8-year-old girl was missing since Sunday.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A body believed to belong to a missing 8-year-old girl was found Monday inside of a dumpster in Northern California and a 15-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with her disappearance.
Madyson “Maddy” Middleton had been missing since Sunday, when she was last seen riding her scooter at a Tannery Arts Center, an artist community and housing complex where she resided with her mother.
“We haven’t positively identified her yet but believe she is probably Madyson Middleton,” Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel told the Associated Press.
Her mother realized she was missing at 5 p.m. Sunday. Neighbors immediately began to help search for the girl, and spent all of Sunday night scouring the area, with no luck. On Monday morning, SCPD and FBI agents began to coordinate search efforts with the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s search and rescue team, while K-9 units were deployed to search nearby woods and the San Lorenzo River levee in case the young girl had fallen in.
Authorities didn’t send volunteers onto adjacent hiking and biking trails for fear of disturbing potential evidence, but hundreds of volunteers showed up and looked for her in neighborhoods and streets.
Local news station KSBW interviewed the girl’s mother Monday morning, who said her daughter would never leave with a stranger.
“Has she ever done anything like this? Nothing! Never! Never! She knows where she can and cannot be here. She was in the courtyard where she was supposed to be. She came over here, and that’s the last we saw of her on surveillance,” mother Laura Jordan said.
Friends and neighbors describe the 8-year-old, who everyone calls “Maddy,” as outgoing and full of spunk.
They also described the 15-year-old suspect as “a nice boy,” according to ABC owned KFSN. Neighbor Terrance Keller said, “From what I know, he’s very well-spoken and has very kind manners. So like I said, it’s just a shocking situation altogether.”