Friday Night Special: 21 Life Sentences for Maddie Soto Killer

Summary

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

Episode: Friday Night Special: 21 Life Sentences for Maddie Soto Killer

Date: November 22, 2025

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Overview

In this gripping episode, Nancy Grace dives deeply into the horrific murder and years-long sexual abuse of 13-year-old Madeline "Maddie" Soto in Florida, exposing the failings and blind spots that allowed her mother's boyfriend, Stephan Stearns, to victimize, murder, and discard her. The episode follows the conviction and sentencing of Stearns—21 life sentences handed down in a plea deal—and raises searing questions about the environment that enabled the years of trauma Maddie suffered. The expert panel unpacks court evidence, including disturbing videos, the behavior of Maddie’s mother, and the continued narcissism of Stearns in prison.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Maddie’s Tragic Story and Early Warnings

• Maddie’s Wish to Flee: Maddie, since turning 13, expressed to friends her desire to run away to the woods—citing her mother's boyfriend's ongoing molestation, believed to start when she was just 8 or 9 years old.
  • Nancy Grace [02:42]: “Little 13 year old Maddie Soto told her friends ... she wanted to run away from home and live in the woods. Why? Because mommy's boyfriend was repeatedly molesting her...”
• Home Environment: Maddie regularly slept alone with Stearns; her mother and others appeared disturbingly calm during the investigation of her disappearance.
  • Nancy Grace [05:23]: “Is it just me? Am I projecting or is everybody just a little too calm in that video?...Maddie is missing and she has been missing for a considerable period...”

2. The Investigation and Key Evidence

• Surveillance Footage and Cars:
  • Surveillance tracked both Stearns’ car and Maddie’s mom’s car repeatedly driving between the home and the location where Maddie’s body was dumped.
  • Shannon Butler [08:17]: “Detectives say they tracked another vehicle, a white Nissan owned by Maddie's mother...making an identical trip...to the body was found.”
• Who Was Driving?: Uncertainty remains about whether Maddie’s mother was involved, with speculation fueled by repeated trips and widespread suspicion.
  • Tim Jansen [09:03]: “We don't know who the driver is. And that, of course, is one of the biggest questions...a lot of questions. Could it have been Jen Soto?”
• Returning to the Scene: The panel discusses why criminals revisit crime scenes—covering their tracks, reliving adrenaline, or checking if the body’s been discovered.
  • Nancy Grace [11:55]: “Why do criminals go back, circle back to the scene of the crime?...It means something to me.”

3. The Family Dynamic and Suspicions about Maddie’s Mother

• Behavior of Maddie’s Mother: Much debate about the mother's apparent lack of awareness and emotional detachment.
  • Robin Dreek [14:46]: “They are way too calm...I’m shocked...the mother hasn't been charged yet.”
  • Nancy Grace [27:33]: “Certain pedophiles look specifically to establish a relationship with a woman that has a child the age in which they're interested.”
• Failure to Protect: Discussion of legal and psychological frameworks for charging mothers who allow abuse under their roof.
  • Dr. Jorie Crossan [28:32]: “I've seen hundreds of those cases...mothers don't protect their children...we have regularly charged mothers with failure to protect.”

4. The Abuse, Evidence, and Charges

• Enormity of the Evidence:
  • Thousands of Explicit Images/Videos: Over 1,900 explicit videos and photos—majority featuring Maddie—recovered from Stearns’ phone, despite his attempt to wipe the device.
    • Nancy Grace [20:38, 47:00]: “Literally thousands, 1700 explicit sex photos of Madeleine. Thousands, thousands on Stern's phone. Where was mommy when all this was happening?”
    • Shannon Butler [46:35]: “Thousands of images, sexual photos and videos, mostly of Madeline, were recovered and led to the 60 additional charges...”
• Timeline of Abuse: Abuse cataloged from 2019, indicating Maddie was as young as 8 or 9 when it began.
• Maddie’s Final Hours: Surveillance footage showed Maddie’s dead body propped and buckled in the passenger seat to simulate her being alive, as Stearns drove to dump her body.
  • Shannon Butler [29:39]: “Her dead body is propped up and buckled into the car...head leaning toward her shoulder with her mouth open...”

5. Stearns’ Narcissism and Jailhouse Behavior

• Self-Pity Behind Bars: Stearns whines incessantly about jail conditions—his pillow, food, mattress—even as damning evidence stacks up.
  • Nancy Grace [33:38]: “I have never felt a full stomach...the cell is small and filthy...the mat is flat and has very little cushion left. I bet it was nothing compared to sleeping in the bed with Maddie.”
  • Robin Dreek [35:55]: “He's got a lifetime pattern of self centeredness and me, me, me...the world will continue to service him.”
• Panel Dismisses Sympathy: Nancy and experts flatly reject any sympathy for Stearns’ complaints, contrasting his comfort with Maddie’s suffering.

