Episode 360

Sword and Scale

The podcast investigates the 2024 disappearance of 13-year-old Madeline Soto from Kissimmee, Florida, revealing that her last known sighting was with her mother’s boyfriend, Stefan Stearns. Despite a delayed police respo

Key takeaways

• Madeline Soto was dropped off near Hunter's Creek Middle School on February 26, 2024, and never entered the building.

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised. When you guys show me the picture of her, I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to believe that he had done anything equal to what she did. I'm like, no, what if he did this stuff doing? Some of the stories we tell here on Sword and Scale will make you sick. They'll tug at your heartstrings. They'll change her whole perspective on humanity. They're the ones you can't get over, the ones you can't really shake, and they stay with you for a long time. The story we're about to tell you is one of them. This is part one of a two-part series. Let's go. One, what's the location of your emergency? The call is coming out of Kissimmee, Florida, in a quiet suburban pocket near Hunter's Creek Middle School. Police fire or medical? call. Police possibly I'm reporting a missing child. And is she white, black, or Hispanic? She's white. Okay. And... Dirty blonde hair, blue eyes. Okay. Hold on with me here. Okay. And then how long has it been, though, since you guys have last seen her? Since this morning. She was dropped off at school this morning, and apparently she never made it inside. We called everyone we knew and no one seen her. She was last seen at the church next to Hunter's Creek Middle School. I think it's called Peace Church. I'm not sure of the exact address. She was dropped off that morning, just just steps away from the school. But she never made it inside. By that afternoon, no one had seen her. Not her friends, not her teachers, not a single person at the school. She was dropped off, then just disappeared. Her name was Madeline Soto. She was just 13 years old. This was her best friend. She came to the school in the middle of the year in fourth grade. She was a new kid, so like everybody kind of just picked on her and stuff. She was in a different class of me. She got picked on a lot by people like, that like nobody really liked and stuff. And then one day I kind of like went up to her and I was like, hey, what's your name? And then we got to know each other. Ever since then we've just been best friends. As best friends, Maddie and I talked every day. Like every single day. She texts me every morning I wake up, and I always get a text from her unless she didn't But usually, I said it was fishy yesterday when she didn't text me at all, because usually even if she doesn't go to school that day, she texts me like the night or the day and I'll let her wake up really just to text me like, hey, I'm not going to school. And she didn't yesterday, but I didn't think anything of it except that she like, oh, she slept in or something. That morning, February 26, 2024, was supposed to be routine. A ride to school, maybe breakfast on the way. It was the kind of morning you don't think twice about until something goes horribly wrong. That morning, her mother's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, drove her to school. Stefan, she was always on a call with him. She loved him. He was like a father to her. They left earlier than usual. They had time to spare and talked about stopping for breakfast at, McDonald's. But she changed her mind, as little kids do. She was sleepy, but she also just wanted to get to school early to hang out with her friends. Instead of waiting in the insufferable car line, she asked to be dropped off about a block away. She would walk the rest of the way to find her friends. Apparently, no matter who was taking her to school, Maddie preferred to be dropped off in the near vicinity. This was usually at the church. across the street where a lot of parents dropped off their kids to avoid the long lines. That morning, the car pulled over. Maddie got out and started walking. They're going to the pool to double text and everything, but from what we know, she wasn't there. She could walk there because it's right next to... That's fine. So if at least one of you remains there, though, to meet with an officer, that's more than fine, okay? Yeah, I'll be here. I'll be here. Okay, then. All right, thank you so much, ma'am, and I'll go ahead and let you We'll be out there as quickly as we can, okay? When someone goes missing, every second matters. Unfortunately, it doesn't matter how much you want a limited resource like law enforcement. If there's no cops available, there's no cops available. What do you expect after years of demonizing law enforcement? All cops are bastards, you say. Yeah, that has a negative but opposite effect. Duh. Police and medical. Hi, um, I called not that long. reporting the missing child. I just wanted to know how long the cops are going to take to get here. Okay, hold on. Let me open up the call and let's see. The call is still currently pending to have the deputies respond out there that we don't have any available deputies. We still have the call up the holding. Okay, so no one's on their way yet? Not yet, no. Does it take long for them to respond to the call? If there's a big emergency in the area and there's nobody, there's no units available, they put the calls on hold. But as soon as one becomes available, they respond to the next pressing call. I'll go ahead and update them with the information. All right, thank you. Because this happened very recently, so we just want to get everyone here. She has been missing since 8 a.m. At the same time, her family started calling the school, contacting to teachers to see if anyone had seen her. But no one had. Yeah, what's going on that? Vinnie, please fire a medical. No, it's not a medical issue. We have a missing child since this morning. We already called twice. And the police didn't show up yet. Yes, ma'am. I see it. I understand that for a deputy