01 March 2024 , 23:46
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The body of missing 13-year-old Madeline Soto has been found in a wooded area near where she went missing, it has been revealed.
Police announced on Friday evening at around 6.25pm local time that her body was found by Osceola County deputies in the wooded area along Hickory Tree Road at approximately 4.30pm local time.
Her heartbroken family was notified of the discovery, which came after Orange County Sheriff John Mina announced earlier in the day that the search had turned into a recovery mission, according to local station WFTV. Further information about the discovery was not immediately available.
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Madeline's mother's boyfriend, 37-year-old Stephan Sterns, is considered the 'prime suspect' in the case (OrangeCoSheriff)Soto went missing on Monday, February 26, after her mother's boyfriend reportedly dropped her off at Peace United Methodist Church on Town Loop Boulevard, just a few blocks away from Hunter's Creek Middle School, which she attended.
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She was reported missing that afternoon when her mother, Jenn Soto, went to pick her up and discovered that she had never attended class that day. The teen had just turned 13 on February 22, having celebrated the milestone date on Sunday.
Stephan Sterns, 37, Jenn's boyfriend, was arrested on unrelated charges of assault and the possession of child abuse material on his phone and was immediately deemed the "prime suspect" in the case, as he was the last person to have seen Soto alive after dropping her off. CCTV footage from the church showed her hanging out in the parking lot at around 8.30am that morning before she disappeared and was not seen or heard from again until her body was discovered.
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Now, the authorities believe, according to NBC News, that Sterns killed her in the early morning hours, then propped her dead body up in the car, which was seen on the CCTV footage, before dumping it.
Mina said during a press conference on Friday that the authorities "have evidence that shows Stephan Sterns returning to the complex, and Madeline was visible in that vehicle." He added: "We believe she was already dead at that time." He wouldn't reveal exactly what time that footage was captured.
Hickory Tree Road, where the body was found, is located either 20 or 30 miles from the church at which Madeline was allegedly dropped off that fateful morning — depending on whether it was the Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud or the one in Longwood, which are neighborhoods located on opposite ends of Orlando. Kissimmee and Hunter's Creek are both located on the southwest side of the city, just outside its limits.
The police believe Madeline may have been killed at the family's Kissimmee residence. But ultimately, they're still looking into the case. No details about injuries or the condition of her body were made available when she was found.
One of the running theories was that Madeline actually ran away to go "live in the woods." The authorities found evidence on her phone that indicates that she told her friends that she had plans to run away and do so when she turned 13, which she just did. But Jenn told the authorities that she didn't believe her daughter would ever run away like that.
When the missing persons report was issued, it described Madeline as "endangered," with the police utterly unable to track her down, not even through the employment of bloodhounds that were brought in to follow her scent.
The investigation into Madeline's disappearance and subsequent death continues, and more details are sure to be revealed as the authorities continue to dig into what happened.
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