Jen go ahead and and tell us what's going on with Maddie well um Monday morning we took her to school we dropped her off close to school across the street from a church which is very it's right next to the school um she crossed the street um and walked to school what we thought walked to school um my boyfriend who drove her to school w drove away at that point um it was seen on video footage that she hung out in the parking lot of the church for a few minutes and then got up and walked towards the school but she never made it that walk from and that was around 9:00 a. m. when she got up uh she never made it to school after that um it's right next to the school I don't know why she didn't make it I don't know if something happened on her walk along the way or if she got taken but she never made it and that was the last anyone seen of her or heard from her yes um I went to pick her up after school um and she wasn't there um so I started driving around trying maybe thinking she took a walk maybe she decided to walk to my mom's office which is pretty close to the school as well drove around and I didn't see anything I drove back to the School the school was closed I emailed one of her teachers they confirmed that she was absent all day at that point is when I called 911 because I realized something was truly wrong um have you heard from like any of her friends has she been active on any social media she hasn't been active on social media none of her chats none of her games uh we did contact all her friends none of them had seen her Monday or heard from her um yeah there's no update and I have to ask this and I know I I hate doing it but is she the type that would run away has this happened in the past or anything has she ever threatened to run away never she's never ever mentioned anything like this before and she's not the type to want to do this um she did accidentally leave her phone on Monday um which is kind of normal for her she's got ADHD and very forgetful um so she left her phone at home so there's no way to trace her they tried tracing her school laptop um but that's off so it's not pinging to anything Jen what what is your fear I know you mentioned she's on games and stuff do you think she could have like met somebody and tried to meet up with them from she's open to us she's open with us about you know she's got a crush with anyone and she told us she had a crush on someone at school um and I looked at their messages nothing was weird I looked at all of her messages all of her deleted messages nothing seemed weird it didn't seem like she was talking to anyone um so I don't feel like that's the case I feel like she may have been taken um because this is not like her at all to just disappear and not tell us not let us know where she's going or who she's with um yeah what what are you getting from law enforcement I mean are they actively searching for her I mean what what happens now I mean especially that she doesn't have phone with her um so as far as I know they're conducting a search around the school behind the school there's Shingle Creek there a a Wooded Path area that you could walk uh it's a hiking path they are going back there with their can9 dogs uh they've taken a piece of her clothing to see if they can trace her scent um they're also taking their own Vehicles I'm not sure what type of vehicles but they're going into the wood to search for her um but I don't feel like that's going to find anything right now we've had people all day on that trail sending us photos to see if anything there looks familiar and like her personal belongings and nothing is hers so I'm not sure I'm not sure where to go from here I'm just contacting the news to get the word out to get some help because I'm desperate I I'm a wreck right now so you think that she's been taken against her will I do think so yes as a mom you know what is your what's your mother's intuition telling you right now I'm trying to hope for the best but I'm just I'm scared for her I want her to be okay and I want her to be safe I don't want I don't want her to come back harmed I just I just want her back whatever that means just I just want her back are you getting any updates from law enforcement I mean yes they're searching that small area but have they gotten any hits on any scent or anything like that they haven't let me know anything they haven't updated me since I spoke to them this morning I've contacted them to get some information or to give them some leads but I've heard nothing back and Jen there's no way that she just being you know a teenager was like maybe had a fight with you or an argument with you and was like you know what I'm going to go hang out at so and so's house and teach her a lesson you know could that be a scenario I don't believe so we actually haven't gotten into a fight in like a few weeks or arguments or anything like that if anything on Sunday she celebrated her 13th birthday with my entire family and she had the best day she was so happy she showed us all her gifts um she was she's just a happy girl and she showed it on on Sunday night when she went to bed she was so happy so you know she had the best day I just you know there was no there was no moment in that evening from when she got home from the party that she had her phone or had the laptop she went straight to getting ready and went to bed so I know she didn't have any conversations with anyone she didn't make plans with anyone I didn't I didn't see of that so she spent the whole Sunday celebrating her 13th birthday was her 13th birthday on that Sunday or that was just like the the time you guys were celebrating that was the time we were celebrating her birthday was on Thursday the 22nd she just turned 13 but that's just so heartbreaking to be celebrating her 13th birthday and then the very next day that's the last you you see you've seen of her yeah yeah where where where do you go now are you going to go out there and and search or look or what is your are you sticking by the phone are you you know what are you doing I'm staying at home staying by the phone hoping she just appears um I know my entire family is out looking they've all uh spread a bunch of Flyers they've gone I've had people contact me that they've gone to the international airport to spread Flyers to Amtrak to Greyhound just any way that if someone's taking her and they're trying to take her just