WATERVILLE, Maine — A Clinton woman found dead Saturday afternoon outside a Drummond Avenue home may have become disoriented inside the house and fallen out a second-floor doorway to a cement patio below, police said Sunday.
The death of Stacey MacDonald, 33, remains under investigation, but so far appears to be accidental, Chief Deputy Charles Rumsey of the Waterville Police Department wrote Sunday in a news release. An autopsy was conducted at the state medical examiner’s office over the weekend.
MacDonald was an associate of the homeowner, whom police did not identify. She had been a guest at the house Friday evening and slept over Friday night in a bedroom on the second floor.
“At this time, our agency’s investigation has led us to primarily conclude that at some point during the night, MacDonald … became disoriented and either stepped out or fell from a second-story exterior doorway in the house,” Rumsey wrote. “The home, which is under construction, has an exterior door off one of the bedrooms where a future balcony is planned but has not been built.”
When she fell, she hit the cement patio and suffered serious internal and external injuries that led to her death, according to Rumsey.
Police and emergency responders were called to the home at 1 p.m. Saturday, when someone called to report a “possibly deceased” woman outside the house, Rumsey wrote.
Members of the Waterville Police Department’s detective division were assisted by the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit and an investigator from the office of the chief medical examiner. Officials stayed at the scene until about 8 p.m. Saturday, conducting interviews and gathering evidence, Rumsey wrote.
The investigation will remain open until the medical examiner’s office determines the cause of MacDonald’s death. Rumsey said that additional information is not expected to be released in the next few days or even weeks.