Transcript of Episode 360

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

And when you guys showed me the picture of her, I believed the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe that he had done anything equal to her. I'm like, no, what if she— what if he did this stuff? Fine.

Some of the stories we tell here on Sword and Scale will make you sick. They'll tug at your heartstrings. They'll change your whole perspective on humanity. They're the ones you can't get over, the ones you can't really shake, and they stay with you for a long time. The story we're about to tell you is one of them. This is part 1 of a 2-part series. Let's go.

911, what's the location of your emergency?

The call is coming out of Kissimmee, Florida, in a quiet suburban pocket near Hunters Creek Middle School.

Police, fire, or medical? Uh, police, possibly. I'm reporting a missing child. And is she white, Black, or Hispanic? She's white. Okay, and— Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes. Okay, hold on with me here. Okay, and then how long has it been though since you guys have last seen her? Since this morning. She was dropped off at school this morning and apparently she never showed up. We called everyone we knew, no one's seen her. She was last seen at the church next to Honey's Creek Middle School. I think it's called Peace Church, I'm not sure of the exact address.

She was dropped off that morning just steps away from the school, but she never made it inside. By that afternoon, No one had seen her. Not her friends, not her teachers, not a single person at the school. She was dropped off, then just disappeared. Her name was Madeline Soto, and she was just 13 years old. This was her best friend.

She came to the school in like the middle of the year in 4th grade. She was like the new kid, so like everybody kind of just picked on her and stuff. She was in a different class than me. Um, she got picked on a lot by people, like, um, that, like, nobody really liked and stuff. Um, and then one day I kind of, like, went up to her and I was like, "Hey, what's your name?" And then we got to know each other. Ever since then, we've just been best friends.

As best friends, she and Maddie talked every day.

Like, every single day. She texts me every morning I wake up, and I always get a text from her, um, unless she But usually, I thought it was fishy yesterday when she didn't text me at all, because usually even if she doesn't go to school that day, she texts me like the night or the day of, like she'll wake up early just to like text me like, "Hey, I'm not going to school." And she didn't yesterday, but I didn't think anything of it because I thought she like, "Oh, she like slept in or something." That morning, February 26th, 2024, was supposed to be routine.

A ride to school, maybe breakfast on the way. It was the kind of morning you don't think twice about until something goes horribly wrong. That morning, her mother's boyfriend, Stephen Stearns, drove her to school.

Stephen, she was always on a call with him. She loved him. Um, they were really close.

They left earlier than usual. They had time to spare and talked about stopping for breakfast at McDonald's, but she changed her mind as little kids do. She was sleepy, but she also just wanted to get to school early to hang out with her friends. Instead of waiting in the insufferable car line, she asked to be dropped off about a block away. She would walk the rest of the way to find her friends. Apparently, no matter who was taking her to school, Maddie preferred to be dropped off in the near vicinity. This was usually at the church across the street, where a lot of parents dropped off their kids to avoid the long lines. That morning, the car pulled over. Maddie got out and started walking.

They're going to the school to double-check and everything, but from what we know, she wasn't there. So they should be back soon too, because it's right next to the school. That's fine. So if at least one of you remains there though to meet with an officer, that's more than fine, okay? Yeah, I'll be here. I'll be here. Okay then. All right. Thank you so much, ma'am. And I'll go ahead and let you go. We'll be out there as quickly as we can, okay?

When someone goes missing, every second matters. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how much you want a limited resource like law enforcement. If there's no cops available, there's no cops available. What do you expect after years of demonizing law enforcement? All cops are bastards, you say? Yeah, that has a negative but opposite effect.

Duh. Hi, um, I called not that long ago reporting a missing child. I just wanted to know how long the cops are going to take to get here. Okay, hold on, let me open up the call and let's see. The call is still currently pending to have the deputies respond out there, but we don't have any available deputies. We still have the call up though, holding. Okay, so, so no one's on their way yet? Not yet, no. Does it take long for them to respond to the call? If there's a big emergency in the area, um, and there's nobody— there's no units available, they put the calls on hold. But As soon as one becomes available, they respond to the next pressing call. I'll go ahead and update them with the information. All right, thank you, 'cause this happened very recently, so we just wanted everyone here. She's been missing since 8:00 AM.

At the same time, her family started calling the school, reaching out to teachers to see if anyone had seen her. But no one had.

Yeah, what's going on? Do you need police or medical?

No, it's not a medical issue. We have a missing child since this morning. We already called 3 times and the police didn't show up yet.

Yes, ma'am, I see it. There's a way for a deputy to respond.

They haven't, they haven't come here yet.

I'm worried, ma'am. I see it. It's waiting for a deputy to respond.

You're waiting for a deputy to respond?

Yes, ma'am.

And how long more do we need to wait? It's a child missing.

I understand that, ma'am, but I'm just not able to give an ETA. I don't know when they'll be there.

So how long do we need to wait?

This is an emergency.

