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Jennifer Soto
65 Plays1 day ago
This week on the Mothers of All Crimes we are talking about Jennifer Soto, her boyfriend and her daughter. Jennifer Soto reports her teenage daughter Madeline Soto missing after she does not come home from school. The school states that she did not arrive at school in the morning. Monica and Krystal discuss the circumstances surrounding Madeline's disappearance, the bizarre conversations her mother has with the police and Jennifer's creepy boyfriend. We discuss the living and sleeping arrangements in Jennifers home. Eventually this case will end in murder charges- not for Jennifer but her boyfriend.
Listener discretion is advised.
May contain explicit language and unfounded accusations.
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Mothers of All Crime'
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Mothers of All Crime. This is a podcast where we deep dive into mothers involved in infamous crimes and scandals. I'm Monica and this is Crystal.
00:00:32
Speaker
Welcome back to the Mothers of All Crime. This week our mother is Jennifer Soto. Yes, this this one is ongoing. It's recent. ah The investigation was 2024. The trial is set for 2025. So we haven't had a recent one in a while.
00:00:49
Speaker
So this one's kind of going to be a lot of... We're going to go over what we do know, the timeline and Information is always
Disclaimer and Case Complexity
00:01:00
Speaker
evolving because, like I said, it just happened.
00:01:03
Speaker
So the public is finding out new information. ah we're going to put out a disclaimer now that all of this is alleged. The individual who is up for trial has not been convicted of anything. All of these are...
00:01:19
Speaker
alleged crimes of what's happening so if we sound accusatory it's just the information our opinions um and what we've gathered from what is public um but technically we drawing our own conclusion yes no one has been convicted of anything just charged with paraise crimes
00:01:40
Speaker
charged with horrendous crimes but not convicted of them yet so we will say alleged but if we slip up just know that we meant to say alleged yes it's imagine it before anything we accuse anybody of Yes. And I also think this one really, yeah this case, the publicness of it shows more of an internal of how investigations work, where things are constantly changing and it is kind of chaotic.
00:02:08
Speaker
So when you're doing these investigations, you have... new information that you then pivot and adjust and weaving through webs of lies. And i think even reading about it and watching documentaries and the time loops and we have police video, it's still chaos.
00:02:30
Speaker
So it's Absolutely. It's a different one. um But it was like it was interesting to kind of try and follow and unweave it as
Madeline Soto's Disappearance
00:02:40
Speaker
we learned about it, at least for me.
00:02:44
Speaker
Yeah, I totally agree. agree. remembered this case when explore with us put out an episode featuring it, which is focused around the disappearance of Madeline Soto and the alleged involvement of family of members and explore with us is a cool YouTube channel that puts out police interrogation and kind of makes it into a format that's digestible to watch.
00:03:10
Speaker
And it is interesting to watch the actual videos of these people interacting with the police. There was a lot of information available to the public in this case, partially because the events took place in Florida. And as we know, the open records laws in Florida make a lot of information extremely accessible. So there, we have tons and tons of case documents and police reports and videos surveillance to watch for this case.
00:03:41
Speaker
Yeah. so we have three main players kind of with this case is obviously Jennifer Soto, who is the mother of this week, um who is the parent of Madeline Soto.
00:03:54
Speaker
was a 13 year girl. Yeah. And then Jennifer's boyfriend, Stefan? Stefan? Stefan, right? dean I think it's Stefan.
00:04:07
Speaker
Stefan. It's S-T-E-P-H-E-N. Stefan, okay I believe. I'm probably going to say Stefan. He's 37. don't know
00:04:17
Speaker
yeah We can call him Stefan if you want. Make him fancy. um We have no information though about Madeline's father within the investigation side of it.
00:04:32
Speaker
Right. like So he wasn't really a player involved. He's not he does not come up in the investigation. He has more recently made statements to the public. I what I was able to gather because I was trying to Google this today to find out more about him. I thought it was a little odd that he wasn't featured in anything that I had seen or any of the news coverage or.
00:04:52
Speaker
So I looked it up and apparently he lives thousands of miles away with his second wife and he just wasn't that involved. ah He had seen her in October of 2023 she went missing in February of 2024.
00:05:07
Speaker
So he i wouldn't call him involved but he wasn't absent I guess. he She knew him but they did not see each other on a regular basis.
00:05:19
Speaker
gotcha
The Investigation and Key Personalities
00:05:20
Speaker
okay well the day we have february of 2024 madeline turned 13 she had her birthday party and that's kind of where the chaos and it all starts so her birthday was her birthday party was february 2024 twenty twenty four
00:05:42
Speaker
Yes. So there's confirmed sightings of her. She definitely was seen at that time at that party by multiple people. And that really was the last time that anyone saw her.
00:05:56
Speaker
And on Monday is when the report went into the police that she was missing.
00:06:07
Speaker
Yeah. At 8 p.m. on February 26, 2024.
00:06:12
Speaker
Jennifer, her mother, called the cops for like the third time because they had called before to report her missing within a couple of hours. And there was apparently another child that was missing as well in that area. And resources were scarce. And there was some confusion and miscommunication about that.
00:06:32
Speaker
So I think that there was some delay. But essentially, she was reported missing at 8 p.m. And she's a minder. So seems like something that's pretty serious. Absolutely.