to respond. They haven't come here yet. I'm worried, ma'am. I see it. It's waiting for a deputy response? Are you waiting for a deputy response? Yes, ma'am. And how long do we need to wait? If it's a child missing? I understand it, man. But I'm just not able to give out of ETA. I don't know when they'll be there. So how long do we need to wait? This is an emergency. We have the information, but it just, they're trying to get there someone as soon as possible. So this is not helpful for you, really? Then we're very busy area. I understand they'll be there something they can, okay? They didn't just call 911 once. They had to call three times. The first call came in at around 4.43 p.m. Then, again, at 516. And then another one at 721. It took officers almost three hours to arrive, and they didn't get there until 7:37 p.m. Deputy logs show the call sat waiting because no deputies were available. Units were tied up with other emergencies, and this one had to wait its turn. But before you blame dispatchers, understand that the people answering those calls weren't the ones heading out to search. They were taking information and waiting for someone. in the field to clear. They did their jobs correctly by the book, exactly as instructed. Maddie's mother was later told there were more than one child reported missing that day. Seems like an epidemic, right? Resources were stretched thin. In fact, nearly 1,000 children are reported missing in the United States every day. That works out to about one child every 90 seconds. approximately 350,000 children under 18 each year. Think about that for just a sec. That's roughly the capacity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So yeah, an Indianapolis Motor Speedway of children go missing each year goes missing every year. But to Maddie's parents, family, and friends, statistics didn't really matter at the moment. This was serious and urgent. This was their own daughter. An entire day had now passed with no one seeing Maddie. Does she have a cell phone that she might keep on her person? She doesn't. She had one when she looked at home conveniently today. Okay. It was no surprise that Maddie left her phone at home. This was a common occurrence, and it wasn't just because she was forgetful. Kate, is she diagnosed with any medical, mental conditions at all? I know she takes medication for ADHD, and I think that I'm pretty sure that's it. At 737 p.m., officers pulled into the condo complex in Kissimmee, where Maddie lived with her mother, Jennifer Soto. Also in the home was Jennifer's boyfriend, Stefan Stearns, who was frequently there despite an on-and-off-again relationship. The unit itself was shared with rooms rented out to other women, and the condo was owned by Maddie's grandfather. It was a crowded living arrangement with multiple people coming and going and limited space inside the home. By the time deputies got there that evening, both Jennifer and Stefan were there, answering questions and helping officers piece together the last known details from that morning. Officers started with the basics, documenting what Maddie was wearing and establishing a clear timeline. Hey there. Hey there. What's going on? So it was dropped off close to school this morning, but never made it. I went to go ahead. I'm sorry, once a second. Go ahead, sir. Are we looking for another kid or we have a kid? Looking for another one. Like I said, an epidemic, especially when Disney World is in your backyard. So she was supposed to be dropped off at school. Didn't make it a school. Didn't make it a school. I went to pick her up from school today. Okay. And she never came out. They announced it over the speaker. 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. Okay. What's her name? Madeline. M-A-E-L-I-N-E. M-A-D-E-L-I-E. I-N-E. Last name? S-O-T-O-O-T-O. S-O-T-E. Yeah. Date of birth? February 22nd, 2011. February 27th, 2007. 20th. Oh, sorry, 22nd, 2011. 2011. Just turned 13th birthday. He said it quietly, but Stefan just pointed out that Maddie had just turned 13. In fact, just the day before, a Sunday, the family had a birthday party. Her mother, Jennifer, and her mother's boyfriend, Stefan, were not there, but her best friend was. But on Monday evening, back at the scene, officers needed to know what Maddie was wearing when she was last seen, so they talked to her mom and Stefan. Green hoodie? Green hoodie? White crocs. White crocs. Either blue or black pants. I think black shorts. Black shorts? Yeah. Black shorts? Mm-hmm. Okay. Black shorts. All right. Do you know she has, like, friends in the area? She does, but she doesn't know where they live. She doesn't know where they live. I asked all of them. Okay. Is this like, do she like have any places that you guys know that she would usually be at? Any friends house? Any places that like she has to hang out? Not typically no. Not typically? No. Okay. Um, weight? 110 pounds. 10, 120. Um, hair color. Blonde? Blonde, like a dirty blonde? Like a dirty blonde? Like a dirty blonde? Okay. Um, eye color. Blue. Does she have any markings on her, like any scars? She has a distinctive beauty mark on her face here. On her face. On the face, like below the nose. Yeah, like right in that area there. It's very distinctive. You'd know it if you saw it. While one officer was talking to Maddie's parents, another was speaking with staff at the church, where she was dropped off that morning. Surveillance showed a child sitting in a parking lot for about 10 minutes before getting up and walking away. After that, the trail disappeared. At that point, investigators were still working through possibilities, including one that seemed plausible, that Maddie may have left on her own. It's possible that she came here and sat in the parking lot for a while. It's blurry video, but it looks like an analyst child sitting right there, and she's hitting. The people here said that they were adamant they seen her on the property. property, but like I said, it's a blurred video, and I don't see her getting into anybody's car in the video. I see