Police have charged a Wiscasset woman with murder in connection with the death of a 4-year-old girl on Dec. 8.
Shawna Gatto, 43, was arrested by detectives at her home just before 6 p.m. Thursday and taken to Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset, said Stephen McCausland, Maine State Police spokesman. Gatto is the fiancee of the girl’s grandfather.
Kendall Chick died from a blunt force injury to the abdomen, the State Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Kendall had lived with her grandfather, 53-year-old Stephen Hood, and Gatto at 19 Crickets Lane for nearly two years, police said.
Police received a 911 call from the home the afternoon of Dec. 8 and Kendall was pronounced dead at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick that night. At the time, police could not provide details about her family, including her parents’ whereabouts.
Gatto’s first court appearance has not yet been scheduled.
The decision to charge Gatto was made following a meeting between state police, the Maine Attorney General’s Office and the medical examiner. The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and the Wiscasset Police Department also have been involved in the investigation.
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