The mother of Madeline Soto appeared in denial when Kissimmee detectives said her longtime boyfriend Stephen Sterns sexually abused the 13-year-old, according to case reports being used as evidence against him.

The reports, obtained Friday by the Orlando Sentinel, detail the moments leading up to investigators arresting Sterns, 38, after finding a collection of child sex abuse material featuring Madeline on his cellphone. Jennifer Soto, her mother, told detectives the three would often sleep together but it was “normal” for Madeline to go to bed with Sterns alone.

“[Jennifer] stated that if she needed a good night’s sleep due to her anxiety, she would ask them to sleep in a different bedroom,” one report said.

Soto “did not want to believe” that Sterns, her boyfriend of about seven years, had been abusing Madeline even when detectives showed her the images found on his cellphone.

When a detective showed Soto a photo found on his Google Drive, “[Jennifer] said she didn’t recognize anything in the picture, as if she was in denial. However, she became visibly upset,” according to a report.

Sterns faces 60 charges related to alleged sexual abuse of Madeline, including six counts of sexual battery against a child under 12 — for which he could face the death penalty. The reports indicate photos and video investigators recovered appeared to show the inside of the apartment where Sterns lived with Soto and her daughter. They date back to 2022 when Madeline was 11.

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Last month, a grand jury further charged Sterns with first-degree murder, but prosecutors have not said if they’ll seek his execution.

As for Soto, the reports shed further light on what she told police about what she knew and when, but audio of her interview requested Friday by the Sentinel has not been released. She has not been accused of wrongdoing.

The investigation into Sterns began mere days after Madeline was reported missing Feb. 26. Soto told authorities Sterns dropped her off about a half-mile from Hunter’s Creek Middle School. In audio of a police interview with Sterns obtained by the Sentinel, he said the two left the apartment between 7:30 a.m. and 7:45 a.m. to get breakfast from McDonald’s before taking her to school.

He said Madeline later changed her mind and they arrived near the school around 8:30 a.m. when she asked to be dropped off away from campus because she was embarrassed by his car.

“She’s just got this phase that she’s been into lately where she is very particular about what car she’s seen getting out of in front of the school,” Sterns told detectives. “She prefers her mom’s car. I get it, it’s an image thing.”

Detectives later determined that was a lie: That morning, Sterns was driving in his car with what appeared to be Madeline’s lifeless body in the passenger seat. While the reports don’t explain how detectives were able to pin Madeline’s murder on him, one did describe surveillance footage taken by a security camera where Sterns lived with Madeline and her mother.

That video, which has not been released, was described in the report as showing Madeline wearing a green sweater and slumped in the passenger seat in an “abnormal way.”

At a February press conference, Kissimmee police Chief Betty Holland and Orange County Sheriff John Mina further said the video shows Sterns tossing Madeline’s belongings into a dumpster. Madeline’s body was later found on Old Hickory Tree Road in St. Cloud.