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| FILE This undated photo provided by the Santa Cruz Police Department shows Madyson "Maddy" Middleton, from Santa Cruz, Calif. Prosecutors charged Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, 15, with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault Wednesday, July 29, 2015 in the death of the 8-year-old girl in an artists complex in a California beach town. Police say Gonzalez lured Middleton from a courtyard where she had been riding her scooter over the weekend into his family's apartment where he attacked and killed her. |
SANTA CRUZ,
Calif. (AP) -- Prosecutors charged a 15-year-old boy with murder,
kidnapping and rape
Wednesday in the death of an 8-year-old girl in an
artists complex in a California beach town.
Police
say Adrian Jerry Gonzalez lured Madyson Middleton into his family's
apartment from a courtyard where she had been riding her scooter over
the weekend. Once inside, he tied her up, sexually assaulted and killed
her, according a charging document.
Gonzalez
remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention center,
where he has been held since the girl's body was found in a recycling
bin Monday evening.
"Unfortunately, the search for Maddy ended in the worst way possible," Santa Cruz District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell said.
He
said Gonzalez will be charged as an adult and added that in his two
decades in Santa Cruz, he's never seen a 15-year-old charged with
murder.
The charges could send Gonzalez to prison for the rest of his life.
Larry
Biggam of the Santa Cruz public defender's office said he expects to be
appointed as the teen's lawyer at the arraignment Thursday, but he
declined to comment on the case.
Authorities
haven't been able to establish a motive in the killing. "People do
things for lots of reasons, sometimes we understand it, sometimes we
don't," Rosell said.
Neighbors at the Tannery
Arts Center where both the suspect and Madyson lived said they were
stunned by the death. The center is a public-private nonprofit that
includes 100 affordable loft apartments for artists and their families.
About 250 people live in the complex, including about 50 children.
"It's
a great community because it's a bit unusual," Geoffrey Nelson, a
photographer and Tannery resident, said. "You share the joys of people,
their children growing up. Their art shows, their recitals. But you also
share the sorrows."
Nelson said he's known
Gonzalez for several years and described him as shy, though they often
chatted. "He was a yo-yo-expert, so he was oftentimes showing you
tricks," Nelson said.
Residents have been heartbroken to learn that he is suspected in the death, he said.
"It wasn't somebody from the outside," Nelson said. "It was somebody we all knew. It was someone we all knew and liked."
Setorro Garcia, a Tannery resident who knew both the victim and suspect, said Gonzalez had been curious about the investigation.
"He kept asking, `Any updates?'" Garcia said.
Another resident, Kirby Scudder, described Madyson as a typical 8-year-old, alternately shy and gregarious.
"She was very smart, and I thought she was going to be an engineer," he said. "She had a great sense of humor."
Madyson was headed for fourth grade in the fall.
She
had a little, black dog named "Lucy" and tearful children at the
Tannery Wednesday placed pictures and notes on a growing memorial
overflowing with bouquets, stuffed animals, balloons and candles.
"It was nice how you were so perky," wrote one.
"We all miss you," wrote another, next to a picture of the slain girl with wings and a halo.
