WATERVILLE — Police say the death of a Clinton woman whose body was found outside a Waterville home Saturday is believed to be the result of an accidental fall from the second story of the residence, where she was spending the night.
Stacey MacDonald, 33, apparently had stayed the night Friday at 160 Drummond Ave., and her body was found on a cement patio behind the house Saturday afternoon, Waterville Deputy Police Chief Charles Rumsey said in a news release Sunday.
Police officers responded to the residence at 1 p.m. Saturday after receiving a report of a possibly deceased female behind the house. Members of the Waterville Police Department’s Detective Division, the Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit, and the Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner were at the scene until 8 p.m. investigating the circumstances surrounding the death.
MacDonald was an acquaintance of the homeowner, who was not named in the news release, and had been a guest at the home Friday evening, spending the night in a bedroom on the second floor, according to police.
Investigators have reached the preliminary conclusion that during the night MacDonald “became disoriented and either stepped out or fell from a second-story exterior doorway,” the release said.
MacDonald struck a cement patio below the second-story door and suffered serious internal and external injuries that caused her death, according to the release.
The home is under construction and a balcony was planned but had not yet been built off the exterior door in the room where MacDonald spent the night.
A family member of the homeowner made the call to police at the request of the homeowner when he discovered MacDonald’s body at 1 p.m. Saturday, Rumsey said in a phone interview Sunday afternoon.
Based on interviews conducted at the scene and evidence that investigators gathered, Rumsey said that they believe MacDonald’s fall was accidental.
Rumsey said that when the homeowner went to the room MacDonald was staying in to check on her Saturday, he discovered the exterior door was open and MacDonald was not in the room.
“(Investigators) have worked very hard to establish a timeline of who was in the home and what time people woke up,” Rumsey said. “We don’t believe there is a discrepancy in the time she was discovered and the time she was involved in the fall.”
The investigation will remain open pending the results of tests being conducted by the medical examiner’s office. An autopsy was conducted Sunday, but it could take some time to receive all the test results, Rumsey said.
“The medical examiner’s office is responsible for determining the cause of death, and they will make that determination when their testing is complete,” Rumsey said in the release.
MacDonald’s death is the second tragic incident to occur at 160 Drummond Ave. around Christmas. On Christmas Day in 2013, a major fire destroyed a large barn and attached buildings on the property and heavily damaged the house.
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