Inset: Sunshine Stewart (Stewart family). Background: Crawford Pond in Union, Maine, is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025 (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty).
An arrest has been made in the case of a Maine woman who went missing while paddleboarding, and the individual taken into custody is a minor.
Maine State Police announced on Thursday that they arrested a 17-year-old boy from Maine the night before, in relation to the homicide investigation of 48-year-old Sunshine Stewart.
Stewart was paddleboarding on Crawford Pond in Union, Maine, on the evening of July 2 when she failed to return to her nearby campsite. Authorities discovered her body on an island in the center of the pond and determined her death was a homicide.
Stewart’s cause of death was determined to be strangulation and blunt force trauma, Maine State Police added in the Thursday press release. The suspect, who has not been named, was taken to a juvenile detention center in South Portland, Maine. It is unclear what charges, if any, he faces.
Maine State Police asked men who live near Crawford Pond to voluntarily submit their DNA in the case, Stephen Betts, a reporter with a local outlet called the Midcoast Villager told Law&Crime’s “On the Case” with Chris Stewart. Betts also reported that Sunshine Stewart’s body was found not far from her paddleboard on 100 Acre Island.
He then said the area where the victim was staying is largely private.
“It’s kind of a long lake. All the water, the lake- [and] pond-front property are privately-owned,” he said. “Now, people do use the campground – Mic Mac Campground in Union – to launch kayaks or canoes, boats, but they need to get permission from the campground, and they have to pay a fee to the campground. Other than that, the only way to get there would be if you own a piece of property.”
Sunshine Stewart left her campground on July 2 between 6 and 9 p.m., authorities have said. When she didn’t return, law enforcement was called, and they found her body around 1 a.m. the next morning. About a week later, as the case gained increased attention, authorities noted the “fear” that had taken hold.
“The Maine State Police recognizes the fear and discomfort that this incident has brought to the town of Union and the Crawford Pond community,” the agency wrote on July 9.
After the arrest of the 17-year-old a week later, they said it was “the result of relentless investigative work by Detectives and Investigators.”
100 Acre Island, where the victim was found, is 99% owned by the Georges River Land Trust, Betts said, and the trust has created a nature trail on the island. It allows people to visit it during the day but requires permission for overnight camping. On the night of Sunshine Stewart’s death, a family of four was camping there, he reported.
The mother of the family said authorities spoke to them – though it is unclear whether that was before or after the victim’s body was found – and when she asked whether it was safe to stay, she was told yes, that they could finish their vacation. The woman said she knew nothing about the homicide until days later, Betts reported.
He also maintained that it’s the “most unusual case I’ve ever dealt with [and] I’ve been covering news in this region for 44 years.”
The Maine State Police has continued to ask anyone with relevant information on Sunshine Stewart’s death to come forward.
Union is a small town of about 2,300 people located in southern Maine about 15 miles from the coast.
