Missing 13-year-old girl Madeline Soto found dead in Florida

Madeline Soto, a 13-year-old girl, was found dead in Florida on Friday, five days after she went allegedly missing.

Osceola County Sheriff’s Office found the body of Madeline around 4:30pm after searching a wooded area off Hickory Tree Road, said the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said in a press conference that her mother’s boyfriend Stephan Sterns, 37 suspiciously moved her body, reports NBC News.

Sheriff John Mina said the case is a homicide investigation led by Kissimmee PD.

The sheriff’s office said they notified Madeline’s family and have no further information to release at this time. Kissimmee PD continues this homicide investigation.

When her mother’s boyfriend Stephan Sterns, 37, dropped her off a few blocks from Hunter’s Creek Middle School in Orlando on Monday, Madeline was last seen that time, the sheriff’s office earlier said.

Mina said in a Friday press conference that they found evidence that Stephan never dropped Madeline off near her school on the day.

On Wednesday night, police arrested Stephan in a case on separate charges of sexual battery and child sexual abuse as authorities call the “prime suspect”.

Detectives found “disturbing images” and sexual in nature” during a forensic examination of his phone.

Mina said they believed that the girl was killed in Kissimmee where her family lived in an apartment.