Maine boy Deven Young, 17, accused of murdering female paddleboarder, 48, 'was a bully at school'
Deven Young, 17, was taken into custody last Wednesday night and charged with beating and strangling Sunshine Stewart, 48, to death in Union, Maine. Her body was found on July 3.
The murder came hours after Stewart set off alone to paddleboard on Crawford Pond, a popular recreation spot near the campground where she was staying.
Now, people who grew up with Young have spoken out about what he was really like.
One childhood friend said Young had bullied kids since preschool, and two other people who knew him said – in separate interviews – that the accused murderer would regularly get in trouble for fighting, according to Bangor Daily News.
Another classmate, however, said he never saw Young bully people himself.
Jaxon Mushero, 18, a friend of Young's who knew him since they met in third grade at Leroy H. Smith School in Winterport, said they talked on the phone in June.
He said Young seemed 'a little off' during the call – but not to a concerning degree.
Speaking about the charges brought against Young, Mushero said: 'Just finding out, seeing that just shocks me. It really does. That was my childhood best friend. I grew up with him.'
Young is charged with murder as a juvenile in Knox County.
Court documents obtained by Maine's Total Coverage state that Young 'did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of another human being, namely Sunshine Stewart, or did engage in conduct that manifested a depraved indifference to the value of human life and which in fact caused the death of Sunshine Stewart.'
Young appeared in a Knox County courtroom on Friday morning via Zoom, where he denied responsibility for Stewart's death.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Maine Attorney General has filed a motion for Young, who will turn 18 in September, to be tried as an adult.
If Young's case remains in juvenile court and he is convicted, his sentence cannot exceed his 21st birthday.
However, if the case goes to adult court and he is convicted, he faces at least 25 years in prison.
The teenager spends vacation time in the Crawford Pond area each summer with his family, an official familiar with the investigation told ABC News. Young's home in Frankfort is approximately 38 miles from the pond.
Stewart rented a camp site at Mic Mac Family Campground in Crawford Pond for the summer season on May 1.
She had only stayed on the camp grounds for two or three nights before she disappeared on July 2, after last being seen leaving her camper to go paddleboarding at around 6pm.
Any connection between Stewart and Young are not known.
News of the murder left locals in the tight–knit community of Union terrified.
Meredith Smith, a childhood friend of Stewart's, told the Daily Mail she was shocked by the news of Young's arrest.
'Part of me is relieved that someone has been arrested, but the other part says this is far from over because I feel like there's still so much more to this story that we don't know,' said Smith.
'Sunshine was strong and feisty; she would've put up a fight... she would've given this person hell.'
When Stewart – a marine biologist, lobsterman, bartender, and boat captain – had still not returned by the early hours of July 3, someone raised the alarm.
Before dawn broke, a search and rescue drone spotted Stewart's paddleboard drifting alone.
Her body was later discovered along the southeast shore of 100 Acre Island, a nature preserve in the middle of the pond.
Police have not confirmed any details of how Stewart's body was found, or in what condition, sharing only that the circumstances were 'unusual.'
For now, Young was ordered to continue to be detained at Long Creek Youth Correctional Facility in South Portland.
The 17-year-old is scheduled to appear in court again on August 22.
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