FARMINGTON — A Carrabassett Valley man accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend Sunday night will remain held without bail until a hearing is set, a Franklin County judge ruled Wednesday.
Austin Doucette, 24, was arrested Monday evening and charged with murder in the death of Makayla Rose DeSantis, 23, who was from Colchester, Connecticut, and worked at 45 North, a restaurant at Sugarloaf Hotel in Carrabassett Valley.
Doucette’s attorney, Verne Paradie, requested that no bail be set until a bail hearing is held.
Doucette attended the session Wednesday in Franklin County District Court via a Zoom link from the Franklin County Jail. Wearing orange jail clothes, he sat with his head bowed and his long, dark hair tucked behind his ears, only looking up from the floor to answer questions from Judge Phillip Mohlar.
DeSantis’ family was in the courtroom, including her father, Michael DeSantis, who had traveled from Connecticut.
Following the hearing, the family went to talk with Assistant Attorney General Kate Bozeman and investigators.
According to an affidavit, Doucette called 911 at around 7:30 p.m. Sunday to report a shooting at the Left Bank condominium complex, located along the Carrabassett River and near Tufulio’s Restaurant and Bar.
Doucette wanted an ambulance to meet him on state Route 27 in Kingfield to get medical care for DeSantis.
Investigators reported that the caller was yelling and shouting throughout the call, saying, “I can’t believe I did this” and “I’m sorry, babe.” He also told dispatchers that it was an accident, court documents said.
A Franklin County sheriff’s deputy pulled over Doucette. DeSantis had been shot multiple times, including in the chest, the affidavit said.
Ambulance personnel met up with the car, and DeSantis was taken to a Farmington hospital, from which she was soon flown to MaineHealth Maine Medical Center in Portland. She was undergoing surgery for a gunshot wound to her chest at the hospital when she was pronounced dead at 11:28 p.m. Sunday.
After DeSantis was taken to the hospital, police detained Doucette at a Maine Department of Transportation office on Route 27 in Kingfield.
Maine State Police detectives questioned Doucette while he sat in the back seat of a Carrabassett Valley Police Department patrol vehicle at the office just after 9 p.m.
Doucette said the incident happened at his home in the Left Bank condominium complex in Carrabassett Valley, court documents said. He told police that the victim was his girlfriend and there was a firearm involved, but he said he didn’t want to answer any further questions until he could speak with an attorney.
“This appears to be a horrible accident,” Paradie, Doucette’s attorney, said after Wednesday’s hearing.
Doucette allegedly told police that he didn’t mean to shoot DeSantis and that the weapon — a .45-caliber handgun — was at his condo. Police searched the condo, where they found bullet casings and three fired cartridge cases on the living room floor.
Investigators searched the condominium and found a Smith & Wesson M&P .45-caliber handgun on the couch, which appeared to have two bullet holes through it. The coffee table also appeared to have been shot; that bullet punctured the floor and damaged the ceiling of the unit below, court documents said.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Monday that the manner of death DeSantis’ death was a homicide caused by multiple gunshots. A detective who attended the autopsy told investigators that Dr. Liam Funte of the medical examiner’s office observed two gunshot wounds in DeSantis’ chest that appeared to enter on the right side and exit on her left side, according to the document state police homicide Detective Christoph Mutschin filed with the Farmington court.
Staff Writer Morgan Womack contributed to this story.