00:06:44
Speaker
yeah Her mother had gone to pick her up from school and she wasn't there. Right. And i think when you first hear about like the mom had to call multiple times to get a deputy to show up to take this report is like a little troubling.
Jennifer Soto's Behavior
00:07:00
Speaker
And then you learn that there were multiple crimes, all like violent crimes happening. There was another missing girl who was reported earlier that day.
00:07:08
Speaker
So there was a lot of things happening all at once. And then you have that miscommunication you mentioned of like they kind of just thought it was the same girl that someone else was reporting. hmm. So, right like, as a family, you're your missing child.
00:07:23
Speaker
What a ah horrible feeling when you're just trying to get police to help you and you feel unheard for the first couple times. Like, I can't even imagine the angst that that would give you.
00:07:38
Speaker
That would be horrifying. But the police do get involved and... I'm sorry. Oh, I was just saying, once the police were there, they started asking their questions. And it felt... The whole interaction felt weird because we have the police footage that we got to watch, the body cam.
00:07:57
Speaker
And... Yes. i I actually talked to my mom about this because i this is a consistent thing that we see a lot with the body cam that we've talked about in the past.
00:08:08
Speaker
Jennifer is so calm making this conversation with the police officer. And i talked to my mom. She'd be like, I'd be hysterical. She's like, if you were missing, she's like, i would be a mess sitting there trying to have a conversation.
00:08:22
Speaker
She's like, I would struggle because I would just not know what to do. And this mom is having full sentence conversation. She took phone calls. She's so calm. Like, what?
00:08:35
Speaker
She is very calm. She is not hysterical. And I know that there are obviously multiple ways that someone could react in a situation of stress. Like some people shut down. Some people freak out. Some people remain calm until the crisis has passed and then they fall apart.
00:08:54
Speaker
But she seemed a little blase with the initial detectives. She was extremely calm and she was taking a lot of phone calls. So it's, it's interesting to watch how she,
00:09:08
Speaker
evolves in her interactions with the police because there's several body cam footage videos with her but then there's also police interrogation and conversations that are happening with her and she's pretty calm for most of it eerily so yeah um so one of the first things the police started asking about is to how to track madeline madeline um madeline i almost called her maddie which i never heard be done I don't know why I want to ah but either way one of the first call questions that they had is okay did she take what did she have with her what was she wearing um and what I thought was odd is this 13 year old girl left her cell phone at home I don't know about the rest of you but when I was 13 years old that cell phone was glued to me I wasn't leaving it anywhere like let alone nobody go to school with me
00:10:09
Speaker
Nobody just
Unusual Clues in Madeline's Disappearance
00:10:10
Speaker
leaves their cell phone at home. That's very bizarre. That's like not normal behavior for a child to just decide to leave their phone at home. But that was super odd. I would never leave my phone at home.
00:10:21
Speaker
And I feel like most people wouldn't unless they're like extremely committed to being off the grid. It's the default is to have your phone. all right or like okay you were grounded and your phone was taken like that'd be different but right jennifer don't say oh no she left it i have it the only thing that she might have with her is her school laptop which another person in the room said that could be tracked which is true um but jennifer's first reaction was that it couldn't be tracked um They did try to look it up.
00:10:54
Speaker
It didn't weed anywhere. um So they kind of were at the last time it was pinged was four days prior to her disappearing. So that didn't really help them at all. So they were again at square zero.
00:11:09
Speaker
Right. Yeah. I thought that they, I thought it was interesting when they were talking about how, because the, the story initially is that Stefan took Madeline to school and that he dropped her off down the block a ways because he, she was embarrassed to be seen in his car.
00:11:29
Speaker
So she, he said that she preferred to be dropped off far away and then walk to the school. And he said that he dropped her off and that wasn't typical The typical routine was that Jennifer drove her to school, but Jennifer that morning had to get her blood drawn and she wasn't feeling well because she'd forgotten to take her bipolar medication.
00:11:51
Speaker
And so through those factors, Stefan drove her to school, but it was not the typical. I just thought it was interesting how that detail came up.
00:12:04
Speaker
Yeah. And listen, from it like if you are a long term committed boyfriend of someone with a child, you're going to be involved. I'm sure it wasn't the first time he ever drove her.
00:12:16
Speaker
um Just not the norm. And I can understand 13 year olds are moody and middle school is hard or high school, depending on where you fall.
00:12:30
Speaker
I could understand the image thing. It is a viable. option but later on in the investigation they ended up talking to one of Madeline's friends who very clearly was like no she always got dropped off at the beginning like in front of the school she never walked from down the block ah she and she also hadn't heard from her that morning which was also weird like they were best friends they would always like chat in the morning before going to school or like say that they weren't going to school
00:13:04
Speaker
So also kind of a weird out of the norm thing.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yes. And I believe that was the friend that also said that Madeline had spoken about wanting to run away and that she was hoping she would get money for her birthday
Jennifer's Theories on Madeline's Whereabouts
00:13:20
Speaker
so that she could run away, which was one of the theories of the case.
00:13:25
Speaker
Another theory was Jennifer thought, that Madeline must have been kidnapped in the short walk from the car to the school. That's her theory. Yeah, and with the running away theory, this was super random that got thrown in.
