Several months after 13-year-old Madeline Soto’s body was found in Osceola County, Florida, investigative documents have disclosed her cause of death.

The documents, obtained by Click Orlando, revealed that Madeline’s death was classified as a homicide caused by strangulation.

As CrimeOnline previously reported, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Madeline’s body was found off Hickory Tree Road at about 4:30 p.m. on March 1. Police found the body after someone called in a tip, following a press conference.

The discovery was in the area where her mother’s boyfriend, Stephan Sterns, had been spotted earlier in the week when he stopped to change a tire, police said.

Sterns claimed that he dropped Madeline off at school the day she vanished, but Orange County Sheriff John Mina said that wasn’t true and that “she was already dead at the time and that Stephan Sterns moved her body in the early morning hours on that day.”

Mina also said that investigators had surveillance video showing Sterns tossing items into a dumpster, including Madeline’s school-issued laptop and her backpack.

Police also reported that Madeline’s body was seen inside Sterns’ car that day as he drove around, though she was likely deceased by that time.

Despite Sterns factory-resetting his phone, investigators said they not only uncovered child pornography, but also evidence suggesting that he had been sexually abusing Soto as early as 2022.

In addition to murder, 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 lascivious molestation, and 40 counts of unlawful possession of materials depicting sexual performance by a child 10 or older.

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[Feature Photo: Madeline Soto/Orange County Sheriff’s Office]