Adrian Gonzalez showed ‘psychopathic traits,’ remains a danger to community, forensic psychologist testifies

A forensic psychologist testified Monday that Adrian Gonzalez, who at age 15 raped and murdered Santa Cruz 8-year-old Madyson Middleton, exhibits “a reasonable likelihood of psychopathic traits” and showed careful planning in carrying out the 2015 crime, raising concerns about his potential release.

Susan Napolitano, testifying in the ongoing jury trial to determine whether Gonzalez should be released from custody now that he is 25, described a crime she said demonstrated sophisticated premeditation rather than teenage impulsivity.

“There may have been impulsive moments, but the totality of the crime seemed calculated and planned,” said Napolitano, a Fresno-based clinical and forensic psychologist. She added: “I do think that he is a danger to the community, based on my assessment of the information I reviewed.”

Napolitano was called as an expert witness by prosecutors as part of a trial that will determine whether Gonzalez should be released from custody or remain incarcerated for another two years. Gonzalez was convicted of raping and murdering Maddy Middleton in 2021. He was set for release in October as he turned 25 and aged out of the juvenile justice system, but the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office challenged the release.

The psychologist told the court that the nature of the crime suggests that Gonzalez may show traits both of sexual sadism and psychopathy and added that the “sophistication of the offense” stood out to her.  

“I was really taken aback by the fact that a 15-year-old could so brutally murder a child and leave no blood evidence. That was very surprising and unusual to me,” she said. “The fact that there was no blood on the knives suggests quite a bit of sophistication and cleanup.”

Napolitano also said that Gonzalez offering ice cream to Middleton to get her to enter his apartment appeared to be a calculated effort at grooming and made her concerned that his behavior was driven partly by sexual sadism.

“Most people don’t wake up one day and commit a crime like this,” she told a Santa Cruz jury. “It is much more likely that a person has had thoughts about this for an extended period of time — sexually arousing fantasies related to the facts of the crime that were then acted out.”

Napolitano noted how Gonzalez had multiple bags that he used to contain the blood from the murder, which she said showed a level of planning and organization, and had inserted himself into the police investigation. Gonzalez had engaged with police as they searched for Middleton after she was reported missing, asking what happened and offering his name and apartment number.

“That is actually another arousing part of the entire fantasy, is to have the power of being not only the one that knows what happened, but the only one that knows why what’s going on is going on,” Napolitano said. She added that “it could be invigorating” for people with psychopathic and sexually sadistic traits to return to the crime scene to take in what is happening. Gonzalez’s admission to a psychologist in charge of assessing him while he was in custody to an interest in sadomasochistic pornography is also significant, Napolitano said, even if Gonzalez said it was nothing out of “mainstream” consumption.

Of particular concern to Napolitano was Gonzalez’s demeanor during police interviews, where she said he appeared playful and relaxed until investigators indicated they knew of his involvement in the murder. His primary concern then shifted to his own fate, she said, noting that he asked about the consequences for himself at least eight times.

“Many of his comments were ‘what’s going to happen to me now?’” she said, adding that his behavior raises more concerns about psychopathy because of what she said was Gonzalez’s attempts to manipulate and deceive investigators and his self-centered reaction to being accused of committing the crime.

Napolitano hypothesized that Gonzalez also suffers from underlying paraphilic — sexual arousal to atypical objects, individuals or scenarios — and personality disorders. 

She told the court she had based her assessment on reviewing Gonzalez’s statements to police and psychological assessments while incarcerated. While jail officials and psychiatric professionals who worked with Gonzalez during his time in custody said he has done well in treatment, Napolitano said it’s not uncommon for someone who has done something violent to function well in an incarcerated, structured setting. She added others’ analyses of Gonzalez did not focus on psychopathic and sadistic traits.

“If you don’t look for it, you’re not going to find it, and if you never found it, then you’re not going to treat it,” she said. “That means there’s zero possibility that that person’s problem can be rehabilitated.”

Under cross-examination by Gonzalez’s attorney, Charlie Stevens, Napolitano acknowledged that she had not personally investigated any crime scenes to help inform her assessment of Gonzalez’s cleanup efforts and that there was no evidence Gonzalez had kept Middleton’s scooter and helmet as a trophy and object of sexual arousal.

Stevens asked Napolitano about whether his client’s apparent lack of empathy during and after the crime could be related to his autism diagnosis, as those with autism may tend to struggle with empathy in some capacity. Napolitano replied that Gonzalez’s lack of empathy was more concerning than typical for someone with autism. 

While people on the autism spectrum might have trouble with cognitive empathy – the ability to anticipate how someone else might feel or act in a given situation – they don’t typically struggle with affective empathy – the ability to feel and share the emotions of others, something that can’t be taught. Gonzalez, Napolitano testified, showed a lack of affective empathy.

The psychologist also agreed with Stevens that a study she cited of 22 juvenile sexual murderers – which found that 27% of them evolved into serial sexual murderers –  was based on a small sample size and she wasn’t sure how that sample was selected.

The trial is set to continue on Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

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