00:13:42
Speaker
Jennifer offered the idea that Madeline was like living in the woods, which I feel... There was only a quick moment of it, I found, because she was talking about... had a lot of ideas....a World War III happening, and it seems like Jennifer definitely was one of those...
00:13:59
Speaker
Like, you know, on Facebook, you have those pictures and the crazy titles, but when you click on it, it's not actually anything related. She feels to me like one of those people that just reads a headline and goes, yep, that.
00:14:12
Speaker
And dives into the fear mongering that is the media. and right i think push that on to her daughter so that's also i think why she was like oh i mean it's an option also a weirdly calm when she was like well she could be in the woods but i think she's kidnapped what
00:14:34
Speaker
yeah okay so your your teenage daughter instead of going to school when she'd been dropped off down the block from school has decided to go live in the woods without her phone No sense.
00:14:48
Speaker
That seems like personality types that would have been apparent to someone else if she was the kind of person wanting to do that. But regardless, it's a theory. um And then there seem to be some discrepancies about where Stefan actually lives.
00:15:04
Speaker
He claimed that he did not live with Jennifer and Madeline full time, that he split his time between Jennifer's house that she had with two roommates and Madeline and with his parents' house.
00:15:18
Speaker
But it doesn't really seem to be the case. It seemed like he lived there full time. So I don't know what the point of that story was on his end. Yeah, it definitely felt odd. um i do think he went back to his parents' house every once in a while, but definitely not regular. Like, it didn't seem like he actually split the time. i think he wanted the idea of, I take care of my parents.
00:15:42
Speaker
And it seems like he relied on his parents. It doesn't seem like he really had his shit together. so that might be the he was going back because he had to because his parents were still taking care of a grown-ass man because it didn't seem like he had any kind of serious income that i could find like career wise yeah i mean definitely has major loser vibes and the living situation
00:16:14
Speaker
To me, it's a little bit odd. I understand that the cost of living is absolutely insane right now and that it's not always realistic to have your own house and your own room for like each kid.
00:16:28
Speaker
But Jennifer has one kid and they're living with roommates in a house in Kissimmee. And in that house, jennifer ah Jennifer has a bedroom, but Madeline is in like a fake bedroom.
00:16:42
Speaker
That was made with a divider in the living room. And I just feel like it's a strange living situation to then also invite the boyfriend to join them in It's a lot of adults living in the house with Madeline.
00:16:55
Speaker
And I wonder why we wouldn't just get like a two-bedroom apartment. Right. And i agree. Like rents are high. Cost of living is high. But they also...
00:17:09
Speaker
Brought up the fact that not only was the living arrangements odd, the sleeping arrangements were quite odd. um Where they would kind of change, right? So there were times where, like you meant Madeline had her separate space and her mom had the formal room.
00:17:29
Speaker
There were times when all three of them, mom, boyfriend, daughter, slept in the same bed. which I thought was odd.
00:17:40
Speaker
Not many. I'm sure it happens. Like when it comes to people who are struggling financially. But it's not like she didn't have a second bed.
Inappropriate Relationships and Parental Negligence
00:17:50
Speaker
There were two.
00:17:50
Speaker
Madeline did have her own bed. She didn't have a room. But she had a bed. And that's where I went. And apparently. Yeah. Odd.
00:18:01
Speaker
Odd. But then they say. Then Jennifer says. That when she really needs a good night's sleep, she will sometimes have them, meaning Madeline and Stefan, sleep in a bed together while she sleeps alone so that she can get a good night's rest.
00:18:20
Speaker
And she referred to them as sleepovers between Madeline and Stefan. Which... Which... Chills down my spine. Like... Exactly.
00:18:32
Speaker
um was like, oh no... Oh no. And I, listen, I understand wanting a good night's sleep. I get it. But then like send your boyfriend home to his quote other house, his real house.
00:18:45
Speaker
Like, and also part of being an adult, like you're not going to get a great sleep every night. I'm sorry. Get over it. But you have, so you have a 13 year old child that has her own bed you You can't just sleep in a bed with your boyfriend.
00:19:05
Speaker
That's not. You're not going to be able to get a good night's sleep that way. Like what is he doing all night. That you can't. Sleep in a king bed with him.
00:19:15
Speaker
Right. King bed too. It's not like they had ah full small space. um But either way. it was just a weird dynamic. And it was something she said very nonchalantly. Like it was normal.
00:19:29
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I think everyone kind of like there was a weird pause when she said it where I think it was processing to officers being like, huh?
00:19:41
Speaker
OK, keep going.
00:19:44
Speaker
Definitely. I mean, they thought she was going to have some sort of other thing that she was going to say to basically take back because it's such a bizarre thing to admit to that they couldn't really even believe it.
00:19:57
Speaker
Yeah. Very strange. So as the investigation is going, um they started bringing in other resources.
00:20:07
Speaker
Jennifer went on Fox and had a couple of TV interviews. um They put out press conferences, posters.
00:20:18
Speaker
So the the search really started going on. Mm hmm. Yeah, there was major search parties parties happening. And I remember seeing this on the news. I think I saw it on ticked like on social media, essentially, when she was missing.
00:20:35
Speaker
And I do remember there being a lot of comments about how Jennifer seemed in her press conferences. And again, i think people can act differently in these situations, but she did not seem very... She seemed very flat, I guess I would say.