6. Forensics and Proving Years of Abuse

• Autopsy Challenges: Decomposition in the Florida heat and five days in the elements hampered forensic evidence for long-term abuse, making recovered photos/videos crucial.
  • Dr. Eric Eason [43:36]: “It's going to be very tough to determine after five days out in the elements like this.”
  • Nancy Grace [44:59]: “We may not be able to tell from her body that she had endured molestation for years if it weren’t for this idiot's phone...”

7. Conspiracy and Other Potential Defendants

• Network of Complicity?: Suggestions from both former FBI and behavioral experts that broader complicit behavior might involve family, with Stearns’ mother’s prison emails implicating others (including Maddie’s mother).
  • Shannon Butler [15:36]: “Every time you have a case like this...there's a network involved here...”
  • Shannon Butler [45:26]: “Stern's mother is saying...‘we all know ___ was heavily involved in this and I am disgusted she’s free and you are not...’”
• Mother’s Legal Status: The mother remains not a suspect nor person of interest, but the panel questions the adequacy of this stance.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• [02:42] Nancy Grace (on Maddie's warning to friends):
  “Little 13 year old Maddie Soto told her friends as soon as she turned 13, she wanted to run away from home and live in the woods. Why? Because mommy's boyfriend was repeatedly molesting her…”
• [05:23] Nancy Grace (on the calmness of Maddie's family):
  “Is it just me? Am I projecting or is everybody just a little too calm in that video?”
• [14:46] Robin Dreek (on the mother’s demeanor):
  “They are way too calm as a cucumber...I’m shocked that Madeline is the entire circle around her and that the mother hasn't been charged yet.”
• [20:38] Nancy Grace (on evidence):
  “There are literally thousands, 1700 explicit sex photos of Madeleine. Thousands, thousands on Stern's phone. Where was mommy when all this was happening?”
• [33:38] Nancy Grace (on Stearns’ complaints from jail):
  “I have never felt a full stomach and have in fact forgotten what that is like...the mat is flat and has very little cushion left. I bet it was nothing compared to sleeping in the bed with Maddie.”
• [35:55] Robin Dreek (on Stearns’ behavior):
  “He's got a lifetime pattern of self centeredness and me, me, me...he looks completely fluid and natural doing it because this isn't his first time in life.”
• [44:59] Nancy Grace (on proof of prior abuse):
  “We may not be able to tell from her body that she had endured molestation for years if it weren’t for this idiot's phone that reveals these thousands of photos.”
• [45:26] Shannon Butler (reading Stearns’ mother’s email):
  "'We all know ___ was heavily involved in this, and I am disgusted that she's free and you are not. When this is not all your fault...'"
• [41:11] Nancy Grace (on sentencing):
  “Stephan Sterns, age 39, gets 21 life sentences which will run concurrently or at the same time. So I’m not that impressed...what it boils down to is one life sentence.”

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Timestamps for Critical Segments

• [02:42] – Maddie's disclosure to friends, abuse background
• [04:27] – Breakdown of night she disappeared
• [08:17] – Surveillance car evidence and suspicion
• [14:46] – Behavioral analysis of mother and network claims
• [20:38] – [22:59] – Numbers of explicit images, details about abuse
• [29:39] – [31:34] – Maddie’s body manipulated to appear alive
• [33:38] – [35:55] – Jailhouse email complaints from Stearns
• [41:11] – Sentencing and forensic insights
• [45:26] – Stearns’ mother suggests others are involved
• [47:23] – Physical description of the home environment

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Tone and Language

The episode maintains Nancy Grace’s no-nonsense, incredulous, and indignant tone. She repeatedly expresses outrage at both the crime and the system's failures—the leniency of concurrent sentencing, the alleged ignorance or complicity of Maddie’s mother, and Stearns’ self-absorption in jail. The panelists use blunt, often harrowing language to describe both the events and the evidence, while also striving to explain forensic and legal terms for lay listeners.

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Conclusion

This episode starkly highlights the devastating effect of unchecked, long-term abuse and familial dysfunction, pushing listeners to confront uncomfortable truths about enabling behaviors, legal loopholes, and the complexity of prosecuting crimes against children. Nancy Grace’s unfiltered delivery, supported by her expert panel, drives home that justice for Maddie Soto remains incomplete and the conversation about responsibility is far from over.

Transcript

[Nancy Grace]

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[Nancy Grace]

Stories with Nancy Grace. Little 13 year old Maddie Soto Told her friends as soon as she turned 13, she wanted to run away from home and live in the woods. Why? Because mommy's boyfriend was repeatedly molesting her and had been since we believe age nine. Yes, since age nine. And mommy knew nothing. Nothing. We'll never know the full truth because Maddie Soto was murdered in the last days. Stephan Stern, the no good boyfriend learns his fate in court. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. I want to thank you for being with us. Stephan Stern's the live in of Maddie Soto's mom entered pleas in a Kissimmee courtroom as part of a deal with prosecutors. Stearns, 39, learns his fate in court. 21 life sentences. And this is why Maddie Soto, just 13 years old, slept in the bed with mommy's live in the night before her murder. This as disturbing details emerge about the crime scene and will. That's not all. Shocking prison emails go back and forth between the suspect mommy's live in lover and they seemingly blow this case wide open.

