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Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is

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not intended for all audiences.

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Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 3: And when you guys show me the picture of her,

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I believe the sexual stuff, but I didn't want to

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believe that he had done anything equal to her.

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Speaker 4: I'm like, know what if he did this? Stop buying.

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Speaker 5: Some of the stories we tell here on Soor and

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Scale will make you sick. They'll tug at your heartstrings,

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They'll change your whole perspective on humanity. They're the ones

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you can't get over, the ones you can't really shake,

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and they stay with you for a long time. The

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story we're about to tell you is one of them.

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This is part one of a two part series. Let's go.

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Speaker 4: Nine one one.

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Speaker 6: What's the location of your emergency?

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Speaker 5: The call is coming out of kissing Me, Florida in

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a quiet suburb in Pocket near Hunter's Creek Middle.

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Speaker 6: School, Police, fire or medical police?

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Speaker 7: Possibly, I'm reporting a missing child?

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Speaker 6: And is she white, black or Hispanic?

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Speaker 7: She's white, kay and dirty blonde hair, blue eyes.

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Speaker 6: Okay, hold on with me here, okay, And then how

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long has it been though, since you guys have last

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seen her?

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Speaker 7: Since this morning? She was dropped off at school this morning,

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and apparently she never showed up. We called everyone we knew,

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no one had seen her. She was less seen at

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the church next to Hunter's Creek Middle School. I think

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it's called Peace Church.

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Speaker 3: I'm not sure if.

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Speaker 7: He's back to dress.

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Speaker 5: She was dropped off that morning, just steps away from

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the school, but she never made it inside. By that afternoon,

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no one had seen her, not her friends, not her teachers,

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not a single person at the school she was dropped

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off then just disappeared. Her name was Madeline Soda and

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she was just thirteen years old. This was her best friend.

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Speaker 8: She came to school in the middle of the year

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in fourth grade. She was like the new kid, so

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like everybody kind of just picked on her stuff. She

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was in a different class to me.

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Speaker 1: She had picked on a lot by people like.

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Speaker 8: That, like nobody really liked and stuff. And then one

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day I kind of like went up to.

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Speaker 1: Her and I was like, Hey, what's your name?

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Speaker 8: And then we got to know each other ever since,

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I just been best friends.

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Speaker 5: As best friends, she and Maddie talked every day.

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Speaker 9: Like every single day.

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Speaker 8: She texted me every morning, I wake up and I

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was gonna text her mind unless she but usually I

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thought it was fitchy yesterday when she didn't text me

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at all, because usually even if justn't going to school

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that day, she texted me like the night or the

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date of like she like up brightly just so like

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text me like, hey, I'm.

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Speaker 9: Not going to school. And she didn't yesterday.

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Speaker 8: But I think everything of it except thought she like,

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oh she like.

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Speaker 10: S left it or something.

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Speaker 5: That morning, February twenty sixth, twenty twenty four, was supposed

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to be routine, a ride to school, maybe breakfast on

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the way. It was the kind of morning you don't

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think twice about until something goes horribly wrong. That morning,

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her mother's boyfriend, Stephen Stearns, drove her to school.

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Speaker 8: Stephanie who all him and she loved him.

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Speaker 9: They were really close.

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Speaker 5: They left earlier than usual. They had time to spare

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and talked about stopping for breakfast at McDonald's, but she

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changed her mind, as little kids do. She was sleepy,

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but she also just wanted to get to school early

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to hang out with her friends. Instead of waiting in

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the insufferable car line, she asked to be dropped off

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about a block away. She would walk the rest of

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the way to find her friends. Apparently, no matter who

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was taking her to school, Maddy preferred to be dropped

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off in the near vicinity. This was usually at the

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church across the street, where a lot of parents dropped

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off their kids to avoid the long lines. That morning,

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the car pulled over, Maddie got out and started walking.

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Speaker 7: They're going to the school to double text and everything.

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But from what we know, she wasn't there, so they

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could be back at seem too because it's right.

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Speaker 6: Next So that's fine. So if at least one of

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you remains there, though I have to meet with an officer,

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that's more than fine.

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Speaker 7: Okay, Yeah, I'll be here.

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Speaker 6: I'll be here, Okay, then all right, thank you so much, ma'am.

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And I'll go ahead and let you goo. We'll be

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out there as quickly as we can.

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Speaker 11: Okay.

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Speaker 5: When someone goes missing, every second matters. Unfortunately, it doesn't

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matter how much you want a limited resource like law enforcement.

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If there's no cops available. There's no cops available, what

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do you expect? After years of demonizing law enforcement all

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cops are bastards? You say, yeah, that has a negative

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but opposite effect.

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Speaker 9: Duh.

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Speaker 7: At LISTADICONI I called that long ago reporting the missing child.

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That it's sort of so howdong the captate here?

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Speaker 12: Okay, hold on, let me open up the call. Let's

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say the cost still currently depending. They had the deputies

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respond out there that we don't have any available deputies.

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We still have the call up though, holding.

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Speaker 7: Okay, so so no one's on their way yet, not yet.

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No does it take long set up to respond to

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the call.

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Speaker 12: If there's a big emergency in the area and there's

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nobody there's no units available, they put the call on hold,

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but as soon as one becomes available, they respond to

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the next pressing call. I'll go ahead and update them

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for the information.

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Speaker 7: All right, thank you, because it's happened on very recently,

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so we just want to everyone here.

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Speaker 5: Since eight am, at the same time, her family started

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calling the school, reaching out to teachers to see if

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anyone had seen her, but no one had.

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Speaker 13: It was one on any please pior medical.

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Speaker 7: No, it's not a medical issue.

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Speaker 12: We have a missing child.

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Speaker 14: Since this morning.

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Speaker 12: We already called three times and the police didn't show

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it up to it because ma'am.

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Speaker 13: I see it. There's a wait for a deputy response.

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Speaker 12: They haven't. They haven't come here yet.

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Speaker 13: I'm wareing, mam.

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Speaker 12: I see it.

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Speaker 13: It's waiting for a deputy response.

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Speaker 12: You're waiting for a deputy response, ma'am.

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Speaker 6: And how long what do we need to wait?

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Speaker 1: It's a child missing.

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Speaker 13: I understand it, man, but I'm just not able to

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give out eta. I don't know when they'll be.

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Speaker 6: There, So how long do we need to wait? An

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emergency and we.

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Speaker 13: Have the information, but it just is they're trying to

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get this someone as soon as possible.

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Speaker 6: So this is not informant for you guys.

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Speaker 13: Really, then we were very busy in the area. Look,

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I understand, and they'll be there something they can, Okay.

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Speaker 5: They didn't just call nine one one once. They had

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to call three times. The first call came in at

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around four forty three pm, then again at five sixteen,

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and then another one at seven twenty one. It took

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officers almost three hours to arrive, and they get there

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until seven thirty seven pm. Deputy logs show the call

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sat waiting because no deputies were available. Units were tied

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up with other emergencies and this one had to wait

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its turn. But before you blame dispatchers, understand that the

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people answering those calls weren't the ones heading out to search.

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They were taking information and waiting for someone in the

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field to clear. They did their jobs correctly by the book,

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exactly as instructed. Mattie's mother was later told there were

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other missing children that day. Seems like an epidemic, right,

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resources were stretched thin. In fact, nearly one thousand children

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are reported missing in the United States every day. That

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works out to about one child every ninety seconds, or

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roughly three hundred and fifty thousand children under eighteen each year.

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Think about that for just a second. That's roughly the

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capacity of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So yeah, an Indianapolis

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Motor Speedway's worth a children goes missing every year. But

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to Maddie's parents, family and friends, statistics didn't really matter

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at the moment. This was serious and urgent. This was

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their own daughter. An entire day had now passed with

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no one seeing Maddie.

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Speaker 6: Does she have a cell phone that she might keep

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on her person?

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Speaker 7: She does it, She had when she looked at home

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conveniently today.

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Speaker 5: Okay, there was no surprise that Maddie left her phone

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at home. This was a common occurrence and it wasn't

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just because she was forgetful.

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Speaker 15: Okay?

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Speaker 6: Is she diagnosed with any medical mental conditions at all?

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Speaker 7: I know she takes medication for ADHD, and I think

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that I'm pretty sure that.

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Speaker 5: At seven thirty seven PM, officers pulled into the condo

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complex and Kissime, where Mattie lived with her mother, Jennifer Soda.

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Also in the home was Jennifer's boyfriend, Stephan Stearns, who

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was frequently there despite an on and off again relationship.

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The unit itself was shared with rooms rented out to

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other women, and the condo was owned by Mattie's grandfather.

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It was a crowded living arrangement, with multiple people coming

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and going in limited space inside the home. By the

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time deputies got there that evening, both Jennifer and Stephan

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were there answering questions and helping officers piece together the

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last known details from that morning. Officers started with the basics,

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documenting what Maddie was wearing and establishing a clear timeline.

