A 17-year-old has been arrested in connection with this month’s death of a paddleboarder in Union.
The boy, whose identity hasn’t been released, has been taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, according to Shannon Moss, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety.
That ends weeks of speculation since 48-year-old Sunshine Stewart of Tenants Harbor was found dead on Crawford Pond on July 3.
The Maine medical examiner’s office ruled that Stewart died from strangulation and blunt force trauma, Moss said Thursday morning.
Stewart had gone out from Mic Mac Campground around 6 p.m. on July 2 for a solo paddleboard outing. But when she failed to return, authorities began searching for her early on the morning of July 3, when they found her body.
The lack of information made public around her death, which police ruled a homicide, put the small midcoast community on edge. Police said there was no threat to the public, but with so few disclosures, speculation ran rampant, including that Stewart was the victim of a serial killer. That prompted police to make a rare admonishment, calling such theories “irresponsible.”
Friends remembered Stewart as a “strong” and “self-made” woman. She rehabbed her home in Tenants Harbor, where the community was shocked to learn of her death. Stewart also worked as a bartender, waitress, carpenter and fisherman.
She had planned to spend the summer at Mic Mac Campground in a rented camper.
Her death remains under investigation, and Moss said no more information is being released.
