A teen boy responsible for Maddy Middleton’s murder this weekend has now been charged as an adult on multiple counts of luring, restraining, raping, and killing the 8-year-old girl.
“We have charged this individual as an adult with the crimes for which he is responsible,” the Santa Cruz district attorney announced yesterday. “We are going to bring him to justice.”
The victim and her killer were well acquainted, he said, and she “trusted” him when the boy beckoned her to his nearby apartment in a fatal, drawn out attack that police believe was pre-planned.
Adrian Gonzalez, 15, is suspected of having offended before, but it’s the nature of juvenile records to be kept confidential; something which additionally placed Madyson Middleton -- and all other youngsters in the funded artist-colony where she lived -- at great risk.
Middleton mysteriously vanished on her new scooter around suppertime Sunday, setting off a frantic search throughout the neighborhood, which, prosecutors say, was thwarted by her teenage killer when he stashed her remains in a dumpster previously searched then stood watch over it.
The 15-year-old accused boy’s calculated crime and its level of sophistication has earned him adult status in the criminal justice system, and he faces life in prison now if convicted of the numerous charges against him.
“We are confident in the charges we filed,” the DA firmly stated. "Justice demands the charges that we filed, and we filed them appropriately.”
