BANGOR — The Rev. Robert Carlson was under investigation by the Maine State Police before he was found dead in the Penobscot River, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The investigation started “last Thursday at the request of the Penobscot County District Attorney’s Office,” McCausland told the Bangor Daily News late Monday afternoon. “State police began an investigation of Carlson and this was after the DA’s office had received a letter.”

What the investigation was about is a detail “I’m not getting into,” he said.

A Bowdoin woman said Monday that she and several of her family members were contacted by state police detectives on Friday and Saturday and interviewed about a child abuse case from the 1970s involving Carlson and an 11-year-old boy.

Boy Scout leaders at Katahdin Area Council also said they turned over a letter concerning Carlson to state police detectives on Monday that includes allegations of child abuse.

“Marshall Steinmann, our council’s Scout executive, received a letter this morning concerning this matter and … immediately turned it over to the Maine State Police,” Daniel Lee, Katahdin Area Council president, said in an email Monday afternoon.

“Questions concerning the contents and nature of the letter should be directed to the Maine State Police,” he said later. “The Katahdin Area Council is presently unaware of any such allegations concerning Scouts past or present.”

Penobscot County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy declined to comment Monday afternoon, saying only, “This conversation is over.”

Police said Monday morning that while they are continuing to investigate the death Sunday of Carlson, there’s no indication that there was foul play in what apparently was a suicide.

A woman from Bucksport made an emergency 911 call at 3:55 a.m. Sunday to report that a vehicle had been abandoned in the middle of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge, according to a news release issued by the Waldo County Sheriff’s Office.

When deputies arrived at the bridge, they found identification belonging to Carlson in the vehicle, which was parked on the right side of the eastbound lane.

Officials began to search the river and found his body in the water later in the morning, according to Chief Deputy Jeff Trafton of the sheriff’s office.

Carlson’s body has been taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Augusta for an autopsy.

“At this point in the investigation, there is no indication of any other persons involved, nor is there any indication of foul play,” the press release stated.

“The investigation remains open at this point,” McCausland said.

Half a dozen people have been interviewed at this point, he said. Carlson had not been interviewed, McCausland said