Ma'am, we have the information, but it just— they're trying to get there someone as soon as possible.

So this is not important for you guys? Really?

Ma'am, we're a very busy area. Look, I understand, and they'll be there as soon as they can, okay?

They didn't just call 911 once. They had to call 3 times. The first call came in at around 4:43 PM. —then again at 5:16— and then another one at 7:21. It took officers almost 3 hours to arrive, and they didn't get there until 7:37 PM. Deputy logs show the call sat waiting because no deputies were available. Units were tied up with other emergencies, and this one had to wait its turn. But before you blame dispatchers, understand that The people answering those calls weren't the ones heading out to search. They were taking information and waiting for someone in the field to clear. They did their jobs correctly, by the book, exactly as instructed. Maddie's mother was later told there were "other missing children" that day. Seems like an epidemic, right? Resources were stretched thin. In fact, nearly 1,000 children are reported missing in the United States every day. That works out to about 1 child every 90 seconds, or roughly 350,000 children under 18 each year. Think about that for just a sec. That's roughly the capacity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So yeah, an Indianapolis Motor Speedway's worth of children goes missing every year. But to Maddie's parents, family, and friends, statistics didn't really matter at the moment.

This was serious and urgent. This was their own daughter. An entire day had now passed with no one seeing Maddie.

"Does she have a cell phone that she might keep on her person?" She doesn't. She had one, but she left it at home conveniently today.

Okay. It was no surprise that Maddie left her phone at home. This was a common occurrence, and it wasn't just because she was forgetful. Okay.

Is she diagnosed with any medical, mental conditions at all? Um, I know she takes medication for ADHD, and I think that—

I'm pretty sure that's it. At 7:37 PM, officers pulled into the condo complex in Kissimmee. Where Maddie lived with her mother, Jennifer Soto. Also in the home was Jennifer's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, who was frequently there despite an on-and-off-again relationship. The unit itself was shared, with rooms rented out to other women, and the condo was owned by Maddie's grandfather. It was a crowded living arrangement, with multiple people coming and going and limited space inside the home. By the time deputies got there that evening, both Jennifer and Stefan were there answering questions and helping officers piece together the last known details from that morning. Officers started with the basics, documenting what Maddie was wearing and establishing a clear timeline. Hey there. Hey there.

What's going on? So I was dropped off close to school this morning but never made it. I went to school. I'm sorry, one second.

Yeah, go ahead, sir.

Are we looking for another kid or we have a kid?

Looking for another one. Like I said, an epidemic, especially when Disney World is in your backyard.

So she was supposed to be dropped off at school, didn't make it to school?

Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her up from school today and she never came out. They, they they announced it over the speaker, and I'm just like, maybe she walked here because sometimes she'll walk here to this office. I came here, nothing. I went back to the school, they were closed. I got a notice, an email from the school saying she was absent, but I also messaged her teacher and he looked at her entire attendance today and saw that she was completely not at school today either. Okay. Um, so she never made it.

Okay. What's her name?

Madeline. M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E.

M-A-D-E-L-I-N-E. Last name? Soto. S-O-T-O?

Yeah. Date of birth? February 22nd, 2011.

February 27th, 2000? 22nd. Oh, sorry. 22nd.

2011.

2011. Just had her 13th birthday.

He said it quietly, but Stefan just pointed out that Maddie had just turned 13. In fact, Just the day before, a Sunday, the family had a birthday party. Her mother, Jennifer, and her mother's boyfriend, Stefan, were not there, but her best friend was. But on Monday evening, back at the scene, officers needed to know what Maddie was wearing when she was last seen, so they talked to her mom and Stefan. Green hoodies or something?

Um, green hoodies. White Crocs. White Crocs.

Either blue or black pants. I think black shorts. Black shorts? Yeah, black shorts.

Okay, black shorts. All right, do you know if she has like friends in the area?

She does, but she doesn't know where they live.

She doesn't know where they live?

Okay, I asked all of them.

Okay, is this like— does she like have any places that you guys know that she'll usually be at? Any friend's house? Any places that like she likes to hang out? Typically, no. No, not typically. No. Okay.

Uh, weight? 110 lbs. 110, 120. Um, hair color? Blonde. Blonde, like that dirty blonde. Like a dirty blonde. Okay. Um, eye color?

Blue. Does she have any markings on her, like any scars or anything like that?

Uh, distinctive beauty mark on her On her face. On her face, like below the nose or near the nose? Yeah, like right in that area there. It's very distinctive. You'd know it if you saw it.

While one officer was talking to Maddie's parents, another was speaking with staff at the church where she was dropped off that morning. Surveillance showed a child sitting in a parking lot for about 10 minutes before getting up and walking away. After that, the trail disappeared. At that point, investigators were still working through possibilities, including one that seemed plausible: that Maddie may have left on her own.

