Madeline Soto case: New police interviews with Stephan Sterns after Florida teen's disappearance

Tuesday February 27th 12:05 hours for ocso 24-11 313 it's detective hunt can you state your full name Stephan Sterns we all right Stephan um real quick you s confirm that everything about tell me the truth yeah perfect um so you know kind of why I'm out here right involving when is the last time that you saw dropped her off yesterday morning okay about what time was it Um approximately sometime between 8:25 and 8:40 is is when I dropped her off and where were you dropping her too taking her to school got it um and it's

my understanding that you dropped her off like a little bit away from school yeah she sometimes likes to get dropped off uh a bit down the road away she likes to walk over or catch up with her friends or just not being seen you know getting out of a hoopti in front of School okay and when you say hoopti referring to your car that she's embarrassed to be seen getting out of got it okay um where did you drop her off at do you remember approximately it was you're good was along the stretch of road

kind of where all those communities are leading up to the overpass and then the school's on the other side of the overpass so I dropped her Off along that stretch where all those communities are gotcha is it like on the sidewalk or near parking lot's a sidewalk there and then they've got the church on the other side of the street and then the overpass and then the school so was maybe no more than a block away okay is the school within like eyesight of where you dro the over passes was definitely with a nice sight

and the school was literally just on the other side of the over pass Gota so if you were to guess the M it would it be like a/4 mile half mile yeah maybe like a 5 10 minute walk depending on your speed okay um but she also likes the cool morning walks too she was wearing her hoodie and she was feeling the cold weather and she likes that how common is it of you to drop her off to school in the morning oh it's not common for me to do it most of the time but

I'm up here and uh I'm Helping out as much as I can and working so she was trying to get as much sleep as possible M I was I was doing the uh the school run this morning okay um do you live here or do you live somewhere else or what's that look like I live here uh but I split my time between here and my parents placed on South and North Port they're getting all the years and they need some help got it okay for how long have you lived here with uh with them

oh gosh Um years now couple years maybe now okay and what does your time splitting look like are you here for days weeks months something else weeks weeks at a time yeah and so I guess when did you arrive this block of time that you here before yesterday actually so Saturday yeah I think so you got here Saturday night um got it it's down in Northport that you actually split your Time um when did you start splitting your time between here and Northport um a little while ago my my dad I was working at Disney

for a while and my dad uh was com up and getting lunch with me started discussing how you know they're getting on in years and they're going to need some help soon and they'd really need me to come back down and help them out and was that this year last year uh last year heading into this year yeah yeah so Like December yeah they're they're already making end of life plans so oh no we sorry to hear that yeah at least we're getting a plan together now um so normally if you do drop her to

school in the morning although it's typically not you is that typically what she requests is to be dropped is that from everyone or just because of your car she doesn't mind getting dropped off much um it's it's the nicer White Center over there um but it is very common for her To get dropped off down the road and want to walk up and find her friends and kind of hang out does she uh does she does she typically um does she typically hang out with her friends only at school or does she have any in

the neighborhood here she doesn't have any in the neighborhood here but she does have friends from school that she gets together with uh on weekends and whatnot okay um so after you dropped her off sometime between 8:25 8:40 area remember My phone at home so I wasn't sure what the gotcha that's fine do you remember what you did after or uh yeah I I after I left her um you know I was watching her in the rear VI we I was just driving away she looked like she was making her way towards a school like

normal so I went on with my day went over to the vape shop nearby um they were not open yet uh so I came back home hung out for a little while with Jen um and then after about an hour I went to Check the vape shop again and they were open so I took care of my stuff there and it became a normal day okay so just to go through your I asked Jennifer the same questions just to go through everyone's days but just to go through yours so you dropped her off at school

and you said you went to The Vape Shop correct they weren't open correct do you remember about what time you got home uh got home around maybe quter after 10 Gotcha and was she was Jennifer here yeah Jen was here uh she had been sleeping in um her new work schedule is she just had her kind of messed up so she was trying to sleep in as much as possible gotta so when you got back around 10 uh she was just W she was just waking up yeah so we hung out for a little while

chitch then I went and checked the vape shop again got my stuff came home again uh hung out for a little while we talked about maybe you know Doing some EJ shopping or something after we picked up and uh then she wanted to take a nap again I had a couple errands I needed to run so that worked out fine sorry I wanted to check out a couple of the card game shops in the area oh one of my trading card games just had a new new release I just wanted to look at stuff ended

up getting a flat tire okay that's one of my hoopies on where did You get a flower where'd you get a flow Tire 192 that was hair raising and that was when you were uh out shopping during the day yeah yeah that that was between between the hours of noon and like 2 okay got it and then so after uh we needed to leave by 2:30 to go get get in line and get ready to pick up got it so you guys both went and picked her up together uh that was the goal yes I

was going to go with them but I ended up getting a flat tire so she could yeah I Got I got back literally 10 minutes after she left apparently got it and so forgive me I missed something you I I kind of missed it in the middle of there but you got back home around 10: you hung out with Jen and then you all just kind of hung out and then and then did you separate to go shopping or uh she took a nap and then I went and ran my errands okay got it and

then around noon or 2:00 you is when you got flat tire and she was leaving to pick up uh no so When when we hung out first i' gone to the Vape Shop which was now open to get my vape and then came back and hung out more and then we separated and I did my errands and she took it nap got it that was around around n went that got it okay I just want to make sure I had that straight so you went back to the Vape Shop which Vape Shop is it where's

the vape shop around here cigarette online on um John Young okay I didn't know there was one around there Is it e e smoker e something online but I've been going to them for a while you think I remember their name and you made it out there about what time is it uh that was probably just after 11: that I finished up there okay um got it now can you remember the day prior to Monday do you remember I mean I guess if anything happened between Saturday night and Monday when you were here here that

might have Sparked she was wanting to she was so happy okay cuz right yeah all three of us are together and she just so happy um tell me about Sunday Sunday night tell me about Sunday into Monday what you remember she just had she was excited sorry it's okay just talking about crushes csing that was coming up and he wanted me to come serious MH nothing bad she was just happy she was very happy there's nothing out of the ordinary I can't remember anything particular that happen showed to the movie Sister Act ah okay she

