In 2015, a rape and murder of an 8-year-old horrified Santa Cruz. Court weighs whether to set killer free

A Santa Cruz County court is weighing whether a man who raped and murdered his 8-year-old neighbor when he was 15 years old will be released from prison when he turns 25 this year.

Prosecutors have petitioned the court to prevent the release of Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, who in April 2021 pleaded guilty to all charges associated with the 2015 death of Madyson “Maddy” Middleton.

In a probable-cause hearing that began Thursday, county prosecutors are arguing that Gonzalez continues to be a danger to the public and should remain in custody for two more years, according to local media reports.

If Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Denine Guy rules that there is probable cause to delay Gonzalez’s release, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported, the case will go to trial for a jury to determine whether the two-year delay is warranted.

The crime horrified the close-knit Santa Cruz community where both Maddy and Gonzalez lived.

Maddy, an energetic girl with a penchant for wolves, was last seen on the evening of July 26, 2015.

Surveillance video showed her riding her scooter through the Tannery Arts Center, an affordable housing complex for artists where she lived with her mother.

A little more than 24 hours later, a Santa Cruz police detective discovered her body at the bottom of a recycling bin on the property.

Detectives noticed Gonzalez watching nearby as they searched the bin, police told The Times in 2015. He was arrested the next day.

At the time, he was an incoming sophomore at Santa Cruz High School who volunteered at a camp for young artists and was known for his yo-yo tricks. Authorities said they believed that Maddy willingly followed Gonzalez, whom she knew as a neighbor, into his apartment.

“I think she had a reasonable amount of trust in him,” former Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel told The Times.

According to court documents reported in local media, Gonzalez lured Maddy to the apartment with the promise of ice cream. He then beat her, choked her and sexually assaulted her before stabbing her in the throat and hiding her body in the recycling bin.

Both the girl and her teenage assailant were well-known within the Tannery Arts community, residents said at the time.

“We’re just devastated. These are two of our kids, and one is dead and one has been taken away,” one resident told the Times. “This is the most horrible thing you can imagine.”

Gonzalez was charged as an adult with murder with special circumstances, one count of kidnapping and four sexual-assault-related offenses. If convicted, he would have faced life in prison.

But in 2019, before Gonzalez’s case went to trial, California passed Senate Bill 1391, which bars the state from prosecuting 14- and 15-year-old offenders as adults.

The state Supreme Court upheld the law in 2021. Weeks later, Gonzalez’s case was transferred back to juvenile court, where he pleaded guilty to all charges. He will age out of the juvenile system on his 25th birthday in October.

On Tuesday, a clinical forensic psychologist testified that Gonzalez was deemed “above average” on one sexual assault risk assessment and “moderate risk” on the other, Lookout Santa Cruz reported. The hearing will continue this month.