It's possible that she came here and sat in the, uh, parking lot for a while. Um, it's blurry video, um, but it looks like a adolescent child sitting right there and she's sitting The people here said that they were adamant they seen her on the property. Um, but like I said, it's a blurred video and I don't see her getting into anybody's car in the video. I see her sitting on property for, give or take, 10 minutes and then walking off property. Um, I don't know which way she went from there.

The video was blurred, he said, but clearly showed a child lingering for a bit and then walking away. Could it have been Maddie? There were signs, even messages and comments about wanting to leave, about going off on her own and living in the woods when she turned 13. Why the woods? Why 13? You may ask. Who knows? But wouldn't we all like to just go off the grid from time to time? Regardless, this half-baked plan was something she had confided about with her friend.

We were walking around the bus loop and she was like, there's— she was talking about a gator. And then she was like, you know, it'd be like so cool to do. And I was like, what? She was like, if we like ran into the woods, like, you know, that trail behind the school? I was like, yeah. And she was like, it'd be so cool to like go there and just like build a little house. And I was like, the woods? Like with like animals and stuff? And I was like, where are you going to get this like wooden stuff to build this house? And she was like, "I don't know, I'll figure it out." And I thought she was joking and stuff because she kind of like smiled when she did it. So I thought she was joking, but I didn't take her seriously. And then when I found out she was missing, that popped into my mind and I told my dad. Her saying if she were to run away, she'd go into the woods and find a place and stay there.

If this were true, if she really had planned to leave, then where did she go? He dropped her off half a block away and drove away.

Okay. Did she ever go to school? No, we called school. She was walking in that direction. She was rifling through her backpack, just looking for something. I thought maybe she was just looking for headphones before she got her walking on. Yeah. Um, but she was just kind of, you know, shambling over in that direction. It looked the same as any other morning. Okay, okay.

But it wasn't just like any other morning. On any other morning, Maddie would have been safe in school all day. But she wasn't. She would have made it home after school like every other day. But she didn't. Whether Maddie ran away or something far worse happened, the truth was that she wasn't just missing. She had vanished. She had just turned into a teenager, and now her family feared she would never make it to adulthood.

Maddie Soto had just turned 13. She lived in Kissimmee, Florida, with her mother, Jennifer Soto, in a condo complex near her school. On the morning of February 26th, 2024, she was dropped off just a short distance from the schoolyard. A walk she had made before and one that, at the time, didn't seem unusual. But that morning, she never made it inside. Hours passed before anyone realized something was wrong. Her family made calls to the school, then to 911. By the time deputies arrived that evening, Maddie had already been missing for hours, and no one could say where she had gone after getting out of the car. At first, there were explanations. Maybe she left on her own. Maybe she wandered off. She had allegedly made comments about wanting to leave, about going off into the woods when she turned 13. Maddie lived with her mother, and she also spent time with her grandmother. From the time she was about 6, her mother's boyfriend was also in the picture. Jennifer and Stefan, were in an on-again, off-again relationship for years. For the majority of that time, they lived under the same roof. According to Jennifer and other family members, Steffen was like a dad to Maddie, and they had a great relationship.

But she also had a great relationship with her biological dad and her sister, who lived miles away. If she didn't take off to live in the woods, maybe she took off on a bus or plane to see them. Her friend remembered her preoccupation with getting money for her birthday.

"Once I turn 13, I'm gonna leave this house and never come back." "Why 13?" "Because I think she would always brag because I said that I can't wait till my birthday and she was like, 'Are you having a birthday party?' I said no and she was like, 'Oh, I get a whole bunch of money, like $500-something on my birthday, you know, like, that's like so much money. And I was like, yeah, like, I get money, but like not like that. And I don't really like having birthday parties because the last birthday party I had was so much drama. So then she was like, oh, okay. She would always talk about getting money for her birthday, and, um, I didn't give her money, and I already had given her a gift. I brought it to school. Um, she kind of got mad that I didn't give her any money or anything. I was like, I spent money on this. I didn't physically give you any money though. And then when we also got there, I was like, "How many presents did you get?" And then she was like, "I barely got any money yet. Like, I'm kind of mad because like, I want more money." I think she was waiting to turn 13.

That way she could get all of her money and go. She talks to her sister. Her dad is in Washington, D.C., and I think her sister is too. Her and her sister are close.

Missing her biological dad and sister weren't the only reasons Maddie may have taken off without telling anyone. Her friend said she didn't always get along with her mom, and she had ADHD and other challenges.

"Based on what I know, I think she kinda just wanted to be free and kinda just not live under, like, her mom's rules." The word "mom" or "mom's rules" was redacted.

But that's a reasonable inference. That she didn't necessarily want to live under her mom's rules. She had just turned into a teenager. Was she like defiant?

Like didn't like to follow the rules? Sort of, yeah.

I mean, it depends if she took her meds. If she doesn't take her meds, then she's like really crazy and she doesn't think, she just does stuff.