was singing so well I told her she reminded me of the choir when we got their stuff together started singing better I wanted to show her gotcha so Sunday night did y all how do you decide like who's going to get her ready for school in the morning and Everything I take her to school in the morning so she can sleep in as much as possible okay I agreed done the school run a few times before it's not usually my forte but I don't mind helping and so Jennifer shared with me typically you normally sleep

in the upstairs guest bedroom and then she will sleep together in her own bedroom but last night or not last night Sunday so Jen Could get better sleep she said she's sent she both upstairs correct gotcha okay um do you remember about what time you went to bed and woke up bed probably 114 after wound up after her party and we were getting up really really early so we can make good time getting out of the door so we got up around 7 yeah y all left pretty early yeah Okay did you see janod all

in the morning or she still asleep yeah I saw her a couple times I was in out of her room talking to her got it okay and that was before you left around what time did you leave about 8:30 uh no earlier than that we made such a good time we were so impressed we made such a good time getting out the door I mean we were probably out by 7:30 7:45 okay cuz we wanted to get McDonald's breakfast we had been talking about it anyway she ended up not wanting it after all got it

um any trouble at all recently at home no no not recently no arguments that you can remember between her and you anything that's upset her not for a while when was the last time maybe maybe a month you know typical you know mood swing stuff you know she she has some pretty pretty bad PMS when she gets it And uh being a teenager on top of it doesn't matter I know all about it um now you said she I think you said she left her phone right yeah where did she leave her phone at uh

she left it in in her room she's ADHD so am I for that matter you left your phone too huh yeah uh so we try to be on top of her about that not forgetting things but we're also a bit forgetful too got it um but yeah it's not uncommon for her to Forget everything that she leave it in her room or in the in her room she must have been grabbing her shoes or a hoodie or something and set it down and and that's just how it goes okay got it um gotcha is it

typical of her I guess to forget things like that yeah very very typical cool got it all right man well I mean you know her uh you know her better than I do is there anything you can think of that as someone who doesn't know her that I might be missing out on here like somewhere she may like to be or somewhere she everything that we everywhere that we think she could possibly be we've checked and I mean literally the whole family is just so you know of the you know that the deputies found the

video from the church last night of her in the parking you heard that they saw someone So can you think of a reason that she might have gone and waited in that church that's across the street for a couple minutes before she would have had it back off to school no I mean she she had time to kill so I don't know she said she was going to hang out and find her friends but when I left her she was on the other side of the street rumaging through her backpack and just kind of moving

towards the the school Area so it looked normal what do you think she was looking for I assumed she was just looking for some headphones or something for her walk but she might have been looking for her actual phone got it okay um yeah I mean that's all I can that's all I can really think of at the moment I think I have a phone number for you um I tried calling you earlier but you might have just been asleep yeah um so Sorry no it's okay uh 2561 1832 that's correct got it um what

what's your address when you stay down south when I'm down Sou it's uh that's my parents house though I did not like being here if I can help yeah well I mean it's nice to you to help him out ex yeah it's just stressful environment full of poodles and death old people so after uh after you drop time At around 8:20 or so you didn't um is the to to get to The Vape Shop do you have to like swing back around at all to where the school area is is there any chance she saw

your car or something and was flagging you down or no I basically just turned around right there okay so there's no chance she would have like seen you from that church parking lot when you were swinging back around to the Bape shop I would have already been gone at that point okay got it Yeah I mean at this point I'm just trying to figure out you know what might have cost her to go there and then what cost her to leave um cuz I think she did stay there till about 8:50 just before school starts

at when to school start at 9:30 9:15 I think is the latest that they should be there by I think it starts around 9:20 officially gotcha is she familiar with that parking lot at all is that somewhere she hangs out a lot a lot of the kids will will sort Of rendevu there before were heading into school gotcha do you recall seeing any other kids walking in the area when you were dropping her off we were early we were early earlier than usual she was confident that it was fine she was just going to hang

out and wait for her friends okay did she mention that to you at all did she say anything I asked her you know cuz we were we were a little early we saw some time to go said you want me to wait with you she Said no just drop me right here I'm going to walk up and find my friends okay which something that she normally does anyway wasn't out of the ordinary I agreed to it she look like she was making a way towards the school and I went on with my day all right

well I appreciate you talking to me I'm going to go ahead and end this uh 1223 hours case number 24-1 1313 today's date is February 27 2024 the Time is 1916 hours we're in cimi speaking with Stefon Sterns okay so we just I know that you already spoke to the other detective right about everything that kind of happened today if you can just kind of go over it with us one more time the timeline from like when you guys woke up and took her to school and all that so we woke up early um plan

was that we were going to get McDonald's breakfast on the way so we made Amazingly good time get I don't mean to interrupt you okay um neither of us were here yesterday so if you can be kind of like specific about like times and and stuff like that okay um woke up around 7 7:15 somewhere around there um which is an early start for us but she had we had talked about getting McDonald's right this beforehand so we wanted to make good time um we did make good time we got out the door maybe 7:30ish

7:45 is Maybe got over to that area she was asleep in the car most of the time just snoozing till we got there we got to McDonald's we're close to McDonald's I said you still want it wasn't interested to McDonald's anymore so we continued on and uh she wanted to be dropped off little down the ways from the school she's got this phase that she's been into lately where she very particular about what car she seemed getting out of in front of the school um She cars my cars are I guess kind of hoopties um