[Shannon Butler]

Madeline is 13 years old. She has been missing since 8:30 on Monday morning when mom's boyfriend dropped her off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. It was. He dropped her off actually near the Peace United Methodist Church on Town Boulevard.

[Tim Jansen]

Okay.

[Nancy Grace]

All right.

[Shannon Butler]

So she was supposed to be dropped off at school. Didn't make it to school.

[Nancy Grace]

Didn't make it to school. I went to pick her up from school today and she never came out. They announced it over the speaker and I'm just like maybe she walked here because sometimes she'll walk here to this office. I came here, nothing. I went back to the school. They were closed. I got a notice, an email from the school saying she was absent. But I also messaged her teacher and he looked at her entire attendance today and saw that she was completely not at school today either. Okay, so she never made it.

[Shannon Butler]

Okay, what's her name?

[Nancy Grace]

Madeline. M a D E L I N.

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

E M A D E L I.

[Nancy Grace]

N E I N e Last name Soto. S o T O S o T o. Yeah. Is it just me? Am I projecting or is everybody just a little too calm in that video? That's Madeline's mother and the live in standing behind her like, what? What? Why is everybody so calm? Maddie is missing and she has been missing for a considerable period of time when that happens. Now hold on. I want you to think about what you just saw with the backdrop of new evidence we are learning and that is that mommy's car went back and forth to where Maddie's body was Dumped before it was discovered. Let that sink in. Mommy's car went back and forth between the home where little Maddie slept routinely with mommy's boyfriend alone to where her body was dumped. It's caught on surveillance video. Who was driving it? Don't know, but it was Mommy' that I do know. Now, I want you to hear from the horse's mouth, listen, is this like.

[Shannon Butler]

Does she, like, have any places that you guys know that she'll be? Usually be at any friend's house. Any places that, like, she likes to hang out?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Typically?

[Nancy Grace]

No, not typically. Okay, Just give me one second. Let me see if I get some.

[Tim Jansen]

Thank you.

[Nancy Grace]

Yeah. We don't have any idea where she might be. Joining me, an all star panel to make sense of what we know right now. First, I want to go out to Shannon butler, investigative reporter, WFTV 9, on this case from the beginning and giving me a lot of information I'm not getting from the outside looking in. Shannon, thank you for being with us. Shannon. In addition to disturbing, disturbing descriptions and details we're getting about the crime scene, I'm floored about how often the suspect, which some people are describing as Maddie's stepdad, he's not her stepfather, let's just be clear about that. How many times he would sleep in the bed with her. But that's a whole nother can of worms. I want to talk about the evidence, the evidence regarding Mommy's car going back and forth. Then we'll get to all of Sterns, the suspect, the murder suspect, all of his emails whining from behind bars about his food, his mattress, the walls in his cell. Really? Really. But first, let's talk about that car. What do we know about that vehicle? Listen.

[Shannon Butler]

Shocking new revelations in the Maddie Soto murder investigation. Investigators release information about Stepan Stearns and tracking the silver Lincoln he was driving. But now detectives say they tracked another vehicle, a white Nissan owned by Maddie's mother, Jennifer, making an identical trip as was made in the Lincoln from the apartment to body was found. Detectives don't get a clean look at the driver, but the Nissan was driven from the apartment to the body in the middle of the night, 12 hours after Stearns was seen driving his Lincoln to the same area.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, straight out to Shannon Butler, joining us, investigative reporter, WFTV 9. Shannon, what can you tell me about Mommy's car going to the location where Maddie's body is ultimately found?

[Tim Jansen]

Well, we don't know who the driver is. And that, of course, is one of the biggest questions we get. Right.

[Nancy Grace]

Who was Driving that car.

[Tim Jansen]

The running theory is that it was Seth and Stearns that went back to the alleged scene of that crime. But there is so much speculation and doubt surrounding Madeline Stto's mother that it's hard for people not to question whether or not she was behind the wheel and went back down to that same location where Madeline Stto's body was. At that point, that body would have still been in that area because it was days later before they found her. So it's hard for us because investigators didn't get a good look at the driver to figure out who was behind the wheel. But there are a lot of, lot of questions. Could it have been Jen Soto?