Like impulsive? Yeah. When investigators took a closer look at what actually happened that morning, Maddie's disappearance seemed less like a troubled teenager looking for escape and more like a vulnerable girl who may have been abducted. On the morning of Maddie's disappearance, Stefan drove her to school. This wasn't unusual. In fact, they had a routine for the days he took her to school that included stopping at McDonald's. But that day was different. Maddie was more lethargic and slept the whole way. She refused breakfast twice.

Woke up around 7, 7:15, somewhere around there, which is an early start for us. But she had— we had talked about getting McDonald's breakfast beforehand, so we wanted to make good time. Um, we did make good time. We got out the door maybe 7:30-ish, 7:45-ish maybe. Got over to that area. She was asleep in the car most of the time, just snoozing until we got there. We got to McDonald's, we're close to McDonald's. I said, you still want it? Wasn't interested in the McDonald's anymore, so we continued on. And, uh, she wanted to be dropped off a little down the ways from the school. She's got this phase that she's been into lately where she's very particular about what car she's seen getting out of in front of the school. Um, I get it, it's an image thing. But, um, that was sometime probably between 8:20 and 8:40-ish, somewhere in there. It was along the stretch of the road that, um, on the right side that has all the communities on it before you get to the overpass. Pass. You could see the overpass from where it was. So it was on that side, on that stretch of road, and that's where I dropped her off.

She said she was going to go wait for her friends. She's going to find them and hang out and wait for her friends. And I asked if that was going to be okay. She said, yeah, it's fine. Kids get dropped off early enough as it is. It's not totally unusual for that to happen. It's just not Usually that early that I drop her off.

I do school runs every once in a while for her. Jennifer was happy to have Stefan in her life. He was a huge help to her. He was able to give insight to Jennifer about Maddie's ADHD because he too had ADHD. According to Stefan, his ADHD was severe. But Jennifer had issues of her own, including bipolar disorder. Which she was medicating for. Typically, the medicine would help regulate her moods and her sleep, but at times she'd forget to take it or her dose needed to be adjusted. She often didn't sleep well and appreciated that Stefan and Maddie had a solid father-daughter-like relationship and he could pick up the slack. In this next clip, take particular notice of how she's explaining her behavior that night, as if she's trying to explain away a question that hasn't been asked yet.

I got home around 10:30. I started getting ready for bed myself. I started eating and taking my meds because I have to take meds. When I went to take my meds, I realized, oh my God, I forgot to take my Saturday night's meds. Which is why I felt so weird, so abnormal, and not myself Sunday while I was at work. Everyone at work noticed I was acting different and not being myself. Like, I couldn't smile in front of the guests. I felt this wave of depression that I haven't felt in years. It was my bipolar symptoms coming up again, but I just— I've been medicating myself for, for the longest time.

So Sunday you took your meds. What meds, if you don't mind me asking, what meds do you take? And like, how does it Do they put you to sleep deep? Does it help you fall asleep, or does it help regulate you? What, what kind of happens when you take the meds?

Um, so they do all of the above. Um, they make me sleepy, they help me stay asleep, and they help me function, so I'm stable all day. Um, they only work well if I've got a good night's sleep and if I've eaten with them the night before when I take them, or the night I take them. Um, the medication is called Geodon. Uh, generic brand is called ziprasidone. I took my meds and then, uh, I told them to start getting ready for bed, to start heading upstairs and get ready because it was already almost 11 o'clock. It's past her bedtime. She needs to go to sleep.

Even by her own account, when Jennifer did take her medication, it didn't just help her sleep, it knocked her out. She described feeling groggy, disoriented, and sometimes not fully aware of what had happened the night before. Sleep was very important to Jennifer in general, so the next morning she remembered Stefan coming into her room to get the dog and take him for a walk before he took Maddie to school because she needed to sleep in and didn't want to take her. Stefan confirmed that he took the dog for a walk and then he said he and Maddie had an early start. Other than Maddie being excessively sleepy and not wanting McDonald's, this was a typical trip to school. Then she just dropped off the radar. Dropping off the radar wouldn't be as easy for Maddie as it would for other students. Her teachers were paying attention. She had an IEP, Individualized Education Program, or special ed as it used to be known.

She has been in my class all year round. She's always very sweet and she struggles a bit. I mean, all my kids are intensive kids, so they are the students who are struggling. She was on my door decorating team. She was actually chosen to be my student of the week from 2 weeks ago for helping us win our door decorating competition with her friends. She had been reading a book a couple months ago and it had kissing in it and it was a graphic novel and she was like scandalized that there was a kissing scene.

7th grade was the year sex education was introduced in this school system, so it wasn't surprising the kids would make a big deal about a graphic novel. But she also remembered something Maddie's friends told her after Maddie went missing.

I was shocked when the kids were telling me about the live in the woods conversation. I was, I was shocked to hear something like that. She was very excited about her birthday.

She had just been made Student of the Week. She was quiet, she struggled, and she was happy about her birthday. These were descriptions officers heard over and over. But they also heard that Maddie had a lot of anxiety, not just typical worries, but panic attacks. This is the school counselor.

