The Maine Attorney General’s Office has charged an Aroostook County woman with murder after a Caribou man died in an apartment fire earlier this year.
Susan Kochanowski, 34, faces murder and arson charges in the death of 30-year-old Jason Donahue of Caribou, according to court records. Donahue’s body was found on Jan. 26 inside an apartment on Water Street a day after the fire broke out. Several others were evacuated from the building when the fire broke out around 2 a.m.
The details of the state’s case are unclear – an affidavit establishing probable cause for the charges against Kochanowski and an arrest warrant have been impounded since they were filed on Jan. 30.
Court records indicate Kochanowski lived in the same building where Donahue’s body was found. State police and the state Fire Marshal’s Office said at the time that they were investigating “the facts and circumstances that precipitated the fire” at the building, but never said whether the cause of the fire was suspicious or that they believed Donahue’s death was a homicide.
An autopsy was conducted on Jan. 27 at the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta, but the results have not been released.
Defense attorney Adam Swanson said Monday that he could not comment on Kochanowski’s defense. She has not yet been indicted.
A judge has ordered that she be held without bail and scheduled an arraignment for July 6.
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