00:20:53
Speaker
In the interviews. Yeah. And I could see how. like If you are in some kind of. like Flight. or like Or a fight response. There is that third option. Of just freezing.
00:21:07
Speaker
And so I kind of try to tell myself. That she might just be trying to. Get through it. To have this conversation. it's just. don't know. It felt weird.
00:21:19
Speaker
And eerie. Kind of watching those.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely agree. i think that a lot of the timelines and the stories that were initially told to the police were kind of starting to fall apart and details are being added. As the search continues, they're finding witnesses.
00:21:42
Speaker
They're finding people who saw the car. They're finding surveillance cameras that saw the car during the day. And Stefan had, um he kept forgetting details.
00:21:54
Speaker
and why where he was that day which is really you know inconvenient i hate when that happened and initially jennifer had said that she saw stefan and she saw madeline in the morning and then she changes the story to just thought that i saw them but i didn't actually see them which yeah Right. Because so when the original officers took that complaint, they're like, okay, what was she wearing? And Stefan gave Stephen, whatever his name is, gave a description, said he they were wearing she was wearing dark pants.
00:22:34
Speaker
And Jennifer actually corrected him that he she was in shorts. black shorts and then she wrote this statement saying that she saw them and interacted with them and then following forward then she's saying i just assumed that it so if you were so confident in the beginning that you're correcting what he she was wearing but now you didn't see her at all doesn't make any sense yes exactly it doesn't make sense and then there was
00:23:08
Speaker
ah Like there was a surveillance camera of the car instead of going towards the school, it was going towards their house. And the police kept confronting Stefan and Jennifer with these new pieces of information that they're finding.
00:23:24
Speaker
and Stefan gave a story of how he he couldn't find his clicker. he had left it at home, the thing that gets you in the gate, and that he had to stop at the gate to ask someone to let him in, and then that person at the gate said that he saw him and his clicker and that there was a girl slumped over in the car ah sleep in Stefan's car and described his car.
00:23:53
Speaker
So once again, the timeline doesn't make sense. And then Stefan is saying that he went to a vape store twice, once when it wasn't open, and then an hour later when it was open.
00:24:05
Speaker
And again, this doesn't really seem to be consistent with what they're finding via witnesses and surveillance cameras. Yeah, and like, people seem to forget that if in this date and time, and there are cameras everywhere. Just because you don't see the cameras don't mean they're not there.
00:24:25
Speaker
And they had, they were tracking his car through surveillance, and he did start having conversations about that, like, she would sleep in the car while they were going places, and the the Again, she was slumped over. So clearly she was sleeping.
00:24:45
Speaker
Which... Why is she coming back with you? would that With the car? Yeah. You would have dropped her at school already. so Yeah. um There's surveillance video of him going to a storage facility and putting something in a dumpster.
00:25:04
Speaker
And... This is when they... When they confront Jennifer with this information, she says that it's suspicious and that she thinks it's very strange that he went to a storage facility and that he was putting something in a dumpster.
00:25:20
Speaker
But at the same time, the police know and confront her that Jennifer had told Stefan's dad to get him a lawyer. That blew my mind.
00:25:33
Speaker
Yeah. So with all of this happening, that statement, first of all, I agree, was super weird. And for context, his dad is a retired police officer.
00:25:48
Speaker
So that also felt strange to me. And I started kind of looking around. And during the time when they were doing this investigation that was missing...
00:26:02
Speaker
Stearns actually got arrested on completely unrelated charges while they were doing this investigation. And then he was released. Yeah. A day later, which I can't find the actually arrest charge because everything is just flooded with other information.
00:26:20
Speaker
um But I did think that was strange. So while the police are investigating that basically his stepkid, not really, but the investigation on her, they're arresting him, releasing him.
00:26:37
Speaker
And Jennifer is now telling him he needs a lawyer because she's claiming the police are focusing in on him. And she's like, it couldn't you're focusing on the wrong person. It couldn't possibly be him.
00:26:48
Speaker
He needs a lawyer. Let's protect him while you do your investigation.
00:26:56
Speaker
Yeah. um It's clear where her priorities are. And she's very worried about him being railroaded by the police.
00:27:07
Speaker
And but the police find a book bag. It's a Hawaiian print backpack with a computer and Crocs and a sweatshirt.
00:27:20
Speaker
And it's Madeline's computer. So that was ditched and found by the police. And this information was also presented to Stefan and Jennifer. And you'd think that that would have also caused a big reaction, but it doesn't seem to have.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah, because they went into the dumpster that they saw him disposing things of. And he claims he had a flat tire, which they also found in that same dumpster.
00:27:52
Speaker
And during one of his interviews, they're like, oh, what happened to your hands? Because he had scratches on his hands and cuts and stuff. And he... again well i had this flat tire i had to change it haven't done it in a long time they're like oh well you would have got dirty then right they're like what were you wearing oh the same outfit not dirty um and again just that nonchalant can't really remember well where'd you get the flat tire ah somewhere around here like he never had specific answers for pretty much any question any specifics he did give changed once he was kind of pressed on it a little bit
00:28:38
Speaker
yes it's almost like he didn't think through what he was gonna say which if you were telling the truth you wouldn't need to but if you're if you're lying which i'm not accusing anyone of um then you'd have to really be consistent with your story and memorize it almost.
