Girl Found Dead in the Woods Days after 13th Birthday — Suspect Caught on Camera with Her Backpack & Laptop

Thirteen-year-old Madeline Soto made a wish to live in a forest, and a week later, her body was found in the woods. With the main suspect being a Disney World worker, police launched an investigation into this fairy tale with a sad end.

On March 1, authorities reported the discovery of a teenager’s body off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County around 4:30 p.m. The attire of the body closely matched what Madeline, a missing 13-year-old girl, was wearing when she was last seen.

On February 26, the day after her 13th birthday, Madeline was supposed to be dropped off at school by her mom’s boyfriend, Stephan Sterns. Everything seemed normal until Madeline’s mom came to pick her up from school at 4:30 p.m., only to discover that her daughter had not shown up that morning.

The mother immediately reached out to the police, and by 8 p.m. that same day, she had reported Madeline missing. Deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office quickly arrived at the school to assist the worried mother. Together, they searched the surrounding area with a trained bloodhound, but were unsuccessful.

By February 27, Madeline’s missing poster became public. A picture of a young blonde girl smiling at the camera was paired with cold facts, the parameters of the girl — 5’1″ in height and 110 pounds in weight. She was described as a White, blue-eyed female, barely 13 years old. As information was released, the Sheriff’s Office posted:

“Madeline was last seen around 8:30 a.m. Monday, February 26… She was wearing a green sweatshirt, black shorts, and white Crocs.”

The officials widened the search area, and the lookout continued. On Wednesday, February 28, the Sheriff gathered a press conference to release an update on the search for Madeline.

“This is every parent’s worst nightmare… We can’t even imagine the pain and anguish that Madeline’s family is going through,” stated Sheriff Mina. “We will not stop until we find her.”

The Sheriff explained that Madeline was left near Peace United Methodist Church on Town Loop Boulevard, approximately a half-mile from the school. Why the girl was dropped off at such a strange location was still up in the air.

Sheriff Mina suggested that Madeline might have been self-conscious about the car she was riding in and therefore requested to be dropped off by her mother’s boyfriend at a specific location, so her classmates wouldn’t see her. However, it was just a guess, and the sheriff’s office is investigating it further.

As a part of the investigation, authorities are interviewing people close to Madeline — her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and friends from school. More than a hundred people were mobilized to help in the search for the missing girl, including detectives, specialized personnel, as well as bloodhounds. Deputies, along with the girl’s family, have been distributing flyers to notify the community about the ongoing search.

“We don’t know if she was taken. We don’t know if she stepped away. She left her phone at the house,” Sheriff Mina said. “That’s why we’re putting all this effort into it. That’s why we’re doing this press conference, in hopes that someone from the public may have seen something.”

On the same Wednesday, police arrested their first suspect — Madeline’s mother’s boyfriend, 37-year-old Stephan. At first, the man was detained on unrelated charges, but since he was the last confirmed person to see Madeline before her disappearance, he became a “prime suspect” in her case.

Stephan is a cast member at Walt Disney World, but his real-life story is far from their fairy tale. He might have been detained on unrelated charges at first, but as time went on, the charges became more and more related.

When asked to hand over his phone, Stephan told the police that he had “accidentally performed a factory reset” on the day when Madeline went missing. Apart from this, the man refused to show up in court on Thursday.

That day, law enforcement expert David Nutting was asked about the frustration of dealing with a prime suspect who refuses to cooperate. “It’s especially frustrating in cases involving children because it just seems so right in human nature to tell everything you know,” David responded.

“This is a truly innocent victim. Madeline is a young girl who did not live a high-risk lifestyle, and she’s apparently with this monster, and it’s just frustrating. Why can’t you tell us what happened? Let’s resolve this case and bring Madeline back home,” he further stated.

Sheriff Mina also commented on the situation. “Stephan Sterns had the opportunity tonight to come clean with detectives and lead them to information about Maddie’s disappearance. Her loved ones deserve answers, and OCSO and the Kissimmee Police will not stop until we find Maddie,” he said.

The Kissimmee Police Department reports that Stephan has yet to discuss his alleged involvement in the case with anyone. The potential for additional charges against Stephan in the future remains under investigation.

“I’m trying to hope for the best, but I’m scared for her,” said Jenn Soto, Madeline’s mother, in an interview. “I want her to be okay; I want her to be safe…”

Jenn introduced Stephan into their family as her boyfriend. She also asked Stephan to drop her daughter off at school on the last day the girl was seen. Now, her loved one is the main suspect in her daughter’s disappearance.

“I don’t want her to come back harmed. I just want her back — whatever that means, I just want her back,” said the mother. Three days later, her daughter was found dead.

On March 1, the police reported that a teen’s body was found off Hickory Tree Road in Osceola County around 4:30 p.m. The body was dressed similarly to what Madeline was wearing when she was last seen, authorities confirmed.

During the Friday afternoon press conference, Sheriff Mina disclosed that detectives are “confident” the girl is dead, allegedly at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend, Stephan. Regarding why the police were so confident that Stephan was responsible for the death, the sheriff revealed new details about the case. The emergence of evidence changed everything.

A video showed Stephan discarding items in a dumpster at a Kissimmee apartment complex at 7:45 a.m. on Monday. Items from that dumpster were later recovered and identified as Madeline’s backpack and school-issued laptop.

There’s also video evidence of Stephan seen between 1 and 2:30 p.m. on Monday in the area where the body was found. He is believed to have been changing a flat tire on his silver Lincoln MKZ on the nearby road on the same day Madeline went missing.

Authorities believe Madeline did not make it to Hunter’s Creek Middle School on Monday morning, suggesting she had died earlier. Moreover, they suspect that Stephan moved her body that morning after her death in Kissimmee. Madeline’s family is shocked and the girl’s step-aunt has since posted a heartbreaking statement.

“How I wish we could all wake up from this unimaginable nightmare. How I wish I could take this devastating pain away from my brother-in-law and sister. How I wish Maddie was still with us,” she wrote.

“Please continue to keep our family in your prayers during this time of tragedy. As you all can imagine, this is not the outcome we were praying for at all,” the post continued.

As of March 1, Stephan still was still silent regarding his alleged role in the case. The possibility of further charges against him is still being explored and remains under investigation by the Kissimmee Police Department.

Meanwhile, internet users are stunned by his Facebook profile picture. Posted back in 2022, it depicts Stephan’s face behind sunglasses, but it’s not the glasses that unsettle people. It’s the reflection. It appears there’s a silhouette of a little girl in them, possibly Madeline herself.

“What’s scary is that her reflection is in those glasses,” commented a user. “Please don’t tell me that’s Maddie’s reflection in your glasses,” another wrote. Even the investigative reporter JLR reposted a picture, captioning it with “Looks like Madeline Soto in his sunglasses reflection.”

However, judges will decide. Still, the fact remains that Madeline was killed on February 26, the morning after her thirteenth birthday. Almost a teenager, never an adult, the girl blew her candles out one last time and made a wish that sadly came true.

Read more about a three-year-old boy who went missing after his mom sent him to her boyfriend for “disciplinary reasons.”