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Speaker 9: Be there, what's going on?

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Speaker 3: So it was dropped off close to school this morning,

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but never wee it.

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Speaker 9: I went to the partment to school. I'm sorry once again, ahead, are.

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Speaker 10: We looking for another kid, or we have a kid.

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Speaker 9: Looking for another one.

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Speaker 5: Like I said, an epidemic, especially when Disney World is

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in your backyard.

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Speaker 16: So she was supposed to be dropped off high school,

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didn't make it to school, didn't make.

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Speaker 17: It to school.

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Speaker 4: I went to pick her up from school today and

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she never came out.

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Speaker 18: They announced it over the speaker, and I'm just like,

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maybe she walked.

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Speaker 3: Here, because sometimes she'll walk here to this office.

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Speaker 4: I came here, nothing.

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Speaker 9: I went back to the school.

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Speaker 4: We were closed.

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Speaker 3: I got to notice an email from the school thing

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she was absent. But I also messaged her teacher and

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he looked at her entire tends today and saw that

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she was completely not at school today either.

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Speaker 4: Okay, so she never made it.

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Speaker 9: Okay. What's her name?

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Speaker 4: Madeline?

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Speaker 16: M A d E O I an e I'm ade

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out I any any last name?

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Speaker 9: Otoya.

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Speaker 3: Date of birth February twenty second, two thousand and eleven,

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twenty seven seconds.

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Speaker 16: Oh sorry, twenty second, twenty eleven, thirteen for bred.

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Speaker 5: He said it quietly, but Stephan just pointed out that

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Maddie had just turned thirteen. In fact, just the day

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before a Sunday, the family had a birthday party. Her mother, Jennifer,

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and her mother's boyfriend, Stephan, were not there, but her

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best friend was. But on Monday evening back at the scene,

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officers needed to know what Maddie was wearing when she

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was last seen, so they talked to her mom and Stephan.

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Speaker 9: Green green, white, cross white, cross blue or black?

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Speaker 12: Parents.

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Speaker 3: I think black shorts, black shorts, okay, my shorts?

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Speaker 9: All right. Do you know she has a friends in area?

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Speaker 4: She does, but she doesn't know where they live.

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Speaker 9: She doesn't know where she live.

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Speaker 4: Okay, I asked all of them.

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Speaker 16: Okay, sometime is this like, did she like have any

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places that you guys know that she would usually be

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at any friend's house, any places that like she used

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to hang out?

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Speaker 9: No, not typically okay.

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Speaker 10: Yeah, uh wait one hundred and ten for hundred, hair

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color flung long like that, okay, eye color blue.

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Speaker 9: Does she have any marking arn like any scars or.

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Speaker 15: Anything distinctive beauty mark on her face.

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Speaker 10: On her face, on the face, like below the nose,

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the nose.

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Speaker 15: Yeah, like righting that area there.

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Speaker 9: It's it's very distinctive.

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Speaker 2: You'd know it if you saw her.

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Speaker 3: Well.

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Speaker 5: One officer was talking to Mattie's parents another was speaking

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with staff at the church where she was dropped off.

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That morning, Surveillance showed a child sitting in a parking

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lot for about ten minutes before getting up and walking away.

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After that, the trail disappeared. At that point, investigators were

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still working through possibilities, including one that seemed plausible that

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Maddie may have left on her own.

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Speaker 11: It's possible that she came here and sat in the

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parking lot.

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Speaker 4: For a while.

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Speaker 11: HiT's blurry video, but it looks like I was a

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child sitting right there, and she's sitting The people here

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said that they were adamant they see her on the property,

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But like I said, it's a blurry video, and I

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don't see her getting into anybody's car in the video,

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I see you're sitting on property for going to take

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ten minutes and then walking off property. I don't know

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which way she went from there.

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Speaker 5: The video was blurred, he said, but clearly he showed

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a child lingering for a bit and then walking away.

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Could it have been Maddie? There were signs, even messages

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and comments about wanting to leave, about going off on

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her own, living in the woods when she turned thirteen.

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Why the Woods why thirteen, You may ask, who knows?

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But when don't we all like to just go off

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the grid from time to time regardless. This half baked

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plan was something she had confided about with her friend.

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Speaker 8: We were walking around the bus loop and she was like,

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she was talking about a gator and then she was like,

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you know, it'd.

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Speaker 2: Be like so cool to do.

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Speaker 4: And I was like what.

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Speaker 8: She was like, if we like run into the woods,

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like you know that trail we'd the scope.

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Speaker 1: I was like, yeah.

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Speaker 8: She was like, you would be so cool with like

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go there and just think the little house. And I

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was like the woods like with like animals stuff, And

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I was like, where are you going to get this

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like wooden.

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Speaker 19: Stuff to go this house? And she was like, I

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don't know, if figure it out. And I thought she

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was joking and stuff because she kind of like E

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smiled if you did it, so I thought she was joking,

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but I didn't. I didn't think her seriously.

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Speaker 8: And then when I found she was missing, I can

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deposit in my mind and that to my dad, her

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saying if she were to run away, go into the

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woods and find a place and stay there.

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Speaker 5: If this were true, if she really had planned to leave.

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Then where did she go?

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Speaker 9: He dropped her off a block away and drove away.

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Speaker 2: Okay, did she go to school?

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Speaker 9: Was walking in that direction?

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Speaker 15: She was rifling through her backpack, sliding, so my thought

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maybe she was just looking for her headphones before she

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kind her walking on. Yeah, but she was just coming,

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you know, shambling over in that direction.

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Speaker 2: I looked the same as any.

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Speaker 5: Other morning, Okay, But it wasn't just like any other morning.

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On any other morning, Mattie would have been safe in

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school all day, but she wasn't. She would have made

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it home after school like every other day, but she didn't.

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Whether Maddie ran away or something far worse happened, the

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truth was that she wasn't just missing. She had vanished.

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She had just turned into a teenager, and now her

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family feared she would never make it to adulthood. Mattie

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Soto had just turned thirteen. She lived in Kissimi, Florida,

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with her mother, Jennifer Soto, in a condo complex near

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her school. On the morning of February twenty sixth, twenty

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twenty four, she was dropped off just a short distance

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from the school, a walk she had made before and

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won that at the time didn't seem unusual, but that

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morning she never made it inside. Hours passed before anyone

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realized something was wrong. Her family made calls to the school,

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then to nine point one. By the time deputies arrived

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that evening, Mattie had already been missing for hours, and

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no one could say where she had gone after getting

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out of the car. At first, there were explanations. Maybe

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she left on her own, maybe she wandered off. She

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had allegedly made comments about wanting to leave, about going

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off into the woods. When she turned thirteen. Mattie lived

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with her mother, and she also spent time with her

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grandmother from the time she was about six. Her mother's

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boyfriend was also in the picture. Jennifer and Stephen were

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in an on again, off again relationship for years. For

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the majority of that time, they lived under the same roof.

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According to Jennifer and other family members, Stephan was like

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a dad to Maddie and they had a great relationship.

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But she also had a great relationship with her biological

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dad and her sister, who lived miles away. If she

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didn't take off to live in the woods, maybe she

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took off on a bus or plane to see them.

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Her friend remembered her preoccupation with getting money for her birthday.

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Speaker 8: One section thirteen, I'm going to leave this house and

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never come back. Why thirteen Because I think because she

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would always brag. Because I said that I can't wait

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to my birthday and she was like, are you having

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a birthday party? I said no, and she was like, oh,

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I get a home went of money, like five hundred

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and something dollars on my birthday, you know, like that's

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like so much money. And I was like, yeah, like

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I get money, but like not like that. And I

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don't really like having birthday parties.

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Speaker 19: To last birthday party, I have so much drama.

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Speaker 9: Then she was like okay.

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Speaker 8: She would always talk about getting money for her birthday

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and I didn't give her money, and I already had

359
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given her a gift.

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Speaker 4: I brought it to school.

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Speaker 8: She kind of got mad that I didn't give her

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any money or anything, and I was like, I spent

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money on this and physically give you any money though.

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And then when we also got there, I was like,

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how many presents did you get? And then she was

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like I barely got any money yet, Like I'm kind

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of mad because I want more money. I think she

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was waiting to turn thirteen. That way she could get

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all with her money and go.

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Speaker 4: She got to her sister.

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Speaker 8: Her dad is in Washington, DC, and I think her

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sister is too. Her and her sister are close.

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Speaker 5: Missing her biological dad and sister weren't the only reasons

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Maddie may have taken off without telling anyone. Her friend

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said she didn't always get along with her mom, and

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she had ADHD and other challenges based something I know.

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Speaker 8: I think she kind of just wanted to be free,

378
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kind of just not live under Like.

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Speaker 5: The word mom or mom's rules was redacted, but that's

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a reasonable inference that she didn't necessarily want to live

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under her mom's rules. She had just turned into a teenager.

