FAYETTE – Police on Tuesday arrested a juvenile boy in the weekend killing of 14-year-old Marlee Johnston.
The boy was charged late in the day as state police detectives continued working on leads that have emerged since Marlee’s body was found, police said.
The boy was not identified Tuesday night. Police did not say where he was arrested or what his relationship might have been to the eighth-grader whose body was found on Saturday.
Maine State Police Lt. Gary Wright said the boy will likely make his first appearance in District Court today.
At the Johnston household late Tuesday night, a family member said they were not yet prepared to make a comment on the arrest.
The arrest was made after police spent another day examining physical evidence and speaking with possible witnesses about the killing. Police have said that various evidence collected in the case was examined at the state crime lab. They have not said what particular evidence led them to the suspect arrested on Tuesday.
Marlee’s body was found by family members early Saturday afternoon in Lovejoy Pond, about a quarter-mile from her home on Lovejoy Shores Drive in Fayette and about 30 minutes after leaving her home to walk the family’s dogs.
Detectives spent most of Saturday and part of Sunday collecting evidence along the shore and nearby roads and also interviewing people in the neighborhood.
“We have submitted evidence to the crime lab and are waiting results,” Wright said. “We are meeting regularly with the attorney general’s (staff) and the crime lab (staff) as we proceed in the investigation.”
While investigators worked on the case this week, the Johnston family was preparing to celebrate Marlee’s life Thursday. The event, for family, friends and community members known to the family, will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Alfond Athletic Center at Kents Hill School on Route 17 in Kents Hill.
A reception will follow in the athletic center.
In lieu of flowers, the family is suggesting that donations be made c/o the Marlee Johnston Memorial Fund, Winthrop Area Federal Credit Union, P.O. Box 55, Winthrop, ME 04364. The donations will be used to benefit the Kents Hill Ski Club and the Winthrop Middle School Library. Marlee was an eighth-grader at the middle school.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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