PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Prosecutors in Maine said Monday they will seek to try a 17-year-old charged with murder in the death of a paddleboarder as an adult.
The body of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart, 48, of St. George, was found earlier this month on Crawford Pond in Union, about 80 miles north of Portland in a part of the state beloved by summer campers and nature lovers. Stewart went missing while paddleboarding before her killing, and her death sent shockwaves through the local community.
Police charged Deven Young, of Frankfort, Maine, with murder in the death of Stewart last week. He has been held at a youth detention facility in the Portland area and is due in court for a status conference on Aug. 22.
The Office of the Maine Attorney General is moving to bind Young over so he can be tried as an adult, said Danna Hayes, a spokesperson for the office. A judge will need to rule on the request.
The motion to try Young as an adult has been impounded by court and is not publicly available, Hayes said.
“Although the court allowed us to release the name of the defendant, all of the other documents remain impounded, so we do not have additional information we can share at this time,” Hayes said.
Young made a brief initial court appearance on Friday in which he entered a denial to the charge. His attorney, Jeremy Pratt, declined to comment Monday. If convicted of murder as an adult, Young faces a prison sentence of 25 years to life.
A medical examiner determined Stewart’s cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, police have said.
Authorities have not revealed a motive. Court documents released about the case contain little detail, and Maine State Police have declined to comment beyond announcing the arrest last week. They’ve said the investigation into Stewart’s death is still active.
Stewart lived about 21 miles from the pond in the Tenants Harbor neighborhood in St. George.
Friends of Stewart have described her as a fiercely independent adventurer who was deeply dedicated to her friends. Over the years, she worked as a fisherman, boat captain, carpenter and bartender, among other jobs, friends said.
“She was just a wonderful friend, a really loyal, wonderful friend,” said a lifelong friend, Bethany Leach Parmley of Washington, Maine. “She was just so fun and funny and you couldn’t help but have a good time around her.”
The pond, in the 2,400-resident town of Union, is about 600 acres and does not have public access. It is available for a variety of uses, including boating and fishing. The 100 Acre Island preserve in the center of the pond is a wooded island reachable by canoe, kayak or paddleboard from a nearby campground.