When she has come to me, it's often been those feelings of panic. She's come to me like in the middle of class or during lunchtime just feeling really panicked, um, kind of heavy breathing, feeling really overwhelmed. Um, and when we've had our conversations about what's going on, what's making you feel this way, I've gotten Responses saying, "Well, it's my anxiety. Sometimes I don't know. I'm just really overstimulated with all the noise in the cafeteria." But she also talked about things being stressful at home.

Her mother was usually the focal point.

When I pressed about that, it seemed to be things along the lines of, "Well, she gets upset that I'm forgetful or that I don't clean my room the way she wants me to." And we talked about what that does to affect her, and she says yelling, that makes me get overstimulated, and then I can't respond to her in a way that she wants me to. So we discussed strategies for kind of calming herself down.

No one at school was raising any real red flags. A lot of this seemed pretty normal for a 7th grade girl with hormones and ADHD. She also has an IEP.

Okay, so do you think maybe—

Well, I always thought that it was partly because she struggles with learning. So I always thought, you know, kids that struggle with learning also are a little bit withdrawn and have a hard time focusing.

So yeah, there were struggles. A mom who had her own mental health issues, a broken family, ADHD, but none of it really pointed to a child who was about to disappear.. But investigators had to consider every possibility—whether she left on her own, met someone, or was picked up along the way. None of these explanations held up against the evidence. There was no footage of Maddie getting out of a car, no camera capturing the moment she was dropped off. The only video investigators could locate came from the area near the church, showing a figure believed to be Maddie. Sitting briefly before getting up and walking away. After that, the trail stops. There were no more sightings, no confirmed movement, and no indication she'd made it any farther towards the school. There is no evidence that she ever met anyone, no sign that she left the area, and nothing to suggest she went anywhere at all. The timeline doesn't extend. It just comes to a dead end. The last person to see Maddie was Stephen, so detectives had no choice but to dig deeper into his version of what happened. I said, "Okay, later out.

Have a good day. Love you." "Thanks, love you too." And I turned around and was driving away and was watching her in my rearview mirror to make sure that she was going where she was supposed to go, and she was. Moving in that direction, but she was rummaging around in her backpack or something. What I assumed was probably headphones or something like that, but find out later that she forgot her phone here, so she may have been rummaging for her phone. But she was still kind of making her way towards, towards that direction, so it looked okay. Looked like any other day. And I just continued on.

After dropping Maddie off, Stephan tells investigators he left the area and went to a nearby vape shop. But it wasn't open yet. So he says he returned home briefly. Jennifer was just getting up because she had slept in. They hung out for a bit and then he went back to the vape shop once it opened. From there, his account becomes harder to follow. He describes driving along Highway 192, stopping at multiple places including a comic shop and a Target. So yeah, that's what an adult male is doing on a typical weekday— shopping for comic books and weed, maybe stopping by Target. We are so cooked as a society. Then at some point during that time, he says he got a flat tire. He pulled over and changed it using a spare. He explained apologetically that the flat tire caused him to fall behind, so he missed the opportunity to pick Maddie up from school with Jennifer. As they had planned. On its own, none of that stood out as unusual. Running errands, losing track of time, even getting a flat tire—these are the kind of things that happen to everyone, every day. But it created a stretch of time that wasn't clearly accounted for, a window where his movements relied almost completely on his own recollection.

And his recollection wasn't great because, remember, he has ADHD also. So far, no footage had confirmed where he was during that period. No independent witnesses placed him at any of those stops. As cooperative as Steffen was, he gave a series of locations, times, and explanations that became harder to pin down the more they tried.

It doesn't make sense. I apologize for that. I'm trying to help you out the best that I can, but I just—

right, so like if you drop her off around 8:40, let's say give or take 10 minutes, you make it to the shop around 9, the smoke shop, and you sit there and wait for a couple minutes for it to open. You said you waited for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. Right? Does it make sense that you're still there at 10 o'clock?

I was there at 10 o'clock. Okay, so what did you do before that? I dropped her off and I made my way over. Not a direct route, but I made my way over there.

Did you stop anywhere on your way to the smoke shop?

No, I don't think so.

Do you have, um, problems with your memory that you can't recall what you did?

Um, I'm extremely ADHD. I'm sorry. So just details start to get fuzzy after a while. Even the times I'm giving you are my best guesstimates here. Didn't have my phone with me at the time, so I wasn't aware of exactly what time. There's no time on your car transpiring? There probably is, but it's not my car. It's my parents' car.

