SANTA CRUZ, Calif. — Residents at the newly built Tannery Arts Center, a large campus built to provide housing and performance space to keep low-income artists in Santa Cruz, were in shock and tears Tuesday after a 15-year-old boy was arrested in the killing an 8-year-old girl.
On Tuesday afternoon, residents and employees embraced each other with tearful hugs, deeply hurt by the unfolding tragedy involving the boy and girl, who lived in the complex. Madyson “Maddy” Middleton was lured by the teen into his parent’s apartment, where she was killed, Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel said at a news conference.
The boy then carried Madyson’s body to a garage, placed her body in a blue recycling bin and concealed her, he said.
“It is my belief she was killed before we even got the phone call Sunday night,” Vogel said, referring to the call reporting Madyson missing.
Yasmina Porter, 44, a resident, and a dance professor at Cabrillo College, said her two young children, ages 11 and 13, played with both the victim and the suspect.
“It’s really hard,” she said. “These are two children from our community and we’re just trying —a lot of us are avoiding the news. We just don’t want to get caught up in the stories until we know really, really what happened.
“These are our babies and one is dead and the other is taken away, and it’s awful,” Porter said, tearing up. “We’re a close-knit community. Right now, I think the residents are trying to stay together to prepare one another.
“These are my neighbors. These are kids that played with my kids. Maddy’s lovely. She’s like sunshine. She’s just this sunshiny girl, very smart and thoughtful. She had a little dog named Lucy, and her and her mom would walk their dog and her dog plays with my dog. Just a sweet, smart, charming little girl,” Porter said.
Maddy loved to ride her scooter, climb up on the jungle gym and talk to her girlfriends, Porter said. Her dog is a Chihuahua terrier.
The suspect was known as a sweet boy, Porter said.
“He’s thoughtful and quiet and would skateboard around. Play with his yo-yo,” Porter said.
Porter said the community was in shock.
“We mostly feel, like, a bit numb. Like, because, we’re close and it feels like — I’ll say it — these, these are our kids. You know, like, how would you, as a parent, feel if your kid did some horror? That’s how it feels like — oh my god — it feels devastating. It feels horrible. And I’m not seeing a lot of anger, but just disgust and sadness, and wanting healing. … there’s something really wrong and we’re willing to stick together and figure it out and try to get support to heal it.”
The Tannery Arts Center was built to help keep artists from moving out of Santa Cruz, which has increasingly been hit with higher housing prices. When the historic Salz Tannery, which once supplied more than half of all saddle leather produced in California, closed in 2001, Santa Cruz’s redevelopment agency drafted a plan to redevelop the site along the San Lorenzo River.
Vogel said they were waiting for forensic results and did not know if the girl had been sexually assaulted.
Madyson was last seen about 5:05 p.m. Sunday on surveillance footage video, riding a white scooter at the 8.3-acre artist complex on River Street. Her disappearance prompted a frantic search.
Police believe Madyson willingly went to the boy’s apartment, where they were alone. The pair knew each because they lived in the same housing complex, Vogel said.
“She was 8 years old,” he said. “I think she had a reasonable amount of trust in him.”
Her disappearance prompted a massive search of nearby woodlands, the Tannery Arts Center complex, where they lived, and the San Lorenzo River. Hundreds of community members handed out fliers while others searched for Madyson.
Then at 7:55 p.m. Monday, a little more than 24 hours after she disappeared, a Santa Cruz police detective discovered Madyson’s body inside the dumpster. Her body was concealed in a way that wasn’t obvious or apparent, Vogel said.
The boy was standing near the dumpster, immediately drawing the attention of investigators. He was quickly detained and later arrested in connection with her death.
Police believe the teenage boy was watching investigators as they searched the dumpster, Vogel said.
“We have evidence that ties our suspect directly to Maddy,” he said.
The boy could now face several charges, some of which can be filed against him as an adult, Santa Cruz District Attorney Jeffrey Rosell said. His identity was not released because he is a minor, officials said.
Detectives interviewed the boy early Tuesday and believe he acted alone.
“There is no risk or threat to our community at this point,” Vogel reassured community members.
Vogel said the investigation is not over.
“This is has just been absolutely devastating for me personally and for my staff,” Vogel said in the news conference. “My staff was so hopeful that we were going to find her alive. And when the news came last night that she was not alive, it was horrific. It was horrible.”