00:28:55
Speaker
But when you're confronted with new information, it's it's hard to do that. And Stefan was very resistant to handing over his phone. He did not want to do that, but he we did And the police searched his phone and uncovered
Discovery of Evidence and Shift in Investigation
00:29:11
Speaker
new horrifying details, which are honestly kind of hard to even talk about.
00:29:18
Speaker
But... yeah It's important to the case. I think he originally handed over his phone not thinking about it because after they had it is when his panic really started setting in. um and Because he knew once you hand over your pool phone to the police, they're going to go through it.
00:29:38
Speaker
They're going to go through everything. The apps, the photos, the emails, the accounts. They're going to go through your entire phone. um And during that forensic search, there were photos that got found of him doing acts and participating in acts with Madeline of a sexual nature. and they were Extremely graphic sexual nature.
00:30:11
Speaker
know you know this way or that way about it and in the pictures she was estimated to be about 11 years old yeah and there there were hundreds of them um and i even found reports of them being as young as eight years old up until basically the present time and these are sexual photos of her being awake of her not being awake But ah and then they never had his face in it, but they neither were able to match a I think it was a birthmark on his genitalia to some of the photos that were in there.
00:30:51
Speaker
um Again, just kind of confirming what was there.
00:30:57
Speaker
Which. Right. Right. Which, of course, prompted them to search the house again. and do you know put forensic lights on madeline's bed and read her journals and there's additional evidence that they found in those places um which obviously is horrifying and kind of damning information to come out and the only person that seems to disagree with that initially is jennifer because when the police confront her with this information
00:31:34
Speaker
she's in pretty much complete denial about it. There's a video of her saying that she needs to see the evidence. Well, I guess it's a phone call that's recorded that she needs to see the evidence.
00:31:47
Speaker
um She doesn't know if she wants to press charges. Like this doesn't mean that he got rid of her. What would be the motive? Maybe the sex things happen, but what if that's just like a side thing and it's such a distraction It's quite a trip she takes.
00:32:05
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Because, I mean, Madeline's notebook had these really graphic descriptions of sexual acts that 13-year-old should not be aware of. And when those things kind of came out, in addition to the evidence on the sheets and the photos, he was arrested without, really, from anything I could see, without any hesitation.
00:32:26
Speaker
um And when you watch her being confronted later about it in person and the video listening to it, she not once...
00:32:39
Speaker
At least that we got to hear was like, oh my God, I can't believe that happened to my child. I like was upset. It was all defending him. i want to see proof.
00:32:51
Speaker
Prove to me that he did this to her. Okay. Got proof. Well, that doesn't mean that he did more than that. That's probably just something on the side. He didn't get rid of her. Okay.
00:33:04
Speaker
Which the verbiage of that, he didn't kill her. It means someone took her. It was all very strange verbiage of someone who...
00:33:16
Speaker
He's claiming that she was unaware. She was unaware of this happening. It's all very strange verbiage for someone whose daughter is actively missing. And at that point, the officers kind of, they're like, listen, you're aware, but we're going to remind you this investigation has gone from a missing persons investigation to a homicide but investigation. They no longer believe that she's a alive.
00:33:39
Speaker
And again, this information, Jennifer is very calm. And She continues to protect and defend him and Stearns' behavior. Like, she's just going with, well, he needs a lawyer. He probably, if he did this, okay, but he didn't do that.
00:34:03
Speaker
Which...
00:34:06
Speaker
just blows my mind a little bit and then i hate but i hate to say like it's not uncommon when you have situations like this there is a pretty decent population where there is conditioning because part of the grooming process when you have a predator like this is they groom the family and the adults around the child that they want So that when things like this come out, their reputation gets protected. The person who's supposed to be protecting the child doesn't believe it, the accusations. It's part of the process.
00:34:43
Speaker
And if, quote unquote, she wasn't aware, he did a really good job of grooming her just as much as he groomed and abused Madeline.
00:34:56
Speaker
I don't think that's true. I think she knew. But it is part of the process.
00:35:03
Speaker
I think that when we say that we think that she knew, that could mean a couple of different things. Because I think that it's hard to say at what point she knew.
00:35:18
Speaker
But I do think that she doesn't seem to be but blown away completely. At the idea of this. And also.
00:35:29
Speaker
it doesn't seem that far outside the reach. Of what could possibly happen. Which I think most people. If they had no suspicion at all. This would be kind of an earth shattering moment. yeah Right. Yeah. the earth The earth does not shatter.
00:35:43
Speaker
She is very calm. Yeah. And. Yeah. I mean the evidence continues to stack up.
00:35:53
Speaker
Against him. And. Yeah. While this conversation is happening. One thing that I thought was interesting. Is the officers start to push Jennifer. Again of.
00:36:06
Speaker
They. There was one specific officer. Who makes it very clear. He's like. I think you knew. um He's like. This is my opinion. He's like. I have. This is just my thoughts. He's like. I think you knew.
00:36:16
Speaker
i think you found out at some point. um And you chose to protect him. And not your child. Which I stand by him. i think with the evidence that's coming in with the volunteer and information of you knowing your adult partner is having quote sleepovers with your child, that should be a red flag.
