An grand jury has indicted Stephan Sterns with first-degree murder in the death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto, nearly two months after her body was found in a wooded area of Osceola County.
The indictment alleges that Sterns killed Soto between February 25 and February 27, but no other details about the death were released, WOFL reported. The medical examiner’s office said that state law prohibits it from releasing the autopsy report of a minor who died because of domestic violence.
State Attorney Andrew Bain said his office had not decided whether it would seek the death penaly for Sterns.
“We’ve got to look at accessory aggravating factors that are laid out in our report,” he said, according to WKMG. “Once we determine that we have sufficient evidence to prove those factors to the proper evidentiary standard, then we have to have a talk about whether this is a death penalty case.”
The prosecutors declined to say whether anyone else would face charges in the case.
Sterns, 37, is the boyfriend of Soto’s mother, Jennifer Soto, and was the prime suspect in the girl’s death. Soto was last seen on February 26, and Stearns claimed he dropped her off near her school that morning, as CrimeOnline reported. But investigators later said they believed she was already dead at that time.
Soto was allegedly seen discarding a child’s items in a dumpster the morning of Soto’s disappearance. Authorities reportedly found a laptop and backpack in the dumpster.
Soto’s body was found on March 1 in a wooded area in Osceola County. Stearns was said to have been in the area changing a tire days prior.
Sterns also faces eight counts of sexual battery on a child under 12, five counts of sexual battery of a child 12-18 (familial/custodial authority), seven counts of lewd or lacivious molestation, and 40 counts of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child 10 or older.
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[Featured image: Madeline Soto/Orange County Sheriff’s Office]
