By Marlene Lenthang—
NBC News
The body of missing Florida girl Madeline Soto was found in a wooded area Friday afternoon, the Orange County Sheriff's Office reported, hours after the department said they believed the 13-year-old girl was dead.
Her mother's boyfriend is suspected of moving the body, and Sheriff John Mina said at a news conference Friday that the case is being investigated as a homicide.
Osceola County Sheriff's Office search teams found the body around 4:30 p.m. in a wooded area near Hickory Tree Road, authorities said.
"Madeline's family has been notified. We have no additional information to release at this time. Kissimmee Police are the lead agency in this homicide investigation. That work continues," the sheriff's office added.
Authorities previously reported that Madeline was last seen Monday morning when her mother's boyfriend, Stephan Sterns, 37, dropped her off a few blocks from Hunter's Creek High School in Orlando.
Madeline SotoOrange County Sheriff's Office
Evidence now reveals that she was never dropped off near her school that morning, Mina said at a news conference Friday.
Sterns, whom authorities now call the "primary suspect" in the case, was arrested Wednesday night on separate charges of sexual assault and possession of child sexual abuse material after detectives found "disturbing images" and videos that were "criminal and sexual in nature", during a forensic examination of his phone.
The Sheriff's Office shared a video showing Sterns being quietly placed into a police car.
He was questioned Wednesday night by Kissimmee police and Sheriff's Office deputies.
The man asked for a lawyer and was placed under arrest
and taken to jail, authorities said.
[A man who shot a woman to death for driving his car into the driveway of her home in New York is sentenced to 25 years in prison]
Madeline is believed to have been murdered in Kissimmee, where her family lived in an apartment, and that Sterns moved her body in the early hours of Monday morning, Mina said.
"We have evidence that shows Stephen Stern returned to the complex and Madeline was visible in that vehicle. We believe she was already dead at that time," the sheriff said.
Authorities did not indicate what time the images were captured.
Video evidence recovered by authorities showed Sterns throwing items into a dumpster at the Kissimmee apartment complex at 7:35 a.m. on Monday, February 26.
Detectives later recovered Madeline's backpack and her school-issued laptop from the dumpster.
Detectives informed Madeline's mother of her presumed death Thursday night.
She is not considered a suspect in the investigation.
The Kissimmee Police Department will take over the case now that it has become a homicide investigation.
Kissimmee Police Chief Betty Holland had asked the public to come forward with tips as the search for the girl continued.
Sterns was seen driving a silver 2010 Lincoln MKZ on Monday between 1 and 2:30 p.m. in the area of State Road 192 and Old Hickory Tree and Nulty roads.
It is believed that he had a flat tire and may have been seen changing the tire in this area.
Mina said Sterns has not spoken to anyone about the case.
He has been transported to the Osceola County Jail, where he is being held on capital sexual assault charges filed by Kissimmee police.