I get it it's an image thing but um that was sometime probably between 820 and 840 is somewhere in there it was along the stretch of the road that um on the right side that has all the communities on it before you get to the overpass you could see the overpass from where it was MH um so on that side on that stretch of road and that's where I dropped her off and she said she was going to go wait For her friends she's going to go find them and hang out and wait for her

friends and I asked if that was going to be okay she said yeah it's fine um kids get dropped off early enough as it is it's not totally unusual for that to happen it's just not usually that early that I drop her off I do school runs every once in a while for her I said okay let her out have a good day love you thanks love you Too and I turned around and was driving away and was watching her in my rearview mirror to make sure that she was going where she supposed to go

and she was moving in that direction but she was rumaging around in her backpack or something what I assumed was probably headphones or something like that but find out later that she forgot her phone here so she may have been rumaging for her phone um but she was still kind of Making her way towards towards that direction so it looked okay looked like any other day and I just continued on okay when you said you dropped her off like in the area kind of like where exactly did you drop her off so if you pull

down the street going towards the school mhm um you've got that whole strip of communities on the right side there MH it was in that stretch of sidewalk there we pulled in and maybe maybe about halfway up the street or so And she was like right here's good was it like in one the apartment complexes the church not in it was outside when the apartment it was just on the sidewalk on the side of the road there just like a tuck and roll you know okay so like if I were to be on the road

where the map like what do you remember seeing that you dropped her off at I remember the the overpasses up ahead the sidewalk was on the right row of trees there's I think I'm median in The middle mhm um and then there was another Community maybe across from that before you get to the church mhm so it was like before the church so Town Loop Boulevard's that street that connects to the school yeah that is that the the street that you is this which one so that's Town L Boulevard right the one that and where's

the school located here the school's right here School is right there okay so the school would be on the left in this case here's the over you Guys came from yeah we came from town loop I think which is Town Center yeah so we made it right here and then pulled somewhere somewhere about so you came from town center and turn onto Town Loop yeah where's where's the church is this the church here uh there's that's the church okay so we weren't up to the church yet so we were pulled onto here and then we

pulled maybe about halfway up here and I dropped her off somewhere in this this area here and she walked From there to the school yeah yeah it's it's a pretty long way it's maybe a block or so but it's not out of the ordinary for her she likes to do that sometimes she likes the cold weather she was wearing her hoodie she wants the cold walk so you dropped off near lilac does that sound right yeah it wasn't that across street it was just that just a bit of the sidewalk there so did you merge

into the sidewalk or did you stop in the middle of the Street or I just pulled over to the sidewalk there let her hop out how often do you drop her off this might be the fifth or sixth time I've ever done it okay and when you drop her off where do you normally drop her off at um normally down the street from the school she requests that a lot like the same area or somewhere else especially if it's sometimes in the church parking lot sometimes just wherever she tells us to let her Out um

as long as it's close you know so it was halfway between Town Loop and uh in town center and the church yeah it it's like it's just in this stretch right here like we got about maybe halfway up and was there the McDonald's that you guys were going to stop at did you pull into the plaza at any point no she 86 the idea before we even got there what what do you mean by 86 um poooo the idea didn't Want it anymore okay wasn't in the move anymore at any point while you were driving

to the school did you make a U-turn uh yeah I tried to sell her on McDonald's one more time cuz I was still kind of hungry but at that point she was also just wanting to get to school so where turned right back around where did you make that U-turn out uh actually the school Park uh not the school parking lot the church parking lot I pulled into that turned around and pulled back Out um did the UI there and went back to the McDonald's and she still wasn't having it and that's when we came

back see the McDonald's is on the same town Loop or Town Center it connects to the same road that the mhm the the school on yeah it's like a straight shot so you guys came from just so I can kind of get a good V visualization town center and MH what what where did you come from Town Center uh Town Center so where where's The McDonald's um I'm so bad at reading these I'm sorry so we we came this is all Town Center so we came across uh on Town loop I believe is is that

the school that is that the road that the school is on no this is Town Center so you said you were on town center and then you made a right on Town Loop which is the one that takes you to the school yes correct right I think you but what what I'm saying is before Town Loop uh or I'm sorry for Town Center what street did you take H I'm I'm so sorry I'm bad with the streets around here how how do you usually get to the school I just take John Young and then wait

till I see the McDonald's and make a left there and then follow that around and that goes straight into the the road that the school is on just use use the landmarks and I don't have to memorize the street names is that J [Music] yeah yeah so this is [Music] jyp I made at the McDonald's you turn right and then you said you made it left at the McDonald's so that's J Park going McDonald's and then go around and then that shoots straight into the road that she's on okay cuz that's I believe that's the

correct road yeah well that's the fastest way to get there But you told me you came from Town Center in town loop I I'm s i I don't know the street Nam okay I'm sorry I'm doing my that's okay so now that we know that you came from jung-yong Parkway and you made a left on Town Loop mm so you passed the McDonald's yeah that was when she said no to McDonald's the first time okay so you guys keep on going on Town Loop y but at that point we still had a lot of time

to Kill very early so what did you guys do um drove towards the school made a u-turn came back tried to do the McDonald's thing again she didn't want it so where did you one more time where did you do the the U-turn it uh it probably was right by the church because it was still way too early for school so it was on that stretch of road I mean they had the meeting there in the separation so they that left turn where the church is um you can make a U-turn There and then after

you dropped her off what did you do stay talk to her for a minute until made sure you know is it is it all right that you're going early cuz it was it was still early mhm um she said yeah it's fine I'm going to hang out and wait for my friends to get there which she does sometimes so it didn't didn't sound you know outrageous or anything um that was it told her to have a good Day I loved her she told me she loved me too I turned around to leave and I was

watching her in my rearview mirror and she looked like she was walking in the right direction she was rumaging in her bag a little bit like I said but still sort of was shambling in the right direction while she was doing it um so it looked it looked normal it looked okay okay and then what did you do after you left the area uh I left to go to the Local Vape Shop cuz I needed some more vape juice um they weren't quite open yet so I ended up going back home um hung out with

