Overview

• Stearns entered guilty pleas to first-degree murder and 60 counts of sexual battery in a deal negotiated with Osceola County prosecutors
• The plea agreement removes capital punishment and guarantees a life term when he is sentenced in August
• Investigators recovered ‘disturbing’ images from Sterns’s Google Drive despite a factory reset and reviewed footage of him driving with a slumped passenger matching Madeline’s clothing
• Police unearthed Madeline’s backpack and school laptop in trash bags Sterns discarded, bolstering physical evidence in the case
• A March 2024 warrant alleged Sterns abused Madeline since she was 11 and he initially pleaded not guilty before switching his plea on the trial’s eve