Stephan Sterns charged in Maddie Soto's death: Press Conference

all right good afternoon everyone thank you for coming um today the cimi police chief and myself are here to provide an update on the death investigation on 13-year-old meline stto who was reported missing back on February 26th of this year um and discovered Dead four days later I know the community and the media have been anxious for us to give an update on this case um and this is an opportunity for us to do that for the last seven weeks uh seven and a half weeks actually the cons police department and my office have been working closely to um go over every piece of evidence that we could gather in this case um it it was a voluminous um and a lot of evidence to get through during that time but we were successful in getting through it uh and making sure that we were able to Pro provide on the best case we could uh today we're announcing that um Stephan Sterns has been indicted by the grand jury on first degree merder for the killing of mine SoDo we presented the case to the grand jury um they returned an indictment earlier today um there has been some questions as related to the length of Investigation I just want to let you know again that my office and the CI Police Department have been working Vision in making sure that we had every opportunity to get every piece of evidence that we could um I want to thank the cemi police department um and their tireless efforts um they've done an amazing job um in in the heavy lift that we've asked them to do um as well as the prosecutors that have been assigned to this case and making sure that we got every piece of evidence reviewed and gathered in this case uh while death death investigations usually take around five to six weeks or longer uh we're able to get this one done relatively quickly and get a case to the front of the grand jury like I said earlier today to return the indictment against Mr Stephan Sterns the death pilling in this case U we have not not decided to like what decision we're going to make in that case uh we're going to continue those discussions going forward and we'll let you know again uh when we make that decision as to whether we're going to seek the death penalty in this case I want to thank the grand jury um for their hard work uh in their efforts and making sure that we're making this first step and Seeking Justice for mine stto um for her family um and so this on the community can have closure in this case excuse me the defendant will appear um at initial appearances believe probably the next day or two um then the case will proceed down its normal path um and we will try to keep you a breast of um how the case is moving as well as you probably ask us questions to make sure that we are providing that proper information to keep you a breast of how the case is going down the the normal path of the Criminal Justice System I'd like now to introduce um chief of police Betty Holland and for her to provide comment thank you to thank you State Attorney Mr Bane um good afternoon everyone I want to thank the investigators and the other agencies that assisted Us in uncovering the evidence to move forward with this case we know this case has gained significant public attention because meline had just celebrated her 13th birthday and was just a child the evidence shows an individual that was entrusted to keep meline safe made calculated moves to dispose mine's belongings and place her body in a wooded area before she was ever reported missing for the four days following her disappearance the entire Community was actively looking to find meline safe and Alive tragically on March 1st mine's remains were found our detectives have worked tirelessly to piece together the events leading up to mine's disappearance and death with the collaboration of the State's Attorney's office we prepared the case for the grand jury that was heard today the grand jury determined that our department secured enough evidence to obtain a first-degree murder indictment we appreciate each grand jury member for their careful consideration we want to thank the diligent work of the State's Attorney's Office the medical examiner's office and our other law enforcement Partners who assisted with this investigation your expertise and dedication were instrumental in uncovering the truth the indictment signifies a crucial step forward in our Quest For Justice and a testament to our commitment to honoring mine's memory we will now take questions right I'm going to defer to the state's attorney good afternoon although an indictment has been returned this afternoon it is still an open and ongoing criminal investigation so much of this information cannot be disclosed until Mr Stern's attorney if he does so elects to participate in Discovery and then all of you in the media know how to go about seeking information through public records not that we've UNC uncovered State Attorney again all questions about the facts of the case are not subject to disclosure because of public records laws at this time once his attorney participates in Discovery then you can make public records requests through your normal channels as you do in other cases at this time the only person being charged is Stefan Sterns and again this is not over there is an ongoing investigation to un uncover more evidence and therefore we can't comment there's going to be the same response on any question about the facts of the case through the facts of the case so with any death case that U is reviewed by my office uh when it's determined to be a homicide uh we have to look at the statutory aggravating factors that are laid out in our Florida law um once we've determined um that we have sufficient evidence to prove those factors um to the proper evidentiary standard U then we had to have to talk about whether this is a death penalty case and that's discussion that we're still going to be having for the next couple weeks to make sure that we're making a legal decision that's appropriate in this case I'll leave that for Mr will cannot comment on whether Mr Stern has been doing anything he has counsel um and as far as ple offers no there are no plea offers made on the open case you can address uh that question with the indictment that should be on the clerk's website if it's not already I'm going to have toart to State's Attorney again any question about the facts of the case it's going to be the same answer once his attorney participates in Discovery the public records laws change and you all will be able to get a lot of that information as far as the 60 counts that already filed against Mr Sterns that is solely involved in Mr Stern as a defendant not to those 60 charges theing with investigation it's an ongoing investigation can't comment on who's working with us okay this will be the last question I'll let you get that in what was it it's facts of the case can't comment it so thank you all so much for coming out today if you need this gentleman's name it is Will j w l l j a y he is our homicide unit chief for the state attorney's office for the ninth judicial circuit thank you all so much for coming out today

Channel: FOX 35 Orlando

Views: 16,537

Keywords: central-florida-news, WOFL, Video, Florida

Id: ev424q0l84U

Length: 8min 55sec (535 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 24 2024