Jen for a little while waited about an hour or so and then went back and checked the vape shop again uh was open so I got what I needed there and uh came back home and hung out with Jen again for a while do you remember what time you came home the first time was probably right around 10:00 close to it And then I waited here and went back to the Vape Shop um probably finished at the vape shop and came back home again a little after 11: okay you said the first time that you

hung out with Jen for a little bit right yeah was Jen here when you got here at 10 okay I think so she might have been at her blood appointment let me double check I know she was she had a blood appointment at some point during the day it's okay we don't have to ask her Right now sorry everything's a blur so she might have been here she might have not have been here the I believe she was here because she she was sleeping in as much as she possibly could cuz she's been messed up

with in your work s so she had to be here cuz she been want to sleep okay I'll double check but yeah I believe she was here and then what time did you say you left again to the smoke shop uh maybe after an hour or so maybe 11: or so okay and then what time did you get to the smoke shop um it's maybe 10 minutes away so not long after that I stopped in and got some juice and what's the name of the smoke shop uh East SM online okay it's just over opport

John Young it's not far from the school and then after the smoke shop what did you do okay for how Long um at least until I think 12:30 12:45 or something like that um and then what' you do after that I had a couple errands to run over on 192 um she was talking about making a BJ shopping list um she just wanted to make sure I was back in time for us to both go pick um so I was visiting some card shops around the area on 192 um I'm kind of a nerd so

we had a new trading card game Release and I was seeing what the situation was with it do you remember what places you visited uh yeah Coliseum of Comics um stopped by a couple targets and I was going to go to house rules games down by Oak and 192 mhm uh but I didn't make it that far I got a flat tire on the way do you remember where you got your flat tire it was on 192 I pulled into over into one of those blazes somewhere um it's been about 10 years since I switched

out a tire though So I made a lot of rookie mistakes and ended up pinning my thumb between the frame and the the Jack yeah lucky it's not a lot worse than it could have been be seen do you remember the name of the Plaza by any chance I don't remember like what stores were it was it was like right before you got to Oak though so it was one of those little strips okay but I did not make it back in time because of that I thankfully had the spare I put that on and

tried to get Back in time but caught every red light on the way and she ended up leaving out I was about 10 minutes late on so I called her and let her know what happened I called oliz profusely cuz I promised I'd be there with her to go pick her up just sat and waited after that she had already gone together so I just sat and waited and hung out straightened up the house a little bit it was it then we got the call what Do you mean you got the call got the call

had not come out so we started getting worried started making a calls to her family be on the lookout she might be walking to you that's just when everything sort of started going downhill I want was it did you check on the map the the cell phone the green I'm not sure where going goes I I'm Um but she forgot her phone right is it normal for her to not have her phone unfortunately she's severely ADHD as am I am so it is not in commmon at all in that very very usual thing for her

to forget things she' forget her head if it wasn't here on know uh and we're regretful about you know writing her about that it will remind her and then it will leave our mind and she'll say okay and then it Will leave her Al and is she on medication for this stuff normally yes um she's been staying with her grandparents a lot this week uhhuh um so she has not been getting her meent a lot okay so she was really SP where Disney con in cor what changed in her hours that she gets all thisly

she's training so it's not a set schedule yet okay it's just early this day late closing training this day different Hours yeah no that takes a t so I came up here she needed help um I split my time between between the two places I needed a visit we all needed to be a little happier together this is a green one JY just tell and where's the McDonald's where so that doesn't [Music] right cuz the school's up here am I messing up the streets Again got tell this one's Town Center but Town L we're just

trying to figure out your direction of travel right I'm so sorry these I'm so bad with that area over there Hunter Creek you said you made a u-turn at the church to go see if youed McDonald's again correct did you go anywhere else cuz I know you say you had time to kill yeah did you guys go anywhere else no we didn't go anywhere else is there a Reason why you would be back on John Young Parkway oh when we tried to go back to McDonald's a second time um we would have made a left

over there instead and just looped around again what do you mean just made a circle made a circle house can you show me on the map um so this is the my back down to McDonald's that's the McDonald's right there correct so going back down and then just straight shot back down You would come down this way I can't leave that I'm so sorry y I'll go where's the McDonald's McDonald's is right here this is Town Lo so this is Jung Park you guys are coming up McDonald's and the school's on this part correct over

somewhere over here so we come back out here there and then we can take a straight shot back down to the school again there they connect Town Loop and Town Center connect right so it's so where did you make the U-turn the U the U-turn was was on the street when we were going to go back to McDonald's and we drove down the m Donald's here all right so so just so I don't get confused you're going up jungy Young Parkway right you're going north B originally right you make a left at the McDonald's go

towards the school okay how far did you get uh before you made the U-turn so you got is this is this the school right here yep that's town uh town so we got Up to here and then made a u-turn over here past the medium [Music] okay so back to McDonald's H Town still still time to kill she still didn't want the McDonald's but I did give her a raspberry and cheese danish so did you go through the drivethru did you go inside no didn't go inside where did you get the Danish from oh I

the an that I B from home a couple days okay so she Wasn't without food totally um so we just continue past it again and turned around and said screw it you know just drop you off early okay so you came back around to the McDonald's and right onto the Skateway what's is that back on J Parkway or back on the J Parkway it comes down here mhm and then here's Town Center again so then you took Town Center the second time around yes and then made her right down to the school do you remember

what Time you dropped her off uh I estimated it to be sometime between 820 8:40 are you um on your phone do you have um Google Maps I do but I wasn't maping it when you're giving her rids does she sit in the front or the back she sits in the front she do you mind if I look at your Maps real quick yeah [Music] and just to confirm also you said so the second time around you said you went up uh Jong Yong Parkway you went through town center this time made a right on

