Cause of death of 13-year-old Madeline Soto only known months after the arrest of her mother's boyfriend

Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl whose body was found in a remote wooded area earlier this year, was strangled to death, according to records obtained by FOX 35 Orlando. Soto was discovered four days after she was reported missing on Feb. 26. The man her mother was dating at the time, Stephan Sterns, 37, was arrested on Feb. 28. He was initially charged with sexual assault and possession of child sexual abuse material. In April, prosecutors filed a first-degree murder charge in connection with Soto's death, and she now faces a total of 60 counts of sex crimes. Prosecutors accuse him of sexually abusing Soto and filming the assaults, which dated back to 2022, when she was 11 years old. The teen's mother admitted to police the day her daughter's remains were found that she knew Sterns had “groomed and abused my child,” according to a trove of documents released by Kissimmee police this week. In an earlier police interview, she said she believed he was “guilty” and called him a “master liar” and “master manipulator.” Sterns has pleaded not guilty to all charges.