Maddy Middleton's killer makes bid for freedom in Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) — A hearing is underway in Santa Cruz County Superior Court that will determine if convicted murderer Adrian Jerry “AJ” Gonzalez will be freed from a juvenile detention facility. His victim was his neighbor, 8-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton.

Gonzalez was 15 years old when he used ice cream to lure Maddy into his mother’s apartment at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz during the summer of 2015. Gonzalez attacked the girl, choked her for 30 minutes, raped her, and stuffed the child’s body into a trash bag.

Maddy’s murder sent shockwaves through the Santa Cruz community. Gonzalez pleaded guilty in 2021 in juvenile court. He’s spent the past year incarcerated in Sonoma County Juvenile Hall, according to testimony.

Monday marked Day 3 of testimony for the hearing. Prosecutors must prove to Judge Denine Guy that Gonzalez is still a major threat to the community and at high risk of reoffending. Gonzalez sat silently next to his defense attorneys and periodically took notes. His left wrist was handcuffed.

Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Ashley Mowrey testified about her 2023 interviews with Gonzalez and risk-assessment reports. Gonzalez, now 24, told her that his crime was sexually motivated.

“Mr. Gonzalez said he was aroused … she was an object to satisfy his sexual needs,” Mowrey testified.

Mowrey works for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and has interviewed with hundreds of sex offenders. Mowrey said Gonzalez spoke to her about raping and murdering the eight-year-old girl, but he did not mention grisly details of his crime.

Prosecutor Tara George asked, “Did he talk to you about the music he played as she was moaning, losing her breath in the garbage bag? When he was choking her, she looked at him in the eyes? He was aroused when he thought she was dead?” Mowrey responded, “No.”

Gonzalez did not show emotions when he talked about the murder, Dr. Mowrey said. “He was very flat … constricted,” she testified.

Gonzalez’s upcoming 25th birthday triggered the hearing. Under California law, any criminal who was convicted in juvenile court qualifies for possible parole when they turn 25. Gonzalez turns 25 this fall.

At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Guy will make a ruling to either release the killer from custody, or keep him behind bars.

The psychiatrist gave Gonzalez two different tests to determine his risk level of committing another sexually-motivated crime. In one test he scored as “above average risk.” In the second test, he scored in the “moderate range of risk.”

Chief Deputy Public Defender Athena Reis is representing Gonzalez. Reis said the risk-assessment tests performed on Gonzalez are only meant to be used for people who commit a sexual offense when they are an adult, not a juvenile.

A small group of community members, including friends of Maddy’s family, held signs outside the courthouse calling for Gonzalez to spend the rest of his life in prison. “We remember when this happened. It still really affects the community. AJ deserves life,” Hannah, 17, told KRON4.

Maddy would have been the same age as Hannah if she were still alive today. Hannah and her mother brought protest signs and their husky to the courthouse’s front steps. The husky’s wolf-like appearance honored the memory of Maddy, who adored wolves.

The last image of Maddy alive was recorded by a surveillance camera at her apartment complex on July 26, 2015. The image shows the girl wearing a purple dress and riding a Razor scooter. A Santa Cruz Police Department report on the case states that Gonzalez made a confession to detectives. He told police that he promised to give Maddy ice cream if she went to his mother’s apartment. The victim was still alive when he put her body in a garbage bag, so he stabbed her in the neck with a knife, according to the report. He told police that he was suicidal at the time of the killing.

Maddy’s disappearance set off a massive search effort by police and community members. Her body was found less than 48 hours later in a dumpster within the apartment complex.

Dr. Mowrey also works for the San Francisco Forensic Institute. She interviewed and tested Gonzalez to recommend a sex offender treatment program through SFFI.

She testified that Gonzalez’s personality test showed “elevated scales” for schizophrenia, psychopathic deviance, and paranoia. Gonzalez is “someone who is very isolated and alienated from the world. (He) has paranoid preoccupation with how other people perceive him and isolating behaviors come from that,” Mowrey testified.

Prosecutor Terra George asked, when a person with that type of personality test result “acts out,” are the consequences severe? “Yes,” Mowrey answered.

George asked if Gonzalez expressed any empathy toward his victim. Mowrey answered, “There was a lack of affect, so the range of emotions expressed was restricted. The content of what he was saying illustrated at least intellectual (cognitive) empathy.”

Mowrey testified that Gonzalez may respond well to treatment. Her recommended sex offender treatment plan for Gonzalez did not include any treatment pedophilia, sadism, and necrophilia, despite the fact that his crime involved all three, the prosecutor pointed out.

Mowrey testified that the treatment plan recommended therapy about sexual consent, cognitive behavior therapy, developing healthy coping skills, and building a social support system.

Maddy’s mother, Laura Jordan, and grandmother, Judy Middleton, watched the hearing through a live Zoom video feed. Gonzalez’s mother watched from the courtroom gallery.

While incarcerated and receiving mandatory treatment at Sonoma County Juvenile Hall, Gonzalez engaged in a romantic relationship with a woman who was not in custody, according to testimony from Melita Combs. Combs is Gonzalez’s juvenile correctional counselor and case worker.

“Somebody on the outside?” George asked Combs. “Yes,” Combs replied. “He expressed that he cared for someone.”

Gonzalez’s “romantic relationship” with the woman developed over numerous phone calls that were recorded by authorities, according to testimony. Defense attorney Reis objected to the prosecutor’s line of questioning, and Combs did not testify about what was said during the phone calls. The relationship has since ended, according to Combs.

During his time in Sonoma, Gonzalez has not had any violent or angry outbursts, Combs testified. He completed college-level classes online through Santa Rosa Junior College, and participated in group therapy to develop social skills, she said.

Jail records show Gonzalez is currently an inmate in the Santa Cruz County Jail and is incarcerated with other adults. “Adrian would like to return to Sonoma,” Reis told the judge. Attorneys met with the judge behind closed doors late Monday afternoon to discuss whether he will be transferred back to Sonoma before his next court appearance.

The hearing will resume at 10:30 a.m. on July 30 with testimony from three more witnesses.

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