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Speaker 3: Was she like defiant, like didn't like to follow the rules?

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Speaker 12: Sort of?

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Speaker 10: Yeah, I mean.

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Speaker 8: Took her mans if she didn't take her medsin, she's

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like really crazy and she just thinks she just does

387
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so like impulsive.

388
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Speaker 12: Yeah.

389
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Speaker 5: When investigators took a closer look at what actually happened

390
00:21:37,559 --> 00:21:41,640
that morning, Mattie's disappearance seemed less like a troubled teenager

391
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looking for escape and more like a vulnerable girl who

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may have been abducted on the morning of Mattie's disappearance,

393
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Stephan drove her to school. This wasn't unusual. In fact,

394
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they had a routine for the days he took her

395
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to school that included stopping at McDonald's. But that day

396
00:22:01,839 --> 00:22:05,920
was different. Mattie was more lethargic and slept the whole way.

397
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She refused breakfast twice.

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Speaker 15: Woke up around seven seven fifteen somewhere around there. This

399
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,279
is an early start for us, but she had We

400
00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:20,000
had talked about getting McDonald's like this beforehand, so we

401
00:22:20,039 --> 00:22:20,960
wanted to make good time.

402
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Speaker 2: We did make good time.

403
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Speaker 15: We got out the door maybe seven seven five is maybe,

404
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,079
got over to that area. She was asleep in the

405
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car most of the time, just snooze until we got there.

406
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Speaker 9: We got to McDonald's.

407
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Speaker 15: We're close to McDonald's.

408
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Speaker 2: I said, you still want it.

409
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Speaker 15: Wasn't interested in the McDonald's anymore, so we continued on

410
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and she wanted to be dropped off a little down

411
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the ways from the school. She's got this phase that

412
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:56,359
she's been into lately where she was very particularly about

413
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what car she seemed getting out of in front of

414
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the school.

415
00:23:00,079 --> 00:23:03,640
Speaker 2: I get it, it's an image thing, but that was.

416
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Speaker 15: Sometime probably between eight twenty and eight forty ish, somewhere

417
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in there. It was along the stretch of the road

418
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that on the right side has all the communities on

419
00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:17,839
it before you get to the overpass. You could see

420
00:23:17,839 --> 00:23:20,880
the overpass from where it was, so it was on

421
00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,039
that side, on that stretch of road, and that's where

422
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I dropped her off. She said she was going to

423
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go wait for her friends. Who's going to find them?

424
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And hang out and wait for her friends. And I

425
00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:34,960
asked if that was going to be okay. She said, yeah,

426
00:23:34,960 --> 00:23:38,480
it's fine. Kids get dropped off early enough as it is.

427
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:41,880
It's not totally unusual for that to happen. It's just

428
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not usually that early that I dropped her off. Two

429
00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,640
school runs every once in a while for her.

430
00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 5: Jennifer was happy to have Stephan in her life. He

431
00:23:51,839 --> 00:23:54,440
was a huge help to her. He was able to

432
00:23:54,440 --> 00:23:58,319
give insight to Jennifer about Maddie's ADHD because he too

433
00:23:59,079 --> 00:24:04,799
had ADHD me. According to Stephan, his ADHD was severe.

434
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,680
But Jennifer had issues of her own, including bipolar disorder,

435
00:24:09,319 --> 00:24:13,680
which she was medicating for. Typically, the medicine would help

436
00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,599
regulate her moods and her sleep but at times she'd

437
00:24:17,599 --> 00:24:21,039
forget to take it or her dose needed to be adjusted.

438
00:24:22,079 --> 00:24:25,200
She often didn't sleep well and appreciated that Stephan and

439
00:24:25,279 --> 00:24:29,640
Maddie had a solid father daughter like relationship and he

440
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:33,240
could pick up the slack. In this next clip, take

441
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:39,200
particular notice of how she's explaining her behavior that night,

442
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,400
as if she's trying to explain away a question that

443
00:24:43,359 --> 00:24:44,480
hasn't been asked yet.

444
00:24:45,319 --> 00:24:49,039
Speaker 4: I got home are on ten thirty. I started getting

445
00:24:49,079 --> 00:24:50,200
ready for bed myself.

446
00:24:50,319 --> 00:24:54,079
Speaker 3: I started beating and taking my meds to after take meds.

447
00:24:55,079 --> 00:24:57,440
When I went to take my meds, I realized, oh

448
00:24:57,480 --> 00:25:00,000
my god, I forgot to take my Saturday night's.

449
00:24:59,799 --> 00:25:03,759
Speaker 17: Med which is why I felt so weird, so abnormal,

450
00:25:03,759 --> 00:25:06,559
and not myself. Sunday, while I was at work, everyone

451
00:25:06,559 --> 00:25:09,599
at work nowders. I was acting different and not being

452
00:25:09,599 --> 00:25:11,759
myself like. I couldn't smile in front of the guests.

453
00:25:12,160 --> 00:25:14,279
I felt this wave of depression that I hadn't felt

454
00:25:14,279 --> 00:25:17,640
in years. It was my bipolar symptoms coming up again

455
00:25:17,759 --> 00:25:20,680
that I just I've been medicating.

456
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:21,079
Speaker 9: Myself for for well.

457
00:25:21,640 --> 00:25:23,960
Speaker 14: Sonny, you took your beds. What meds? If you don't

458
00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:25,799
mind me asking what beds do you take, I'm like, ww,

459
00:25:25,839 --> 00:25:28,119
does it? Can they put you to sleep deep? Does

460
00:25:28,160 --> 00:25:30,160
it helped you fall asleep? Or is it helped regulate you?

461
00:25:30,519 --> 00:25:31,960
What kind of happens if you take the beds?

462
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:33,680
Speaker 4: So they do all of the afolve.

463
00:25:35,599 --> 00:25:39,119
Speaker 3: They make me sleepy, They helped me stay asleep, and

464
00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,440
they help me function so I'm stable all day.

465
00:25:43,839 --> 00:25:45,000
Speaker 4: They only work well if.

466
00:25:44,920 --> 00:25:48,240
Speaker 3: I've got a good night's sleep, and if I bet

467
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:50,480
in with them the night before when I take them,

468
00:25:50,599 --> 00:25:54,440
or the night I take them. It's The medication is

469
00:25:54,440 --> 00:26:01,799
called Giadah. Generic brand is called zig Brazo Dome my mess.

470
00:26:02,359 --> 00:26:05,839
And then I told him to start getting ready for Bett,

471
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,480
to start heading upstairs and get ready to do this

472
00:26:07,559 --> 00:26:09,680
old lady of this eleven o'clock has passed for bedtime

473
00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:10,799
she used to go to sleep.

474
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:15,519
Speaker 5: Even by her own account, when Jennifer did take her medication,

475
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:19,039
it didn't just help her sleep, It knocked her out.

476
00:26:20,079 --> 00:26:24,680
She described feeling groggy, disoriented, and sometimes not fully aware

477
00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:28,160
of what had happened the night before. Sleep was very

478
00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:31,519
important to Jennifer in general, so the next morning she

479
00:26:31,559 --> 00:26:34,319
remembered Stephan coming into her room to get the dog

480
00:26:34,960 --> 00:26:37,559
and take him for a walk before he took Maddie

481
00:26:37,559 --> 00:26:42,079
to school because she needed to sleep in and didn't

482
00:26:42,119 --> 00:26:45,400
want to take her Stephan confirmed that he took the

483
00:26:45,440 --> 00:26:47,720
dog for a walk, and then he said he and

484
00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:51,839
Maddie had an early start. Other than Maddie being excessively

485
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:56,000
sleepy and not wanting McDonald's, this was a typical trip

486
00:26:56,079 --> 00:27:00,880
to school. Then she just dropped off the radar. Dropping

487
00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:03,119
off the radar wouldn't be as easy for Maddie as

488
00:27:03,119 --> 00:27:07,240
it would for other students. Her teachers were paying attention.

489
00:27:08,119 --> 00:27:14,519
She had an IEP Individualized Education Programmer special ED as

490
00:27:14,519 --> 00:27:15,319
it used to be known.

491
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:19,319
Speaker 20: She has been in my class all year round. She's

492
00:27:19,359 --> 00:27:22,799
always very sweet, and she's struggles of it. I mean,

493
00:27:22,839 --> 00:27:24,960
all my kids hit kinds of clids, so there are

494
00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,720
the students who are struggling. She was on my door

495
00:27:27,759 --> 00:27:30,160
decorating team. She was actually chosen to be my student

496
00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,200
of the week from two of us ago for helping

497
00:27:32,279 --> 00:27:34,759
us win our door decorating competition with our friends. She

498
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,559
had been reading a book a couple months ago and

499
00:27:39,160 --> 00:27:40,880
it had kissing in it, and it was a graphic

500
00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:42,759
novel and she was like scandalized that there was a

501
00:27:42,799 --> 00:27:43,680
kissing scene.

