Overview

• Stephan Sterns entered no-contest and guilty pleas to first-degree murder and multiple sexual battery charges, averting a potential death sentence
• Osceola County Circuit Judge Keith Carsten imposed concurrent life sentences without the possibility of parole for both the murder and sex-crime convictions
• As part of the deal, Sterns relinquished all appellate rights, ensuring his sentences remain final and sparing the Soto family further court proceedings
• Forensic investigators recovered images and videos from Sterns’s factory-reset phone and cloud storage that documented years of abuse against 13-year-old Madeline Soto
• Sterns, who was dating Madeline’s mother, became the prime suspect when he failed to drop the girl off at school in February 2024 and was arrested days before her body was found