Florida teen Madeline Soto’s cause of death has been revealed months after her mother’s boyfriend allegedly killed and dumped the 13-year-old’s body in a secluded wooded area.
Madeline’s death was ruled a homicide by strangulation, according to documents obtained by WKMG.
The 13-year-old was first reported missing on Feb. 26 after staffers at her Orlando middle school realized that she never arrived for class that day.
Four days later, her body was found in the woods in Osceola County with similar clothing she had on before she disappeared, according to police.
Orange County Sheriff’s Department revealed that Madeline was likely already dead before a search for the missing teen began.
Stephan Sterns — who was dating Madeline’s mother, Jenn Soto, at the time — has been charged with murder in Madeline’s death.
Sterns, 37, was confirmed to have been the last person to see the teen before she disappeared.
“I dropped her off [at school] early, I could have waited longer. She looked okay she was walking towards the school,” the teary-eyed Sterns told a local news channel on Feb. 27 before he was arrested.
He was busted the following day and initially charged with sexual battery and possession of child sexual abuse material, including images and videos on his phone that supposedly showed him sexually abusing a young girl.
Sterns was later charged with first-degree murder.
The alleged killer was already a person of interest in the case when Madeline’s body was found.
Though Sterns factory-resetted his phone before his arrest, detectives said they were able to find child pornography and evidence that Sterns had been sexually abusing the teen.
The discovery found that Sterns had allegedly begun sexually abusing Madeline in 2022 when she was only 11 years old, an arrest affidavit published in early March revealed.
Sterns had also allegedly been sleeping with Madeline in his room at the family’s Kissimmee home on the night before her death, according to newly released investigative reports obtained by WKMG.
Following the discovery of Madeline’s body, authorities noted that footage from Monday morning showed Sterns driving his 2010 Lincoln MK with the teen’s dead body supposedly still in the car.
He was then spotted throwing several items into a trash bin, where police later recovered her backpack and school-issued laptop.
Investigators also found that Sterns had allegedly driven to North Port, Fla., the day after Madeline went missing, according to WKMG.
Sterns’ parents reportedly live in the area, and he’s known to stay at their house when he is not at the Soto residence.
Detectives believe that his North Port trip was an attempt by Sterns to scrub evidence of the alleged sexual abuse he’d perpetrated with the teen.
Sterns also faces 40 counts of Unlawful Possession of Materials Depicting Sexual Performance by a Child Ten or More Images, five counts of Sexual Battery with a Child 12-18, Seven counts of Lewd or Lascivious Molestation, and eight counts of Sexual Battery on a Child Under 12, according to WKMG.
He is due back in court on Oct. 14 for a status hearing.
It is not clear if prosecutors will seek the death penalty in the case.
