Content advisory: This article mentions sex abuse, CSAM, and homicide. Please take care while reading.
The bad stepparent stereotype has long been prevalent in the media. But most of the fictional bad ones, haven’t got a thing on 37-year-old Stephan Sterns.
Usually, the fictional ones do not engage in prolonged sexual abuse of their minor stepkid, and on top of that, they do not record the abuse for ends that are not yet clear beyond speculation. Nor do they go allegedly lie on television about how their stepdaughter is missing and they are concerned when they, in fact and by all appearances, knew exactly where she was.
It’s not certain whether Sterns was actually Madeline Soto‘s stepfather or just the mother, Jennifer’s, boyfriend, although most statements point to the latter. The distinction is nothing more than a technicality, because what is relevant for this case is that, so far, Sterns’ presence in the Sotos’ lives can be traced back at least six years.
Alleged sex offender Stephan Sterns’ past
In the past, it was reported that, alarmingly, Stephan Sterns used to work at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. His Facebook reads: “Cast member at Walt Disney World.” Disney disputed this, but a video shared online of a man who looks like Sterns working at the entrance of Journey into Imagination – which doesn’t mean Disney made a false statement, it could mean he could’ve worked for an external contractor. The video is no longer up, but Court TV, a true-crime station which has been on top of this case, shared a screengrab.
His Facebook also says that Sterns is from Lake Forest, California, that he was a warranty manager/production associate at Smart Build Homes, and that he also worked as a realtor at one point. On his social media page, you can also find a pretty aggressive review Sterns posted of the Universal CityWalk in Orlando:
Naturally, his Facebook page is now swarmed with angry netizens demanding answers and condemning the horrifying allegations.
On a podcast called Gray Hughes Investigates, the podcaster interviewed a handful of people who allegedly knew Sterns prior to the incident. As his Facebook page corroborates, Sterns was a Warhammer and other fantasy tabletop and card games enthusiast and some of his acquaintances knew him because they shared this hobby. The majority of interviewees thought Stephan was strange to begin with, but only after the allegations came out, did some of them retroactively make sense of some of his very odd behavior.
If the interviewees’ grim claims are true, they provide evidence that Sterns has long been a deeply disturbed individual. One of the men interviewed, Ryan, disclosed Sterns used to collect things that ranged from just weird for a grown man, like tamagotchi, to downright disturbing for anyone, such as keeping “his semen in bottles,” and trying “to make weapons out of weird stuff.” Ryan and two other interviewees, Frank and Josh, alluded to the fact that Sterns used to have substance abuse issues, one of the substances being Adderall and the other weed.
For how long was Sterns in Madeline’s life? When did the abuse start?
It is unknown exactly how long Sterns was in the Sotos’ lives. Josh, the former friend, said it was about eight years. But, of the six years that it is known he surely was, it has been reported that there were a few hiatuses in the relationship between Stephan and Jennifer. One of these gaps is corroborated by a pause in the date of the recordings. After recuperating the images from the factory reset Sterns claimed he “accidently” performed, police found dozens upon dozens of explicit child sexual material that is assumed to feature Madeline. He is currently charged with over 60 counts related to the abuse that was on his phone.
The first charge for “Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12” dates back to the Summer of 2019. Madeline would have been 8 years old at the time. Interestingly, the charges have a pattern of occurrence which matches the summer holidays. There are no charges from 2020 to 2022, which makes some people wonder whether that was one of the periods in which Jenn and Stephan were separated.
One of the interviewees said on the aforementioned podcast that Stephan had only returned back into Maddie and Jenn’s life a couple of months ago after the last breakup. There is a real possibility that Madeline, having celebrated her 13th birthday the week of her disappearance, may have reached the point of being able to stand her ground and tell Sterns “no,” and the alleged child groomer and abuser may not have taken her newfound resistance well.
Theories are abounding online, but a lot is still up-in-the-air. These and other lingering questions will surely be answered as the investigation continues.