Town Loop and then you said you Dr it was right here in this stretch area around this area okay which was before the underpass correct before the underpass just before the church the church was ahead on the left the underpass was just beyond that the School was just on the other side of the underpass so maybe okay on the left hand side maybe a block away okay and you said that that's typical of her to walk that distance yeah she likes the morning walks when it's cool um she doesn't like getting being seen getting out

of certain cars um you know being a middle school it's an image thing um and she will sometimes like to hang out and wait for her friends she she's Known to do that [Music] do you mind I just take a picture of your history yeah that's fine and that time would have been you said around 8 8:20 8:30 sometime between 8:20 and 8:40 what time does she go into class uh she has to be there no later than 9:15 doors open at 8: I mean doors open at 9:00 I think and then School officially starts

around 9:20 or 9:28 I think okay that up And when you dropped her off is that earlier than typical later than typical around the same time earlier than typical we had made really good time that morning and with the subtraction of McDonald's uh we had more time than than usual okay she said it was okay she was very confident convincing that it would be [Music] fine and you saw what direction she walked to after you dropped off yeah it Looked like she was moving towards the direction of the school like she was supposed to was

she still on the right side of the road or did she cross she was when I left her yeah she was still on the right side what kind of phone is this uh s23 Ultra I think I don't know how to work this thing I'm I barely know how to work it myself I'm an iPhone person no is it okay if I go in your settings real quick I just want to see if you're Logged on to your Google I am not logged on to my Google with that actually is it okay if I check

yeah does she have any other devices besides that phone any other electronics she had her school laptop with her okay is that is is that uh still supposed to be with her still supposed to be with her yes okay what kind of book bag what you care uh black book bag with like gray gray grayish blue hibiscus flowers on it like A print when she leaves in the mornings does she where does she usually put her fun um either in her backpack or like her back pocket kind of wherever she just thinks to to put

it at the time hold on I don't know how to use this [Music] phone sorry I don't mean to I don't know you've probably been asking dir but she's Never ran away or been away for longer than certain period of time uh am of time no she's I think she'd know what to do if she did run away she's not the type she's a good kid besides the ADHD is you diagnos with anything else H yeah um she was tested a while back and had some symptoms of autism so she's potentially on the Spectrum there

okay she was officially diagnosed with it when she was younger And she was retested and said well she shows symptoms of being on the Spectrum but maybe not fullon autistic is this what you use to um go places yes go places search addresses look at store hours right reviews it's pretty new phone though [Music] have we had any updates uh we literally have like 50 People right now on scene looking I don't know if there's any updates the best person would be the other detective because he's um he's the one that is in charge of

all this [Music] I don't think I've eaten anything since yesterday yeah I'm sure you guys are we when did you come back to help um Jen is that her name yeah um what do you mean like cuz you Live down south right when did you come back up north to help her um I just got here this weekend do you remember what day it was uh Sunday Sunday was her birthday party so yeah it was it was the evening after her birthday party Sunday okay do you remember what time you got here on Sunday 8

8:30ish maybe okay just been time to make sure that she was doing all her nighttime routines [Music] You live in North Pole right yeah I split my time between the two is split my time between the two is that BR County or uh Sarasota County I believe or Charlotte County either the way it's my parents house they they're old and they need help these days and they got a house full of poodles and it's chaos that's why I needed to come back up here and just get away from that between two deaf old people yelling

At each other and poodles yapping all the time it's you have to drive anyone up a wall that's very happy to be back back here did you when you guys were looking for the you guys look me and her stayed local it was all the rest of the family that mobilized and was was beat in the bushes and did you guys drive together or separate uh I don't think we drove anywhere when we were looking you didn't Drive anywhere I not that I recall did you guys go anywhere last last night is that media maybe

I think Fox 35 or something let me it is let me tell him okay I don't recall you have to ask her if we went anywhere I don't recall I was so zonked out on Adavan at that point okay said it was a wreck I don't and this would have been When yes thank you uh I don't recall that's going anywhere last night but I honestly that point my brain was mush and I was on so many tranquilizers to keep me stable it's just you said Adavan yeah do you usually take that or yeah I

have a prescription I haven't needed it in a long time though but what's that for uh anxiety okay I was having these rolling panic attacks and breaking down crying and I just it got lost sorry Thank here you go and um is the only way I could get to sleep last night and then again this afternoon that's why I missed your calls I'm sorry took an ad ofan and conked out for a few hours it's the only time when I'm not crying remember it's okay if I just pop down real quick so we're trying to

get just a good idea times all that stuff yeah um I'm so Sorry I'm given my best Recollections I'm not a morning person as it is so a lot of the times are best guest U but we know that you go up jungy Young Parkway that that's the the road you usually take um to take her and then you make a left at that McDonald's right which is the town Loop you can make a left to get there either at the McDonald's or at Town Center itself they both lead to the school so if you

leave her at just so you got a sense of Direction Jong Yong Parkway goes Northbound and southbound so you're going northbound mhm into Orange County making a left at the McDonald's which is the town Loop you said when you did drop her off at that Medium you said it was around 820 8:30ish somewhere around somewhere in there yeah it was it was early but not like outrageously early you know so what would you estimate when you made a left at that McDonald's to Be after I dropped her off no I'm saying when when you dropped

her off oh um first left by that McDonald's yeah when you first go you that first left that you make at the McDonald's had to been around maybe eight maybe quarter after eight sometime in there okay sometime between 8 and a quarter after I think all right so just so it's Uh you can kind of picture it here on the map so you're going northbound you make a left here around like 810 8:15 let's say 8:15 around there when you get over here she change your you make a U-turn you go back to the McDonald's

but you said that she still doesn't want the McDonald's still doesn't want it she was just going to eat the danishes that I had given her so you're going up here now still Northbound on Jong Parkway M you make a left at Town Center this time Town Center then make a right onto yes and then you drop her off around like dropped her off around halfway up the road there so keep in mind all of this is still Northbound okay right you're still Northbound on jungy Young Parkway northbound so why is your car seen going

