see if they've seen anything, if they've heard anything. My family is, they're going all out right now. Yeah. And as a mother, you help a lot.

is going on in your brain. - So much. - To bring her back home. What have the law enforcement told you that you are able to share? - I mean, that they're doing the best they can. They've had detectives come out, interview us. They took a piece of her clothing for the canine dog to see if they can sniff her out. I'm not sure when that's being done.

Do you have any inkling where she possibly could be? Like if you would say, "Okay, last time I went to work and came back, she was at James' house or Sabrina's house and maybe I forgot to check that house or she played at this park one weekend. Maybe she'd been back there or something like that." We've looked everywhere we could have thought and anywhere she would have been. She would have known to wait for me at the school.

But we did check if she could have walked. My mom's office is close to the school. We checked there. We checked the walking paths that she could have taken. We've checked all of her friend's house. I think we've checked everywhere I could think of, honestly. And you said this is not like her? Not at all. To run away, an argument, anything like that to provoke her? She's never done anything like this, no. And we haven't had any arguments recently to...

have this outcome. What school? Hunters Creek Middle School. Tom, any questions? No. Is there anything that you think our viewers would need to know about the way you're feeling, the way the family's feeling, Madeline? We are desperate for any answers, anything that you can do to help. I'm here for it. Just please, if you see my daughter, just please bring her home. I just hope you're okay, Maddie. I hope you're safe.

I hope you're not hurt. I just hope she's okay. - When did you notice that she was missing? 'Cause this was at the beginning of the morning. - She got dropped off in the morning. We did not notice until after school pick up at four o'clock when I went to go pick her up and she wasn't at school. - So we're going in 24 hours now. - Yeah. - Just about. - Yeah. - Nothing. - Nothing. No word, no text message, no messages anywhere from her.

I've looked at all her social medias, I've looked at all her games she could have played with, any app, no weird conversations, no nothing strange, everything was conversations with just normal friends or us. She knows how to get home by herself as if like let's just say ticket to take a bus or an Uber or something like that. She would know how to get home alone, correct? I'm not sure. I don't know if she would know how to get home. Maybe, I mean,

I'm thinking if someone got in the car with her and if she pointed the way, what roads, she probably could figure out how to get. But does she know a full address? I don't think she does. Which would give me the... I mean, it just puts in my brain that...

She always comes home with someone. She always comes home with me. So there's no need for her to really learn. Okay. But now, listen to Stefan. Alright, the first question is if I can get your first and last name and spell them both out for me. Stefan Stearns. S-T-E-P-H-A-N-S-T-E-R-N-S. Alright, so Stefan, you seem very emotional right now. Explain to us. I dropped her off. Everything looked fine when I drove away. It's the last time we saw her.

What were the conversations that y'all had in the car when you dropped her off? Not much. She was asleep for most of the way. Told her have a good day at school when she got out. I love her. Said thanks, love you too. That was it. And so where do you think she could possibly be? I mean, this isn't, as I was told, this isn't normal behavior. This is not normal behavior. She's not the type that would just run off. We don't know where she can be. We're scared. We just want her home. Are you, in a sense, blaming yourself?

It's hard not to. Why? I dropped her off early. I could have waited longer. She looked okay. She was walking towards the school when I saw her. It was like any other day, so I went on with my day. It's hard not to blame myself. What has the conversation been with Jen since? She's been very, a lot stronger than me. She's been holding it together really well. And it just keeps coming in waves. Just reality keeps adding. We don't know where she is. We don't know if she's safe.

We were just scared. We just wanted to go home. - Have you like literally put boots on the ground, went out? - Yeah, I even went out with the cops where I had dropped her off. And we looked all up and down the road, all around the communities, and there was nothing helpful. None of the cameras were pointing the street, nothing, which in 2024 was surprising. The church across the street had some cameras and they mentioned seeing her.

waiting around in the parking lot for a while before moving on and that was it. But it was grainy, it was grainy footage and not much, not much else. - Does it say that she walked west, east? - They said in the direction of the school, I'm not sure what that is.

