A 17-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the killing of Sunshine Stewart, a paddleboarder who was found dead in Maine earlier this month, police said Thursday.
Police did not identify the suspect or provide details on what charges he is facing. Other details, such as a possible motive or whether the teen knew Stewart, were not provided.
Stewart, 48, was found dead on July 3 during a search of Crawford Pond in the town of Union, Maine, state police said in a previous statement. An autopsy by the state medical examiner’s office determined her death was a homicide, and the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta later said the cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, according to CBS affiliate WGME-TV.
Stewart had gone on a solo paddleboarding trip a day earlier, but never returned, according WGME. Police said her body was found under “unusual circumstances” around 1 a.m., WGME reported.
Kathy Lunt, the owner of Mic Mac campground near Crawford Pond, told WGME that Stewart was a seasonal resident there.
Some Union residents expressed a sense of relief over the arrest.
“There was all kinds of rumors circulating about the New England serial killer. And I’m glad there’s been an arrest. I hope they can make it stick. I hope he’s guilty, because then we know,” Susan Creighton told WGME.
Peter Exkardt, another Union resident told the station, “You just don’t know. Just taking a walk and all that, not realizing who’s going to be around the corner and all that. I think they did a good job in finding the person.”
Meredith Smith, a resident of Union who knew Stewart, described her as “a great, great person all-around.”
“To know Sunny, I don’t think she had a bad bone in her body, and anyone that knew her was just in awe of her,” Smith said, WGME reported.
A GoFundMe launched for Stewart had raised more than $33,000.
Sarah Lynch Baldwin
contributed to this report.