[Nancy Grace]

Okay. Shannon Butler you just said. Shannon joining us WFTV9 you just said. With so much suspicion swirling around Maddie's mother, we're talking about 13 year old Madeline Soto found dead. She had been sex assaulted. I was counting back the years maybe to age at age 9 that we're getting conflicting reports on that by mommy's live in. It's very difficult for me to believe mommy had no idea what was going on under her own roof. Even sending her daughter to bed with her live in lover. Oh, excuse me. He alternated between the Soto home and his own mother. What was he just living down in the basement there? Anyway, so much suspicion around the mom as we are hearing from Shannon Butler. But the mom is not a suspect. The mom is not a person of interest at all. It's entirely possible the suspect, her boyfriend was driving her car back to the scene. And you know, that's a really interesting question to Tim Jansen joining us, high profile criminal defense attorney, former federal prosecutor and analyst for the Tallahassee Democrats newspaper. Joining us from the Florida jurisdiction, Tim Jansen, why do criminals go back, circle back to the scene of the crime? I always think of Scott Peterson. How many times did he go back and look off into San Francisco Bay where he dumped his wife Lacey and their unborn son Connor. He's tracked. There was a GPS monitor on his car. Ding, ding. Figure that out. And they would track him going back and forth where he would stand gazing out there. What to see if her body had washed up yet. And we're seeing the same thing here. He goes back and forth to where Madeline's body is. Why?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Well, you know, it's interesting. Brian Kohlberger did the same thing after the Idaho murders. He was there the next morning. They go either looking for their trophies, watching what they did or they're trying to cover up and see if this Crime has been disclosed. So the curiosity, the adrenaline they get, maybe trying to cover something they felt they forgot or going back to see if the police have found their bad deeds.

[Nancy Grace]

I think it's the adrenaline, and they want to find out who's living. Have I been discovered? Kohberger is a very good example. And you know what else, Jansen? The returning to the scene. A good defense attorney like you will argue, well, that means nothing. Tell that to a jury. Okay, Jansen, go ahead and tell the jury. It means nothing when a suspect goes back and forth to the scene of the crime and just stands there and stares. Well, to me, I'm not a shrink, but it means something to me. I'm getting off track. There's so much happening in the Madeleine Soto case right now. I've got to get to all of it. But right now, remember, we're trying to determine who was driving Mommy's car after Maddie goes missing and before her body is found. Back and forth to where the body is ultimately found.

[Shannon Butler]

How about. Does she have, like, Apple Watch?

[Nancy Grace]

She's got a device. The only device she's got on her right now is her school.

[Shannon Butler]

A school on top. Is that trackable?

[Tim Jansen]

I don't think so.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

If the WI fi is turned on.

[Nancy Grace]

It'Ll try to connect a new iPhone. Everybody's so calm. I'm not going to speculate on why they're so calm when Maddie is missing. Let me go to an expert with me. Robin Drake, behavior expert and former FBI special agent. Wait for it. He was the chief of FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and author of CS Sizing People Up, a veteran FBI Agent's Manual for Behavior Prediction. And you can find [e-mail] Robin Drake. I told you about the time when I was looking for organic suntan lotion and a baby superstore. I was, like, all down on the very bottom shelf, bent over, double looking to try to find it. I turned around, and there was Lucy, but no John David. I started screaming. I put her under my arm like a football and started running toward the front of the store because there were all glass windows, screaming, help me find my son. Lock the doors. My son is lost. Okay. Hey. But that's just me. So am I projecting, or are these two calm as a cucumber?

[Shannon Butler]

No, you're absolutely right. They are way too calm as a cucumber, as you say. And the car and who's driving it, to me, is a smaller part of a hole in this entire case. I'm shocked that Madeline is the entire circle around her and that the mother hasn't been charged yet. Because this, to me, every time we have a child that's been abused, every time we have a child that looks like they made may have been even part of something greater than just one single pedophile, there's a. I think there's a network involved here and I think there's going to be a lot of tendrils that go out. And I think that's why the investigation has taken as long as it has and there's as many witnesses going to be called because I've been involved with cases.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, wait a minute. Robin Drake, hold on just a moment. What do you mean you think a network is involved?

[Shannon Butler]

So every time you have a case like this, Nancy, where you have a sexual potential sexual predator, if it's a serial sexual predator, which he's been doing this a number of years, says that he might be serial, you can have an uppers of two to 400 children that have been affected either through trafficking of their pornographic images or of them themselves. And so a lot of times these investigations take a long time ferret out who's actually involved. And so every time you see a behavior arc of not just the individual of Sterns, but a network of entire family members potentially acting very nonchalant about this, it gives investigators a lot of leads on where to potentially look to see how far this network goes.

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[Shannon Butler]

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[Nancy Grace]

Florida man gets 21 life sentences when he pleads no contest to murder and guilty to other counts in the sex abuse and murder of little Maddie Soto. What a piece of crap. I thought for sure the state would seek the death penalty in this case, but Stephan Sterns lives to breathe the fresh air while Maddie Soto is sick feet under. Does that sound right to you? I've got a problem with that. And this is why.

[Shannon Butler]

13 year old Madeline Soto murdered Sexually abused by mom's boyfriend and that's kind.

[Nancy Grace]

Of putting perfume on the pig, isn't it? Sexually abused? We're talking about dozens and dozens I think. Shannon how many sex related videos and photos were found on Stearns Mommy's boyfriend's phone. How many? Ballpark?