to show her face just to make sure you know she's not being taken against her will and you mentioned ADHD was there anything else maybe mentally going on or that that you knew of um she does suffer from anxiety and once upon a time she was diagnosed with autism uh we had her re what's the word braed maybe reevaluated okay we had her re-evaluated um a few months ago actually and they told us no she didn't have autism but she did have some autistic traits she did have ADHD some autistic traits but not autism so I'm not sure where to leave with that because one doctor said she did and one doctor saying she doesn't and I don't know she's just in the middle I guess she because she does have some Tendencies but socially she's pretty great so I'm not sure and with the video that you were able to see whenever your boyfriend dropped her off where where was that what like which video is that a surveillance camera it was a surveillance camera from the church uh Peace church right next to met uh Hunter Creek middle school and do you have that video I don't have that um they didn't show me they wouldn't show me that it was actually they they my sister was the one at location and they were letting her know what they saw on camera okay to any of us got it okay Jen is there anything else that you'd like to to add please please please if you have any information contact me contact law enforcement um any any information helps um Maddie if you see this please come home please be safe I love you very much if you have my Maddie please just let her come home we just want her home all right well good afternoon so thank you for being here um so we can bring as much attention as possible to the case of uh Missing juvenile meline SoDo so let me first start by saying you know I know as a parent this is every parent's worst nightmare uh many of our detectives and deputies who are working the cave they also have children um so they're working extra hard to find meline we can't even imagine uh the pain and anguish that mine's family is going through but I do want to assure the community that we have well over uh 100 deputies detectives uh intelligence analysts and specialized Personnel who are investigating this case and searching for meline uh right now and we will not stop until we find her so meline is 13 years old she has been missing since 8:30 on Monday morning when mom's boyfriend dropped her off near Hunters Creek uh Middle School uh it was he dropped her off actually near the peace United Methodist Church on Town luk Boulevard so I'll kind of go through like a timeline of events as we know it um like I said mom's boyfriend dropped meline off at about 8:30 a.
m. on Monday morning a few blocks away from the school at approximately 4:30 on Monday afternoon mine's mom went to the school to pick her up and found out that meline was not there and had never um reported to school so she never actually entered uh the school and so we also learned that uh meline left her phone at home that day so we were called uh on Monday evening at approximately 8:00 pmm our Patrol deputies went out there met with mine's mom at the school um near Hunter Creek uh to take a report on on her missing daughter so uh we started the investigation uh that night uh started canvasing the area looking for any Witnesses or surveillance video so later that evening uh while we were doing investigation we did obtain an article of meline from the house we called our blood hound The Blood Hound did uh an extensive search which unfortunately did not provide any results about her whereabouts so our missing persons uh detectives responded to take over the investigation so they did uh interviews with Mom mom's boyfriend mine's friends uh from school uh we were able to access mine's phone and there is information on the phone uh that indicated that she told people when she turn turned 13 which was on February 22nd she actually wanted to go live in the woods uh so that was in her phone and so during the course of the day on Tuesday uh detectives and deputies conducted extensive interviews uh an extensive canvas we collected video from the area uh and again conducted interviews with family members so on yesterday we distributed flyers in the area near the school uh as a matter of fact malin's family had their own Flyers we're also Distributing Flyers uh to family and friends and students at the school at the same time um so the house is in CMI where the family lives uh is being held overnight uh by the Orange County Sheriff's Office and the cassm police so that we could secure surgy warrants this is common practice in cases like this and those search warrants should be executed today at uh on Wednesday this morning more than 50 members of our Emergency Response Team uh responded out there to the area near the school and conducted an area search for meline and so we have a command post set up out there at that area we also have a command post set up here at the Sheriff's Office uh for the investigative side of it uh so you know our detectives are continuing to do interviews and follow up on all possible leads one thing we do in all missing person cases especially missing juveniles our uh sex offender surveillance Squad goes out and makes contact with every single sex offender in the area um of mine's last location and so you know I wish I had uh some more definitive answers we just want to keep getting mine's picture out there uh we want people who uh may know something about her disapperance uh to call us they can call us anonymously want 1423 tips they can Al also call 911 if they think they know what happened to meline and again uh you know it's every parent worst nightmare uh but rest assured that you we are doing everything possible uh we have an extensive uh section dedicated um to working solely on find finding out where meline is and I'll take some questions but again still early on in the investigation I'll start over here so um right now U the the facts of The Disappearance uh don't qualify through the for Department of Law Enforcement for an amber alert certainly if through the investigation it does qualify for an amber alert we will send that out sh just I know we say it's the uh her mother's boyfriend is there any indication father's in the picture local is there any possibility another family member from guage might involved in this there's no information to indicate that