Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, 15, to be tried as an adult for the horrific crime.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: After the body of Madyson “Maddy” Middleton was found in a dumpster following a citywide search, her apparent murder has taken another chilling turn, with new details regarding the case emerging on Thursday.
Residents of the Tannery Arts Center — a Santa Cruz artists’ colony — were shocked when police arrested one of their own for the crime: 15-year-old Adrian Jerry “A.J.” Gonzalez.
“We heard that it was possibly a horrible accident, that something went all wrong,” neighbor Jeannie Cartabiano told The Washington Post in a phone interview late Monday night. “Whoever it was young enough to be frightened and tried to hide the scene.”
However, on Wednesday Santa Cruz County District Attorney Jeff Rosell announced that he was charging Gonzalez as an adult not only for murder but also for kidnapping and sexual assault.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Washington Post, Gonzalez brought Maddy back to his apartment, where he tied her up, beat her, raped her, and strangled her before dumping her body in the dumpster in the parking garage downstairs.
“A source close to the investigation [said] that the teenager lured the girl to his apartment by offering her some ice cream and that he attacked her from behind as she was serving herself,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported, adding that Maddy had suffered trauma to the head in addition to being strangled.
Gonzalez will be arraigned on Thursday. He has been charged as an adult, but his age means he is exempt from the death penalty, authorities stated.
When Gonzalez was asked why he committed such a horrific crime, The Chronicle reported that the boy coldly informed police he had been considering suicide and wanted to see how people would react by killing the young girl.