Prime suspect in Florida teen Madeline Soto’s death admits that ‘it’s hard not to blame myself’ on local news
The prime suspect in the death of Florida teen Madeline Soto admitted that “it’s hard not to blame” himself in a tearful interview with local news one day after the girl vanished – after police say the girl had already been killed and her body hidden.
Stephan Sterns, 37, sat down with Orlando’s WFTV 9 on Tuesday, one day after the 13-year-old was reported missing, after her mother learned she did not go to school on Monday.
“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 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.
“We believe she was already dead at the time and that Stephan Sterns moved her body in the early morning hours on that day,” Orange County Sheriff John Mina said of the grisly find. “We have video evidence that shows Stephan Sterns discarding items in a dumpster in that apartment complex in Kissimmee at 7:35 a.m.”
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.
During a press conference addressing the arrest, Mina 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 – though police later revealed that he actually left her in the parking lot at a church a few blocks away.
“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 the interview, adding that Madeline’s mom, Jennifer Soto, had been “a lot stronger” than him.
“It’s a living nightmare,” he told the outlet. “I just wanna wake up.”
Following the discovery of Madeline’s body, additional charges against Sterns are possible and police are in touch with the State Attorneys Office, a Kissimmee Police Department spokesperson told The Post Saturday morning.
Footage from Monday morning shows Sterns driving his 2010 Lincoln MK back to an apartment complex allegeldy with Madeline’s dead body still in the car.
He then threw items into the nearby dumpster, police said. Detectives later found Madeline’s backpack and her school-issued laptop in that trash bin.
Sterns is being held without bond, online records show. It is unclear if he has retained an attorney.
