A house at 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney on Saturday is clear of the police tape that cordoned it off Friday while Maine State Police and local officers investigated the killing of a 14-year-old boy. Megan McDonald, 39, was arrested after reporting to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office that a crime had occurred at the home early Friday morning. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

An update on Megan McDonald’s first court appearance was published Dec. 27
Sidney murder suspect makes first court appearance

AUGUSTA — The first court appearance of the woman arrested Friday and charged with the murder of a 14-year-old in Sidney was delayed Monday after attorneys agreed to reschedule the appearance.

Megan McDonald Courtesy of Kennebec County jail

Megan McDonald, 39, was scheduled to make her initial appearance via videoconference at 1 p.m. Monday. But District Court Judge David Mitchell said McDonald will instead make an in-person appearance at 10 a.m. Friday at the Capital Judicial Center in Augusta.

Mitchell said attorneys from both defense and prosecution reached an agreement shortly before Monday’s scheduled appearance after McDonald’s attorneys — who were not named in court Monday — requested the delay. It was not clear why the request was made.

McDonald, 39, was charged Friday afternoon, Maine State Police said in a statement issued Friday evening.

The Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office was contacted to conduct a wellbeing check Friday morning after a woman reported to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office in Auburn that an incident had taken place at her Sidney residence, state police said. Deputies conducting the welfare check at a Summerhaven Road residence found a 14-year-old boy dead.

The woman who made the report was not identified by state police.

But a partially redacted Androscoggin County dispatch log shows Megan K. McDonald made the report. The Morning Sentinel obtained the log Monday through a public records request under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act.

“A female comes to the front door and rings the doorbell,” a dispatcher wrote in log notes. “I answer from dispatch and ask what I can help her with. She states she wants to report a murder. I ask her where and she states Syndey.”

It was unclear Monday why McDonald reported the crime in Auburn — about a 40-mile drive from her home.

Police were seen throughout the day Friday investigating at 2005 Summerhaven Road, a house near the Augusta-Sidney line. Megan McDonald is listed as the owner of 2005 Summerhaven Road in property records.

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy Friday and found the manner of death of the 14-year-old to be homicide, caused by “a combination of asphyxiation, manual strangulation, and sharp force injury,” Maine State Police said.

The 14-year-old boy has not been identified by authorities as of Monday at noon. A state police spokesperson said Saturday in an email that releasing the name would be up to the attorney general’s office. A spokesperson for that office, which prosecutes all homicides in Maine, said Monday morning in an email that the name had not yet been released.

A news report Monday from WMTW, citing unnamed neighbors, identified the boy as McDonald’s son.

It was unclear Monday whether the boy involved in the killing is a local student who officials said Friday had died.

Carl Gartley, the superintendent of Regional School Unit 18, said in an announcement Friday that a Messalonskee High School student had died and the incident was being investigated by police. Sidney is one of the towns served by the Oakland-based district.

McDonald is being held without bail. A criminal complaint and other records in the case were not available Monday afternoon following the hearing, per the orders of Mitchell, a courthouse clerk said.

McDonald’s jail booking photo, taken after her arrest Friday, appears to show McDonald with close-shaved hair wearing a smock generally used as part of a suicide prevention protocol.

McDonald was as a part-time clinical site instructor in the University of Maine at Augusta’s nursing program from August 2021 through August 2022, according to Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the University of Maine System.

“A clinical site instructor supervises nursing students as they complete their clinical experiences in a healthcare setting (and not on our campuses),” Warren said via email.

A Maine Board of Nursing database shows an active registered nurse license for Megan Kathleen McDonald of Sidney, expiring in March 2026. That name does not appear in an online list of disciplinary actions maintained by the board.

McDonald also served in the U.S. Marine Corps, according to a database search using her listed date of birth on a court schedule.

McDonald served from June 23, 2003, to Aug. 10, 2010 and was discharged with the rank of lance corporal, according to information provided Monday by Maj. Melissa Spencer, director of COMMSTRAT for the Manpower and Reserve Affairs division at the Marines’ headquarters.

A Marine Corps flag was flying outside the Summerhaven Road house Friday and Saturday.

Kennebec Journal reporter Emily Duggan contributed to this report.