Two days after the Christmas morning death of her 3-year-old girl, an Edgecomb mother requested a protection from abuse order against a man she described as “verbally, mentally and physically abusive.”
The application for the protective order filed Tuesday in Wiscasset District Court provides some of the few details available about the family of 3-year-old Makinzlee Handrahan, whose Christmas Day death has been ruled a homicide.
Makinzlee’s death is Maine’s 32nd homicide of the year and the third this year of a child.
Police have said little about the case, and they still have not made an arrest. Shannon Moss, a Maine Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said Thursday that police had no updates in the case.
Asked whether the man named in the protective order is a suspect, Moss said police do not release information about potential suspects. The Bangor Daily News is not naming the man because he has not been charged in connection with the toddler’s death. It is not naming the mother because she is allegedly the victim of abuse.
The mother requested the protection from abuse order on Tuesday, and a judge granted a temporary order the same day. She asked for protection for herself, two older children, ages 7 and 9, and a dog. The request doesn’t mention Makinzlee.
“I am scared for my life and my children,” she wrote.
She described the man in court paperwork as a dating partner who formerly or presently lived in the same household. She requested that he give back his key to her apartment.
A hearing on the order is scheduled for next month.
Police were called to the family’s home at the Davis Island Townhomes apartment complex on Route 1 in Edgecomb just after 7:30 a.m. on Christmas Day for a child who was not breathing. Makinzlee was taken to Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, where she died.
A neighbor said the girl’s death was “totally unexpected,” and that neighbors saw the girl being “hauled out” in an ambulance early Christmas morning.
The neighbor, who declined to be identified, said what happened was shocking. He hadn’t seen any signs that such a violent thing could happen in the home.
A woman who declined to comment could be seen Thursday entering, then leaving the apartment where court records show the 3-year-old’s mother resides. Earlier, a ring of the doorbell elicited no response except a barking dog.
While little is still known about the circumstances of her death, social media posts and a newspaper archive reveal some details about the girl and her family.
Makinzlee was born in September 2019, according to a Facebook post from the time and a birth announcement that appeared in the Lewiston Sun Journal.