Court views video of Gonzalez’s confession as his trial for release resumes

Adrian Gonzalez’s trial for release resumed on Monday with the jurors watching a 2015 police video of Gonzalez confessing to killing Madyson Middleton two days after the Santa Cruz 8-year-old was first reported missing. 

In the video, after initially denying that he had hurt Middleton, Gonzalez, then 15, tells two Santa Cruz Police Department detectives that he choked her in his apartment and hid her scooter and helmet in his closet.

SCPD Detective Laurel Schonfield, continuing her testimony from two weeks ago, told the court that Gonzalez showed a lack of emotion during the police interview that was noteworthy compared to other similar crimes she has investigated.

“The majority of the people I’ve interviewed had a lot more emotion. They were excited, physically upset, I had people throw up and throw things at me,” she said. “Mr. Gonzalez, throughout our contact, was very even keel.”

Gonzalez was convicted of raping and murdering Middleton in 2021. The current trial will determine whether Gonzalez should be released from custody, or if he should remain incarcerated for another two years. He was first 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, leading to the current trial.

Prosecutor and assistant district attorney Tara George showed a video of the SCPD detectives, referred to as Detectives Warren and Pollock, questioning Gonzalez on the night of July 27, 2015, two days after Middleton was reported missing. 

The conversation begins with the detectives asking Gonzalez about his last interaction with Middleton. He tells them she was near “mosaic” benches in the Tannery Arts Center complex with her scooter and helmet the day she disappeared, where he said they talked about food and the summer so far. Investigators also ask Gonzalez about his history of depression, suicidal thoughts and past instances of self-harm, before shifting the conversation to Middleton.

The investigators then show Gonzalez surveillance footage from the Tannery Arts Center, where both Gonzalez and Middleton lived, that captured Gonzalez with a trash can heading towards the complex’s garbage and recycling dumpsters. Gonzalez tells investigators that he was “taking out the recycling,” but the detectives say they don’t believe him. They tell him that in the video, he looks around seemingly trying to decide where to put the bin, and that what he’s carrying looks much too heavy to be recycling. He asks the detectives if they have found Middleton in the dumpsters. They respond by questioning why he would ask that instead of whether they had found something like her scooter or helmet in the trash.

Gonzalez, now visibly agitated, says that he would never hurt Middleton. Investigators then tell him that they know more than they let on, and that he has to tell them the truth.

“Maddy was dead by the time you spoke to us. She was dead before we even got there,” Detective Pollock says. “We will find her helmet and scooter, and we will find fingerprints. If those are your fingerprints, that’ll be scary.”

In a recording from the laptop that Pollock used to show Gonzalez the surveillance footage, Gonzalez is heard denying any involvement in Middleton’s death. He asks the detectives several times what happened, and Pollock responds: “I’m kind of hoping you’re going to tell me.”

Gonzalez, now speaking much more quietly than before, goes back and forth with the detectives for several more minutes. Detective Pollock tells him that Middleton’s mother “deserves some answers,” and that what Gonzalez tells them “might change what happens to you.” Gonzalez eventually confesses that he choked Middleton and that he committed sexual acts on her. He says he was struggling with his mental health at the time but doesn’t know why he committed the crime. He asks the investigators what is going to happen to him and what his mother knows. Investigators tell him his mother knows he is cooperating and that he has been read his rights.

Eventually, Gonzalez decided to write an apology letter during the interview to Middleton’s mother, Laura Jordan, after discussing it with investigators. George read the letter in court, in which Gonzalez calls what he did “reckless, unlike me, spontaneous and permanent.” He added that what happened should never have been done, and that “hating me would be an understatement.” Later in the interview, he says that he “feels like s–t” and that he would definitely undo his actions if he could.

In his cross-examination of the SCPD’ Detective Laurel’s Schonfield, Gonzalez’s attorney, Charlie Stevens, pointed out that detectives in the interview video used common techniques to make Gonzalez more comfortable speaking with them before telling him of evidence they had that strongly implicated him in the crime. 

Stevens asked if Schonfield noticed anything about Gonzalez when they interacted that would indicate that he is not neurotypical, as he has since been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and attention deficit disorder. Schonfield said that while she didn’t notice anything at first, later on, she said she picked up on difficulties with social cues and other ways Gonzalez interacted with the detectives as possible signs of some sort of neurodevelopmental disorder. She added that his willingness to be involved in the investigation came off as strange.

“A lot of people at the Tannery did not want to talk to us, but he wanted to talk to us,” she said. “I initially chalked that up to interest in the case or wanting to be the center of attention, but as the case continued, I saw it as more of a red flag. In my experience, people who commit crimes like this often come back, hang around and engage with law enforcement.”

Stevens is scheduled to continue his cross-examination of Schonfield on Tuesday at 9:45 a.m.

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