Police: Stepfather sexually abused Madeline Soto for years

Madeline Soto's body was found on March 1 by detectives after having last been seen alive on Feb. 26. Her stepfather is a prime suspect.

Days after the body of a missing 13-year-old Florida girl was found in a wooded area, no charges have been filed in her death; but her stepfather is facing charges that he sexually abused her, and that abuse may have gone on for years.

Madeline Soto’s body was found on March 1 by detectives after having last been seen alive on Feb. 26. Police named Stephan Sterns, identified in court documents as her stepfather, as a prime suspect in her disappearance. While he was charged with sexual battery of a minor, no charges have been filed in Madeline’s death.

In an affidavit obtained by Court TV, a detective for the Kissimmee Police Department said that Sterns consented to having his phone searched, but told officers that he “had accidentally performed a factory reset on his phone on February 26, 2024.”

Despite the deletions from Sterns’ phone, detectives said they found disturbing images and videos showing a child being sexually abused. The detective said that the characteristics of the room where the abuse happened matched those of a room inside Sterns’ home, where he lived with both the victim and her mother.

Metadata from the images indicated that they were recorded in Aug. 2022, when the victim was 11 years old.