Southbound at 810 At I'll show you what location it is McDonald's is over here mhm at 8:10 your car is seen going Southbound at this intersection so meaning going toward KMI mhm I had forgotten some I had forgotten my gay clicker I'm sorry I forgot I had gone back to the house real quick after we left um cuz I forgot my gate clicker um I actually had to go through the front gate and use my parking pass um to grab my Clicker so it was a wrong time I'm I'm sorry I like I said I

was guesstimating these times I'm not a morning person okay so yes um we gone out how far did you get before you came back down that when you realized you forgot your clicker nearly all the way nearly all the way to the school um and then we turned around we had plenty of time to kill so it was time to go back I rushed back got the clicker and that's when I came back here this Way so you guys came back here to get your clicker correct so when we look at the cameras in the

front it's going to show you coming back in with her in the car yes with her in the passenger seat yes I know it sounds like we're asking you stupid questions okay we just want to verify I'm sorry I'm not being more help I'm not a morning person that was half asleep as it was I'm trying the clickers to get to get where in into our neighborhood okay and you you forgot the Clicker where uh I forgotten the clicker here so how how did you get in uh you able to use my parking sticker for

them to scan to let me through okay so could you not have done that after you dropped her off I could have but I also like to come back in from the back gate a lot of the times and I didn't know if I would be back right away um and sometimes they're busy up front so it's better not to wait in the Line is uh what time is security usually there at the front gate they were there when I came through he scanned my ticket so would it have not just made more sense to

drop her off and come backs and secuity is already there I don't know if it made more sense it's just what I did okay there you go oh thank you anything else that we haven't asked you feels important maybe that might help us out I'm I'm sorry I'm having Trouble recollecting everything I'm going to step away for a second anything that you remember maybe she might have told you she didn't mention anything in particular I made a joke about a Crocs she wears Crocs and socks we joking about that what she say she's usually like

a happy go gock girl very happy she brings a lot of Joy she's a very good girl it definitely doesn't feel the same Around here if she's not here she was so happy too she was looking forward to my visit here she was looking forward to us all being together she's just happy she's just very happy so you guys you'd say you guys have a good pretty good relationship yeah definitely have a very strong bond she goes to when gets in a fight with her and she needs someone to comfort her And like and that

person for her you know how's good most of the time you know not long ago so she's getting the PMS mood swings and know they butt heads and so as well as you can expect but otherwise very loving very loving this girl knows nothing but love here in this house she hardly ever hears a word M double-edged sword that is how is she in school so so she's so so in school like she doing a lot better though apparently she just made student of the week oh nice okay yeah so we're very proud of her

and she's doing singing choir and she's sounding just amazing she sang for me last night I immediately wanted to show her the movie Sister Act because because of the choir singing it was so pretty it reminded Me told her I was very proud of her does she have um does she like video games anything like that she does like video games yeah um she plays Roblox Minecraft I think those are the two big ones that I know of you don't know if her to like ever have any friends on there that she talks to anything

like that she does she does group chats she does like voice voice chatting too on it usually with like her Cousins or her friends uh and they'll all be playing Roblox or something you know yelling at each other on the phone [Music] um when's the last time you all lived together M just December December okay December and you said the reason was for your your parents down there yeah going down to help them cuz they're getting on an age and they're making their end of life plans and they need someone to help Out can you

unlock this one more time sure um I have a question yes sorry are you guys done no um the other detective mentioned that you did not have your phone yesterday correct tell me about that I left my phone at home in the morning too I was so busy riding her over the door on time that I left my phone she left her phone we both left our phones did you have your phone when you went to the smoke Shop not the first time after I dropped her off I was still without it uh I got

it got my phone and went back to the smoke shop okay later when I got home and then I also noticed I was checking your call history I noticed that you don't have anything before this morning is that usual on your phone uh no it's it's a new phone I stupid I went to do an update yesterday morning um and I don't know what the [ __ ] pardon me um I don't know what the heck I did but Somehow during the massive OS update I managed to factory reset my phone and lose all of

my contacts all my information uhhuh what time was that do you remember oh sometime while I was hanging out with Jen Jen might know I looked at her and said what what did I just do okay um she might know better I don't know what time it was it was when I was here with Jen Okay I don't think I have any other questions uh do you I don't know where my head was yesterday it was so far up my back back side that's okay we understand um in the meantime while we're waiting for all

this to get sorted out I am going to hold on to your phone okay um I'll give it back to you when we're done okay okay do you have any questions for us um how long are you going to need my Phone that's I'm not sure I'm waiting for my supervisor to call me my dad it's just my dad's using that to get a hold of me and get updates they can call Jens fun okay did the other Detective give you his business card um I believe so okay well here's mine in case you want

it for any reason okay okay mhm do you SAR that everything you told us is true yes okay thank you so much thanks for your time we appreciate it I know it's a little Hectic right now and then I know you were about to head somewhere if you can just hang tight and refrain from going back in your car please oh yeah it's fine I was actually going to move it over a spot no just leave it here it's fine thank you Florida I'm sure you're aware case number 24113 13 today's date is uh February

28th 2024 the time is 006 hours speaking with Stefon again okay so as you guys know they have right M they've been going through the phone and they noticed that there was like a lot of messages between you and um can you explain to me what your relationship is between yeah um mostly things like when you're going to call us when you're going to Come up here and visit May poopy head get online things like that okay um sorry I don't mean to cut you off your phone I told you that I was going to

um hold on to it and that we would like to download your phone right okay is this something that I have your consent to do or do I need to get a search warrant for your phone uh it should be fine you're okay with us going through your phone yeah okay can I have the PIN to your phone Uh 4 2586 425 86 okay perfect thank you so much and then okay so when you guys FaceTime what do you guys talk about um there too we're just chatting okay um I noticed that at some some

of the times that you guys are FaceTiming it's like really late is it normal for her to be in bed at late yeah okay bedtime usually around 10:30 11:00 um I talk to them both before bedtime When I'm not here okay 1030 is supposed to be her bedtime but she she gets to push it sometimes okay when you guys are FaceTiming okay some phone to FaceTime with her sometimes FaceTiming them both together on one of the phones okay and then yet you said that yesterday you accidentally factory reset your phone correct yeah okay do you

remember what time that was uh no it was sometime in the morning I' had been pushing off doing an update for a while was that before or after you went to the smoke shop uh before I'm not sure I'm not a morning person um it's a newer phone uh I was doing this update and it had some sort of weird option at the bottom that said something about reinstall everything and I I I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing okay can you explain to me um where were you like were you in your

