Nearly two months after a 13-year-old girl was killed, her mother’s boyfriend, already in jail on sexual abuse charges, has been charged with first-degree murder.
Stephan Sterns is accused of killing Madeline Soto in Kissimmee, Florida, at the end of February.
The 13-year-old had just celebrated her birthday when she was reported missing on 26 February, with her body found on 1 March.
At a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, State Attorney Andrew Bain said that a grand jury had returned the indictment earlier in the day.
“For the last seven weeks, the Kissimmee Police Department and my office have been working closely to go over every piece of evidence that we could gather in this case,” Mr Bain said. “It was voluminous and a lot of evidence to go over in that time.”
Mr Bain said that his office was considering whether to seek the death penalty for Mr Sterns.
“I want to thank the grand jury for their hard work and their efforts in ensuring we are taking this first step in seeking justice for Madeline Soto,” he added.
Kissimmee Police Chief Betty Holland said she understood the interest in Madeline’s case as she had just celebrated her birthday and was “just a child”.
“The evidence shows an individual who was entrusted to keep Madeline safe made calculated moves to dispose Madeline’s belongings and place her body in a wooded area before she was ever reported missing,” Chief Holland said.
Madeline was reported missing on the afternoon of 26 February. Mr Sterns, 37, said he had dropped her off close to school that morning, but she never arrived for class.
After a four-day search, Madeline’s body was found in a wooded area.
Mr Sterns was arrested while search efforts were still underway, after “disturbing” images and videos of alleged sexual abuse were found on his phone.
Investigators said the media, showing abuse stretching back years, was discovered despite the suspect saying he had accidentally performed a factory reset of his phone the day Madeline vanished.
He was later charged with sixty child sexual abuse offences and has been held in the Osceola County Jail since.
Mr Sterns was due to have his pre-trial hearing earlier on Wednesday, but this was pushed back to July.
Mr Bain said that he expects Mr Sterns to appear in court in the coming days.
