SABATTUS – Police are investigating how a Lewiston bar owner from Livermore Falls ended up in a road here, badly injured, early Friday morning.

A section of Route 126 in front of Long Beach was closed to traffic as police combed the area where Leslie Stasulis, 42, was found by a couple driving home.

“My understanding she was in and out of consciousness,” said Lt. Brian McDonough of the Maine State Police.

Stasulis was taken to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston with what is described as life-threatening injuries to the head, face and chest. Her family has requested that no information about her condition be released.

Police are awaiting medical evidence to determine how she got hurt, McDonough said. “Obviously we’ve got a female victim that’s got some fairly significant injuries, found in the road, I would say that’s quite suspicious.”

McDonough said police would conduct a full background investigation into Stasulis’ movements for the last 24 hours, looking into where she was and who she was with.

Stasulis is the co-owner of Leslie’s Place, a bar at 339 Lisbon St. in Lewiston, formerly the Big D’s.

A woman on a ladder painted the new name on the outside of the building Friday at noon in gold and black cursive.

Maria Guimond, who said she was the oldest of Stasulis’ five children, said her mother bought the bar about three months ago and had worked there Thursday night.

Guimond said she wasn’t sure if Stasulis was walking along the road. “We don’t know (what happened,) it’s a bunch of gaps right now.”

McDonough said 15 police and detectives had been assigned to the case. Part of the day’s work included forensic mapping of the crime scene.

During their investigation in the morning, a half-dozen police officers seemed focused on the right side of the road and several pairs of skid marks.

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