3.9 • 7.6K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2025
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
As accused killer Stephan Sterns adjusts to life in a jail cell, he complains to his brother via email about everything from the size of his cell to the noise, filth, and eating utensils.
Sterns complains his bed mat is flat with very little cushion left, his cell is small and filthy, and he claims there are spots on the wall that appear to be bloody fingerprints. Now, he will be dealing with this situation for the rest of his life. Stephan Sterns, sentenced to multiple life sentences.
After Sterns' arrest, it is emails from Sterns' mother that contain shocking information, as she is encouraging him to tell the truth. Sterns' mother believes other people are involved in the murder of Maddie, and she tells her son to stop protecting these people.
Knowing the emails are not private and protected, Stern's mother alludes to a woman being involved in the case, saying she is "disgusted that she is free and you are not when this is not all your fault."
Some of the emails between Stephan Sterns and his mother seem a bit heavy-handed, trying to make it seem as though Sterns is a "stand-up guy" who wouldn't be a "rat," possibly to try and help her son as he prepares to spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Stern's mother says, "I keep thinking about how you would not ever rat out a friend," and later adds, "It really made me mad, and I felt like you valued them over us when you let them get away with stuff. Don't be doing that again."
Stern's mother says things like, "We all know [redacted] was heavily involved in this, and I am disgusted that she is free, and you are not when this is not all your fault!!"
"You need to think about yourself more and her less. She sure isn't thinking of you and how she can help you right now. That whole family is willing to stay quiet and let you take the fall for everything."
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.8 | Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. |
| 0:11.7 | Little 13-year-old Maddie Soto told her friends as soon as she turned 13, she wanted to run away from home and live in the woods. |
| 0:20.9 | Why? |
| 0:22.5 | Because Mommy's boyfriend was repeatedly molesting her |
| 0:27.0 | and had been since we believe age nine. |
| 0:31.3 | Yes, since age nine, and Mommy knew nothing. |
| 0:36.5 | Nothing. |
| 0:40.3 | We'll never know the full truth because Maddie Soto was murdered. In the last days, Stefan Stern, the no-good boyfriend, learns his fate in court. |
| 0:51.8 | I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. |
| 0:56.3 | I want to thank you for being with us. |
| 1:01.0 | Stefan Stearns, the live-in of Maddie Soto's mom. |
| 1:06.6 | Enter pleas in a Kissimmee courtroom as part of a deal with prosecutors. |
| 1:15.2 | Stearns 39 learns his fate in court, 21 life sentences. |
| 1:17.2 | And this is why. Maddie Soto, just 13 years old, slept in the bed with mommy's live-in the night before her murder. This as disturbing details emerge about the crime scene |
| 1:34.3 | and well, that's not all. Shocking prison emails go back and forth between the suspect mommy's live-in lover, and they seemingly blow this case |
| 1:49.2 | wide open. Madeline is 13 years old. She has been missing since 8.30 on Monday morning when |
| 1:57.5 | mom's boyfriend dropped her off near Hunter's Creek Middle School. |
| 2:04.1 | He dropped her off actually near the Peace United Methodist Church on town, |
| 2:08.6 | Louis Boulevard. |
| 2:09.7 | Okay. |
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