Stephen Sterns has been accused of raping and murdering his 13-year-old stepdaughter, Madeline Soto, who was found dead on March 1, 2024. His defense attorney is requesting the judge throw away the evidence found on his personal phone and online account. On February 27, 2024, investigators downloaded information from his phone, which allegedly included hundreds of pictures and videos of him sexually assaulting Soto. If such crucial evidence were to be thrown out, Sterns would have a chance at being found innocent.
Madeline Soto’s Murder
Stephen Sterns was due in court on Wednesday, February 12, 2025, for a pretrial hearing in the murder of Madeline Soto. Almost a year ago, on February 26, 2024, Soto was reported missing after she did not show up at Hunter’s Creek Middle School. After several days of searching, she was found in the woods along Hickory Tree Road. Sterns was dating Soto’s mother at the time,e and authorities believe he had sexually assaulted, strangled, and dumped her body in the woods the day she went missing.
During the original investigation of Madeline Soto’s murder, her mother and Sterns both claimed that he dropped Soto off at school that morning. The problem with their stories was they did not line up. There is camera footage showing Sterns throwing items into their apartment dumpster that morning, and when police searched it, they found Soto’s backpack and laptop. On that same day, Sterns admitted to Soto’s mother that he had factory reset his phone, but that did not keep police from finding child pornography and evidence he had been sexually assaulting Soto since 2022.
Motion to Suppress Evidence
In a more recent court filing, Sterns’ defense attorney filed a motion to suppress the evidence found on his devices. His defense argues the phone was taken without consent, and the investigators did not provide a warrant to search or seize the device. However, that is not true. There is an audio recording of a conversation between Sterns and the detective about his cell phone. The day after Madeline Soto was reported missing, Detective Maria Tagler asked Sterns if she could look at his phone and its contents.
Tangler told Sterns, “I’m going to hold on to your phone, OK?” and “I’ll give it back to you when we’re done.” In the audio recording, you can hear Sterns consent. The following day, they have a similar conversation where Tangler confirms, “I told you that I was going to hold on to it and that we would like to download your phone.”
“Is this something that I have your consent to do? Or do I need to get a search warrant for your phone?” Tangler said. Again, Sterns agreed that would be fine, and he was okay with them going through his phone. He would not have handed over his phone password if he was not fine with it.
In the motion, Sterns’ defense attorney claims that at the time of the phone search, Sterns had not eaten the entire day and was under the influence of a prescription anxiety drug. However, this is just a ploy to get, most likely, the most damning evidence in Madeline Soto’s murder thrown out. His defense attorney believes Sterns’ constitutional rights against unreasonable searches were violated. This is a blatant idiotic claim, but they will do anything they can to convince a jury or judge of his innocence.
Fighting for Justice
Sterns has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and is awaiting trial. The Orange-Osceola state attorney’s office intends to seek the death penalty if he is found guilty of the murder of Madeline Soto. However, his defense attorney recently filed several motions,s including one attempting to block the death penalty, claiming it as unconstitutional.
If the death penalty gets thrown out, Sterns should still spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of a sweet teenage girl. Madeline Soto had her whole life ahead of her, but she was struck down by constant years of abuse until her final day when she was strangled to death. Strangulation is known as a personal means of murder. It has been identified as a lethal form of domestic and sexual violence. It is clear that Stephen Sterns is guilty, and hopefully, justice will be served at the end of his trial.
