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Content advisory: This article mentions sex abuse, CSAM, and homicide. Please take care while reading.
When Stephan Sterns, 37, was arrested for possessing a slew of inappropriate – euphemistically speaking – footage of himself sexually assaulting young Madeline Soto, people turned their eyes and raised brows to the mother, Jennifer Lissette Soto.
It is not clear how much Jenn knew about her daughter’s prolonged abuse at the hands of her on-again off-again boyfriend and her ultimate tragic demise, just days after her 13th birthday on Feb. 22. However, it came to light in May that Jenn was aware of things no mother should be comfortable with much less encourage.
Most netizens grew suspicious of Jennifer when she misspoke during one of her interviews prior to her daughter’s body being found days miles away from their home after Sterns’ arrest. She said, “We took her to school,” which she later rephrased as “my partner took her to school.”
A netizen wrote on a Reddit thread:
One thing is clear, especially as more information came out, most netizens do not have Maddie’s mother’s back. In fact, many believe Jennifer Soto is guilty of something, if not of Madeline’s murder or direct abuse, then of allowing, willfully or not, a sexual predator to prey on her tween daughter not for days, or months, but for years.
Conflicting statements and concerning dynamics
With Stephan charged with murder, the detectives turned their focus on piecing together who knew what, where, and when – some also leaked crime scene photos by accident, but that’s another story. This process entailed that they had an eagle eye trained on the mother, who, by all means, made a couple of statements that didn’t add up, and some others that were concerning, to say the least.
In an interview, Jennifer said the last time she saw her daughter was Sunday night, Feb. 25. But to the police, she was inconsistent and contradicted herself, alleging she saw Madeline getting dressed for school, a statement which would give Sterns some protection, as he had claimed he’d dropped Madeline near her school, a narrative that attempted to divert attention elsewhere. It could well be that in the initial interviews, Jenn was only parroting the same things her boyfriend had told her, perhaps believing them to be the truth.
Jenn would later correct herself, telling authorities that she was sleeping in the morning of the day of Madeline’s disappearance so she couldn’t be sure it was her daughter she heard going around the kitchen in preparation for the day ahead. Therefore, there was no way she could legitimately provide an alibi for Stephan’s story.
Sterns quickly proved himself to be more than unreliable. Before 8 am, the alleged killer had thrown Maddie’s belongings, including her backpack and school laptop, in a nearby dumpster. The teenager could indeed be seen in video footage inside the car that morning, but police believe she was already dead. In other words, there is footage that confirms that Sterns drove around with Madeline’s body.
There are enough holes and ambiguities in all the stories Jennifer told for people to be reasonably suspicious of her involvement. Perhaps worse of all, which intensified the scrutiny, Jenn said to the police, after the sexual abuse was discovered, that she was not only aware that Stephan, her on-and-off boyfriend, would sleep in the same bed as her young daughter but she seemed to be perfectly okay with it. In her own words:
“Sometimes when I really need a good night’s sleep, I will send them upstairs. […] A lot of times we will sleep together in the king-sized bed. All three of us. Or sometimes Stephan will go upstairs and share a bed alone. So it just really depends on what’s going on that night with our schedules and what we’re doing.”
According to an Incident Report by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, during her police interview on March 1, having learned about how Sterns preyed on her daughter, Jenn reportedly told investigators that the “sex stuff” was not necessarily evil but the murder of Madeline was. She also remarked that she did not take notice of anything unusual going on between the two (per WESH).
A Reddit poll reflects where netizens’ minds are at in regard to Jenn’s accountability in this case:
It did disappoint a few people to learn that, according to what was first reported by WFTV’s Shannon Butler, there are no plans to charge Jenn Soto with any crime at this time for lack of evidence.
We still don’t know the full truth. Some facts may remain in the dark before they are revealed in court while others may never truly come to light. But hopefully, by the end of this tragic story, someone will be brought to justice for not only having killed Maddie but also terrorizing her in unspeakable ways for years.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.