New information has surfaced regarding the juvenile suspect accused of killing a Maine paddleboarder in a case that has captivated the nation’s attention.
Deven Young, 17, was detained on July 16 in connection with the homicide investigation of Sunshine Stewart, 48, and his identity was confirmed shortly thereafter. He’s been charged with murder.
Prosecutors want to trial Young as an adult. Not only will he reach 18 in a few months, but if charged as a juvenile, he will most likely be freed from police custody at the age of 21.
The presiding judge will ultimately make the decision, and further factors of the case are expected to be considered.
Investigators have found these additional elements to be alarming.
Young was on a family vacation at Mic Mac Cove Campground in Union, Maine, where Sunshine Stewart also slept, according to officials. When the victim failed to return from paddleboarding on the neighboring Crawford Pond on July 2, local enforcement was notified. During the subsequent days of extensive inquiry, Young allegedly immersed himself into the case.
According to the campground’s owner, Katharine Lunt, the suspect “volunteered” to assist detectives.
“He said he had some information—and he took them in the opposite direction of where Sunny was found,” Lunt told Portland, Maine-based ABC affiliate WMTW.
Lunt is acknowledged with making significant contributions to the investigation. Because the crime occurred in a remote locale, officials knew their suspect pool was small.
“I looked at the surveillance — went back to the cameras to see where he was at the time,” Lunt said about Young’s actions. “And those videos indicated he was on the lake at the time.”
Young apparently took his tiny fishing boat out on Crawford Pond less than an hour before Sunshine Stewart began paddleboarding.
Even after the victim’s death, as police looked for clues and Young allegedly pretended ignorance and innocence, the defendant remained near by.
“The fact that this individual was in this campground for two weeks is haunting,” she told me. “He was not on anybody’s radar. He spent the entire week helping campers with various duties. He pretended nothing ever occurred.”
“Nobody was looking for a child,” Lunt explained earlier. “We were looking for an adult.”
The nature of the murder should also influence the judge’s judgment about how Young is tried. Sunshine Stewart’s death was caused by strangulation and blunt force injuries, according to Maine State Police. Her body was discovered on an island in the middle of the pond in “unusual circumstances.”
Tom Smith, a retired NYPD investigator, told Law&Crime On the Case with Chris Stewart that Young’s behavior was instantly suspect.
“Right from the front, that would get my radar up,” Smith said of the suspect’s discussions with law enforcement. “When someone comes out of nowhere and says, ‘I have knowledge on this’ – when there wasn’t a lot of information available. So for someone to come up with anything like that is troubling, and it raises my suspicions.”
Smith also questioned the notion that the murder was a spontaneous act.
“When there’s someone lurking out there…” And this was certainly not the first time this thought occurred to this child. This is not an impulsive act. It was intended. “It was targeted,” Smith told Law&Crime. “You know, he recognized someone’s vulnerability and took advantage of it. So it will be necessary to investigate this individual’s background to determine what other motives or thoughts he had prior to this.
Sunshine Stewart’s friends regarded her as an explorer and “wonderful friend.”
“She was just so fun and funny, and you couldn’t help but have a good time around her,” Bethany Leach Parmley told Boston’s NBC station WBTS.
“She has been a go-getter, working and doing everything since she was a youngster. “I mean, this woman was ambitious from the start,” Tennie Komar said in comments to WMTW. “She was such a cheerful, outgoing, and lively person. You couldn’t be around her and not be inspired.”
Komar was astonished by what happened, comparing it to a scene from a novel.
“This is stunning. “This is beyond belief,” she exclaimed. “Honestly, she was an athlete, and she would have been able to fight off a man a lot bigger than her.”
“I feel like we’re living in a Stephen King novel at this point with everything that’s going on,” Komar told reporters.
Young stays at the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, Maine. His next court date is August 22.