502
00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,839
Speaker 5: Seventh grade was the year sex education was introduced in

503
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:51,839
this school system, so it wasn't surprising the kids would

504
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,000
make a big deal about a graphic novel. But she

505
00:27:56,079 --> 00:27:59,799
also remembered something Mattie's friends told her after Mattie went missing.

506
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:02,200
Speaker 20: I was shocked when the kids were telling me about

507
00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,839
to live in the woods conversation. I was shocked to

508
00:28:04,839 --> 00:28:08,880
hear something like that. She was very excited about her birthday.

509
00:28:09,039 --> 00:28:13,000
Speaker 5: She had just been made Student of the week. She

510
00:28:13,160 --> 00:28:18,480
was quiet, she struggled, and she was happy about her birthday.

511
00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:23,599
These were descriptions officers heard over and over, but they

512
00:28:23,640 --> 00:28:26,279
also heard that Maddie had a lot of anxiety, not

513
00:28:26,319 --> 00:28:31,799
just typical worries, but panic attacks. This is the school counselor.

514
00:28:32,279 --> 00:28:36,559
Speaker 21: When she has come to me, it's often been those

515
00:28:36,559 --> 00:28:40,079
feelings of panic. She's come to me in the middle

516
00:28:40,079 --> 00:28:43,880
of class or during lunchtime, just feeling really panicked, kind

517
00:28:43,880 --> 00:28:44,680
of heavy.

518
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:46,440
Speaker 4: Breathing, feeling really overwhelmed.

519
00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,880
Speaker 21: And when we've had our conversations about what's going on,

520
00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:55,759
what's making you feel this way, I've got in responses saying, well,

521
00:28:55,799 --> 00:28:58,640
it's my anxiety. Sometimes I don't know, I'm just really

522
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:01,599
overstimulated with all that noise in the cafeteria.

523
00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,519
Speaker 5: But she also talked about things being stressful at home.

524
00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:08,240
Her mother was usually the.

525
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,480
Speaker 21: Focal point, and when I pressed about that, it seemed

526
00:29:11,519 --> 00:29:13,799
to be things along the lines of, well, she gets

527
00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,359
upset that I'm forgetful or that I don't clean.

528
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,599
Speaker 4: My room the way she wants me to, and.

529
00:29:18,519 --> 00:29:22,240
Speaker 21: We talked about what that does to affect her, And

530
00:29:22,279 --> 00:29:25,839
she says, yelling that makes me get over stimulated, and

531
00:29:25,880 --> 00:29:28,039
then I can't respond to her in a way that

532
00:29:28,119 --> 00:29:31,720
she wants me to. So we discussed strategies for kind

533
00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:33,079
of calming herself down.

534
00:29:34,039 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 5: No when at school was raising any real red flags.

535
00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:40,240
A lot of this seemed pretty normal for a seventh

536
00:29:40,279 --> 00:29:43,079
grade girl with hormones and ADHD.

537
00:29:44,039 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 9: She also has an IP Okay, so do you think

538
00:29:47,119 --> 00:29:48,160
maybe I.

539
00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,799
Speaker 22: Always thought that it was partly because she struggles with learning,

540
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:56,440
so I always thought his struggle with learning also are

541
00:29:56,759 --> 00:29:58,759
a little bit with drawn and having her time was seen.

542
00:29:59,480 --> 00:30:02,880
Speaker 5: So yeah, there were struggles, a mom who had her

543
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:07,839
own mental health issues, a broken family ADHD, but none

544
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,160
of it really pointed to a child who was about

545
00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:16,000
to disappear. But investigators had to consider every possibility, whether

546
00:30:16,039 --> 00:30:18,839
she left on her own, met someone, or was picked

547
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,920
up along the way. None of these explanations held up

548
00:30:21,920 --> 00:30:25,880
against the evidence. There was no footage of Maddie getting

549
00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,720
out of a car, no camera capturing the moment she

550
00:30:28,799 --> 00:30:32,480
was dropped off. The only video investigators could locate came

551
00:30:32,519 --> 00:30:35,839
from the area near the church, showing a figure believed

552
00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:40,000
to be Mattie sitting briefly before getting up and walking away.

553
00:30:41,039 --> 00:30:44,880
After that, the trail stops. There were no more sightings,

554
00:30:45,039 --> 00:30:49,160
no confirmed movement, and no indication she'd made it any

555
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,720
farther towards a school. There is no evidence that she

556
00:30:52,960 --> 00:30:56,319
ever met anyone, no sign that she left the area,

557
00:30:57,039 --> 00:31:01,799
and nothing to suggest she went anywhere at all. The

558
00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:06,440
timeline doesn't extend, It just comes to a dead end.

559
00:31:07,359 --> 00:31:11,079
The last person to see Maddie was Stephan, so detectives

560
00:31:11,119 --> 00:31:14,400
had no choice but to dig deeper into his version

561
00:31:14,759 --> 00:31:15,519
of what happened.

562
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,240
Speaker 15: They're saying, Okay, let her out, have a good day.

563
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:23,079
I love you, thanks, love you too. And I turned

564
00:31:23,079 --> 00:31:25,200
around and was driving away and was watching her. In

565
00:31:25,240 --> 00:31:28,519
my review, Mary and make sure that she was former

566
00:31:28,599 --> 00:31:31,200
supposed to go, and she was moving in that direction,

567
00:31:31,279 --> 00:31:33,599
but she was rummaging around in her backpack or something

568
00:31:34,359 --> 00:31:37,480
when I assumed it was probably headphones or something like that,

569
00:31:37,519 --> 00:31:40,400
but find out literal that she forgot her phone here,

570
00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:43,599
so she may have been rummaging for her phone, but

571
00:31:43,759 --> 00:31:46,480
she was still kind of making her way towards towards

572
00:31:46,480 --> 00:31:49,359
that direction, So it looked okay, look like any other day,

573
00:31:49,920 --> 00:31:51,000
and I just continued on.

574
00:31:51,759 --> 00:31:55,279
Speaker 5: After dropping Maddie off, Stephan tells investigators he left the

575
00:31:55,319 --> 00:31:58,799
area and went to a nearby vape shop, but it

576
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:02,440
wasn't opened yet, so he says he returned home briefly,

577
00:32:03,119 --> 00:32:06,279
Jennifer was just getting up because she had slept in.

578
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:08,799
They hung out for a bit, and then he went

579
00:32:08,839 --> 00:32:11,880
back to the vape shop once it opened. From there,

580
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:16,200
his account becomes harder to follow. He describes driving along

581
00:32:16,319 --> 00:32:20,400
Highway one ninety two, stopping at multiple places, including a

582
00:32:20,440 --> 00:32:24,119
comic shop and a Target. So, yeah, that's what an

583
00:32:24,160 --> 00:32:26,880
adult male is doing on a typical weekday, shopping for

584
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:31,759
comic books and weed, maybe stopping by Target. We are

585
00:32:31,839 --> 00:32:36,079
so cooked as a society. Then, at some point during

586
00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:38,559
that time, he says he got a flat tire. He

587
00:32:38,599 --> 00:32:42,759
pulled over and changed it using a spear. He explained

588
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:46,440
apologetically that the flat tire caused him to fall behind,

589
00:32:46,519 --> 00:32:49,480
so he missed the opportunity to pick Maddie up from

590
00:32:49,519 --> 00:32:53,559
school with Jennifer, as they had planned on its own.

591
00:32:53,799 --> 00:32:57,400
None of that stood out as unusual, running air INDs,

592
00:32:57,519 --> 00:33:01,000
losing track of time, even getting a flat tire. These

593
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,079
are the kind of things that happened to everyone every day.

594
00:33:05,039 --> 00:33:07,920
But it created a stretch of time that wasn't clearly

595
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:12,680
accounted for, a window where his movements relied almost completely

596
00:33:12,839 --> 00:33:19,359
on his own recollection, and his recollection wasn't great because

597
00:33:20,279 --> 00:33:26,200
remember he has ADHD. Also, so far, no footage had

598
00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,599
confirmed where he was during that period, No independent witnesses

599
00:33:30,640 --> 00:33:33,960
placed him at any of those stops. As cooperative as

600
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,599
Stephan was, he gave a series of locations, times, and

601
00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:42,039
explanations that became harder to pin down the more they tried.

602
00:33:42,839 --> 00:33:44,240
Speaker 1: It doesn't make sense, make sense.

603
00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,519
Speaker 15: I apologize for that. Trying to help you out the

604
00:33:48,599 --> 00:33:49,759
best I can and bag.

605
00:33:51,240 --> 00:33:51,920
Speaker 1: Right. So like.

