Missing Woman Found Murdered After She Went Paddleboarding in Maine Pond

A woman who disappeared while paddleboarding in Maine was murdered, authorities have ruled. 

Sunshine Stewart, 48, was reported missing on Thursday, July 3, after she went paddleboarding on Crawford Pond in Maine’s Knox region, Maine State Police said in a statement this week. 

Stewart, who was known as “Sunny” among loved ones, reportedly went paddleboarding the previous day on her own and never returned, Midcoast Villager reported, citing police accounts.

During their search on Thursday, police located a body later identified to be Stewart’s, Maine State Police said in their statement.

Her body was found under “unusual circumstances,” ABC News reported, citing officials familiar with the investigation.  

The medical examiner’s office performed an autopsy on Thursday and determined the nature of her death was a homicide. They did not announce her cause of death. 

Stewart is being remembered by loved ones for her fierce energy and adventurous spirit.

In a tribute on Facebook, her friend Rob Wood wrote Stewart was “one of the strongest people we’ll ever meet.”

“She would greet obstacles with a polite smile and then completely destroy them,” he wrote, adding: “She reminded us that we are alive.” 

Stewart’s sister Kim Ware said Stewart was a marine biologist and “world’s best bartender, lobsterman and boat captain,” according to ABC News. 

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Stewart’s friend Stacey Yandell told the Midcoast Villager Stewart was “a strong, self-made woman,” who rebuilt her own house. 

“She was her own HGTV,” Yandell said. “She could do it all. She could pick up on any skill or trade.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to assist friends and family to “send [Stewart] off the right way.” 

No arrests have been made in the case.

Maine State Police is requesting information from anyone who may have seen Sunshine Stewart paddleboarding on Wednesday, July 2, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. near 100 Acre Island on Crawford Pond.

Police can be reached at 207-624-7076.