17-year-old charged with murder in paddleboarder's killing at a pond in rural Maine

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Authorities in Maine said Friday they have charged a 17-year-old with murder in the death of a paddleboarder who went missing on a rural pond that is a popular summer destination.

The body of Sunshine Stewart, 48, of St. George, was found this month on Crawford Pond in Union, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of Portland and about 15 miles (24 kilometers) from some of the state's scenic coastal areas. The killing shocked and scared the community, where trips to the pond and nearby campground are a summer staple.

Maine State Police said a 17-year-old boy was taken into custody in Union on Wednesday night in connection with the homicide investigation but initially did not elaborate and declined to release additional information about him. On Friday, the state attorney general's office said the teen was charged with one count of murder.

Court documents identified the teen as Deven Young, of Frankfort, Maine. He made a brief initial court appearance on Friday in which he entered a denial to the charge. His attorney, Jeremy Pratt, declined to comment to The Associated Press via email.

A medical examiner determined Stewart’s cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, police said.

Authorities have not revealed a motive. Court documents contain little detail other than stating that Young is a juvenile and “did intentionally or knowingly cause the death of another human being, namely Sunshine Stewart.”

Police said in a statement Friday that they were not releasing any additional information and that the case was “still a very active investigation.” They have said they are seeking information from anyone who may have seen Stewart paddleboarding on July 2 on Crawford Pond.

Stewart lived about 21 miles (34 kilometers) from the pond in the Tenants Harbor neighborhood in St. George. A person reached by phone who identified herself as Stewart’s sister on Thursday declined to comment.

Friends of Stewart have posted online testimonials remembering her as fiercely independent and always up for a challenge, including outdoor adventures and building projects. Over the years, she worked in many roles, including as a fisherman, boat captain, carpenter and bartender, friends said.

A lifelong friend, Bethany Leach Parmley of Washington, Maine, described Stewart as “dauntless,” and the glue of a group of friends who stayed close even as life took them in different directions. Parmley said Stewart was a longtime paddleboarder who previously taught lessons in the activity.

“She was just a wonderful friend, a really loyal, wonderful friend,” Parmley said. “She was just so fun and funny and you couldn't help but have a good time around her.”

She renovated her home in Tenants Harbor, a neighborhood in St. George, said Bruce Twyon, a friend who knew Stewart from her time living in the Virgin Islands. That spoke to her self-motivation and spirit of “getting things done and enjoying life every day,” he said.

“She was such a sweet person and very strong and independent, and took care of a lot of people,” Twyon said.

The pond, in the 2,400-resident town of Union, is about 600 acres (243 hectares) and does not have public access. It is available for a variety of uses, including boating and fishing. The 100 Acre Island preserve in the center of the pond is a wooded island reachable by canoe, kayak or paddleboard from a nearby campground.

The pond has numerous nooks and narrow areas, so it’s possible there were other boaters on the water at the time of the killing who were unaware someone was in danger.

Police said the defendant was taken to Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland. Young is due back in court on Aug. 22, according to court documents. His hometown of Frankfort is about 41 miles (66 km) from Union.

Stewart — known as "Sunny by her friends — would have turned 49 next month. Loved ones launched a GoFundMe page to help celebrate her life. The page said memorial service dates were being determined.

Campers ride a golf cart to the Mic Mac Cove Campground, Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Union, Maine, where police have used the campground to access Crawford Pond to investigate the murder of a woman last seen paddleboarding on the pond. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Crawford Pond in Union, Maine, is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Crawford Pond is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Union, Maine. Police are investigating the murder of a woman last seen paddleboarding on the pond. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Crawford Pond is seen Wednesday, July 9, 2025, in Union, Maine. Police are investigating the murder of a woman last seen paddleboarding on the pond. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)