00:36:40
Speaker
um Which again, yeah, here's our full circle. um But what then he started to do, which I thought was interesting, was he started asking Jennifer what her theories are on what happened to her.
00:36:58
Speaker
And this is where I started getting this gut feeling of like, ew, ew, nope, something's wrong. Because she started... giving, oh well, I've heard a lot of theories.
00:37:10
Speaker
Let me tell you my theories. And she starts going off on all these different possibilities that happened. And she goes with, oh, Stearns had access to, like, benzos and Lunesta medications. Maybe he drugged her.
00:37:26
Speaker
But he couldn't have killed her in the house because that would have made a mess unless he choked her. And, like, all of these different scenarios... And listen, I'm the first one admit anyone who was this to us knows I have on more than one occasion been like, if I were to murder someone, I would do this.
00:37:46
Speaker
But I'm also not being interrogated by a police officer. Never in a million years would I sit in front of a cop during a homicide investigation and be like, well, if it was me, what?
00:37:59
Speaker
Like,
00:38:02
Speaker
like just i literally he had to stop the tape and i was like i i couldn't believe how casual she was saying here's all of these things that could have been used that stern says access to that she also has access to very specific information who yeah that's true it's almost like someone knows exactly what happened Mm-hmm.
00:38:31
Speaker
And then it goes to, oh well, if I was going to hide a body, I'd go to Lake Toho because, you know, that's where I would do it. Again, saying this to a police officer sir about where her missing, possibly murdered child is.
Discovery of Madeline's Body and Cause of Death
00:38:51
Speaker
Right. And this is after the backpack has been discovered, after she's seen Actual pictures of her boyfriend abusing her daughter. This is still. The way she's talking about this and how seriously she seems to be taking it.
00:39:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. And. During this, ah very soon after, a witness calls in a tip and refers the officers to Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud, um which has a private property that gates block from the public road.
00:39:28
Speaker
the The community is very aware of this investigation and people were really invested. So it was no surprise that the owner gave permission for their property to be searched without, again, they very seemed very willing. They were very open to having the officers come on.
00:39:44
Speaker
um at which five time Madeline's body was found. ah She was found wearing a sweatshirt and blue jeans with clean socks.
00:39:55
Speaker
So that kind of told the officers that she had been placed there. She didn't walk there willingly. um It was covered in either hay or of long grass or ah mixture of the two.
00:40:09
Speaker
Right. Yeah.
00:40:11
Speaker
And she'd only been missing for about, i think it was like four and a half days when she was found. And so they were able to get information via autopsy um and determine that her cause of death was strangulation.
00:40:26
Speaker
They could not pinpoint an exact time of death, but it seems like she passed away either on the night of her birthday party on the 25th or very early on the morning of the 26th.
00:40:43
Speaker
Yeah. And again, the time of deaths are always always hard, particularly when you're out in the elements. But is it was a very short window, right? So it's not like we had this long time frame.
00:40:56
Speaker
um And as this is all happening, obviously they're still investigating. And Stern's father, he who, again, retired Orange County police officer or deputy,
00:41:10
Speaker
He, in my opinion, seemed to be very cooperative with the police, very willing to talk to them, very willing to help them with anything that they needed. Very much so. And he volunteered that they had a storage unit because during this time, Jennifer and Stearns were put into a hotel because their apartment was seized. They couldn't obviously stay in the apartment.
00:41:34
Speaker
And in the middle of the night, he disappeared. And it was found that he had gone all the way to his parents' house, 150 or so miles away,
00:41:47
Speaker
and was near the storage unit and came back. And his father, actually, was the one who found a hard drive that had been placed in a bin by the facility and turned it into the police officer's.
00:42:03
Speaker
Which I have a lot of respect for. um i think he was aware of what his son was capable of at this point.
00:42:14
Speaker
And yeah ah he really stuck to his morals and his grounds of being a officer of this is evidence. This is something that might provide information.
00:42:27
Speaker
I'm going to do the right thing. So I have a lot of credit for him.
00:42:33
Speaker
Yeah, I really liked Chris Stearns. That's his dad's name. I really liked him throughout all of his interactions with the police. He seemed truly horrified at what was going on and just wanted to help the police find Madeline and then ultimately give them information.
00:42:49
Speaker
And I think that you can be a good person and a good parent and just have a shitty kid. And I think that's kind of the case here. They've discovered...
00:43:02
Speaker
more images on the hard drive i think it said 35 000 images related to child abuse sexual materials yeah at least if not more yeah and i think you're charged with all of that oh 100 as you should be ah yeah absolutely absolutely do think you're right though when it comes to
00:43:28
Speaker
I don't like the words like people are just wired bad. um But in layman's terms, it really kind of shows that just because you have good parents and you're raised in a good house doesn't mean that you aren't going to have issues.
00:43:44
Speaker
um His dad very clearly During a conversation with him. was like I just don't understand. i don't know. i don't know when it started. i don't know how it started. like He definitely was in shock.
00:43:59
Speaker
And. I think. Addictions. Like this. And crimes like this. Are very easy to hide.
00:44:10
Speaker
Due to the internet. um And probably. Why he got away with it for so long. And it very well could have just been escalation where he started off just with the images and these types of offenders collect and they trade.
00:44:30
Speaker
So he probably had collected different photos over the years, traded with other people online And then it grew to now he has access to this child who is within his, quote, preference.
