Days after the mysterious killing of a paddleboarder in Maine, state law enforcement officials said they are continuing to review leads and urged residents to remain vigilant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Maine State Police recognizes the fear and discomfort that this incident has brought to the town of Union and the Crawford Pond community,\u201d Maine State Police said in a statement Wednesday. \u201cWe remain steadfast in our efforts to investigate the death of 48-year-old Sunshine Stewart.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stewart was found dead July 3 in Union, roughly 30 miles east of Augusta, after authorities responded to a report of a missing paddleboarder, state police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An autopsy determined Stewart\u2019s manner of death to be homicide, the agency said. Her cause of death has not been released. A state police official confirmed a report that Stewart was found \u201cunder unusual circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency said the owners of a nearby campground have been cooperative with investigators and asked for information from anyone who saw Stewart paddleboarding between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. July 2 near an island in Crawford Pond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agency has released few other details about her death, but said Wednesday that major crimes investigators have been examining all of the leads pushed through its tip line and continue to follow “every investigative and forensic avenue.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A longtime friend of Stewart\u2019s, Kimberly Hamill, told NBC News that it was \u201cimpossible\u201d to make sense of her death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI grew up in Union, and as far I know, nothing like this has ever happened there,\u201d she said. \u201cFor it to have happened to Sunshine is like, how could that even be? It just makes it feel like nothing will be right again ever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hamill described Stewart as a solid friend who\u2019d lived an incredible life: She was a carpenter who ran her own construction business. She was a boat captain who\u2019d sailed to the Virgin Islands. She didn\u2019t graduate high school but managed to earn a degree in marine biology, Hamill said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI want people to remember her as the force of nature that she was,\u201d Hamill said. \u201cShe was such a loyal, good person. That was her most memorable quality \u2014 how much she believed in everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n