Mother pleads for return of missing California 8-year-old

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (AP) — 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 a Northern California beach town 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.

FULL story at link.



This undated photo provided by the Santa Cruz Police Department shows missing Madyson "Maddy" Middleton, from Santa Cruz, Calif. Madyson Middleton was last seen Sunday afternoon, July 26, 2015, riding a scooter outside the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz, a beach town along the Northern California coast. The 4-foot-tall, a 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 when she vanished. (Courtesy of Santa Cruz Police Department via AP)

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/0a2bf141318d474cbbc7e286ec8ea3f6/8-year-old-girl-goes-missing-california-beach-town

[Xithras]

1. Her helmet was found in the woods

The SF Chron article says that they found her helmet in the woods a short time ago.

[LoisB]

3. Does not sound good.

[Xithras]

4. There are a lot of bad possibilities here.

My father in law used to live near the UC, not far from where she vanished.

You've got the woods themselves, which could be hiding an injured or dead kid. You've also got the river running alongside the woods and apartment complex. The street running in front of it is a state highway that leads up into the massively dense redwood forest only a couple of miles away. It sits less than a thousand feet from a freeway onramp that immediately junctions into two different freeways. Oh, and there's also a homeless services place across the street that frequently deals with the mentally ill. AND that area is well known for its drug addicts.

Any one of those facts introduces a dozen bad possibilities. The "good" possibility, that she's simply wandering around town or is lost in the woods, is becoming less likely by the hour.

[trillion]

10. Sadly it was likely the homeless place - lots of sex offenders let out of prison frequent those

places. It is unlikely to be the drug addicts unless someone was in the human trafficing business.

[LoisB]

2. How sad. I do hope they find her alive.

[trillion]

11. We all do. That poor mom. Hope they find her soon and alive. If not alive, then still soon so her

mom won't be tortured. I really hope this doesn't end tragically.

[passiveporcupine]

5. wandering around overnight for an eight-year-old doesn't sound very plausible

This makes me so sad.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

6. ...

I hope that she is found alive and unharmed.

[JDPriestly]

7. Is 50 pounds a normal weight for a girl her age who is four feet tall?

[1monster]

8. My son weighed thirty-five to forty at the same age. He was small, but healthy.

Fifty to 65 is pretty much normal.

[kath]

9. Yep.Her weight and height are both perfectly normal for an 8-yr-old girl:

http://www.cdc.gov/growthcharts/data/set1clinical/cj41l022.pdf

[RexDart]

12. It ended badly.

link

It's going to be a tough few days here in town. I was at the town clock fir a vigil after the discovery. Everybody is taking it pretty hard.