Settings uh I was following whatever the links were for the the OS update where I don't have a Android so I don't know where I'm not super texting is it like a text was it it it was it was a push notification that came in at the top that I had just been ignoring for a long time yeah okay and then I just it was it was a it's a boneheaded maneuver okay and then where did it direct you to I don't Know it took me to a page with with all the stuff and the

system and I clicked something I I wasn't paying attention do you remember what it said like what kind of update was it uh it was it was like a big OS update and it had all these options and it it was like reinstall reinstall something with all the apps and stuff reinstall all everything the apps and stuff I I don't know exactly what I I pushed It and it started doing the update and then something it turned into some sort of reset or something I'm not sure how I did that okay I was half asleep

and and then when you came back to get your key fob what did you do when you got here ran inside got the key fob ran back out again okay where did you park uh right right up here I think okay how long would you say you were inside your apartment for literally long enough to Run in grab the fob and and come back out so okay and then what did you do most what did you do when you came back up uh got back in the car and went back on back on uh the

morning Mission okay the camera has you in the complex for 12 minutes mhm does that seem about right yeah coming into the complex driving around parking getting the fob coming back out sounds about right okay and then you leave what time would you Say you dropped her off at the school or not at the school but in the area my estimate was sometime between 8:20 and 8:40 okay the camera has you leaving the complex at 8:31 8:31 okay so it must have been closer to 8:40 then okay and then after you dropped her off did

you go directly to the smoke shop I did I went directly to the smoke shop um waited it was supposed to be open but it wasn't um I waited a little while to see if they were just being slow about Turning on the open sign they weren't so I went home at that point how long do you think you waited 5 10 minutes maybe okay so if you drop her off at like 8:40 how far is a smoke shot from there to where you dropped her off I'm not I'm not sure I'm not sure how

how many minutes how far did you go anywhere else after the smoke shop Um sorry I don't know um I don't think I went anywhere specific I was just driving probably in the direction of home but I don't remember stopping anywhere specifically and you were there for 5 to 10 minutes roundabout I think okay so like let's say you Dr drop her off at 8:40 we don't see your car coming back south until 10:00 in the morning mhm so what are you doing between 8:40 and 10:00 um cruising around a little bit um okay but

I asked you earlier you know like what you were doing and you said you were there for like 5 or 10 minutes and then you came back home yeah I went to the smoke shop like I said um but I was probably I may have been Meandering around the area but made my way home okay but I'm asking you earlier right and even like the first time we talked to you you're not telling us that you're like you know Just cruising the area like you're coming home so I need to be able to explain to

my supervisors why there's such a Time Gap I mean I don't I don't know what to say it was just a normal day I didn't have anything important to do the smoke shop was supposed to open soon so I made my way over there wasn't any particular rush though okay but can you help me explain to them because I don't know the Explanation or the answer to this question okay so can you help me explain to them why there're such a delay in the time no can't explain it I wasn't going anywhere in particular wasn't

doing anything in particular just making my way to the smoke shop waited for them to open they did not open and then I left where did you go from there from the smoke shop I went home okay the smoke shop is like 10 minutes from here Right 15 20ish 15 20ish something like that earlier you told us it was 10 minutes time is not a strong suit of mine I'm I'm guesstimating here I'm doing I understand but I have to be able to explain you know where you were for an hour and 20 minutes mhm

does that make sense yes and right now I can't explain that okay smoke shop was supposed to open close to 10 I waited they did not Open and I came home what time specifically are it supposed to open uh 10:00 is this when it's supposed to open so why'd you go at 8:40 uh like I said I didn't go exactly at 8:40 I went to the smoke shop after I dropped her off but but even if it was 9:00 that still would have been an hour before they're supposed to open mhm so why would you

think it would be open I didn't think it would be open I was Hoping I would get there early enough and wait for it to open so you would have waited an hour for it to be open I did not wait an hour I got there maybe 20 20 minutes before it opened 15 minutes pour it open and just sat and waited but then you're scene coming at 10:00 a.m. when it's supposed to open already coming down it it leaving because it was supposed to open at 10:00 a.m. I waited a few minutes after 10:00

they were not opening and that's when I I left you did not wait 2 minutes a few minutes after 10: what what do you mean at 10:00 a.m. you were seen coming down Southbound on Jong Yong parkway at the intersection of Jong par I was still in front of that shop waiting to see if they were going to turn on the open sign okay but if you dropped at 8:40 and you said you only waited for a couple minutes at the smoke shop why would you still be there at 10: I waited To see if

it would open and they did not open we we got that part but you said you were there for a couple of minutes mhm but and then you said you were there a couple minutes after 10 so that that's it doesn't make S make sense I I apologize for that I'm I'm trying to help you out the best that I can but right so like if you drop her off around 8:40 let's say give or take 10 minutes you make it to the shop around 9:00 the Smoke shop and you sit there and wait for

a couple minutes for it to open you said you waited for maybe 5 or 10 minutes right does it make sense that you're still there at 10:00 I was there at 10 o00 okay so what did you do before that I dropped her off and I made my way over not a direct route but I made my way over there did you stop anywhere on your way to the smoke shop I don't I don't think So do you have um problems with your memory that you can't recall what you did yes um I'm extremely ADHD

I'm sorry so just details start to get fuzzy after a while even the times I'm giving you are my best gestat [Music] here didn't have my phone with me at the time so I wasn't aware of exactly what time there's no time on your car transpiring there probably is but it's not my car it's my parents' Car how certain were are you that you were outside of the smoke shop at 10: a.m. 90% sure what makes you think that you were there at 10: um I saw lights on inside the place um it looked like

they were coming to life in there so it looked like they were about to open mhm um and I was waiting to see if they were going to turn on the open do you remember who if there was anybody inside uh I couldn't see inside From the outside but after I came home and then went back to the smoke shop again later uh when they definitely were open uh I stopped in and got my vape juice finally um I don't remember the name of the guy working there but um he was like a skinny guy

uh short skinny guy um when you came back for the fob did she go inside with you no she was in the car still she was asleep Where in the car passenger side the front seat correct okay did she at any point go in the back of the vehicle like in the back seat no so she was in the front the whole time mhm awake or asleep she was asleep okay she was confident we had gotten up how was she you position in the front seat um lean back in the seat just kind of ConEd