00:44:44
Speaker
And he started acting on his internal thoughts. And it's just really unfortunate that Madeline got caught in that.
00:44:57
Speaker
And the fact that Jennifer... either ignored it after she found out or chose to not see the signs one or the other.
00:45:10
Speaker
And I do think that's an important distinction. and it would be hard to say with 100% certainty what she did or did not know. And I think that there's also things that you know, things that you suspect, things that you can't possibly believe. So you just choose to maybe ignore things that are pointing you in that direction.
00:45:31
Speaker
And I think you made a point before that um the whole family gets groomed in these situations. And it's really not uncommon
Predators and Grooming of Children
00:45:40
Speaker
for single mothers to be targeted by pre predators and pedophiles.
00:45:45
Speaker
Because it gives you access that you would not normally have to kids and a reason to be around them that you would not normally have. And so he had a lot of access to a child.
00:45:57
Speaker
And I think that... this was always someone that was capable of doing these things. And once he had access and someone willing to look the other way, it just became easier and easier.
00:46:08
Speaker
And when Jennifer suggested that there was no motive because he'd been molesting her for a long period of time, I mean, that is the motive.
00:46:21
Speaker
And it's obvious to me that if you kill someone, they can't tell you they can't tell anyone what you've done to them. So I think that that in itself is a very good motive.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah, and one of the stages of grooming is in relation threats. um It's how to maintain control over your victims um and and possibly another way that grooming can be used as giving the child some kind of drugs, or alcohol, sedative with or without their knowledge.
00:47:00
Speaker
Right. Which sparked for me because we had Jennifer mentioning two very specific drugs and her explaining to the officers that both of them basically knock you out.
00:47:14
Speaker
So she's giving this information and one of the very common things with grooming techniques is giving them drugs to make them more compliant.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah. So we have another piece of the puzzle of my opinion that she was aware Because those aren't over-the-counter medications either.
00:47:39
Speaker
Right. So i I think that they were you know his medications that were prescribed or that he obtained in some kind of way. But I agree. And I think that it would be hard to say that she knew ahead of time or if maybe he confessed afterwards and that she still chose to protect him.
00:47:59
Speaker
I think either way it's pretty despicable. Obviously. But I think that
00:48:07
Speaker
So Stefan has been charged with 13 counts of sexual battery, 7 counts of lewd molestation, unlawful possession of obscene material, and first degree capital murder.
Charges Against Stefan and Jennifer's Legal Situation
00:48:21
Speaker
So he's been charged with these things. Jennifer has not been charged with anything, which I was blows might surprised about. Very surprised about. And I tried to look into the laws in Florida and In my understanding, it seems like she's at least been negligent, but it looks like maybe she could only be charged with misdemeanors and maybe that's not worth it if she's going cooperate and she's going to testify.
00:48:55
Speaker
That's where yeah I get ah get weird about it. Because in addition to those ones that you mentioned, he had 60 total charges put against him by the state's attorney.
00:49:08
Speaker
And a lot of those are in relation to the child's sexual abuse. um The first degree murder, they are adding the death penalty on there.
00:49:23
Speaker
um but It's not like she could be double or nothing. Like, it's not like that would be for her.
00:49:35
Speaker
So I think what they might be doing is seeing what comes out as they build the case and as different pieces come together. Because they can always charge her later.
00:49:47
Speaker
It's not like... there's the time frame as within, they have plenty of time to charge her. um Because the cap is a couple years away. Like this just happened.
00:50:02
Speaker
So they might be trying to really nail down all of it on him. And then from there, okay, how do we bring her into it?
00:50:13
Speaker
Because I can't see her testifying against him. I can't see it.
00:50:21
Speaker
I think she'd be a terrible witness also. I don't think she'd perform well. and Unless she like sits down and em admits and that she knew everything, there's no way that she would be helpful for them.
00:50:38
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, unless he confessed
Upcoming Trial and Legal Proceedings
00:50:40
Speaker
or something afterwards to her. But that's still hearsay at that point. So... I don't know. I mean, I'm very interested in seeing what happens with the trial.
00:50:51
Speaker
Obviously, i mean, i hope that he is convicted. we anything could happen. Things can sort out in court and sometimes crazy circumstances happen.
00:51:02
Speaker
But the trial, it looks like it's going to start in September and they are seeking the death penalty. I'll be watching. Yeah, no, ah I'll be very interested. i think September 22nd is when it's dated to start.
00:51:17
Speaker
um And I don't know. i I am glad that he was caught because I think he is a dangerous person that is out there that needs to be prosecuted.
00:51:36
Speaker
um And it's really unfortunate that it got to a point where he ended up allegedly killing her. um But it would be very interesting...
00:51:51
Speaker
as plea agreements start to come. Because he like you said. He entered not guilty. um In a trial that was set. A jury trial specifically. Which.
00:52:03
Speaker
Is a better shot. So because of the charges against him. With particularly the. First degree murder case. The jury trial is the way you want to go. From a tactical standpoint. Because it's a lot easier. To convince one of nine. Or one of twelve.
00:52:20
Speaker
That you're not guilty. Then it is just a judge. um So I see why they did that. But I will be curious. As agreements start to go.