[Tim Jansen]

Hundreds. Hundreds. Hundreds and hundreds. There were videos, there were pictures.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay. And I think it's actually in this new data dump we're getting, which of course you are the one that alerted us to that. Shannon Butler. And thank you. They're literally thousands, 1700 explicit sex photos of Madeleine. Thousands, thousands on Stern's phone. Where was mommy when all this was happening? Why do we know it's Madeline that's the child victim on the phone? Because in charging documents and other data we have reviewed, the victim is described as a child. And the incidents, the rapes occurred in the home, Madeleine's home. So who is that? It's a girl. It's a child. And it's in Maddie's home. And it's Stearns who is charged now with 60 plus sex related charges. So saying she was sex abused, that hardly describes what this child went through. Now we also know that according to the documents, we've just gotten huge data dumps, the molestations, these videos on his phone. Some reports are that they go back to 2019. There are other dates stated as well. 2019. She's 13 when she's murdered in 2024. This makes her 8 or 9 years old when these videos started being taken of her. So she's not just getting raped, she's not just getting potentially sodomized. He's videoing it. How many times do you use your husband's phone or you know, grab your child's phone? You don't see anything on there when there's nearly 2,000 of these videos and photos. Okay, that said, take a listen to this.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Stephen Stern slept with Madeline Soto and her mother on a regular basis. Some nights, Stern would sleep with Madeline without her mother present, including the night before she was murdered. Jennifer Soto tells Maddie she has a really bad headache and tells Maddie to take Stephen Sterns and go sleep in an upstairs bedroom.

[Nancy Grace]

I got a headache too. In fact, it's spreading to my teeth now when I hear that it wasn't just once in a while, it was all the time. And that's not all.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Listen.

[Nancy Grace]

Stephen Stearns and Madeline Soto's mother Jennifer.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

Broke up briefly in late 2023. Even while they are broken up, Stearns would sleep at the Soto household in a bed with Madeline. A woman who dates Stearns during his breakup with Jennifer claims Stearns told her he had to sleep with Maddie, cuddle with her so she could go to sleep.

[Nancy Grace]

The woman stopped talking to Stearns after.

[Podcast Advertiser/Announcer]

He tells her of waking up with an erection while in the bed with the child.

[Nancy Grace]

Our friend Nicole Parton from crimeonline.com comm really said that, like she's reading the weather report or the Farmer's Almanac. Hold on just a moment. Shannon butler joining me, WFTV 9. No offense, Nicole Parton, but what did I just hear? Did I just hear that even after Stephen Stearns, the murder suspect, had broken up with the mom. What? He broke up with her? Really? He would come back to the home to sleep with little Maddie, to cuddle her, to get her to sleep, and then he tells the new girlfriend he would get erections in bed with Maddie. And it was so disgusting. The woman broke up with him. Did I just hear that?

[Tim Jansen]

You did. You did hear it. And we had even asked, like, did that woman ever report that to police, to anybody? And she, and she didn't. You know, at the time, I think she was just trying to get away from him. But these are the things that just continue to, to come up. And everybody in that, you know, interview process seems like this is just normal, right? Well, you know, she slept with, she slept with him when she, you know, needed to get to sleep. It was just, it was very, very strange for us hearing that about how, like, this was just everyday business.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay. I'm just, I really occasionally am speechless. And this is one of those moments because I'm thinking about the life that Maddie Soto endured in the home. Age 8 or 9, mommy's boyfriend starts raping her. There's not a nice way to say, oh, he slept in bed with her, he cuddled her, they had sex. That is a lie. That's rape under the law. And we cannot turn away from the black and white letter of the law. A child that age cannot consent to any type of sex conduct. Just like they can't go buy a car or liquor or cigarettes. They don't have the mental capacity to do that. Joining me, Dr. Jorie Crossan, renowned psychologist, faculty, St Leo University, consultant with the Blue Wall Institute. And you can find him at Dr. Jory J-O R E Y.com Dr. Jorie, does any woman really need a man that badly? Really? Just let me think about it. My sister used to have a T shirt that said a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle. And that really stuck with me at about age 8. So what is a woman willing to do to keep a man?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Well, it goes to his ability to locate or find a woman and establish a relationship that has a child. Okay, you see this in the pedophilia behavior numerous times. And one thing you want to look at is the age when this started and then how it ended with the homicide. They have preferred ages that they're attracted to and that they will maintain a relationship with. But once the child starts to age out through puberty or starting to develop, they'll usually start to look for another access to another child in their preferred age. That's a very common pedophilic behavior.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, wait a minute. I'm trying to decipher what you're saying, Dr. Jori. Crossing. You're the shrink. I'm just a JD, but I think you're saying certain pedophiles go look specifically to establish a relationship with a woman that has a child the age in which they're interested. Is that what you just said?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

That's correct, yes.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, but my. And I appreciate that, and it's a phenomena I want to explore with you, but I'm asking you, how badly do you need a man? I mean, after all, no offense to you, but what do. What can they do that you can't do? Why do you have to have him sleeping with your daughter under your own roof?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Yeah, let me address both of those. The man has that ability to. Whatever it takes to provide to the woman to get access to the child. He's going to provide.