ADHD, no phone, unfamiliar car. I mean, ADHD is a real thing, don't get me wrong, and it does affect memory and the ability to recall details or keep track of time, all of those things. But it may also be a really good cover for someone who's trying to hide something. And that's when the investigation started to shift away from what Steffen said and towards what could actually be verified. He gave the investigators every little detail, but he couldn't account for big gaps of time. And while Jennifer corroborated his version of events, she was also unable to explain gaps of time, probably because she was asleep or at the doctor's office, maybe getting medicines readjusted. So investigators turned to the one thing that doesn't rely on memory or even coherence: his phone. His phone showed him going home, leaving again, and doubling back in a pattern that doesn't match the simple errands he described. What should have been a simple morning became a series of trips and changes in direction he couldn't really explain. Jennifer corroborated Stefan's morning. Pretty sure he called me around 10:18.

Uh-huh, what did he call you for? To let me know that they didn't go to McDonald's as planned. He had asked her multiple times if she wanted to stop at McDonald's because that was the plan the night before, that they were going to wake up early. He was going to take her to McDonald's, do like a special McDonald's breakfast, and then drop her off at school early because she wanted to get there a little early. But on his way to school, she was very sleepy and wanted to sleep in the car. And, um, she said she did not want to do McDonald's. She just wanted to be dropped off. Okay. Also to let me know that he left his phone at home because I had called him multiple times and he had picked up. He had left his phone at home, uh, by accident. He had went to the vape shop, but they didn't open on time, so he, he had waited for quite a while in front of the vape shop. They didn't open, so he left and came back and we hung out a little bit, and then I think he left again to the vape shop to go buy what he needed.

Okay. Detectives already knew something they weren't telling Jennifer. Something they had already discussed with Steffen. His car was caught on camera with a passenger in it for longer than he admitted. Including turning around en route to circle back to the apartment because he forgot a key fob.

When you came back to get your key fob, What did you do when you got here?

Ran inside, got the key fob, ran back out again.

Okay, where did you park?

Uh, right, right up here, I think.

Okay, how long would you say you were inside your apartment for?

Literally long enough to run in, grab the fob, and come back out.

So, okay, and then what did you do? What did you do when you came back out?

Uh, got back in the car and went back on, went back on, uh, the morning mission.

Okay. The camera has you in the complex for 12 minutes. Does that seem about right?

Yeah, coming into the complex, driving around, parking, getting the fob, coming back out. Sounds about right.

Okay. And then You leave— what time would you say you dropped her off at the school? Or not at the school, but in the area?

My estimate was sometime between 8:20 and 8:40.

All right, okay. The camera has you leaving the complex at 8:31. 8:31, okay.

So it must have been closer to 8:40 then, roundabout, I think.

Okay, so like, let's say you drop her off at 8:40. We don't see your car coming back south until 10 o'clock in the morning. So what are you doing between 8:40 and 10 o'clock?

Um, cruising around a little bit.

Okay, but I asked you earlier, you know, like what you were doing, and you said you were there for like 5 or 10 minutes and then you came back home.

Yeah, I went to the smoke shop like I said, um, but I was probably— I may have been meandering around the area. But I made my way home.

Okay, but I'm asking you earlier, right? And even like the first time we talked to you, you're not telling us that you're like, you know, just cruising the area like you're coming home. So I need to be able to explain to my supervisors why there's such a time gap.

Stefan tried to make the return to the apartment sound routine. He forgot a key fob, he said. So he doubled back, ran inside, and came right back out. But investigators were already seeing cracks in that story. The stop took longer than he claimed. The timeline didn't hold. And while he was back at the complex, surveillance caught him doing some things— things that made the "forgot my fob" explanation seem Maybe, well, like a cover.

Did she go inside with you?

No, she was in the car still. She was asleep.

Where in the car? Passenger seat. The front seat? Correct. Okay. Did she at any point go in the back of the vehicle, like in the back seat? No. So she was in the front the whole time? Mm-hmm. Awake or asleep?

She was asleep. Okay. She was confident we had gotten up early.

How was she positioned in in the front seat?

Um, leaned back in the seat. It's kind of conked out and happened.

Where was her head in relation to the seat? Against the seat, I think.

Against it.

Was the seat leaning back or— The seat was leaning back.

Yeah, she had leaned the seat back so that she could recline.

Those questions seem kind of like who cares questions, right? This all took place before he dropped her off at school, according to Stephen. They had been up early. Maddie was tired, she slept on the way. She didn't want McDonald's. They were making good time and he realized he had forgotten the key fob, so he just drove right back to the complex. She was still asleep in the passenger seat. The problem is— well, the problem for Stephen was that detectives weren't just looking at the one stop back at the complex. The more they reviewed the surveillance footage, the more they realized the same car Stefan was driving kept appearing. Different locations, different times, but every time the passenger looked exactly the same. Her position never changed. She wasn't sleeping. She was already dead. Steffen was driving around for much of the morning with a corpse in the passenger seat, trying to pass her off as sleeping. Maddie never made it to school that day because she never got out of the car.

Missing Maddie Soto.

