One minute, eight-year-old Madyson Middleton was riding her new scooter in a courtyard outside her apartment. The next minute, she was gone.
Last night, police recovered her body from a dumpster just metres from where she was last seen playing in the courtyard of the Tannery Arts Center, just metres from her home in Santa Cruz, California.
A 15-year-old boy who lives in the same apartment building has been arrested on suspicion of murder.
CCTV footage shows Madyson minutes before she disappeared.
Madyson’s mum Laura Jordan realised the girl had disappeared at around 5pm on Sunday and quickly accessed surveillance video from the housing complex that clearly shows the little girl – wearing in a purple dress with black leggings and a helmet – riding her scooter around the courtyard.
She was last seen on the CCTV footage at 4.12pm.
Hundreds of people from neighbouring areas conducted a massive air, sea and land search for Madyson, alongside police and FBI agents, which ended up uncovering her body.
