Maddy Middleton’s body is believed to have been found a little more than a day after the missing girl vanished from the courtyard outside her mother’s loft apartment late on Sunday afternoon in California.
After the body’s discovery, the Santa Cruz Police arrested a 15-year-old boy who lived in the same complex for questioning on
suspicion of homicide, according to The Associated Press.
Madyson Middleton, 8, was last seen on Sunday afternoon wearing a purple dress, black leggings, and a black helmet as she rode her brand new scooter outside of the Tannery Arts Center in Northern California, according to the AP. The complex’s security surveillance footage, which was turned over to the police, last recorded her at 4:12 p.m. On Monday night, a body was discovered inside a trash bin just outside the complex and is expected to be positively identified as hers.
“It's horrible. It's awful. It's heartbreaking. The last time I stood in front of a group like this was when [two] my officers were killed. And it feels just like it did that night,” said Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel at a
press conference on Monday night, according to KSBW.
When Madyson’s mother, Laura Jordan, realized that her daughter was not in the courtyard less than an hour after she had last seen her, she immediately called the police, and FBI agents joined the hundreds of law enforcement officers, U.S. Coast Guardsmen, and community volunteers who came together to search for Madyson door-to-door and throughout nearby parks, rivers, and homeless shelters, according to KSBW.
“I had so much hope that we would find her,” said family friend Gemma Locatelli, according to KSBW. “'Cause we were all looking. This entire community rallied around finding this little girl.”
The Tannery Arts Center where Madyson and Jordan lived is a public-private nonprofit project that holds 100 loft apartments for artists and their families, as well as a café, dance studios, and art studios, according to the AP.
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