606
00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 23: If you drop her off her on eight p forty,

607
00:33:56,279 --> 00:33:59,359
let's say give her take ten minutes. You make it

608
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:04,000
to the shop around nine, the smoke shop, and you

609
00:34:04,039 --> 00:34:05,920
sit there and wait for a couple minutes for it

610
00:34:05,960 --> 00:34:09,079
to open. You said you waited for maybe five or

611
00:34:09,079 --> 00:34:12,440
ten minutes, right, Does it make sense that you're still

612
00:34:12,440 --> 00:34:13,400
there at ten o'clock.

613
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 2: I was there at ten o'clock.

614
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:17,960
Speaker 1: Okay, So what did you do before that?

615
00:34:18,960 --> 00:34:22,199
Speaker 15: I dropped her off and I made my way over

616
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:26,239
not a direct route, but I made my way over there.

617
00:34:27,079 --> 00:34:30,000
Speaker 1: Did you stop anywhere on your way to the smoke shop?

618
00:34:32,840 --> 00:34:33,519
Speaker 2: I don't think so.

619
00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:39,599
Speaker 23: Do you have problems with your memory that you can't

620
00:34:39,599 --> 00:34:40,599
recall what you did?

621
00:34:41,079 --> 00:34:45,599
Speaker 15: I'm extremely ADHD. I'm sorry, so just details start to

622
00:34:45,599 --> 00:34:48,199
get fuzzy after a while. Even the times I'm giving

623
00:34:48,199 --> 00:34:53,360
you are my best guesstimates here. Didn't have my phone

624
00:34:53,400 --> 00:34:55,199
with me at the time, so I wasn't aware of

625
00:34:55,239 --> 00:34:58,519
exactly what time. There's no time on your car transpiring.

626
00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:00,599
There probably is, but not my car.

627
00:35:00,639 --> 00:35:01,599
Speaker 2: It's my parents' car.

628
00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,719
Speaker 5: ADHD, no phone, unfamiliar car.

629
00:35:06,400 --> 00:35:06,719
Speaker 14: I mean.

630
00:35:07,559 --> 00:35:09,880
Speaker 5: ADHD is a real thing, don't get me wrong. And

631
00:35:10,679 --> 00:35:13,960
it does affect memory and the ability to recall details

632
00:35:14,079 --> 00:35:16,559
or keep track of time, all of those things. But

633
00:35:17,559 --> 00:35:21,599
it may also be a really good cover or someone

634
00:35:21,599 --> 00:35:26,039
who's trying to hide something, and that's when the investigation

635
00:35:26,199 --> 00:35:29,880
started to shift away from what Stephan said and towards

636
00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:34,239
what could actually be verified. He gave the investigators every

637
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:38,360
little detail, but he couldn't account for big gaps of time.

638
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:43,000
And while Jennifer corroborated his version of events, she was

639
00:35:43,039 --> 00:35:46,119
also unable to explain gaps of time, probably because she

640
00:35:46,199 --> 00:35:51,639
was asleep or at the doctor's office, maybe getting medicines readjusted.

641
00:35:52,559 --> 00:35:56,480
So investigators turned to the one thing that doesn't rely

642
00:35:56,599 --> 00:36:01,880
on memory or even coherence, his phone. His phone showed

643
00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,480
him going home, leaving again, and doubling back in a

644
00:36:05,519 --> 00:36:10,039
pattern that doesn't match the simple errands he described. What

645
00:36:10,159 --> 00:36:13,079
should have been a simple morning became a series of

646
00:36:13,119 --> 00:36:18,599
trips and changes in direction. He couldn't really explain. Jennifer

647
00:36:18,639 --> 00:36:21,280
corroborated Stephan's morning pretty sure.

648
00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:22,519
Speaker 1: He called me around ten eighteen.

649
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:23,559
Speaker 3: What did he call you for?

650
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,480
Speaker 18: To let me know that if he didn't go to

651
00:36:26,559 --> 00:36:30,199
McDonald's planned. He had asked her multiple times if she

652
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,000
wanted to stop at mcdonald'scause that was the plan of

653
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:33,960
the night before, that they were going to wake up early.

654
00:36:34,119 --> 00:36:35,440
He was gonna take her to McDonald's. Do like a

655
00:36:35,440 --> 00:36:37,960
special McDonald's breakfast and then drop her off at school

656
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,400
early because she wanted to get there a little early.

657
00:36:40,480 --> 00:36:42,480
But on his way to school, she was very sleepy

658
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:46,480
and wanted to sleep in the car, and she said

659
00:36:46,519 --> 00:36:48,679
she did not want to do McDonald's. She just wanted

660
00:36:48,679 --> 00:36:49,280
to be dropped off.

661
00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:49,760
Speaker 1: Okay.

662
00:36:49,920 --> 00:36:50,920
Speaker 17: Also to let me know.

663
00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,880
Speaker 18: That he left his phone at home because I had

664
00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,400
called Hi multiple times in the video. He had left

665
00:36:56,400 --> 00:37:00,599
his phone at home by accident. He had went to

666
00:37:00,800 --> 00:37:04,079
the Babe Shop but they didn't open on time, so

667
00:37:04,119 --> 00:37:06,159
he had waited for quite a while in front of

668
00:37:06,159 --> 00:37:08,360
the Babe shop. They didn't open, so he left and

669
00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:09,760
came back and we hung out a little bit, and

670
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,679
then I think he left again to the Babe shop.

671
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 1: To go by what he did.

672
00:37:15,079 --> 00:37:20,760
Speaker 5: Okay, detectives already knew something they weren't telling Jennifer, something

673
00:37:21,599 --> 00:37:25,840
they had already discussed with Stephen. His car was caught

674
00:37:25,880 --> 00:37:28,480
on camera with a passenger in it for longer than

675
00:37:28,519 --> 00:37:33,000
he admitted, including turning around en route to circle back

676
00:37:33,039 --> 00:37:36,079
to the apartment because he forgot a keyfob.

677
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:42,199
Speaker 23: When you came back to get your keyfob, what did

678
00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:43,639
you do when you got here?

679
00:37:44,519 --> 00:37:47,159
Speaker 2: Yeah, sorry, got key fob, ran back out again.

680
00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:48,800
Speaker 1: Okay? Where did you park?

681
00:37:51,639 --> 00:37:53,000
Speaker 2: Right right up here? I think?

682
00:37:54,039 --> 00:37:57,320
Speaker 1: Okay? How long would you say you were inside your apartment.

683
00:37:56,920 --> 00:38:00,599
Speaker 15: For literally long enough to run in, grind the falling,

684
00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:02,599
and come back out, so okay, And.

685
00:38:02,559 --> 00:38:05,679
Speaker 1: Then what did you do? What did you do when

686
00:38:05,719 --> 00:38:06,679
you came back up.

687
00:38:07,599 --> 00:38:10,039
Speaker 15: Got back in the car, and went back on went

688
00:38:10,079 --> 00:38:12,000
back on the morning mission?

689
00:38:12,519 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: Okay?

690
00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,360
Speaker 23: The camera has you in the complex for twelve minutes?

691
00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:21,079
Speaker 1: Does that seem about right?

692
00:38:22,239 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 13: Yeah?

693
00:38:22,559 --> 00:38:27,920
Speaker 15: Coming into the complex, driving around, parking, getting the fog,

694
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,960
coming back out sounds about right.

695
00:38:31,079 --> 00:38:33,599
Speaker 1: Okay. And then you leave?

696
00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,039
Speaker 23: What time would you say you dropped her off at

697
00:38:36,039 --> 00:38:38,159
the school or not at the school, but in the area.

698
00:38:38,880 --> 00:38:45,599
Speaker 15: My estimate was sometime between eight twenty and eight forty Yeah, okay.

699
00:38:45,800 --> 00:38:48,280
The camera has you leaving the complex at eight thirty

700
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:51,119
one thirty one, okay, so it must have been closer

701
00:38:51,119 --> 00:38:54,000
to eight forty then roundabout, I think.

702
00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:54,679
Speaker 1: Okay.

703
00:38:54,719 --> 00:38:57,119
Speaker 23: So, like, let's say you drop her off at eight forty,

704
00:38:57,719 --> 00:39:00,440
we don't see your car coming back south until ten

705
00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,039
o'clock in the morning, So what are you doing between

706
00:39:04,400 --> 00:39:05,280
eight forty and.

707
00:39:05,239 --> 00:39:06,239
Speaker 1: Ten o'clock.

708
00:39:08,000 --> 00:39:09,280
Speaker 2: Cruising around a little bit?

709
00:39:09,840 --> 00:39:10,119
Speaker 1: Okay?

710
00:39:10,119 --> 00:39:13,079
Speaker 23: But I asked you earlier, you know, like what you

711
00:39:13,119 --> 00:39:15,119
were doing, and you said you were there for like

712
00:39:15,159 --> 00:39:17,760
five or ten minutes and then you came back home.