On the morning of her 13th birthday party, Maddie Soto would have started another day in her life. School, friends, homework. Instead, she disappeared and never made it to school. What started as a missing child case was now falling apart, right in front of her mother's boyfriend. Stefan Stearns, who was the last person to see her. Stefan said it was a normal morning. A school drop-off, a few errands, a stop at a vape shop. But the more detectives checked his story, the less it held. The timeline shifted, the details changed. Surveillance exposed gaps he just couldn't explain. And whatever hope was left started fading fast. This was no longer a search for a missing girl. It was a search for a missing corpse. Detectives had to break the news to Jennifer, so they showed her a picture of the Lincoln in the driveway at about 7:30. That's Maddie asleep in the car.

Maddie's not asleep in the car.

What do you mean?

She's dead. Do you believe Maddie's asleep there?

Is she dead? I don't know. We don't know where she's at. Jennifer takes the picture in her hand, scrunches her brow, and looks closer at her daughter.

It's an odd way for her to be laying down sleeping.

Right now, we are probably going to start working this case as a homicide. We believe he possibly has done something to Maddie, and we want to know where he would possibly go.

Surveillance picks up his silver Lincoln again and again that morning. At 7:35, it's at the trash compactor. Stephen gets out and throws a white trash bag inside. Maddie is still visible in the front passenger seat. Her head tilted to the left, mouth hanging open, seatbelted in. At 8:19, the car is seen at the front gate. At 8:31, it leaves through the back gate. And in every one of those videos, Maddie is still in the same position. A sleeping 13-year-old doesn't usually remain frozen in the same posture across multiple stops, multiple gates, multiple movements through a complex. But a dead body does. And then the cameras at the compactor made the morning even darker. Near the tread from a tire matching Stephen's vehicle, they recover a white trash bag containing Maddie's backpack, a white Croc, and her school-issued laptop. So, while Stephen is telling detectives about McDonald's, a vape shop, and a forgotten key fob— oh, and a girl sleeping quietly in the front seat— the evidence is telling a very different story. The car didn't just stay in the Kissimmee area. Investigators later traced Stephen's vehicle out toward St. Cloud, about 30 minutes away. License plate readers and traffic cameras followed the Lincoln to Hickory Tree Road,— and by the time the car was seen coming back, it had a spare tire on it.

And this time, Stephen wasn't lying. At some point that morning, he really did have a flat tire. Someone saw him pulled over on the side of the road. Coming home from 192 on Hickory Tree, I observed that gray vehicle. Lincoln is a Okay. With a black rear tire. He was on the side of the road. Okay. Um, stooping down in the back looking at the tire, which I found odd. Okay. So normally I just blew it off. That was around 12:30. The guy didn't see Maddie in the passenger seat because Stephen had already moved her, possibly to her final location by then. It's plausible he got a flat tire while off-roading and offloading the body. Just 3 hours earlier, surveillance footage from a parking garage near the vape shop caught him in the act of moving the body. Stephen backs his vehicle into a parking space by the stairs. He exits his vehicle and walks towards the rear. Then he opens the trunk. At 9:41 AM, Stephen is seen placing Maddie who was wearing a green sweatshirt, into the trunk of his vehicle. He then exits the parking garage and heads onto 192. Detectives don't tell him about their mounting evidence.

They're still feeling him out. When he's questioned on details about his timeline, his answers are very polite, and he's sticking to his story, his vague story. Um, I'm so sorry.

That's okay. I know the details are important, and just the way our brains work with ADHD is those things can get fuzzy. Are you on any medication?

I'm supposed to be.

I have not been medicated lately, so I'm just not a morning person. I'm not— I'm very time blind on the best of days. I can forget So I understand that none of that is helpful in this case. Okay. I'm pretty sorry.

We're gonna have the apartment secured for the rest of the night.

Okay? Why, um, so the investigation is not going to happen tonight? It is.

He asks whether the investigation will still happen that night. It would. It would. But that didn't stop Stefan from continuing his movements when the interviews ended. Because before sunrise, while the search was still very much alive, he takes Jennifer's car and leaves the hotel, heading out towards St. Cloud around 3 AM. Then later that morning, he takes off again, this time much farther. Records show Jennifer's Nissan traveling to Northport. Later, Jennifer would say he came back with a Wawa cup. And claimed he'd just gone to 192. He never told her where he'd actually been, which is important because North Port isn't around the corner. It's 2 hours away.

Because at one point we moved close to where his parents live right now in, uh, they live in North Port, Florida, Sarasota County.

You caught that, right? The one place these killers always seem to head towards after killing is back to mommy and daddy. And in this case, that was North Port, Florida, where Stephen's parents lived. Um, obviously you live down in North Port. Yes, sir.

Okay. Um, I'm just gonna shoot you straight. I respect you and everything. I appreciate it. There's a storage unit down there. Yeah, I have a storage unit. You have a storage unit. Is that your son's storage unit or is that yours? That's your storage unit. Yeah. Okay. Does he have access to it?