What was the language? Not language verbally, language body language. When you drove her off, did she seem happy? Was she like, I'm going to meet my friends? She was happy. She got a happy weekend. She just turned 13. She had a 13th birthday party. She was happy that we were all together here. She was a happy kid. She's very sweet. She's a very sweet girl. She brings a lot of joy to us. Just not knowing. So the unknown is killing you. Yeah, it's like our whole world is upside down.

Not feeling her presence here is... I'm sorry. It's hard. Oh no, you're fine. Don't... You don't need to apologize. Um, what do you want our viewers to know when they see some... when they see this? She's a sweetheart. She's a very sweet, kind girl. Just please be nice to her. Bring her home if you find her. Tell her that we love her. Wherever she is, I hope she's okay. I mean, if someone were to come in contact with her and you gave me her diagnosis,

Would it be easy to approach her without any agitation or anything? Yeah. Yeah. She's a good kid. She's a good kid. If you can sum up in one complete sentence, waking up, getting ready to drop her off at school, dropping her off at school, to now speaking to me after talking to the police about her being missing for over 24 hours right now, in one complete sentence, what would that be? A living nightmare. It's a living nightmare. Days started off like any other and

I just want to wake up and just get hit with waves of the reality. Just it's setting in. As soon as it got dark last night, we really, we started falling apart. We knew it wasn't going to come to an end. But now we're going on 24 hours and still nothing. Conflicting reports here and there. People say they see this or that. None of it's conclusive and none of it's helpful. We just want a baby girl back.

Guys, when I say he is absolutely unhinged. Now, I know if you're only listening to the audio version of this, you can't see the video. So let me just kind of like describe what's going down here. First of all, he's not making eye contact with the news reporter asking the questions and with the camera, which, okay, fine. Maybe he was so distraught he wasn't making eye contact.

But then he's like sniffling, he has a Kleenex, he's wiping his eyes, all which, let me just make mention, I didn't see a single reflection or glisten off of any sort of tear falling down his face. I think they were crocodile tears. But anyways, he's like sniffling, he's wiping his face, he's just begging for her to be returned home, saying how much he loves her, how distraught he is, how he blames himself, all of these things. And...

It was like staring into the soul of a psychopath because it never ceases to amaze me. No matter how many cases I cover, how these people who are directly involved in somebody's disappearance, murder, sexual assault, abuse, whatever it may be, how they are able to portray this heartbroken person when they are the perpetrator. And I hate to go back to the well on this, but I'm going to do it for a second, guys.

It reminded me so much of Chris Watts and that porch interview that he gave in front of his house. I know it's like in the true crime world, it is like the number one thing. People are always like, oh, it's giving Chris Watts vibes, this and that. And people are so sick of hearing it. But

They use that comparison for a reason. Because Chris, who was just this like dead behind the eyes, soulless human being pleading for his family's return, all while knowing he murdered them, already dumped their body, was having an affair, all of the things. It's just like, it's literally sociopathic.

So now once again you have this guy wiping away his fake tears, giving his fake speeches, all of these things. All while in some could argue even worse than Chris Watts because of the sexual assault element in all of this. And it just never ceases to amaze me. It is truly unhinged. I will never understand how people are capable of doing this. It sends a freaking shiver down my spine every single time.

We are going to take one final break in today's case to hear from our final sponsor of today's episode. Now with that interview, let's circle back for a moment to how she had said that when she turns 13, she wants to move to the woods. Like I said, I was trying to wrap my arms around how calculated could this person truly be? Or is he just a moron? Was he looking for a dump site? He happened to get caught on CCTV footage showing her in the car while she was already dead, presumably.

Or was this all mapped out? Was this all calculated? Now after seeing that interview, I think he certainly is capable of trying to plan something, trying to get away with the perfect crime. Absolutely. I mean, we won't know for certain until more details come out, but...

Something here is very sketch. The Woods claim as a 13-year-old girl, then she disappears literally days after she celebrated her 13th birthday. Then you have him dumping all of her stuff. You have all of this horrific, horrific content found on his phone of him doing horribly vile, inhumane, barbaric things to somebody redacted in the affidavit. Come to your own conclusions.

