Teenager arrested after body of missing California girl discovered

San Francisco (Reuters) – Authorities have arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with the death of an 8-year-old girl missing since Sunday and whose body was discovered in a recycling bin at a residential complex in Santa Cruz, California. police said.

The girl, Madyson Middleton, was last seen Sunday evening riding a scooter at the Tannery Arts Center, which provides affordable housing for artists, Santa Cruz police said.

“This has just been a horrible, horrible experience,” Santa Cruz Police Chief Kevin Vogel told reporters Tuesday. “My team was so hopeful that we were going to find her alive.”

Middleton knew the 15-year-old boy who lured her to his apartment and killed her, Vogel said. The teen, who acted alone, hid her body in a recycling bin downstairs, Vogel said.

The boy was arrested near the trash can where Middleton's body was found Monday night, Vogel said, and the teen was questioned early Tuesday morning.

Local television station KSBW broadcast video of the teenager being led away in handcuffs.

Santa Cruz County Prosecutor Jeffrey Rosell told reporters his office was considering whether to charge the teen, whose name was not released, as an adult.

Local, state and FBI agents, aided by law enforcement dogs, searched for Middleton in Santa Cruz, an oceanfront community about 60 miles south of San Francisco, and residents Locals also canvassed the area where she was last seen.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles and Curtis Skinner and San Francisco; editing by Will Dunham and Sandra Maler)