Madeline Soto missing Kissimmee, Florida teen. Did mom’s boyfriend, Steven Stearns have anything to do with the 13 year old girl’s abrupt disappearance. Boyfriend arrested following discovery of damning evidence on his cellphone.
The boyfriend of a Kissimmee, Florida woman whose 13 year old daughter went missing Monday morning has now become the prime suspect in Madeline Soto‘s sudden disappearance.
The allegations against the boyfriend follow Steven Stearns, 37, refusing to appear in court on Thursday following his arrest on sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material charges the evening before.
At the time of his arrest, the boyfriend invoked his right to an attorney and declined to speak further before being booked into Orange County jail.
Madeline Soto’s mom boyfriend sexually abused pre-teen while mom turned a blind eye
Jenn Soto boyfriend gave cringe TV interview ‘I blame myself’ before arrest
Boyfriend had tried deleting damning photos of missing girl
Cops said the boyfriend was booked into jail after finding ‘disturbing’ photos on his phone, including evidence that suggested Stearns tried deleting damning photos, including attempting a factory reset, prior to having his phone confiscated by detectives.
Evidence also suggests that the sexually explicit images and videos discovered on the phone may have taken place at the family’s Kissimmee home according to WFTV.
Come Thursday, the search for missing 13 year old girl, Madeline ‘Maddie’ Soto intensified following concerns of potential foul play.
Madeline, who had just celebrated her 13th birthday with family on Sunday, was last seen Monday at around 8:30 a.m. Footage reportedly showed Madeline in a church parking lot on February 26, after allegedly being dropped off near Hunter’s Creek Middle School in Orlando by Stearns.
Orange County Sheriff John Mina said Sterns dropped Madeline off close to the Peace United Methodist Church on Town Boulevard, which is a few blocks from the middle school.
Had wanted to live in the woods
Mina said that Maddie may have possibly been ’embarrassed’ by the vehicle and asked her mom’s boyfriend to be dropped off there instead of at school.
Except Maddie never made it to school that morning.
Her mother, Jenn Soto, who reported the girl missing Monday night, said that Madeline doesn’t have a history of running away. She said the teen had forgotten her cell phone at home that morning, but that was normal.
‘I’m trying to hope for the best, but I’m scared for her,’ Jenn Soto, told Fox 35. ‘I want her to be okay; I want her to be safe… I don’t want her to come back harmed. I just want her back – whatever that means, I just want her back.’
When deputies searched Madeline Soto’s phone, they learned that she had told her friends that she wanted to ‘live in the woods’ after her birthday. This triggered searches in the woods behind her middle school, but she hasn’t been found yet.
A day prior to disappearing, Maddie and her family had celebrated her turning 13.
Did Madeline Soto mother know her boyfriend was a sexual predator?
Victim of child sex abuse? Madeline Soto found dead as mom’s boyfriend is prime murder suspect
Was missing girl being groomed by mom’s boyfriend or worse?
‘She was so happy, she showed us all her gifts. She’s just a happy girl and she showed it on Sunday. When she went to bed she was so happy,’ the teen’s mom said.
Jenn Soto said there was no moment in the evening from when she got home that she had a phone or a laptop indicating that she was having conversations or making plans for Monday.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Madeline Soto is ‘endangered,’ meaning that her physical safety is in danger, such as a predatory abduction or kidnapping.
Madeline is described as a white female who stands 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighs around 110 pounds. She has dirty blonde hair and blue eyes.
An Amber Alert has not yet been issued for Soto. These kinds of emergency alerts are triggered when law enforcement has a well-founded belief, based on an active investigation, that a kidnapping has occurred, according to FDLE. There could also be a well-founded belief that the missing child is in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury.
‘We don’t know if she was taken. We don’t know if she stepped away. She left her phone at the house,’ Sheriff Mina said.
Investigators said Sterns was the last person to see Madeline, but as of Thursday afternoon, he has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.
Anyone with information on her whereabouts is urged to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at (407) 254-7000.