00:52:31
Speaker
Because they're going to negotiate. For sure when it comes to. end. If the prosecutor isn't like this is a slam dunk. I'm not agree talking to you about it. um But they're going to probably try. and Negotiate other things. But.
00:52:47
Speaker
I'll be curious as if he turns on Jennifer. Because I just, i have a really hard time believing that she knows absolutely nothing.
00:52:56
Speaker
I could see that happening for sure. And then maybe she would be charged. Because like, we saw her defending him a lot, but all of the video I saw, all the research I did, I couldn't find once him ever defending her.
00:53:12
Speaker
Or protecting yeah you know, that's true. I didn't, I didn't really think about it that way, but you're right. and There's a lot, a lot of her defending him and justifying his behavior and he kind of lets her out to dry.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah. So, because even a couple times, like, i don't know. Maybe she was home. Maybe she wasn't. Who knows? Versus, like, she's like, no, he was probably there. Like, very defending. And he was just, yeah, i don't know where she was. She was somewhere.
00:53:41
Speaker
Like, he never, well protected her. Because he very easily could be like, nope, she was out and she was at this doctor's appointment. 100%. This is where she was. Nope. I don't know. So, I could see him...
00:53:56
Speaker
Wanting to do something. Because these charges. When he does get to jail. He's going to have a hard time. He's going to have a really hard time. I mean.
00:54:06
Speaker
It's going to be tough. When he's convicted. And everyone knows. But I'm sure. Because he's being held. Without bail. Right now. So I'm sure he's already having ah I guarantee you he's probably already in protective custody ah because these charges don't mull over well in jail, in prison, with officers, with inmates. um
00:54:31
Speaker
He's going to have a hard time even before the trial. And that would be, I think, another reason on why he would want to get as little time as possible. if he could negotiate that because he he's, he's going to have a hard time.
00:54:47
Speaker
But I think even if he somehow got acquitted of the murder charges, he would end up doing a lot of time for the child pornography. It's just so many counts. So, and that is more of a slam dunk for sure.
00:55:01
Speaker
Right. You're not getting out of that. Not with almost 40,000 images. Um, images um and I mean, his own father turned him in also. Right. Doesn't look good. Right.
00:55:11
Speaker
And I could see his dad very... He wouldn't do it happily, but I think he would get up on that stand be this is what I think, this is what I see, this is why I'm disappointed. Like, I don't think he would defend him at all.
00:55:25
Speaker
um Nor should yeah Nor should he. Right. Yeah, absolutely. We've seen so many times of parents protecting their children when they shouldn't or...
00:55:39
Speaker
justifying their actions and i have a lot of credit for him where he just i don't know what happened he did this terrible thing hypothetically um And how can I help?
00:55:52
Speaker
Because I think he looks at like, he's looking at Madeline. He's looking at this little girl that lost her life at 13 and was abused for, we know, at least a couple years. Right.
00:56:05
Speaker
right I think he's very much just thinking of her, which is good. think someone has to be. And I'm glad he is.
00:56:15
Speaker
I definitely agree. i think that he, to me, struck me as someone who feels that laws apply to everyone and his family doesn't just get some sort of special exemption from that. And I think that that's definitely admirable.
00:56:29
Speaker
um There are laws and rules like this for a reason, and it's to protect the public and protect children. And if you truly feel like your son is a threat to society, then that's the moral thing to do.
00:56:45
Speaker
I'm sure not an easy thing to do. No, I can't even imagine. Um, because he's looking at at least, I think they'd said at one point, 40 years, if not life, um, if not capital punishment.
00:57:01
Speaker
Um, so the reality is he's already in his forties. Um, the chance of him coming out is slim to none. um Which, with what he's being accused of, I don't really have a problem with, in my opinion.
00:57:19
Speaker
Sure. Any of those charges individually, I think he should do life in prison. So if he gets convicted of any of them, I'd be very happy with that outcome. yeah Death penalty is complex. Yeah, that's a sticky one. That would be an interesting episode by itself, just talking about the death penalty and our The history of it, but also our thoughts and feelings on it, I think would be interesting.
00:57:41
Speaker
Yeah, that's a sticky one. People talk about like the women of death row. it's It's a tough topic. It really is. But Florida will execute. Yes, that is a state that ah has followed through. Right. So if he you know if he ends up there, so be it.
00:57:56
Speaker
But we certainly are not accusing anyone. we are just viewing information that's publicly available and drawing our own inferences and conclusions. Right.
00:58:07
Speaker
Yes, 100% our opinions. Everything that we have talked about is alleged. Nothing has been convicted. yeah um But in September, when it starts, we will keep an eye on it. We'll give you guys any major updates that we think about and we'll see what happens.
00:58:25
Speaker
Any final thoughts? Absolutely. Not really, except this is a really good case to deep dive. If anybody's interested in doing that, there are just so many resources available.
00:58:36
Speaker
It would be hard to discuss all of them in this kind of a format. But if you really want to lose yourself in details, like there are a lot that are available. Yeah, absolutely. How about you?
00:58:48
Speaker
No, I think I said all my piece. I think you're right. It was definitely an interesting one, particularly one that is so current and ongoing. You can kind of keep an eye on it as it goes. um But yeah, I think I said all of my opinions.
00:59:04
Speaker
Well, excellent. um I think it's been an interesting topic and I look forward to our next one. you next time.