713
00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:22,239
Speaker 15: Yeah, I went to the smoke shop, like I said,

714
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:26,159
but I was probably I may have been reandering around

715
00:39:26,159 --> 00:39:29,760
the area but made my way home.

716
00:39:30,159 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 23: Okay, But I'm asking you earlier, right, And even like

717
00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,880
the first time we talked to you, you're not telling

718
00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:40,159
us that you're like, you know, just cruising the area

719
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,159
like you're coming home. So I need to be able

720
00:39:43,159 --> 00:39:48,719
to explain to my supervisors why there's such a time gup.

721
00:39:49,400 --> 00:39:52,800
Speaker 5: Stephan tried to make the return to the apartments sound routine.

722
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:57,400
He forgot a key, fop, he said, so he doubled back,

723
00:39:57,679 --> 00:40:01,679
ran inside, and came right back out. But investigators were

724
00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:07,719
already seeing cracks in that story. The stop took longer

725
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:13,239
than he claimed, the timeline didn't hold, and while he

726
00:40:13,360 --> 00:40:16,000
was back at the complex, surveillance caught him doing some

727
00:40:16,119 --> 00:40:21,960
things things that made the forgot my fob explanation seem

728
00:40:21,960 --> 00:40:25,599
maybe well like a cover.

729
00:40:26,360 --> 00:40:27,920
Speaker 1: Did she go inside with you?

730
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:29,960
Speaker 2: No, she was in the car, so she was asleep.

731
00:40:30,119 --> 00:40:33,960
Speaker 1: Where in the car passengers the front seat? Correct?

732
00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,000
Speaker 23: Okay, just she had any point going the back of

733
00:40:37,000 --> 00:40:39,639
the vehicle, like in the back seat. So she was

734
00:40:39,679 --> 00:40:42,159
in the front the whole time, awake or asleep?

735
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:43,280
Speaker 2: She was asleep?

736
00:40:43,719 --> 00:40:44,079
Speaker 1: Okay?

737
00:40:46,000 --> 00:40:49,320
Speaker 23: How was she positioned in the front seat?

738
00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,280
Speaker 2: Leaned back in the seat? It's kind of punked out

739
00:40:53,280 --> 00:40:53,760
and happened.

740
00:40:55,559 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 1: Where was her head in relation to the seat.

741
00:41:00,000 --> 00:41:05,800
Speaker 15: Against the seat acting against it? Was a seat leaning

742
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,039
back or she was leaning back as she had leaned

743
00:41:08,039 --> 00:41:10,079
the seat back so that she could reply.

744
00:41:09,880 --> 00:41:13,960
Speaker 5: In those questions. Seemed kind of like who cares questions?

745
00:41:14,000 --> 00:41:14,199
Speaker 22: Right?

746
00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,679
Speaker 5: This all took place before he dropped her off at school.

747
00:41:17,719 --> 00:41:22,079
According to Stephan, they had been up early, Maddie was tired,

748
00:41:22,159 --> 00:41:26,039
she slept on the way. She didn't want McDonald's. They

749
00:41:26,039 --> 00:41:28,760
were making good time, and he realized he had forgotten

750
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:32,079
the keyfop, so he just drove right back to the complex.

751
00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:37,039
She was still asleep in the passenger seat. The problem is, well,

752
00:41:37,119 --> 00:41:41,039
the problem for Stephan was that detectives weren't just looking

753
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,920
at the one stop back at the complex. The more

754
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,679
they reviewed the surveillance footage, the more they realized the

755
00:41:48,719 --> 00:41:55,280
same car Stephan was driving kept appearing different locations, different times,

756
00:41:56,280 --> 00:42:03,840
but every time the passenger looked exactly the same, Her

757
00:42:03,880 --> 00:42:10,719
position never changed. She wasn't sleeping, she was already dead.

758
00:42:12,159 --> 00:42:15,760
Stephan was driving around for much of the morning with

759
00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:20,079
a corpse in the passenger seat, trying to pass her

760
00:42:20,119 --> 00:42:25,960
off as sleeping. Maddie never made it to school that

761
00:42:26,079 --> 00:43:06,920
day because she never got out of the car. On

762
00:43:06,960 --> 00:43:11,079
the morning of her thirteenth birthday party, Mattie Soto would

763
00:43:11,079 --> 00:43:16,639
have started another day in her life, school friends, homework. Instead,

764
00:43:16,719 --> 00:43:20,000
she disappeared and never made it to school. What started

765
00:43:20,039 --> 00:43:23,599
as a missing child case was now falling apart, right

766
00:43:23,639 --> 00:43:26,920
in front of her mother's boyfriend, Stephan Stearns, who was

767
00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:29,960
the last person to see her. Stephan said it was

768
00:43:30,320 --> 00:43:34,079
a normal morning, a school drop off, a few errands,

769
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,519
a stop at a vape shop. But the more detectives

770
00:43:37,599 --> 00:43:41,559
checked his story, the less it held. The timeline shifted,

771
00:43:41,599 --> 00:43:47,280
the details changed, surveillance exposed gaps he just couldn't explain,

772
00:43:48,199 --> 00:43:52,679
and whatever hope was left started fading fast. This was

773
00:43:52,719 --> 00:43:54,840
no longer a search for a missing girl. It was

774
00:43:54,880 --> 00:43:59,559
a search for a missing corpse. Detectives had to break

775
00:43:59,559 --> 00:44:02,360
the news to Jennifer, so they showed her a picture

776
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,639
of the Lincoln in the driveway at about seven thirty.

777
00:44:06,320 --> 00:44:07,559
Speaker 18: That's Mattie as sleep in the car.

778
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:14,639
Speaker 9: Mattie's not a sleeping What do you mean do you believe?

779
00:44:14,679 --> 00:44:16,079
Speaker 1: Do you believe Maddie's asleep?

780
00:44:16,159 --> 00:44:16,360
Speaker 13: There?

781
00:44:19,159 --> 00:44:19,519
Speaker 2: She did?

782
00:44:20,199 --> 00:44:20,679
Speaker 9: I don't know.

783
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:24,800
Speaker 1: We don't know where she's at.

784
00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,679
Speaker 5: Jennifer takes the picture in her hand, scrunches her brow

785
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,280
and looks closer at her daughter.

786
00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:36,000
Speaker 1: It's a find way for her to be laying down, sneapy.

787
00:44:37,280 --> 00:44:42,559
Speaker 24: Right now. We are probably going to start working this case.

788
00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:43,599
Speaker 9: As a homicide.

789
00:44:44,679 --> 00:44:49,480
Speaker 24: We believe he possibly has done something too Maddie, and

790
00:44:49,559 --> 00:44:51,360
we want to know where he would possibly go.

791
00:44:52,360 --> 00:44:56,320
Speaker 5: Surveillance picks up his silver Lincoln again and again that morning.

792
00:44:57,199 --> 00:45:01,599
At seven thirty five, it's at the trash car. Stephan

793
00:45:01,639 --> 00:45:06,199
gets out and throws a white trash bag inside. Maddie

794
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:10,000
is still visible in the front passenger seat, her head

795
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:14,719
tilted to the left, mouth hanging open, seat belted in.

796
00:45:15,880 --> 00:45:19,280
At eight nineteen, the car is seen at the front gate.

797
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,840
At eight thirty one, it leaves through the back gate,

798
00:45:23,760 --> 00:45:26,320
and in every one of those videos, Maddie is still

799
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:31,159
in the same position. A sleeping thirteen year old doesn't

800
00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:36,039
usually remain frozen in the same posture across multiple stops,

801
00:45:36,480 --> 00:45:41,840
multiple gates, multiple movements through a complex, but a dead

802
00:45:41,840 --> 00:45:45,559
body does and then the camera is at the compactor

803
00:45:45,800 --> 00:45:49,559
made the morning even darker. Near the tread from a

804
00:45:49,679 --> 00:45:53,920
tire matching Stephan's vehicle, they recover a white trash bag

805
00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:59,880
containing Maddie's backpack, a white croc and her school issued laptop.

806
00:46:01,000 --> 00:46:04,599
So while Stephan is telling detectives about McDonald's, a vape

807
00:46:04,639 --> 00:46:08,360
shop and a forgotten keyfob oh and a girl sleeping

808
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:11,760
quietly in the front seat, the evidence is telling a

809
00:46:12,079 --> 00:46:15,840
very different story. The car didn't just stay in the

810
00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:21,039
Kissimi area. Investigators later traced Stephan's vehicle out towards Saint

811
00:46:21,159 --> 00:46:25,800
Cloud about thirty minutes away. License plate readers and traffic

812
00:46:25,840 --> 00:46:29,920
cameras followed the Lincoln to Hickory Tree Road, and by

813
00:46:29,960 --> 00:46:32,679
the time the car was seen coming back, it had

814
00:46:32,679 --> 00:46:37,400
his spare tire on it, And this time Stephan wasn't lying.

