Murder of Madeline Soto: Cause of death of Florida teenager only known months after murder by mother's boyfriend

Months after Florida teenager Madeline Soto was allegedly murdered by her mother's boyfriend, her cause of death has been announced. The body of 13-year-old Soto was found in a remote wooded area.

Documents obtained by WKMG show Soto's death was ruled a homicide by strangulation. She was first reported missing on Feb. 26 after she failed to show up for classes at her Orlando middle school. Her body was discovered four days later in the woods of Osceola County. The Orange County Sheriff's Department said Soto may have already been dead before the search for her began.

Stephan Sterns, who was dating Soto's mother Jenn Soto at the time of the crime, was charged with the teenager's murder. The 37-year-old was the last person to see Soto before she disappeared.

“I dropped her off [at school] “I was early, I could have waited longer. She looked OK, she was going to school,” Sterns told a local news station in February before he was arrested. He was later arrested and initially charged with sexual assault and possession of child sexual abuse material. He was later charged with first-degree murder.

Stephan Sterns is said to have started sexually abusing Madeline Soto in 2022

An Osceola County affidavit states that Sterns allegedly began sexually abusing Soto in 2022, when she was 11 years old. On February 26, Soto disappeared after Sterns dropped her off at Peace United Methodist Church on Town Loop Boulevard, just blocks from Hunter's Creek Middle School, which Soto attended.

Sterns is also charged with 40 counts of illegal possession of materials depicting sexual conduct by a child (ten or more images), five counts of sexual assault of a child between the ages of 12 and 18, seven counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and eight counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 12, according to WKMG. He is scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing on Oct. 14.