out and naen where was her head in relation to the seat um against the seat I think against it Just was the seat leaning back or the seat was leaning back yeah she had leaned the seat back so that she could recline and okay and then I need you to try to you know refresh your memory when you got the flat tire on 192 what could you see around you it's 192 it all looks the same um I'm I'm so sorry I'm drawing a blank as any specific business are names did you pull off to

the side of The road to a business uh it pulled off into a side Plaza like one of those little strips along the side dug around for my my spare and my Jack thankfully we had both what direction were you coming in I was going towards um towards John Young okay so that Dire and it was a plaza you don't remember any businesses that were in the plaza I don't I was focused on the what color is the plaza oh God I I have no idea what color the plaza was I'm sorry I didn't didn't

even register a detail like that okay remind me again what you were doing and went on 192 uh I was looking around at different game shops U one of my car games U just had a release on Friday lurana what's what card are you talking about uh it's uh it's like a Trading card game um they had a big release on Friday so I wanted to go around and see what's the card though I'm sorry what is the game uh it's called lurana lorana yeah l o r c a n a it's a trading card

game made by Disney kind of like Pokemon cards or magic gather okay and you stopped at what shop uh I stopped over by Target I was going to see if they had any I then went up and was going to go to a place called house rules games um that Is on 192 in Oak Street mhm um I did not make it a house rules games cuz I got a flat tire before okay which Target did you go to uh the one down on 192 192 on what [Music] uh is there more than one down

there I don't know I'm not familiar with the area oh uh it's it's it's the one down there by the Walmart I think I'm not sure what the cross streets are I'm Sorry I'm so sorry I wish I could be more help I'm so sorry and how long were you changing your tire for I'm not sure how long it took um I got back here by like 235 240 um because I was trying to get home to go with her to go school um we need to leave by 2:30 the flat tire um made me

late for that Okay um and there's absolutely nothing that you can remember about the plaza that you got the flat no I don't remember color I mean it's all just kind of brownish I think along there and you said when you got your flat you were heading towards jyp from 192 yes okay where's your um flat tire at uh it's in the trunk okay um got the spare on there right now Yeah I saw the spare um I don't think I have anything else my um phone number if you can remember where you got your

flat tire um just have her send me a text message okay okay um I'm so sorry I know the details are important and just the way our brains work with ADHD is those things can get fuzzy and are you on any medication uh I'm supposed to be I have not been medicated lately so I'm just I'm not a morning Person I'm not I'm very time blind on the best of days and forgetful so I understand that none of that is helpful in this case very sorry um I explain that we're going to have the apartment

um secured for the rest of the night okay why um so the investigation is not going to happen tonight it is so just so I explained to her me and him have been out all day right so we're going to go home but just because me and Him are going home doesn't mean that there isn't other people out here okay mhm we have another unit out here which is called violent crimes they're out all night so they're going to keep looking we also have have some of our detectives that were sent home earlier to get

rest because they were going to come and relieve me and him right so we're going to take like shifts with the investigation um because obviously if we're exhausted we're of no Use we're all exhausted brain as much right and we don't want that to happen um with anything that we're doing so what we're doing is we're taking turns with whatever needs to be done so we'll brief whoever's coming next andin hey this is what we did this is what needs to be done okay the reason we are keeping your house for the night is because

your house cannot be completed by one person right we don't do that we have a unit that comes and takes Pictures and does whatever they need to do with the house um after a certain time it's only one person working in that unit and she can do it by herself so people come in at 8 o'clock in the morning so when the rest of her Squad comes in they're going to come in and you know tackle your your place as a unit so that they can get it done quicker does that make sense mhm um

and then I explained to her too because in Your car we are going to also tow your car okay it's going to go to our Sheriff's Office which is at 2500 West colonal okay um she said she needed to get her medication you're not under any medication I have medication in the house though that I do need to get my blood pressure meds and anxiety meds as well okay so I'm going to try to figure out where all of this stuff is where's your stuff at uh upstairs in the guest room currently In guest room

number four yes um and it's on top of the mini refrigerator is it does it have your name on it yes all of it okay where do she keep where does she keep her medicine uh in her zipper case on her nightstand I believe in the downstairs correct what zipper uh it's like a little sort of brown zipper case it's on on her nightstand so right on top of okay so I can just bring the whole thing Up yeah okay um I don't know if there's any bottles on top of the night stand around it

too but you might want to grab though yeah just is there anything that you can recall that we haven't asked you I know we asked you like a whole bunch of questions earlier and we just asked you like a whole bunch more I know my brain is so muchh right now I barely slept I haven't eaten in Two days um I'm trying to think of questions for you can I see what shirt you're wearing what's that can I see what shirt you're wearing yeah blue shirt okay remember what shirt you were wearing on uh Monday

morning um I believe it was this shirt I'm still wearing the same Shirt have you showered since then or anything uh I showered showered the other night no not not since [Music] yesterday sorry it's even hair is even still greasy I know you got a cut right from yeah from changing the tire I haven't do you mind if I see your arms yeah go for it I change the tire do you mind taking your sweater off uh it's cold but Yeah hav changed the tire in like 10 years I made a rookie mistake got my

thumb too close to the Jack and the frame and it slipped pinned my thumb in between the frame and the Jack I got lucky I panicked and pull it out which you're not supposed to do M but it was a lot of pain I panicked and flip your hand over can you see the other arm MH whatever my parents use for a tire iron in their you mind if I take a Picture of the yeah yeah go for it let me see if the flash works okay can you go like this again mhm and then

flip it over for me let me do thisp it over it pleas okay is that good yeah um she got her stuff so let me go get your stuff and then you guys will be good to go okay where are you guys going to head do you know no idea okay can you it's me and address of wherever you guys End up yeah I think my Dad's on his way down too out here okay um let me just verify her pills and that's it okay and then your phone they're going to work on it overnight

so you'll probably get it in the morning is that okay okay okay