Jenn Soto boyfriend Stephan Sterns gave cringe TV interview ‘I blame myself’ before arrest intimating his guilt as questions now also surrender Madeline Soto’s own mother’s potential complicity to sex abuse and murder.
Are they complicit and how much are they both letting on?
In the days ahead of the discovery of the body of a missing 13 year old Kissimmee, Florida girl, the teen’s mother and her live in boyfriend, who is now the prime suspect in her murder were interviewed on TV where they both spoke of their ‘heart-ache’ along with the boyfriend going so far as to say, ’it’s hard not to blame himself,’ while wiping away at tears….
Stephan Sterns, 37, sat down with Orlando’s WFTV 9 on Tuesday, one day after Madeline Soto was reported missing after her mother, Jenn Soto learned she did not go to school on Monday.
Madeline Soto’s mom boyfriend sexually abused pre-teen while mom turned a blind eye
‘I just want her home.’
‘It’s hard not to blame myself,’ Sterns told the outlet as his eyes appeared to well with tears and his voice became thick with emotion.
‘I dropped her off [at school] early, I could have waited longer. She looked okay she was walking towards the school,’ he explained. ‘I went on with my day.’
‘We don’t know where she could be, and we’re scared,’ Sterns lamented. ‘I just want her home.’
Now police say that on Tuesday Sterns already knew exactly where Madeline was: In the wooded area in Osceola County where he allegedly left her body after allegedly killing her on Monday morning.
Authorities found Madeline’s remains – still dressed in clothes resembling those she wore when she left home on Monday – on Friday afternoon.
Sterns was arrested on Wednesday – one day after the TV interview – on unrelated charges of sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material stemming from a search of his phone. Redacted police documents (see below) intimated the victim being that of Madeline Soto.
Gaslighting and serial abuser
During a press conference addressing the arrest, Sheriff John Mina with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office described the images on Sterns’ phone as ‘disturbing.’
During the television sit-down, however, Sterns was still playing the role of doting stepdad.
‘I told her to have a good day at school and I love her, she said ‘Thanks, love you, too,’ and that was it,’ he told the network of the last time he claimed to see Madeline.
Sterns initially maintained that he dropped the teen off in the carline at her middle school – with conflicting reports saying police saying the boyfriend actually left her in the parking lot at a church a few blocks away. It remained unclear if Sterns returned to pick up the girl and then allegedly kill her after initially dropping her off or as some wondered, had already killed the girl sometime before setting out Monday morning to dispose of Maddie’s body.
‘It just keeps coming in waves, reality keeps hitting. We don’t know where she is, we don’t know if she’s safe,’ Sterns said during Tuesday’s ‘cringe inducing’ interview, adding that Madeline’s mom, Jennifer Soto, had been ‘a lot stronger’ than him. (more on that below…)
‘It’s a living nightmare,’ the fraudster told the outlet. ‘I just wanna wake up.’
Recovered surveillance footage from Monday morning shows Sterns driving his 2010 Lincoln MK back to an apartment complex allegedly with Madeline’s dead body still in the car. It remained unclear when exactly ‘Maddie’ was killed along with the manner and cause of her death.
How much did Madeline Soto’s mother know?
During Tuesday’s interview, Sterns stated that Maddie was ‘sleeping’ in the car on the way to school. But was she really sleeping or was she already deceased? And when exactly did Sterns allegedly kill Maddie?
During Friday’s press conference discussing the recovery of footage depicting the boyfriend, Sheriff Mina said Sterns was filmed throwing items into a nearby dumpster. Detectives later found Madeline’s backpack and her school-issued laptop in that trash bin.
Sterns remains held without bond, with police yet to charge the man with murder.
And here comes the plot twist- what did Jennifer Soto know and was she also holding back during Tuesday’s interview with WFTV?
Questions were also being raised as to how much Madeline’s mother, Jenn Soto knew about her daughter’s alleged sexual abuse at the hands of her boyfriend and what she knew, if at all, about Stephan Sterns allegedly killing her daughter and seeking to protect him during the couple’s sit down interview earlier in the week?
And then there were these comments on social media that caught this author’ attention. See what you think?
‘We took her to school??? I took her to school?? She left her phone at home??? I was waiting for her to text or call??? What is the actual truth???’
‘Why is the mother saying WE dropped her off, why not tell the truth from the beginning? Odd.’
‘Mom needs to be investigated! She is to calm! I would be losing my mind!’