[Nancy Grace]

Provide what? This guy didn't even work. Did he work? Hold on. Shannon Butler. Did this guy have a job or did he basically hang out in his mom's basement in his spare time?

[Tim Jansen]

Yeah, that's pretty much what he did. He played a lot of games.

[Nancy Grace]

So what is he bringing to the table?

[Tim Jansen]

Nothing.

[Nancy Grace]

Why does she need him? Back to my question. What is wrong with these women that they keep child molesters in the home?

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

I've seen hundreds of those cases, and, you know, even I've looked at the lethality of living boyfriends to children, and it just is phenomenal, you know, because mothers don't protect their children. You know, I'm in Florida. This case is in Florida. I'm in a different judicial circuit, but we have regularly charged mothers with failure to protect.

[Nancy Grace]

You know what? Then that's exactly the charge. That's exactly the charge. I'm thinking of Dr. Jori Crossan. Failure to protect. Again, Maddie's mother has not been named a suspect. Has not been named a person of interest. The reason we're even talking about her right now is because her car is spotted on video going back and forth to where Maddie's body, 13 years old, is found. Just dumped. Dumped Remember this? Remember Maddie kept telling all of her friends when she turned 13 she wanted to leave home and go live in the woods. I wonder why.

[Shannon Butler]

Listen, our missing persons detectives responded to take over the investigation. So they did interviews with mom, mom's boyfriend, Madeline's friends from school. We were able to access Madeline's phone and there is information on the phone that indicated that she told people when she turned 13, which was on February 22, she actually wanted to go live in the woods. So that was in her phone. Investigators believe the female seen at 7:36am in the surveillance video in the front passenger seat of Stefan Stern's vehicle is Madeline Soto's dead body propped up and buckled into the seat to appear as a living person. But closer inspection of the video shows her head leaning toward her shoulder with her mouth open. Sterns is caught on surveillance video again at 8:19am when he is seen entering the front security gate of the neighborhood with a female in the same position as the surveillance video captured at 7:36am.

[Nancy Grace]

I don't want to gloss over that. As we race toward the newest development including the suspect, mommy's boyfriend whining behind bars about his mattress, his food, not having the right spoon, the walls in his cell. We also have emails that are emerging from his mom back and forth to him knowing full well they're going to be read about how somebody else a she is involved. More crime scene details that reveal the nature of this crime. But to Shannon Butler joining me wftv, I don't want to gloss over the fact that Madeleine's dead body, this 13 year old girl that has been being raped and sodomized since ages 8 or 9 under Mommy's nose, her dead body is propped up and buckled into the car. Did I get that right? SHANNON BUTLER yeah.

[Tim Jansen]

And that was part of his story, right? So he goes in and out of that apartment complex which they did in the morning on the way to school. So that way if any of the neighbors or anything saw him drive out, it wouldn't be unusual for Madeline to be buckled into the seat. What he said to us and to investigators is that she slept on the way to school. So it, he was working that it appears into his story about how he took her to school and she was, she was asleep, but he did, I mean according to investigators, buckled that seatbelt and let her sit there leaned over it. It's just unbelievable really.

[Nancy Grace]

I mean Tim Jansen, CRIMINAL defense attorney he is actually tailoring a very intricate lie stating that Maddie fell asleep on the way to School to cover up the fact that she's leaned over with her eyes closed because she's dead.

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Yeah, science, technology is going to undermine the cameras that we've seen. Clearly. This guy is the evidence on the phone. He's a pedophile. He committed a sexual terrorism on this child. The mother certainly had to know something or see something. The apartment was very small and to allow a child to sleep in the bed at that age is just. It seems more like Maddie was an annoyance to the mother than her actual daughter.

[Nancy Grace]

Guys, what more are we learning now? Well, for one thing, and I'm going to circle back to Dr. Eric Eason regarding the years, years of sex abuse. How that can be determined from an autopsy or if it can be determined. But to Shannon Butler. I want to talk about his whining emails from behind prison walls. He complains about everything from his mattress behind bars. Not getting enough food. I know. I have never felt a full stomach and have in fact forgotten what that is like.

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Really?

[Nancy Grace]

There's never a time these days when I don't feel hungry. Have you heard of the vending machine? The cell is small and filthy. Well, how was your mom's basement? You could still be living there if you hadn't murdered Maddie. The mat is flat and has very little cushion left. I bet it was nothing compared to sleeping in the bed with Maddie. Those are a few things you can think about, Stearns, before you send any more emails. Shannon Butler. What is this guy saying from behind bars?