there's another family member um an outside family member is involved now not at this time is local I'm not sure yeah let's go somebody El no just the information on the phone was that when she turned 13 which was just February 22nd um she was going to live out in the woods so um it's one of the reasons we're out there in that area searching that was uh yeah through either text messages or or other social media messages Sher Church well also mentioned she asked dropped off supicious location dropped offo yeah that's certainly um all the things that are detectives look at I know the initial information was that she said hey uh you know I'm a barrist of this vehicle whatever so Dr me off um at this location uh we're still following up on on all of that um but yeah certainly something that that we will look into you know why not why not drop her off at the school but we're looking into all that so we collected that video uh analyzed it and it's a very very grainy video so we're not actually sure if that's uh mattaline but we but we've collected video um from the from other parts of that area so anytime we have like a missing juvenile we certainly look at everyone uh that has contact uh with that juvenile it's one of the first things we do so the investigation is ongoing so yeah anytime that we have a missing uh kid um who who left her phone at home you know who was dropped off you know early a few bucks from school we look at all of that so you know you know anytime a child goes missing you know to me it's always suspicious and and in this case that's why you we're putting all these resources um towards finding her you know well over a 100 Personnel um are working to find her from detectives to uh analysts uh to specialized Patrol mounted Patrol our Emergency Response Team and others uh not to my knowledge no nothing that was uh beyond the obvious yeah yes where no so we're searching U all the areas uh around um that area where she was last seen and then of course we're searching any area area uh where we've received any tips or uh any areas that um investigative leads have have led us to I can't tell you exactly when it was it obviously it was before um she turned 13 which was February 22nd but that's all I can tell you right now was there any she fol other than that to to my knowledge there was no other indication of turmoil in the house how many believe Sheen Poss so you know that's why we have all these these people out there we don't know if she was taken we don't know if she stepped away um you know it you she left her phone at the house uh so that's why you we're putting all this effort into that's why we're doing this press conference to hope you know someone from from the public may have saw something you know it might not have seemed like a big deal at the time but now knowing what mine looks like uh you maybe it's some information that could help us find her her whereabouts yeah so um anytime a juvenile goes missing um we're always looking at uh social media or phones obviously I said we have our phone we're able to analyze our phone so anything that's involved gaming or social media certainly uh we take a look at and just know that a lot of times some of that information from uh you know third party social media platforms does take time we need to get subpoenas and information um but yeah we are looking at that phone and certainly that's you know things that our detectives will look at yeah so like I said said uh you throughout the investigation um and tips that come in we we search uh different areas I'm not exactly sure where they are right now I just know that we've searched several areas out there midle us kind ofus blound yeah the the blood hounds I mean uh you know we put out our own videos uh you depending on on the scent and how strong it is you know there there's cases of blood hounds you tracking someone uh a mile or even more away so that's why we have blood hounds here you know we use them anytime we have a missing person um and so you know that's one of the uh reasons we not too long ago uh we put out our scent evidence kit um if you know if you want to you can get one of these sent evidence kits you can put a piece of their clothing an article of their clothing inside this kit and then if God forbid uh someone who's elderly May has dementia or Alzheimer goes missing we can give The Blood Hound let them sniff that article and and they may be able to take uh The Blood Hound right to it but they're they're incredible animals as you know and they're they're very capable of of doing those those searches so the information I have is is that was it that it was that the mom's boyfriend um dropped her off that's the information I have sh there's a so alls I will say is that our detectives are following up on every single lead uh with the end result of finding uh meline uh that's that's their number one priority but they in investigations like this they they look at everything like I said you know we interview family members we locate sex offenders that are in the area uh we look at video we look at everyone's phones we do search warrants to see if there's any indication in the house uh so we do all of that um and it's an extensive investigation so I said well over a 100 people are involved so yeah we're hoping uh some tips come in um that that may help us uh again we're we're going to continue to uh look at all the things that we do uh license PL readers video surveillance cell phone information from from everyone uh and those are all the things that are going on right now if we get tips you know certainly we will um you know there there's a lot of different areas out out there um and and we'll send our our search teams to to different areas of the next couple days mention us that uh no um you know we treat a missing person as as a missing persons and I know there's there's different levels and people are on on the Spectrum at different levels so it wouldn't it wouldn't change our investigation it's just a piece of information that we know and you know based on our our our training of dealing with um people who may be on the spectrum that that's something that we take into consideration about where they might end up where they might go all right all right thank you the search for Maddie continues Maddie if you see this please come home it's now been 4 days since 13-year-old meline stto was last seen in