Stephan Sterns' trial delayed in Madeline Soto murder case
The man accused of murdering 13-year-old Madeline Soto had a court appearance Wednesday where his lawyers asked to delay the trial.
Stephan Sterns, 38, is facing a murder charge and 60 counts related to sexual battery of a child. He was arrested soon after Madeline vanished in February 2024, but before her body was found in rural Osceola County on March 1.
Sterns has yet to appear in court since he was arrested and charged with Madeline’s murder.
His appearance was waived once again Wednesday for a pre-trial hearing.
His trial was set to start next week, but a judge approved a request from Sterns’ team for more time, adding there could be more than 170 witnesses in this case.
“We are moving to continue, your honor, we have quite a bit of work to do on the case... We’re also requesting that instead of it being on a pretrial docket that it go onto a status docket that way the state isn’t constantly sending out subpoenas for I believe there’s somewhere in the vicinity of 177 witnesses right now,” Sterns’ team said.
Though the state requested the new date be within the next 30 to 45 days, the judge set the trial for Oct. 14.
Both the murder case and the case involving the 60 charges are being tried together.
Sterns was the boyfriend of Madeline's mother. Evidence in the case shows that the mother told investigators she sent her daughter to bed alone with Sterns on the night before she vanished.
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Police believe Sterns drove around with Madeline's body in his car for at least two hours before leaving her on the side of an Osceola County road.
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Prosecutors plan to ask for the death penalty if Sterns is convicted.
WESH 2 reached out to the Kissimmee Police Department to get their thoughts on the trial being delayed, but they declined to comment.