FBI Joins Search For Missing Santa Cruz Co. Girl, 8

The FBI is assisting Santa Cruz police in looking for an 8-year-old girl missing since Sunday evening, a police spokeswoman said today.

Madyson “Maddy” Middleton was reported missing at 6:08 p.m. Sunday from the Tannery Arts Center at 1030 River St. Witnesses saw Maddy shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday when she was outside riding her scooter and playing with friends before she went missing, police spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said during a news conference at police headquarters this morning.

She is described as a white girl standing 4 feet tall and weighing 48 pounds, according to police. Maddy was riding a white scooter while wearing a purple knee-high dress with black leggings, a black helmet and long hair pulled to the side in a braid, police said.

Officers have searched the arts center, which they will check again today, and the surrounding woodland area, parks and the San Lorenzo River levee, Blaschke said.

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The search area has been expanded and police have added air and watercraft patrols to look for Maddy, according to Blaschke. Investigators are following up on hundreds of tips they have received on the missing girl, Blaschke said.

The Santa Cruz County sheriff’s search and rescue team and K-9 units from the state Office of Emergency Services are also helping police in their search, Blaschke said. A specialized K-9 unit followed Maddy’s scent from the arts center to a beach area, according to Blaschke.

The girl was in her mother’s custody at the time she went missing and her parents are being cooperative with investigators, the spokeswoman said. There have been no persons of interest or signs of foul play identified in the case, Blaschke said.

“At this point we’re looking at all possibilities and the family has been extremely cooperative. They’re helping us and we want to help them find their daughter,” Blaschke said.

The California Highway Patrol has issued an endangered missing person advisory for Maddy in Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, Monterey, San Mateo, Alameda, San Francisco and San Benito counties.

The CHP has not issued an Amber Alert for the girl because police have not received information that Maddy was taken away in a car, Blaschke said. Anyone with information on Maddy’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.

According to a Facebook post for those who wish to help: Flyers available for pickup and distribution at 1111 Ocean St. (large quantity of flyers), FedEx Kinkos on Clare’s Street in Capitola, Staples on 17th in Live Oak, and PrintSmith in Aptos. Please post them on your car windows and distribute widely.

--Bay City News contributed to this report