BANGOR (AP) – Detectives said Monday they were treating the death of a 43-year-old woman whose body was found outside a homeless shelter as a homicide.

The body of the victim, identified as Christina Simonin, was found inside a bag that was left in the snow outside her home at 148 Union St., which is near the Shaw House homeless shelter for teenagers, according to two teens who found the body.

The Bangor woman’s identity was released Monday after an autopsy was performed at the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta.

Police Lt. Tim Reid said in a statement that the cause of death was being withheld “for investigatory reasons.” He said the case was ruled a homicide but he declined to elaborate on the investigation, including whether there were suspects.

“We’re not going to go there,” he said in a brief telephone interview.

Police were alerted Saturday night by a pair of teenage boys.

Shaw House residents Josh Neptune, 15, and Jake Pomelow, 17, told the Bangor Daily News that they noticed a bag that they thought contained a dog. Pomelow cut it open and made the grisly discovery of a body wrapped in a comforter blanket and a tarp.

“It looked like the body was mangled,” Neptune said. “It looked awful.”

The boys said they used a cell phone to call police.

Numerous footprints and a pair of latex gloves were seen Sunday in the snow beside the garage where the body was found. There also was a brown stain that appeared to be blood.

Detectives called to the scene interviewed people who live nearby and returned Sunday to conduct more interviews, take pictures and make measurements.

In a separate case this weekend in Standish in southern Maine, a 21-year-old man was arrested and charged in the stabbing death of his father on Saturday.

Kristian McKay was held on a suicide watch at the Cumberland County Jail pending a court appearance to face a charge of murdering 60-year-old Donald McKay. The younger McKay was due to make his initial court appearance on Tuesday, officials said.

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