Search warrants reveal new details about the fatal shooting of a woman in Carrabassett Valley and what police discovered after charging her boyfriend with murder in her death.
Makayla Rose Desantis, 23, was fatally shot March 8 at a condominium near Sugarloaf Ski Resort, where she and her boyfriend, Austin Doucette, 24, worked.
Desantis had dated Doucette since 2018 and moved to Maine from Connecticut in 2024, court records said. She worked at 45 North, a restaurant located in the Sugarloaf Mountain Hotel.
The warrants requested by Maine State Police Detective Christoph Mutschin and dated March 25 were for access to records from Desantis’ cell phone. The nearly 40 pages of search warrants in a Farmington court outline what police believe happened and provide a rare look into a homicide before a grand jury indictment for the person accused.
Those records provide new information about the shooting, as well as the relationship between Doucette and Desantis. Multiple friends, family members and coworkers told police Doucette would berate and belittle Desantis.
Doucette’s attorney could not be reached for comment.
In February, Desantis asked her manager to work every day that Doucette did not work because she did not want to be at home with him, the warrant said. She also told her boss that Doucette had grabbed her arm while she was leaving for work but that she “downplayed” it.
A coworker told police that Doucette would send Desantis derogatory messages and threaten to put his hands on her, the warrants said. Another coworker told police that Doucette was verbally and emotionally abusive to Desantis.
That coworker also told police Doucette shoved Desantis twice, but that she played it off. She would also pay his credit card bill and have no money left, the warrants said.
Doucette kept guns and ammunition out in the open in the condo, the coworker told police. He would also go to the gun range weekly.
Police had also executed a search warrant at the condo, according to previous reporting.
The shooting happened near the Left Bank Condominiums around 7:30 p.m. March 8. According to the 911 call, two people, later identified as Doucette and Desantis, were driving to meet an ambulance on Route 27 shortly after, court records said.
A man called 911 from Desantis’ cellphone at 7:31 p.m. and said while hysterical, “I have a gunshot go off,” according to the warrants. The caller also said it was accidental, that “I can’t believe I did this” and “I’m sorry babe,” the warrants said.
The caller then told 911 that they were driving to Farmington for help and the call disconnected. He then called back, telling dispatch that his girlfriend had a gunshot wound and that he didn’t want to go to jail, the warrant said.
Doucette met the ambulance, and first responders took her to the hospital. He was told to follow the ambulance to Farmington, but a witness saw him drive off in the opposite direction, the warrants said.
Doucette was arrested at a traffic stop roughly 45 minutes after the first report to police and 10 minutes after an ambulance had taken Desantis, the warrants said.
Desantis’s phone was in the car Doucette was driving, according to court records. Location data helped police figure out what happened in the intervening time.
Desantis had a single gunshot wound to her chest, according to the warrants. She was taken to the Franklin Memorial Hospital in Farmington and then taken by helicopter to Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she was later pronounced dead.
When police first interviewed Doucette, he said the shooting was an accident and police could find the gun in his couch in his condo, according to records. He then asked to speak to his attorney.
