'Acted like nothing ever happened': Teen who killed paddleboarder on remote pond and then 'volunteered' to help investigate will go to trial, authorities say

A teenager accused of killing a paddleboarder on a remote Maine pond before trying to mislead police in their investigation will go to trial, a judge ruled.

Deven Young was 17 years old when he was arrested in summer 2025 and charged with the murder of 48-year-old Sunshine Stewart. Now, District Court Judge Eric Walker has determined that Young is competent to stand trial.

The jurist did not yet rule on whether Young will be tried as an adult or juvenile, regional ABC affiliate WMTW reported.

The court "finds that the defendant has not met his burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence that he is not competent to proceed," the ruling reads. "The court finds that the defendant is competent to proceed based on the court's finding that the juvenile has a rational, as well as a factual, understanding of the proceedings and a sufficient present ability to consult with legal counsel with a reasonable degree of rational understanding."

The Maine Attorney General's Office has sought to try Young, now 18 years old, as an adult, recognizing that, as Law&Crime's "On the Case" with Chris Stewart previously laid out, if he is charged as a juvenile, he would likely be released from police custody in just a few years at the age of 21.

By state law, if he were convicted of murder as an adult, he would face 25 years to life in prison.

On the evening of July 2, 2025, Stewart — who was staying at Mic Mac Cove Campground in Union, Maine — went to paddleboard on nearby Crawford Pond. She did not return.

After Stewart's disappearance was reported, responding authorities found her body on an island at the center of the pond, and they ruled her death a homicide. Her cause of death was determined to be strangulation and blunt force trauma, Maine State Police said in a press release at the time.

At the time, Young was on a family vacation at the same campground where Stewart was staying, authorities said. On the evening of Stewart's disappearance, the teen is believed to have taken his small fishing boat out onto Crawford Pond less than an hour before Stewart went paddleboarding.

As investigators continued searching for clues as to what happened to Stewart, Young allegedly inserted himself into the case. According to the owner of the campground, Katharine Lunt, the suspect "volunteered" to help investigators.

"He said he had some information — and he took them in the opposite direction of where Sunny was found," Lunt told the area TV station.

Authorities felt their suspect was likely in the area, given that the land was largely private and rural. And as investigators searched for clues, Young allegedly feigned ignorance and innocence for two weeks until he was arrested on July 16, 2025.

"The fact that this individual was in this campground for two weeks is haunting," Lunt said at the time. "He was not on anyone's radar. That whole week, he was offering campers help with different tasks they were doing. He acted like nothing ever happened."

"Nobody was looking for a child," she added. "We were looking for an adult."

In January, the Midcoast Villager was able to get records unsealed relating to previous police calls to Young's home in Frankfort, Maine. Their details, reported by the paper's Stephen Betts, added a new dimension to a case that the reporter told Law&Crime's "On The Case" was the "most unusual" one he had dealt with in 44 years.

Sometime around Jan. 4, 2023, the Maine Department of Health and Human Services told the Waldo County Sheriff's Office that Young had been given a black eye by an adult, according to the report. A deputy responded to Young's school to talk to him about it, but he was reportedly reserved, not offering up information and becoming disruptive.

A redacted name in the report reviewed by the Portland Press Herald warned the officer that Young was big, and they were afraid he could get angry.

The deputy went to Young's home that same day, and another person, whose name was also redacted, reportedly said Young "has bad spells if his medication is not on board." At some point, the suspect allegedly began swearing and throwing objects. "When he gets mad, he just freaks out," the person told authorities.

The officer continued to investigate and learned that another person said Young attacked her a few months earlier, leaving her with a bloody and bruised face. She reportedly showed authorities a photo of her injuries and said Young would hurt her if they weren't getting along.

According to the report, the woman said Young suffered from ADHD and defiance disorder, and he had spent time at a psychiatric hospital in Bangor, Maine.

Young is expected to appear in court again on May 7.

Union is a small town of about 2,300 people located in southern Maine about 15 miles from the coast.