Police: Teen suspect lured girl to home before killing

Jessica Estepa and Michael Winter | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Body found, believed to be missing California girl Police in Santa Cruz, Calif., found a body they believe to be missing 8-year-old girl Madyson Middleton. A 15-year-old boy is under arrest.

An 8-year-old Northern California girl was lured into the apartment of a 15-year-old neighbor before she was killed and her body dumped in a recycling bin at their complex, Santa Cruz police said Tuesday.

The unidentified teen knew Madyson Middleton and was near the bin when a detective found her body during a second search Monday evening, Police Chief Kevin Vogel said during an emotional news conference. The boy had reportedly helped look for her.

Her body was found just before 8 p.m. PT Monday at the Tannery Arts Center, a housing development for local artists where both lived. Known as Maddy, she was last seen by a security camera at 5:05 p.m. Sunday riding her scooter in the complex.

"It's my belief she was killed before we ever got the phone call" an hour later that she was missing, Vogel said at a news conference. He did not indicate how she died or whether she was sexually assaulted. Autopsy results were pending.

Vogel said the body had been concealed "in a way that was not obvious or readily apparent. If you just opened the top of the bin, you would not have seen the body."

The boy was arrested early Tuesday. Neighbors reported that his mother screamed in agony when her son was taken into custody.

The district attorney said the teen could be charged as an adult.

Vogel said it appears Maddy, who lived in the complex with her mother, 42-year-old Laura Jordan, was "lured to the apartment willingly" and murdered there. He described them as acquaintances.

"I think she had a reasonable amount of trust in him," he said. "I don’t think she was taken against her will.”

A Tannery resident described the suspect as "the nicest kid you can imagine," the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported.

“Everyone has got to be in shock over this,” the unidentified artist said.

Mayor Don Lane called Tuesday "a day to honor Madyson and to offer our support.”

“Our hearts and our thoughts and our prayers go out to those close to Madyson who have been devastated by the loss of this very precious life,” he said at the news conference outside police headquarters.

Following Maddy's disappearance, police conducted door-to-door searches of the complex and nearby communities. Authorities searched in nearby woodlands, parks and along the San Lorenzo River. Helicopters, bicycle patrols, dogs and even boats aided the search. Middleton's father, Michael, spent much of Monday searching the streets with friends.

Jordan told the Sentinel on Monday that her daughter was waiting for a friend to finish a board game so they could play together, and rode her scooter under her friend's window. At 5:07 p.m., surveillance video shows Maddy riding near a cluster of metal mailboxes at the Tannery. It was the last time she was seen alive.

"I thought she was in the courtyard," Jordan said. "I thought she was in the bathroom, checked the art bar, then I started to going to every friend's house. Maybe she got bored waiting for her play date, maybe she found another friend. But we had no luck."

Contributing: John Bacon