15-year-old arrested and charged with the murder of 8-year-old Maddy Middleton

Santa Cruz Police Department Madyson (Maddy) Middleton was found dead in a recylcing bin after vanishing Sunday. Police said the girl was likely killed before even being reported missing.

“This is extraordinarily heartbreaking news I’m about to give to you”, said Santa Cruz Police Chief, Kevin Vogel, as reported by the Washington Post.

“She was very smart, and I thought she was going to be an engineer”, he said.

Police say her 15-year-old neighbor later lured her to his apartment. Authorities have not confirmed how she died.

Vogel on Monday night had noted that the last time he’d addressed so large a crowd “was when my two officers were killed” by a sexual-assault suspect in February 2013.

Sam Amico, a 68-year-old who runs a printmaking gallery at the Tannery and has lived there, said the arts center seemed to be thriving. The doll, which had wings, wore a purple dress, just like Maddy had been wearing, and had the words “I can fly home” printed on it.

A call to the Santa Cruz County Office of the Public Defender for comment on the case wasn’t immediately returned.

Gonzalez remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention center, where he has been held since being arrested Monday evening near a recycling bin where the girl’s body had been dumped. The bin was inside an enclosure in a first-floor parking structure at the complex, Vogel said. MORE: Santa Cruz community mourning loss of 8-year-old girlIt appears Maddy willingly accompanied the suspect to his unit and had a reasonable amount of trust in him.

The suspect of the brutal killing of 8-year-old Madyson Middleton is a kid himself who is a yo-yo champion. An autopsy is still ongoing to determine the exact cause and manner of death, according to the Santa Cruz Police Department. “Maybe she got bored waiting for her play date, maybe she found a another friend”. Surveillance video last captured her riding around on a Razor scooter around 5 p.m.

Due to his status as a minor at the age of 15, the boy’s name has not been released, but it is believed that he raped and strangled young Middleton, and disposed of the body.

Teenage neighbour Adrian Jerry Gonzalez was arrested and has now been charged over her death.

Tannery residents described Gonzallez as a quiet, well-mannered boy who often helped others with art and other project at the Tannery, which is a live and work space for about 350 people.