And now this interview where he's begging for her safe return. It all feels gross, right? It feels so fucking gross. And I'm sorry, I know I'm going off on a tangent here again, guys. Sometimes that happens over here. But this is how I'd be speaking to my sister or one of my best friends. It just shows you how truly fucking vile people can be. It is so, so sick.

I also have searched high and wide trying to figure out who she sent those messages to about claiming to want to move to the woods when she turned 13, and I can't find any sort of confirmation anywhere, which just kind of throws up, again, another red flag. Was this all set as a calculated foundation for this disappearance, for this murder? I don't know. Any way you look at this case, from what he has been charged with, what they have found against him, the evidence, the material,

it shows who this scumbag really is. And it's a really haunting thing to think about. And I do think that this is one of those cases that once again just serves as such a clear reminder that you can never be too careful with who you are allowing around your children. You never know who is a predator behind closed doors. You never know who you can trust. And

Although it's not a life where we always want to live in fear, it's like we do have to be hyper aware, especially as parents. If you do have children, if you are listening to this, or if you're ever a parent in the future, it's just very scary to know what people can be capable of that you would never even suspect.

You did get the chance to speak with Kissimmee police about what comes next. So they tell me that more charges could be coming, but right now they're focusing on the case at hand and working on investigating all possible angles. Stephen Stearns or Stevens Stefan Stearns had his initial appearance in court Saturday. He never spoke, but his attorney did.

Your honor, at this time I am going to waive Mr. Stern's appearance. I'm also going to waive the reading of these charges. Mr. Stern is aware of what he's been arrested for. Though Stern is a prime suspect in Madeline Soto's death, the charges he faced Saturday came after deputies found what they called disturbing images on Stern's phone.

The Kissimmee Police Dep the investigation into wh They said saturday the de follow ups and collecting prepare a solid case. They facing additional charges after a thorough investiga

It's absolute denial. You don't want to believe this happened to a little kid. That's how those gathered to remember Madeline felt Friday night. Standing outside of the school, she never made it to Monday, just hours after her body had been found.

Disbelief and definitely overwhelming. I think that's pretty much what we've all gone through. I can only imagine what her immediate family has gone through for other students at Hunters Creek Middle. It's a mess of emotions fused, sad, angry at the person who did that. Still trying to work through a situation no one could understand. I don't know how to explain it. I just feel horrible. It's horrible like who in their right mind would do that to a little girl.

As I said, this is an ongoing case, so more information, I would imagine, will come out in the next days, weeks, months, and as soon as that does come out, I will definitely do a follow-up episode and keep you updated. So take a quick second, make sure that you're following the podcast if you're not already, so that when I do post that update episode, you don't miss it and you can fully stay up to date with this case.

All right, guys, and before you go, don't forget to swoop up on those amazing offers while they last. You can get your high-quality affordable luxury over at Quince. You can get all of your super cozy socks, tees, and underwear at Bombas and get all of the matching stuff for you and your family at Caden Lane. All links are in the show notes.

In the meantime, I think we just have to pray that Madeline gets justice for not only her murder, but for the vile things that she apparently experienced in whatever time period that was leading up to her murder. Hopefully it wasn't years. I mean, hopefully it was like a one-time thing. Hopefully it was a no-time thing, but you know what I mean. Hopefully it was a one-time thing, but I just hope that...

She gets the justice that she deserves. And I know that these kinds of cases are incredibly difficult to hear, guys. Trust me. That is not... I'm not missing that. I know it's hard for me to talk about them too. And I've wanted to take a pause on talking about children. But this is one of those cases where it's like she deserves justice and her monster perpetrator deserves to be called out and named for exactly who he is. For the predator he is. For the...

you know, gross, for all this gross behavior for everything. And the only way to ensure full justice is to ensure full accountability. And that's why we do this. That's why we talk about them. That's why we listen to these cases. So again, I know it wasn't easy, but I appreciate you sticking through and hearing Madeline's story.

I will definitely keep you updated guys. So thank you again for tuning in to another episode of serialously. I will be back on the mic with you very, very soon. But until then, please, please, please be nice. Don't kill people. All right, guys, take care. I'll talk with you soon.