815
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:41,159
At some point that morning he really did have a

816
00:46:41,199 --> 00:46:44,360
flat tire. Someone saw him pulled over on the side

817
00:46:44,360 --> 00:46:48,719
of the road coming home from one ninety two on

818
00:46:49,639 --> 00:46:50,360
Hickory Tree.

819
00:46:51,320 --> 00:46:55,559
Speaker 9: I observed that great vehicle Lincoln is it okay?

820
00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:58,760
Speaker 13: With a flack rear tire.

821
00:46:58,840 --> 00:47:02,960
Speaker 24: He was down inside the road, okay, stooping down in

822
00:47:03,000 --> 00:47:06,000
the back looking at the tire, which I found odd.

823
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:10,559
Speaker 1: Okay, that's uh, normally I just blowed off.

824
00:47:10,679 --> 00:47:13,599
Speaker 5: That's around twelve thirty the guy. I didn't see Maddie

825
00:47:13,639 --> 00:47:16,360
in the passenger seat because Stephan had already moved her,

826
00:47:17,159 --> 00:47:21,679
possibly to her final location by then. It's plausible he

827
00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:25,079
got a flat tire while off roading and off loading

828
00:47:25,519 --> 00:47:29,679
the body. Just three hours earlier. Surveillance footage from a

829
00:47:29,719 --> 00:47:32,280
parking garage near the vape shop caught him in the

830
00:47:32,320 --> 00:47:36,480
act of moving the body. Stepan backs his vehicle into

831
00:47:36,559 --> 00:47:40,320
a parking space by the stairs. He exits his vehicle

832
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,679
and walks towards the rear. Then he opens the trunk.

833
00:47:44,519 --> 00:47:48,360
At nine am, Stephan is seen placing Maddie, who was

834
00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:52,719
wearing a green sweatshirt, into the trunk of his vehicle.

835
00:47:53,760 --> 00:47:56,960
He then exits the parking garage and heads onto one

836
00:47:57,440 --> 00:48:01,880
Two detectives don't tell tell him about their mounting evidence.

837
00:48:02,760 --> 00:48:06,559
They're still feeling a map. When he's questioned details about

838
00:48:06,559 --> 00:48:10,920
his timeline, his answers are very polite and he's sticking

839
00:48:10,960 --> 00:48:14,400
to his story, his vague story.

840
00:48:15,599 --> 00:48:17,719
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry, that's okay.

841
00:48:17,760 --> 00:48:21,159
Speaker 15: I know the details are important, and just the way

842
00:48:21,199 --> 00:48:24,199
our brains work with ADHD is those things can get fuzzy.

843
00:48:25,239 --> 00:48:28,039
Speaker 1: Are you in any medication I supposed to be?

844
00:48:28,119 --> 00:48:31,679
Speaker 15: I have not been medicated lately, so I'm just I'm

845
00:48:31,679 --> 00:48:35,719
not a morning person. I'm very time blind on the

846
00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:41,159
best of days, and forget so I understand that none

847
00:48:41,199 --> 00:48:42,639
of that is helpful in this case.

848
00:48:43,039 --> 00:48:44,000
Speaker 2: I'm forty sorry.

849
00:48:44,119 --> 00:48:48,320
Speaker 1: We're gonna have the apartment secured for the rest of

850
00:48:48,320 --> 00:48:48,639
the night.

851
00:48:49,199 --> 00:48:53,760
Speaker 2: Okay, Why so the investigation is not gonna happen tonight?

852
00:48:54,719 --> 00:48:55,079
Speaker 1: It is?

853
00:48:56,000 --> 00:48:58,960
Speaker 5: He asks whether the investigation will still happen that night.

854
00:49:00,079 --> 00:49:04,119
It would, it would, but that didn't stop Stephan from

855
00:49:04,159 --> 00:49:08,760
continuing his movements when the interviews ended, because before sunrise,

856
00:49:09,159 --> 00:49:11,679
while the search was still very much alive, he takes

857
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,760
Jennifer's car and leaves the hotel, heading out towards Saint

858
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:20,000
Cloud around three am. Then later that morning, he takes

859
00:49:20,039 --> 00:49:25,480
off again, this time much farther. Records show Jennifer's Nissan

860
00:49:25,599 --> 00:49:30,079
traveling to Northport. Later, Jennifer would say he came back

861
00:49:30,239 --> 00:49:33,480
with a wah wah Cup and claimed he'd just gone

862
00:49:33,519 --> 00:49:37,280
to one ninety two. He never told her where he'd

863
00:49:37,320 --> 00:49:41,239
actually been, which is important because Northport isn't around the corner.

864
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:43,960
It's two hours away.

865
00:49:44,360 --> 00:49:47,519
Speaker 3: Because at one point he moved close to where his

866
00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:48,559
parents live right now.

867
00:49:48,679 --> 00:49:52,719
Speaker 4: In they lived in Northport, order at Sarazorba County.

868
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:56,760
Speaker 5: You caught that right. The one place these killers always

869
00:49:56,800 --> 00:49:59,960
seemed to head towards after killing is back to mommy

870
00:50:00,119 --> 00:50:04,599
and daddy, and in this case, that was Northport, Florida,

871
00:50:05,239 --> 00:50:06,920
where Stephan's parents lived.

872
00:50:07,519 --> 00:50:09,159
Speaker 2: Obviously you lived down in Northport.

873
00:50:09,320 --> 00:50:12,760
Speaker 9: Yes, I'm just gonna shoot today.

874
00:50:12,719 --> 00:50:13,599
Speaker 14: I don't respect from you.

875
00:50:13,639 --> 00:50:15,920
Speaker 13: And there's a storage unit down there.

876
00:50:16,519 --> 00:50:18,239
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a storage You have a storage unit.

877
00:50:18,599 --> 00:50:20,480
Speaker 15: Is that your son's storage unit or is that your

878
00:50:20,599 --> 00:50:21,559
at your storage unit?

879
00:50:21,679 --> 00:50:21,880
Speaker 1: You know?

880
00:50:22,239 --> 00:50:23,360
Speaker 9: Does he have access to it?

881
00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:23,559
Speaker 13: No?

882
00:50:23,679 --> 00:50:26,920
Speaker 2: I have the keys of fat Were you aware that?

883
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,239
Speaker 11: Did your son come visit you on Monday morning?

884
00:50:31,559 --> 00:50:32,119
Speaker 9: This Monday?

885
00:50:32,199 --> 00:50:32,440
Speaker 14: Yeah?

886
00:50:32,920 --> 00:50:33,280
Speaker 13: He left?

887
00:50:33,400 --> 00:50:35,199
Speaker 2: Say okay.

888
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:41,159
Speaker 5: Stephan's dad sounds confused because he is. You see, Stephan

889
00:50:41,280 --> 00:50:43,599
had been living with his parents for a few months

890
00:50:43,599 --> 00:50:47,039
after another breakup with Jennifer, but they were still on

891
00:50:47,079 --> 00:50:51,920
good terms and because of his strong bond with Maddie.

892
00:50:52,719 --> 00:50:56,519
Jen invited him back for Maddie's birthday. So his dad

893
00:50:56,599 --> 00:50:59,440
is talking about his son leaving on Sunday, that had

894
00:50:59,440 --> 00:51:02,639
to kissing me for Mattie's birthday. He doesn't know yet

895
00:51:02,639 --> 00:51:08,079
that just three days later, Stephan would quietly make that

896
00:51:08,199 --> 00:51:12,400
same drive back without telling anyone. It would become apparent

897
00:51:12,519 --> 00:51:16,199
later in the investigation that Stephan had traveled to his

898
00:51:16,239 --> 00:51:19,920
parents place in Northport because he had a hard drive

899
00:51:20,000 --> 00:51:27,440
there containing incriminating material, let's say. And as if the

900
00:51:27,599 --> 00:51:31,440
Northport trip wasn't incriminating enough, what they found on his

901
00:51:31,519 --> 00:51:36,840
phone was worse yet, but he had tried to erase it.

902
00:51:37,599 --> 00:51:40,239
Speaker 4: When I saw him at the house, everything was normal.

903
00:51:40,400 --> 00:51:43,239
We were chatting, We're talking, he was acting normal. He

904
00:51:43,320 --> 00:51:45,559
was sitting in my computer chair snuffing around on his

905
00:51:45,639 --> 00:51:50,039
phone while we were hanging out. He mentioned something along

906
00:51:50,039 --> 00:51:52,800
the lines of, oh, man, I've been avoiding this phone

907
00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:55,840
update for a really long time. I should probably update

908
00:51:55,840 --> 00:51:56,239
it now.

909
00:51:56,639 --> 00:51:57,400
Speaker 9: And I said, do it.

910
00:51:57,440 --> 00:51:58,639
Speaker 4: Don't avoid it, just get.

911
00:51:58,519 --> 00:51:58,920
Speaker 2: It over with.