No, I haven't Jeez, okay. Um, were you aware that— did your son come visit you on Monday morning? This Monday? Yeah. No, he left Sunday. Okay. Stephan's dad sounds confused because he is. You see, Stephan had been living with his parents for a few months after another breakup with Jennifer, but they were still on good terms. And because of his strong bond with Maddie. Jen invited him back for Maddie's birthday. So, his dad is talking about his son leaving on Sunday to head to Kissimmee for Maddie's birthday. He doesn't know yet that just 3 days later, Stephen would quietly make that same drive back without telling anyone. It would become apparent later in the investigation that Stephen had traveled to his parents' place in Northport Because he had a hard drive there containing incriminating material, let's say. And as if the Northport trip wasn't incriminating enough, what they found on his phone was worse yet. But he had tried to erase it.

When I saw him at the house, everything was normal. We were chatting, we were talking, he was acting normal. He was sitting at my computer. In a computer chair just messing around on his phone. While we were hanging out, he mentioned something along the lines of, "Oh man, I've been avoiding this phone update for a really long time. I should probably update it now." And I said, "Do it, don't avoid it, just get it over with." And he updates his phone and then tells me, "Oh my God, I don't know what button I just pressed, but I just factory reset my entire phone." And I said, "How the hell does that happen?" Well, that happens quite simply when you have something to hide.

You deliberately go to your phone settings, find the reset tab, and tap it to erase all the content. And that's what Stephen thought he did. But a computer scientist he was not.

So earlier that day, I think Detective Hunt came or somebody came and asked Stephen for his cell phone, if he would willingly give it up so that they can look at it, or if they would need a warrant. And I remember him saying, should I have asked a warrant? Should I have? And I'm like, no, you've got nothing to hide, give them your fucking phone. And then when you guys came in the evening and you guys told us to wait outside and we waited in my car, he started getting very anxious and very panicky going, I want my phone back, I want my phone back. And I said, listen, at this point it's their phone. It's theirs for fucking ever. I don't give a shit. We will buy you a new phone. It doesn't matter anymore. Whatever they need, they need. Like, let them look at it. And he's like, I just want my phone back. And I'm just like, do you— are you trying to make yourself more suspicious? Because like, you're— if you were to go demand your phone back right now, that would look suspicious as fuck. Like, what are you doing?

I'm thinking he's just getting impatient because he's bored and wants to play on his phone. And at one point, he takes my phone to start playing with it. I give it up and I said, "Here, play on my phone.

Have fun." Just 2 days after Maddie went missing, detectives had Stephen's phone and all the evidence on it, which was quite a bit. They found graphic pictures and videos of him sexually abusing 13-year-old Maddie Soto. In one picture, Stephan's face is visible and his tongue is on Maddie's nipple. It was explicit, undeniable, and extremely disturbing. And it had been saved among an album of child sexual abuse material. They didn't just find one picture or one scene. They found hundreds. Basically a typical Redditor's stash. These pictures pointed to repetition, duration, a system of abuse. Later reporting would describe roughly 1,700 images linked to Stephen's accounts stretching back at least 2 years. So the phone did not just prove what Stephen had done.. It showed that he had been doing it for a very long time. And the investigators matched the abuser in those files to Stephan's own body parts, if you catch my drift. Reports about the pictures describe a bright pinkish area below the head of the penis and a black mark or freckle on it, also visible in some pictures. Yuck. They also collected penile swabs from him, which I'm sure was quite humiliating.

By then, detectives weren't just looking at abuse images. They were connecting the penis in those images directly to Stephen Sterns. Imagine that being your job. Now that detectives had Stephen's phone, Jennifer was forced to reconcile with her understanding of who he really was.

Like, I look back at shit now, I'm just like, he was fucking lying, he was fucking faking. What else has he been lying to me about? I know he's like a master liar manipulator because he's done it to his parents and he's told me and shown me the lies he's done to his parents.

But I don't know why I never thought, "Not me." That would be because Jennifer forgot this stark truth: that people will always show you who they really are if you pay close enough attention.

I told him to call his dad because I had a feeling something— y'all knew something and it was going to come down on him. And I'm just like, they're focusing on the wrong They have the wrong person. In my head, I'm convinced you guys are just— that you have the wrong person.

He was definitely a wrong person. Just not the wrong person for these crimes. But what happened to Maddie was not an accident at all. Jennifer asked detectives, "How the hell does that happen?" Well, the detectives wanted that question answered also, and they wanted to know if Jennifer was complicit.

I don't know what you want me to say or do, or I just want my daughter back.

And this is exactly what I was just talking about. We are literally having a conversation right now about Maddie possibly being dead. Yeah. And you have yet to shed a tear.

By now, detectives know Maddie is dead. They know Stephen is responsible. But the questions that are about to get a lot darker are these: Why did he kill her? And how does this kind of sexual abuse happen for years in a home with someone you say you trusted with your life. Jennifer may have trusted Stefan with her life, but Maddie was the one who paid for it. And what they're about to uncover is far worse than how she died.