Florida sheriff issued summons over Instagram post believed to show Madeline Soto’s body
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Orange-Osceola State Attorney’s Office last week quietly filed a summons against Osceola Sheriff Marcos López, accusing him of posting a photo of 13-year-old Madeline Soto’s dead body to Instagram.
Court records show the summons was filed July 15, accusing the sheriff of violating public records law in posting the photo to his campaign page on the platform. López has a court hearing scheduled for Dec. 20.
The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on the summons and the State Attorney’s Office did reply to a question about why reporters were not updated on the matter.
Madeline was found March 1 following a dayslong search in Orange and Osceola counties. The photo posted to Instagram a day later —which was shared with but not published by the Orlando Sentinel — appeared to show the teen wearing a green top and blue jeans lying beneath a mound of brush.
López’s post sparked an uproar and prompted an investigation into the matter by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Its press office did not respond to a request for the reports produced as part of it.
The Sheriff’s Office first issued an apology for Lopez accidentally including “an investigative photo” in a post about an event for senior citizens. But in a radio interview the sheriff himself denied the photo was of the teen, instead saying it was of “an area of interest where there was a body found.”
“No one’s ever came out and said directly that it was the victim,” López told WDBO in the March 27 interview. “Other people politically trying to use this as an advantage, to use the death of a child to bring some light to themselves — it’s sad when those things happen.”
The Sheriff’s Office has not said whether López will take back those claims.
Madeline was reported missing in late February by her mother Jennifer Soto, who said she noticed her disappearance while trying to pick her daughter up from Hunters Creek Middle School. Her boyfriend, Stephan Sterns, was later arrested and faces trial for killing her and sexually assaulting her since she was at least 11.
Investigators said Sterns killed her the day she was reported missing and hid her body in St. Cloud. The child’s mother has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Sterns faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering Madeline and life in prison for the alleged sexual assault — along with dozens of charges of possessing child sexual abuse material. His next court date is scheduled for Oct. 14.
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