[Tim Jansen]

You know that wasn't the first time, right? When he was being transferred between jails really early on, he first started complaining about that first night that he spent in jail that he had to use the toilet paper roll as his pillow. That was the beginning of his complaints. So we expected when we saw his emails that he would start complaining more about how the treatment is there and that how it's, you know, it's not so comfortable behind bars.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay, Robin Dreek, former FBI special agent, expert in behavioral analysis. Robin, as soon as we finish on air, I want you to run right down to the jail with an allergen free, puffy, bouncy pillow so he can get a good night night's sleep. What? He can't sleep because of his pillow? He shouldn't be able to sleep because Maddie is dead and he's whining about his pillow. You know, this isn't the first time, Drake, that I've seen a murderer, defendants and later convicted whine about their pillow, their food, their diet, their amount of exercise he's charged with murder. And in my mind, a lot fewer sex charges than are established. Because If I've got 2,000 too, nearly 2,000 photos and videos, most of them of this little girl on his phone, he needs to be charged with every single one of them. And when he's convicted, they all need to run consecutively there. And he's talking about his pillow drink.

[Shannon Butler]

Yeah. And I also don't think it's going to be the only person they'd find he's done this to. You don't go from zero to a hundred in this kind of case because he's going to have a track record established of this. He's got a lifetime pattern of self centeredness and me, me, me, all his primal urges and despicable behaviors. I've obviously been placated for such a long time that he's got a level of expectation that the world will continue to service him. And it just, just leaks out of him at every single turn. And so that's what we're seeing in the jailhouse. That's what we're seeing in all these communications. He. And he's. He's completely shocked that he doesn't have.

[Nancy Grace]

What about this? Do you see a pattern of behavior of getting taken care of and whining and expecting everything to be handed to you? I mean, he's still technically. Even though he's living with Madeline Soto's mother in their apartment, which a lot of people thought this was a home. It's an apartment, which makes it much smaller. My point is, how could she not know what was happening? He's living with her and he's living with his mother. He's not working. What is he doing? Everyone is giving him a place to stay, food to eat. I don't know how. He made his car payment. Maybe mommy made the payment for him. But now, same thing, same behavior, carrying over behind bars. Wine, wine, wine.

[Shannon Butler]

Yeah, it's. You hit it exactly right, Nancy. It is a lifetime behavior pattern. Behavior arc of complete self centeredness and narcissism. And it plays out in everything. And even with his girlfriend that he had dated briefly. He's testing that water by saying, hey, I. I slept and had an erection with this little girl. You know, I think that's a test to say, hey, could I manipulate you into my circle because she's aging out. I mean, it's a lot of conjecture on my part. I know. But at the same time, though, this is what he does to his entire. He manipulates it for his own gain. And he's got such lifetime reps out of it. He looks completely fluid and natural doing it because this isn't his first time in life. Or is his first rodeo doing this?

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[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

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[Nancy Grace]

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Stephan Sterns, age 39, gets 21 life life sentences which will run concurrently or at the same time. So I'm not that impressed. Concurrently means he's got one life sentence. One life sentence. What do we know about Maddie's death? 2,000 explicit videos. Many the majority we understand. Stefan Stearns performing sex acts on a child that lives in Maddie Soto's home to Dr. Eric Eason. Dr. Eric Eason is a renowned board certified forensic pathologist, a consultant Dr. Eason. We know that her body was discarded out in the open, but in an obscure area which is not hard to find in Florida. There's a lot of untamed land, swamps, inlets in Florida. How can a medical examiner tell if this was the first time Madeline had been raped or not? And with her body lying out in the elements for several days, would that preclude such a determination?

[Shannon Butler]

Well, that's gonna make it tough. If the body's been there for a couple of days and in the heat in Florida, you're gonna have the evidence of decomposition, which is going to obscure some of the findings that you're going to have an autopsy. But you know, during the autopsy, you know, we're going to determine the cause of death but also assess for evidence of sexual assault. And so evidence of the acute sexual assault would occur when the swabs are placed in the various orifices to check for DNA that's there to compare from DNA from the suspect.

[Nancy Grace]

Please do not say that, Dr. Eason. We don't all have medical degrees like you do. When you say they're going to put swab, they're going to swab Maddie's orifices. You are talking about euphemistically describing her mouth, her vagina and her anus to see if she was raped. Hold on. Shannon Butler, wftv. How long do we think that Maddie was lying out in the elements before her body was found. How many days?

[Tim Jansen]

I think it was five days.

[Nancy Grace]

Okay. I thought it was four, but let's go with five. Dr. Eason, how would five days out in the elements affect the determination of internal orifices such as vagina or anus?

[Shannon Butler]

I mean, you can still insert the swabs and collect any evidence. As time goes on further, it's going to be less. Have less of an ability to collect that. But I think you're also asking about remote sexual assault, and that's going to be very tough to determine after five days out in the elements like this.

