http://abc7news.com/news/search-cont...a-cruz/885287/
Madyson 'Maddy' Middleton, 8, Missing In California, Police Say
The girl was last seen riding her scooter outside of a community center.
AP
Posted: 07/27/2015
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) ? Santa Cruz police and search and rescue teams are looking for an 8-year-old girl who vanished Sunday night.
Police say Madyson "Maddy" Middleton was last seen Sunday evening playing outside the Tannery Arts Center.
The center is a publicly and privately funded community center that provides affordable housing and studios to musicians, artists and dancers. It is across the street from the Santa Cruz Homeless Services Center, a crowded gathering place with walk in day services and shelter beds, about a mile from downtown.
The river-bike trail behind the Tannery is one of the seediest parts of this beach town, frequented by drug addicts, mentally ill people and patrolled regularly by police.
The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports she was visiting her mother, who lives there.
Police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke told the newspaper that video surveillance at the complex showed Madyson there at 5:05 p.m. She hasn't been seen since.
Police say the girl is 4 feet tall, weighs 48 pounds and has long brown hair and dark eyes.
She was last seen riding her Razor Scooter and wearing a purple dress with black leggings, black flip-flops and a black helmet.
Authorities are searching the woodland and park areas around the arts center and the river levee.
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Information from: Santa Cruz Sentinel, http://www.santacruzsentinel.com
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KCRA) ?The mother of a missing 8-year-old girl pleaded for her safe return Monday as search efforts grew to include federal authorities.
Madyson Middleton vanished Sunday afternoon from an artist community and housing center in Santa Cruz, where she lives with her mother.
She was last seen riding her new, white scooter in the Tannery Arts Center courtyard, a place where children -- both residents and those taking art and dance classes -- frequently play. But at about 5 p.m. her mother realized she was gone.
Madyson's parents met with investigators Sunday night and again Monday at police headquarters before speaking with reporters outside; her mother Laura Jordan they said they were very worried and wanted Madyson home.
"I can't explain how difficult this is," said Jordan, who had searched through the night for her little girl.
Jordan said she's looked at surveillance video from their housing complex that watched Madyson's last minutes before she disappeared. She's walked the edges of the courtyard, and police have twice conducted a door-to-door search of the entire complex, as well as a homeless resource center and shelter across the street.
Beyond the 8-acre property, searchers from throughout the state are now in boats, helicopters, on foot and bike, with dogs and cameras, searching for the girl. The FBI, as well as sheriffs from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, are assisting.
Authorities weren't sending volunteers onto adjacent hiking and biking trails for fear of disturbing potential evidence, but hundreds of volunteers showed up and were looking for her in neighborhoods and streets.
"This is our town, and this just shouldn't happen here. We all should do everything we can to find this girl," David Giannini said.
Authorities are using dogs to search nearby woods and parks and the San Lorenzo River levee. Helicopters are searching the forest and the coastline, and the U.S. Coast Guard has been scouring the ocean 2 miles from where she was last seen.
The 4-foot-tall, 50-pound child has long brown hair, which was pulled to the side in a braid, and dark eyes. She was wearing a purple dress, black leggings, black flip-flops and a black helmet.
She lived with her mother at the Tannery Arts Center, a public-private nonprofit project that includes 100 affordable loft apartments for artists and their families, a caf?, and dance and art studios on eight acres. The property, a former leather tannery, is managed by The John Stuart Company. The company declined comment Monday, citing the ongoing police investigation.
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