OFFICIALS have ruled the death of a 14-year-old girl a homicide after she was found dead by her mother at their family home.
Cops are pursuing leads as the family’s car was mysteriously stolen from their Maine mobile home the day of Brooke McLaughlin’s murder.
Brooke McLaughlin, 14, was found dead in her family home[/caption]
The family’s car was mysteriously stolen the day of Brooke’s murder, cops said[/caption]
The car was recovered about 15 to 20 miles from their home the next day[/caption]
Brooke’s mother called 911 when she came home and found her daughter unresponsive at 6pm on Monday, Maine State Police said.
The State Medical Examiner ruled the teenager’s death a homicide as police investigate the mystery surrounding her murder.
She had just turned 14 this month.
Police searched for a red 2010 Chevrolet Impala that was stolen from the victim’s home the day Brooke was killed, Portland Press Herald reported.
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The car was found about 15 to 20 miles away the next morning, police said.
Investigators have asked that anyone with information about the case, including anyone who saw the Impala on Monday or Tuesday, call the Maine State Police at 207-624-7076.
“No arrests have been made as of yet,” said a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Public Safety in a statement.
“Detectives continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding McLaughlin’s death.”
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Brooke, who was a 7th grade student at Maranacook Community Middle School, was identified by Superintendent of Schools Jay Charette on Thursday.
Charette said Brooke “always had a smile on her face” and was “a really good student.”
“Although we don’t know the circumstances of this tragic event, we are working with various agencies to offer our support in a timely and appropriately sensitive manner to our students and staff given the nature of the tragedy,” Charette wrote.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the student’s family in their time of need as we mourn the loss of their child.”
“It is scary,” Mount Vernon resident April Canwell told WGME.
“Everything that’s happening around the world. And now this is happening in our little town.
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“It just really makes you stop and think. You open up your door now, and you don’t know what you’re going to walk out into, even in a little town of Mount Vernon.”
Mount Vernon is located roughly 80 miles southwest of Bangor, Maine.