[Nancy Grace]

Can I just Boil it down, Dr. Easton? In a rape kit, I know that if there is vaginal tearing, if there is bleeding inside the vagina or the anus, that may suggest a recent rape.

[Shannon Butler]

That's right.

[Nancy Grace]

How would you be able to tell if her body had been found immediately whether she had been raped in the past?

[Shannon Butler]

Well, you can look for evidence of old bruising or old abrasions. When bruises start to age, the color will change. And so if you find evidence of a yellow in a bruise, it indicates the bruise is older as compared to an acute bruise. So you can check for that. That's definitely one way to check for, like, an older type sexual assault.

[Nancy Grace]

So we may not be able to tell from her body that she had endured molestation for years if it weren't for this idiot's phone that reveals these thousands of photos. To Shannon Butler, WFTV 9. I want you to listen to this. Emails between the murder suspect and his mother in which she suggests someone else, a female, is involved.

[Shannon Butler]

Listen, Stern's mother is saying things like, quote, we all know Blank was heavily involved in this, and I am disgusted that she's free and you are not. When this is not all your fault, you need to think about yourself more and her less. She sure isn't thinking of you and how she can help you. Right now. That whole family is willing to stay quiet and let you take the fall for everything.

[Nancy Grace]

Shannon Butler, WFTV 9. What?

[Tim Jansen]

Well, I think that we expected some of this from his family members, that they would start putting some of the eyes back on Jen Soto. What we didn't know is if he had told them something that we didn't. We didn't know yet about if she was involved or if she wasn't involved or if they're just doing this as the show. Right. Everybody knows these things become public and that everybody would able to be able to see what they. They were saying. But this was Not a surprise to any of us who have been working this story that the family would start to raise some questions about Jen stto and if he was taking the fall for her.

[Shannon Butler]

While the search for Madeline Stto is ongoing, investigators ask if they can take a look at Stephen Stearns phone. Stearns then informs the detectives he accidentally performed a factory reset on the phone the same day Maddie went missing. A factory reset can't be done on accident, has to be delivered as it requires multiple steps by the user to ensure that it doesn't happen by accident. Thousands of images, sexual photos and videos, mostly of Madeline, were recovered and led to the 60 additional charges against Stephen Stearns.

[Nancy Grace]

Over 60 charges, but over 1900 explicit videos and photos. I want to find out something else. Shannon Butler Investigator Reporter WFTV 9 this is an apartment, not a home as many people thought. So how big is the apartment? I'm trying to gauge what was going on and what the mom should have known. Do you know?

[Tim Jansen]

Well, it's not very big. It's kind of like a townhouse. So there's an upstairs and a downstairs, but there were other people. Like the night of her disappearance or murder, there were other people in the home, but there was, you know, there was a. There was bedrooms upstairs, but there was also some kind of makeshift kind of bedroom that was kind of cordoned off downstairs. And there was a lot of question about if that's where, you know, Madeline was sometimes laying. So the home is very small. If you're talking about what could you hear or not hear in some kind of house, it is. It is fairly small. I mean, it's an average townhome.

[Nancy Grace]

You know, I want to ask you something else before we sign off. It's my understanding that Maddie's friend tell police that Maddie was constantly being texted and called by Stern, Stefan Stern, the boyfriend, back to Robin Dreek. That's textbook. It's classic. I trust my children, but when I see them on the phone all the time or they're on a video all the time, I go, who are you talking to? Who's that? Don't you think it's odd nobody wondered why the boyfriend was constantly calling this little girl and texting her?

[Shannon Butler]

Yeah, constantly isolating her, controlling her environment. That's what these horrible sexual predators do. And that's exactly what he was doing Maddie the entire time. You know, and as for the mother making those comments via text too, in or in an email, I don't care what it is. You know, as an investigator, I'll put my investigator hat on for a second. If you're opening your mouth like that, I'm now looking at you too. So I think this is a network of really important behavior by a lot of people and he just happens to be the point of the spear we're going to take down first. And I think we're going to save a lot of people in this one. I'm hoping.

[Nancy Grace]

Dr. Jori Krausen, renowned psychologist joining US faculty, Saint Leo University. Another thing is I noticed that Stephan Stern states that he was the one who would comfort little Maddie when she would get into an argument with her mom. Okay, there you go. Coming between the child and her parent. That's textbook. Dr. Jorie yes, it is.

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

It's, it's that dependent personality that on the mother, I mean, she's very dependent also. You can see that relationship and the dynamics where she readily turns anything over to him. Dealing with the daughter.

[Shannon Butler]

You know, it's.

[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

Not a good attachment and bonding, maternal bonding there.

[Nancy Grace]

Stephan Sterns gets in my mind a very light sentence in court. Yeah, the headlines all say 21 life sentences, but what it boils down to is one life sentence because they're running concurrently at the same time. Maddie Soto, rest in peace. PewDiePie girl Nancy Grace signing off. Goodbye, friend.

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[Shannon Butler]

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[Dr. Jorie Crossan]

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