912
00:52:00,159 --> 00:52:06,280
Speaker 4: And he updates his phone and then tells, me, oh

913
00:52:06,320 --> 00:52:08,119
my god, I don't know what button I just pressed,

914
00:52:08,119 --> 00:52:11,480
but I just factory reset my entire phone, And I said,

915
00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:12,840
how the hell's that happened?

916
00:52:13,599 --> 00:52:16,559
Speaker 5: Well, that happens quite simply. When you have something to hide,

917
00:52:17,320 --> 00:52:20,440
you deliberately go to your phone settings, find the reset

918
00:52:20,480 --> 00:52:25,719
tab and tap it to erase all the content. And

919
00:52:25,800 --> 00:52:32,719
that's what Stephan thought he did. But a computer scientist,

920
00:52:32,800 --> 00:52:35,639
he was not so.

921
00:52:35,840 --> 00:52:39,199
Speaker 3: Earlier that day, I think detective Hot came or somebody

922
00:52:39,199 --> 00:52:43,639
came and asked Stefan for his cell phone, if you

923
00:52:43,639 --> 00:52:45,480
would willingly give it up so they can look at it,

924
00:52:45,559 --> 00:52:49,039
or if they would need a warrant, And.

925
00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:52,880
Speaker 4: I remember him saying, should I have asked a warrant?

926
00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:54,679
Should I have? And I'm like, no, If you guys

927
00:52:54,679 --> 00:52:56,440
don't need to hide, give him your fucking phone.

928
00:52:56,760 --> 00:52:58,800
Speaker 3: And then when you guys came in the evening and

929
00:52:58,840 --> 00:53:00,599
you guys told us to wait outside, and we waited

930
00:53:00,679 --> 00:53:04,960
in my car, he started getting very anxious and very panicky, going,

931
00:53:05,039 --> 00:53:07,000
I want my phone back, I want my phone back,

932
00:53:07,239 --> 00:53:09,760
And I said, listen, at this point, it's their phone.

933
00:53:09,880 --> 00:53:11,800
It's there for fucking ever. I don't give a shit.

934
00:53:12,000 --> 00:53:14,079
We will buy you a new phone. It doesn't matter anymore.

935
00:53:14,079 --> 00:53:16,519
Whatever they need, they need, like, let them look at it.

936
00:53:17,679 --> 00:53:19,639
And he's like, I just want my phone back, and

937
00:53:19,679 --> 00:53:22,719
I'm just like, do you are you trying to make

938
00:53:22,760 --> 00:53:27,679
yourself more suspicious, because like you're if you were to

939
00:53:27,679 --> 00:53:29,400
go to band your phone back right now, that would

940
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:33,320
look suspicious as fuck, Like what are you doing? I'm

941
00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:36,280
thinking he's just getting impatient because he's bored and wants

942
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,400
to plant his phone. And at one point he takes

943
00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:41,360
my phone to start playing with it. I give it

944
00:53:41,440 --> 00:53:44,079
up and I said, here, play on my phone.

945
00:53:43,840 --> 00:53:44,360
Speaker 12: Have fun.

946
00:53:45,280 --> 00:53:49,079
Speaker 5: Just two days after Maddie went missing, detectives had Stephan's

947
00:53:49,159 --> 00:53:53,760
phone and all the evidence on it, which was quite

948
00:53:53,760 --> 00:53:58,679
a bit. They found graphic pictures and videos of him

949
00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:04,400
sexually abusing thirteen year old Maddie Soda. In one picture,

950
00:54:04,480 --> 00:54:08,280
Stephan's face is visible and his tongue is on Maddie's nipple.

951
00:54:09,159 --> 00:54:15,960
It was explicit, undeniable, and extremely disturbing, and it had

952
00:54:15,960 --> 00:54:20,719
been saved among an album of child sexual abuse material.

953
00:54:21,719 --> 00:54:24,679
They didn't just find one picture or one scene, they

954
00:54:24,760 --> 00:54:32,119
found hundreds, basically a typical redditor's stash. These pictures pointed

955
00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:38,800
to repetition duration, a system of abuse. Later reporting would

956
00:54:38,800 --> 00:54:45,079
describe roughly seventeen hundred images linked to Stephan's accounts stretching

957
00:54:45,119 --> 00:54:49,119
back at least two years. So the phone did not

958
00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:53,000
just prove what Stephan had done. It showed that he

959
00:54:53,039 --> 00:54:58,840
had been doing it for a very long time, and

960
00:54:59,199 --> 00:55:04,079
the investigator matched the abuser in those files to Stephen's

961
00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:11,119
own body parts if you catch my drift. Reports about

962
00:55:11,159 --> 00:55:15,920
the pictures describe a bright pinkish area below the head

963
00:55:15,920 --> 00:55:20,079
of the penis and a black mark or freckle on it,

964
00:55:21,119 --> 00:55:26,159
also visible in some pictures. Yuck. They also collected penile

965
00:55:26,280 --> 00:55:31,719
swabs from them, which I'm sure was quite humiliating. By then,

966
00:55:31,760 --> 00:55:35,679
detectives weren't just looking at abuse images. They were connecting

967
00:55:35,880 --> 00:55:42,079
the penis in those images directly to Stefan Stearns. Imagine

968
00:55:42,119 --> 00:55:46,000
that being your job. Now that detectives had Stephan's phone,

969
00:55:46,159 --> 00:55:50,440
Jennifer was forced to reconcile with their understanding of who

970
00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:52,239
he really was.

971
00:55:53,159 --> 00:55:54,400
Speaker 9: Like, I look back at.

972
00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:56,119
Speaker 3: It now, I'm just like, he was fucking lying, he

973
00:55:56,199 --> 00:55:58,400
was fucking taking. What else has he been lying to

974
00:55:58,440 --> 00:56:01,599
me about? I know he's like a master liar manipulator

975
00:56:01,599 --> 00:56:03,440
because he's done He's done it to his parents, and

976
00:56:03,480 --> 00:56:07,840
he's told me and shown me the lies he's done

977
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:10,920
to his parents. But I don't know why. I never thought,

978
00:56:11,679 --> 00:56:12,119
not me.

979
00:56:13,440 --> 00:56:18,280
Speaker 5: That would be because Jennifer forgot this stark truth that

980
00:56:18,440 --> 00:56:22,760
people will always show you who they really are if

981
00:56:22,800 --> 00:56:24,280
you pay close enough attention.

982
00:56:25,280 --> 00:56:28,000
Speaker 3: I told him to call his dad because I had

983
00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:31,639
a feeling something. Y'all knew something, and it was gonna

984
00:56:31,679 --> 00:56:34,519
come down on him. And I'm just like, they're focusing

985
00:56:34,559 --> 00:56:36,639
on the wrong person. They have the wrong person. In

986
00:56:36,679 --> 00:56:40,559
my head, I'm convinced you guys are just did you

987
00:56:40,599 --> 00:56:41,440
have the wrong person?

988
00:56:42,400 --> 00:56:47,039
Speaker 5: He was definitely a wrong person, just not the wrong

989
00:56:47,119 --> 00:56:52,559
person for these crimes. But what happened to Maddie was

990
00:56:52,599 --> 00:56:56,960
not an accident at all. Jennifer asked detectives, how the

991
00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:02,079
hell does that happen? Well, the detectives wanted that question

992
00:57:02,360 --> 00:57:08,079
answered also, and they wanted to know if Jennifer was complicit.

993
00:57:08,639 --> 00:57:09,960
Speaker 9: I don't know what you want me to say or

994
00:57:10,000 --> 00:57:10,519
do or.

995
00:57:12,079 --> 00:57:13,360
Speaker 2: I just want my daughter back.

996
00:57:15,159 --> 00:57:18,000
Speaker 24: And this is exactly what I was just talking about.

997
00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:24,920
We are literally having a conversation right now about Maddie

998
00:57:25,400 --> 00:57:26,480
possibly being dead.

999
00:57:27,199 --> 00:57:29,760
Speaker 9: Yeah, and.

1000
00:57:31,079 --> 00:57:32,280
Speaker 1: You have yet to shed it to here.

1001
00:57:33,079 --> 00:57:37,480
Speaker 5: By now, detectives know Maddie is dead. They know Stephan

1002
00:57:37,960 --> 00:57:41,800
is responsible, but the questions that are about to get

1003
00:57:41,840 --> 00:57:45,639
a lot darker are these, why did he kill her?

1004
00:57:45,719 --> 00:57:49,320
And how does this kind of sexual abuse happen for

1005
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:53,760
years in a home with someone you say you trusted

1006
00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:58,199
with your life. Jennifer may have trusted Stephan with her life,

1007
00:57:58,199 --> 00:58:02,719
but Maddie was the one who paid for and what

1008
00:58:02,760 --> 00:58:08,000
they're about to uncover is far worse than how she died.