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"A 16-year-old boy charged with raping and murdering 8-year-old Madyson Middleton at a Santa Cruz artists' complex waived his right to a preliminary hearing.Adrian Jerry \"AJ\" Gonzalez of Santa Cruz appeared in court Thursday with a defense attorney who told the judge that his client did not want the hearing. The defense agreed to go forward with a trial, and prosecutors did not have to present their evidence against Gonzalez at the hearing.PHOTOS: The Madyson Middleton caseGonzalez was 15 years old at the time of the homicide and Santa Cruz District Attorney Jeff Rosell charged him as an adult. He pleaded not guilty and is facing life in prison if convicted.\"The bottom line in this: We have always maintained that we filed the appropriate charges in this case (and) that we have strong evidence to back all of these up. For whatever reason, they decided it was in their client's best interest to not challenge the charges at this stage,\" Rosell said Thursday.Gonzalez and Middleton were neighbors at the Tannery Arts Center, a nonprofit where artists and their families live in a close-knit community. Friends described the 8-year-old girl as outgoing and full of spunk.Middleton was last seen alive while riding her new white and pink scooter in the art center's courtyard on July 26, 2015.Hundreds of FBI agents, police officers, search dogs, and volunteers scoured Santa Cruz with hopes that she would be found alive and well. Hope turned into disbelief when her body was found 26 hours later, hidden inside a recycling bin near an apartment where Gonzalez lived.Police said the Santa Cruz High School student lured Middleton into his mother's apartment.\"She was lured to the suspect's apartment. She was not taken there against her will. She was 8 years old and had a reasonable amount of trust in him,\" Police Chief Kevin Vogel said.Once inside, he attacked the girl, tied her up, raped her, and killed her, according to court documents.A source close to the investigation told the San Francisco Chronicle about a possible motive. According to the source, \"The boy told police that he had been contemplating suicide, and that he had killed the girl to see how people would react,\" the Chronicle wrote.On the day Middleton was killed, Gonzalez uploaded a video on Instagram showing him playing the song \"Mad World\" by Gary Jules on the piano. He captioned the video with one line of lyrics: \"The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.\"Gonzalez is scheduled to return to court on June 14."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.ksbw.com/article/santa-cruz-teen-accused-of-murdering-madyson-declines-hearing/1296559>