Orlando her mother's boyfriend now sitting in a jail cell the prime suspect in her disappearance based upon his uh refusal to come to court he's got an out of County warn out of Oola County his bonds will remain at none and Fox 35 got Stefan Sterns on camera before he was arrested tonight mty's family is hoping for good news as they wait for a break in the case we will not stop until we find [Music] her developing story tonight A lot has happened over the past few days since mdty disappeared so here's what we know right now Maddie celebrated her 13th birthday on Sunday good evening thanks for joining us I'm John Brown and I'm Marisa Goldsmith Monday morning MD's mom's boyfriend Stefan Sterns reportedly took to school she was last seen crossing the street around 8:30 that morning Orange County deputies released this missing person's poster on Tuesday and then Wednesday morning deputies searched the woods near Hunter Creek and then held a press conference and then just before 10:00 last night deputies arrested Sterns his charges include sexual battery Fox 35's Hannah Mackenzie joins us live tonight and Hannah you have been following this story for a while now Sterns has been named a prime suspect in the case yeah Mar Lisa I sure have and I actually spoke with one of Maddie sto's aunts today she tells me this has been a very difficult for day for them and this news this new development has really been devastating to the family but they're still holding out hope for madd's safe return Maddie sto missing since Monday the 13-year-old allegedly dropped off for school near town Loop Boulevard around 8:30 didn't make it inside Stefan Sterns now named prime suspect in her disappearance Sterns is the longtime boyfriend of sto's mother Jen you can see him here in the background of our interview with Jen sto Tuesday I went to pick her up after school um and she wasn't there sitting behind her Sterns is fidgeting and cracking his knuckles that's a way to release tension the point is tension is actually one of the 27 what we call points of interest points of interest that can lead to possible deception or suspect Behavior human behavior investigator Susan Constantine isn't connected to this case we asked her to weigh in on Stern's mannerisms in my personal opinion I would have said Sheriff's Office you need to take a really good look at this guy he is presenting to me suspect Behavior right now Sterns is behind bars charged with sexual battery and possession of material depicting sexual performance by a child Sterns voluntarily handing over his phone stated he accidentally factory reset the device the day Soo went missing on it investigators recovering disturbing photos and videos an arrest warrant from CMI police revealing details too graphic to air what about MrSterns the 37-year-old being held without bond refusing to show up in court Thursday retired detective David nutting has dealt with hundreds of suspects over the years how frustrating is it when you have a prime suspect who is refusing to play ball or give up information or just answer questions is especially frustrating in cases involving children you know because it just seems so right to in human nature to just tell where tell everything you know I mean it's this is this is a truly innoc victim uh this is somebody Maddie a young girl who did not live a high-risk lifestyle and she's apparently with this this monster and you just it's just frustrating is why can't you just tell us what happened and let's resolve this case and bring Maddie back home ears is from Northport Florida that's about two hours from here he still has ties to the area on Thursday the Northport Police Department confirmed they too have assisted in this investigation if you know where Maddie sto is or you have any information that may help investigators with this case you're asked to reach out to the Orange County Sheriff's Office call 911 or call Crim Stoppers and kissing me tonight Hannah Mackenzie Fox 35 News all right so thank you for being here we have some important developments in this case that we want to share with our community I wish uh we were here to tell you that we have found meline um but we have not found her last night detectives from the CMI Police Department met with mine's mother and they had to tell her the very devastating news that although we have not found meline uh we are now confident that she is dead so our efforts will be focused on recovering meline dozens and dozens of Detectives crime analysts and specialized team members uh have been working nonstop and following up on every single lead and every shred of evidence our detectives have determined that meline was never dropped off on the morning of February 26 near her school instead we believe she was already dead at the time and that Stephan Sterns moved her body in the early morning hours on that day we have video evidence that shows Stephan Sterns discarding items in a dumpster in that apartment complex in CMI at 7:35 on Monday February 26 detectives later recovered mine's backpack and her school issued laptop from that dumpster at 819 we have evidence that shows Stephan Sterns returning to the complex and meline was visible in that vehicle we believe she was already dead at that time as a result of that um although the initial missing person's investigation started in Orange County the Kimi police department will now be taking over the investigation and will become the lead agency of course the Orange County Sheriff's Office all of our support Personnel um will be available and we'll be still be assisting in this investigation so this time I'm going to turn it over to Chief Holland from the cmia Police Department chief thank you uh for being here as Sheriff Mina said this is still an active and ongoing investigation and there is a lot of additional information that we cannot release at this time um I do want to note that Stefan Sterns was transported transported from the Orange County Jail to the oilla county jail where he is being held on Capital sexual battery charges filed by the CMI police detectives right now our top priority is recovering mateline we are still appealing to our community for its help in this case please share this crimeline bulletin on my right um of stepen Sterns um he was last seen driving a silver 2010 Lincoln MKZ the Florida tag is i y l L82 on Monday February 26th between 1 and 2:30 p. m.
