Murder of Madyson Middleton

Common card · No. 375356

Madyson Middleton was an 8-year-old American girl from Santa Cruz, California, whose mother reported her missing from their housing apartment complex on July 26, 2015. Middleton had been lured into another apartment by a 15-year-old neighbor where she was strangled, sexually assaulted, and stabbed before being disposed of in a dumpster. The neighbor, Adrian Jerry Gonzalez, was arrested two days later after Middleton's body was found. In 2019 the California State Legislature passed, and in 2021 the state Supreme Court upheld SB 1391 which prohibits 14- and 15-year-olds from being prosecuted as adults. As a result, in April 2021, Gonzalez was sentenced to juvenile detention where he remains incarcerated, whereas if he had been prosecuted as an adult he could have faced life in prison. Upon turning 25 in 2024, Gonzalez was eligible for release, but a jury trial determined that he would still pose a danger if released.

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