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Credit: Orange County Sheriff's DepartmentFormer Disney World cast member and alleged murderer Stephan Sterns is attempting to keep cameras and the public and press out of the court during pre-trial motions and during the trial. Sterns is accused of killing 13-year-old Madeline Soto while he was living with her and her mother.
The case garnered wide media attention when Madeline went missing and was later found dead last year. Sterns claims in his pre-trial motion that he does not think he can get a fair trial based on the media coverage. He wrote in his motion:
This case has been the subject of unprecedented and highly prejudicial publicity. At every court proceeding, however minor or inconsequential, there has been extensive coverage by the press as well as social media users on YouTube, TikTok, Twitter (now called X) and Facebook.
The incident occurred last February when Soto did not show up to middle school. Sterns and Soto’s mother, Jennifer Soto, reported her missing. During the search for Madeline, both Jennifer and Sterns were interviewed by police and local news as they frantically searched for Madeline.
During their investigation, Orange County Sheriff’s Office detectives said they found what they called “disturbing images” on Sterns’ phone, and a forensic investigation showed that he had tried to delete those images. Detectives believe those crimes were committed at the family’s home in Kissimmee. Sterns is currently in prison on those charges.
Madeline Soto’s body was later found in a remote area of Osceola County near Pearl Lake. After police reviewed video from around the Soto’s apartment complex and the school, Sterns was questioned again by police and arrested on 60 counts of possession of child pornography and sexual battery on a child.
Stephan Sterns working at @Disney as a cast member on the Journey into Imagination ride in Epcot just a few months before he was arrested for having child porn in his phone.
Also the prime suspect in the murder of his step-daughter Madeline Soto.https://t.co/66rb90OU0I pic.twitter.com/isnCb6KTM4— JLR© (@JLRINVESTIGATES) March 7, 2024
It wasn’t until a few weeks after the initial charges that Sterns was officially charged with first-degree murder.
Sterns was a former Walt Disney World cast member, and internet sleuths found photos of him working at Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Jennifer Soto also listed her place of employment as The Walt Disney Company on her LinkedIn biography. She worked as a vacation planner at Walt Disney World.
In newly released phone calls to his parents from prison, Sterns is claiming that he found Madeline already dead. He said in the released tapes:
Well, I discovered her in the state that she was in after everything was said and done. So I mean, obviously, I can’t get into details, but I was not aware that she had passed on. As you know, I’m up and down throughout the night, and I was not in the room the whole time.
According to the calls, Jennifer Soto and Sterns were the only other people in the house when Madeline died.
The judge has 10 days to respond to Sterns’ request to remove the media and public from the courtroom during his trial. His murder trial will begin on May 5, and if he is found guilty, he could receive the death penalty.