15-year-old charged as adult in Santa Cruz girl’s killing

Madyson Middleton, 8, was killed Sunday, July 27, 2015, allegedly by a 15-year-old neighbor from her Santa Cruz, Calif., apartment complex.

The boy was arrested immediately after police found the girl’s body Monday because the boy “was in the general proximity” of the recycling bin and may have been watching police search it, Vogel said.

While news reports have suggested a sadistic impulse spurred the killing, authorities say they are awaiting ensuing court hearings to formally release a motive or any other details that might shed light on a death that has rocked Santa Cruz to its core.

District Attorney Jeff Rosell said, “We’re confident in the charges we filed”.

“People do things for lots of reasons”, he said.

Sources say that the murder suspect, Adrian Jerry Gonzalaz, 15, who has been charged as adult with the girl’s murder, duct taped Middleton then raped, strangled and stabbed her.

After a massive search triggered by a 911 call just after 6 p.m. Sunday, Santa Cruz police detectives found her just paces from where a surveillance camera had last photographed her at the base of the red, four-story apartment building.

The boy remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention centre. “Investigators will process the crime scene regarding evidence through the night”, law enforcement department.

After Middleton was reported missing Sunday evening, multiple agencies scoured the area looking for Maddy, who was last seen riding her new scooter around the Tannery Arts Complex where she and the suspect were residents.

The center is a public-private nonprofit project that includes 100 affordable loft apartments for artists and their families, a cafe and dance and art studios and is located in the outskirts of this beach town.

Almost 300 people, many of them families with children, mourned the death of the girl nicknamed “Maddy”. “We have charged this individual as an adult with the crimes for which he is responsible”.

Nelson said he’s known Gonzalez for several years and described him as shy, though they often chatted.

Vogel says the teenager is believed to have acted alone in Maddy’s murder, and lured her into his apartment. “All of us, if you ask us what you think of him, we’d tell you he’s an outstanding kid”, Cartabiano told The Post.

On Wednesday, tearful children at the Tannery placed pictures and notes on a growing memorial overflowing with bouquets, stuffed animals, balloons and candles.