State police arrested a Wiscasset woman and charged her with murder in the death of a four-year-old girl.

Shawna Gatto, 43, was arrested by detectives just before 6 p.m. Thursday at the home she shared with four-year-old Kendall Chick, who died the night of Friday, Dec. 8.

Gatto was charged with murder, according to Steve McCausland, spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.

State police say the medical examiner’s office told them Kendall died from a blunt force injury to the abdomen.

Gatto was charged following a meeting between representatives of Maine State Police, Maine attorney general’s office and the state medical examiner.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office and Wiscasset Police also have been involved in the investigation.

Gatto is the fiancée of the girl’s grandfather, 53-year-old Stephen Hood, who also lives in the home. The girl had been living with the couple for nearly two years, according to police.

Gatto was taken to Two Bridges Jail in Wiscasset after her arrest Thursday. Her first court appearance has not yet been scheduled.

Emergency responders went to the couple’s home at 19 Crickets Lane on Friday, Dec. 8, after someone called 911 about 4:30 p.m. Kendall was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick, according to McCausland.

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