ROCKLAND, Maine — A court hearing to determine whether 18-year-old Deven Young will be tried as an adult or juvenile for the July 2025 murder of Sunshine “Sunny” Stewart may not be held until January or February.
The defense, state and Judge Eric Walker held a five-minute hearing via Zoom on Tuesday on possibly scheduling the bind-over hearing. That hearing would be to determine whether to send his case to the adult court system.
Defense attorney Jeremy Pratt said his expert will do a diagnostic evaluation of Young but has had difficulty getting into the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. Once that expert is able to meet with Young, the person expects it will take three months to issue a report. Pratt said the Maine attorney general’s office will then want an opportunity to review the report before a bind-over hearing is held.
The determination of whether to charge him as an adult or juvenile is significant. If Young is tried and convicted as an adult, he would face a minimum of 25 years and up to life in prison. If tried as a juvenile, he would be held in juvenile detention no longer than age 21.
Walker also asked if it would make sense to transfer the case to the Kennebec County court in Augusta because the Knox court will be in the midst of getting its records online during November and December as other courts in the state have done. But that may not be necessary if the hearing is not held until early 2027.
The judge said he was frustrated that the hearing may be pushed into 2027. The bind-over hearing is expected to take two to three days.
Young did not attend the Zoom hearing.
Young, 18, has been charged with the July 3, 2025, blunt force and strangulation death of 48-year-old Stewart, whose body was found on 100-Acre Island on Crawford Pond in Union. Young turned 18 on Sept. 24, 2025, less than three months after Stewart was killed. He remains held at the Long Creek.
Walker ruled April 29 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 probable cause affidavit that led to Young’s arrest remains sealed. Thus, it is not known whether Young made any incriminating statements to Maine State Police or others.
Stewart grew up in the Union area and attended Medomak Valley High School. She bought and restored her circa 1900 home on River Road in Tenants Harbor. Stewart also worked as a waitress, bartender, fisherman and carpenter. Her friends said she was a strong, self-made woman and could do anything she set her mind on.
Stewart was reported missing when she had not returned by midnight from paddleboarding on Crawford Pond. The Union Fire Department, Knox County Sheriff’s Office and Maine Warden Service searched for her. Her body was found before dawn. An autopsy by the Maine medical examiner’s office determined her death was a homicide.
State police reviewed surveillance video from the campground. The footage showed Young going out in his aluminum boat before Stewart. The boat had both a motor and oars. Stewart left at 6 p.m. to go paddleboarding on Crawford Pond. Young later was seen returning to the campground in his boat.
Witnesses said that in the two weeks after Stewart’s death, Young’s behavior did not raise suspicion. He offered to help other campers with loose pets and yard work and made wood crafts that he gave to others.
Young approached investigators and said he had information about the case. He went out on Crawford Pond in a boat with investigators and a game warden, leading them to the opposite end of 100-Acre Island from where Stewart’s body was found. When they returned to the campground, police continued interviewing him.
Investigators left the campground but returned later that night and went directly to the Youngs’ camper. Police interviewed the family for two hours before arresting the son on the night of July 16. Detective Erin James was the arresting officer.
Young is a resident of Frankfort. His family was at the Mic Mac Campground on Crawford Pond, where Stewart was also staying.
Young made his initial court appearance July 18, 2025, via Zoom from Long Creek. The hearing, held at the state court in Knox County, was open to the public at the request of the Midcoast Villager. Young entered a denial of the murder charge. He is represented by attorneys Jeremy Pratt and Caitlyn Smith. Assistant Attorneys General Lisa Bogue and Suzanne Russell are prosecuting the case.
After that hearing, the defense requested a competency hearing. State law mandates that juvenile cases be sealed for felony and murder cases if a motion for competency determination is made. The entire court file was sealed until Walker’s April 29 ruling that found Young competent to stand trial.
Following that ruling, the Maine Forensic Service in Augusta conducted a diagnostic evaluation of Young for June 16. Results of that evaluation will be used at the upcoming hearing to help determine whether he will be tried as an adult or juvenile. The evaluation could also be used to determine whether he can be held criminally responsible for the death if it goes to trial.
If the judge rules that Young will be tried as an adult, the state would then present the case to a grand jury which would determine if there were reasonable grounds to charge him. The case would then be on track for a trial that could take more than a year to be held.
The defense could also appeal the ruling if the judge orders him treated as an adult. That would further delay the case from reaching a trial.
A recent case in Waldo County where a 16-year-old was charged with killing a 49-year-old man in Brooks in May 2022, ended in August 2025 when the youth was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Midcoast Villager successfully challenged in court the denial of access to police records maintained by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office on calls that department made to Young’s home in Frankfort.
Those records showed that the parents discussed how they had sought services for Young, who spent two stints at Acadia Hospital — a psychiatric facility — in Bangor and how he did well in its day program. They said he had been on a waiting list for more than two years to get home counseling services but had not yet received those services. He was also getting therapy at Hampden Academy, according to the audio recording.
“We’ve done everything under the sun to deal with his disease,” the father said.
The teen has bipolar disorder and could go from, “fine to boiling over,” the father said. The mother also said Young could go from being the “sweetest, nicest kid you would ever meet in your life to a crazy little psycho.”
The father said Young “beat the sh*t out of her,” referring to Young’s mother, when he didn’t get his way.
Young was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 250 pounds at the time of his arrest, according to court records.
His behavior had been going on for years and years and years, the woman said. He not only had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and oppositional disorder, but also intermittent explosive disorder. In addition to beating up his mother, leaving her with a swollen, black and blue face and other bruises, the man said Young would take a pickaxe to vehicles on the property while going on rampages.
The parents said Young would often apologize after he had his explosive behavior. Both of them expressed their concern for the teen and discussed their efforts to help him. When he failed to take his medicine, he would fly into a rage, the adults said; however, they believed he knew right from wrong.
The father said if the teen kept up his actions he would end up in jail when he turned 18.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.