TLDR
Prosecutors in Maine have charged 24-year-old Austin Doucette with murdering his longtime girlfriend after he twice told 911 dispatchers the shooting was accidental. Autopsy results and recovered shell casings now sit at the center of the dispute over what happened inside the condo.
A late-winter night in Carrabassett Valley began with panicked 911 calls about an accidental shooting and ended with a young woman airlifted to a Portland hospital, where she died. Her longtime boyfriend, who placed the calls, is now accused of murder.
According to the Maine State Police, Doucette is charged with the death of 23-year-old Mikayla Rose DeSantis, his girlfriend of nearly eight years. The shooting occurred inside a Left Bank condominium in Carrabassett Valley, roughly 120 miles north of Portland, and both had been working at the Sugarloaf Mountain ski resort.
Competing Narratives in 911 Recordings
Investigators say Doucette himself dialed 911 around 7:30 p.m., describing a gun that had gone off accidentally and a girlfriend with a gunshot wound. In court documents summarized in local coverage, dispatchers described him as extremely emotional, at one point quoting him as saying, “I can’t believe I did this.” He allegedly told DeSantis, “I’m sorry, babe,” before ending the first call.
A few minutes later, a second 911 call came from the same number. The caller again said the gun had accidentally discharged, identified the victim by her first name, and said she had been shot in the abdomen area. According to police accounts, he also insisted he “would never do this” and did not want to go to jail. Separately, Doucette’s father’s girlfriend told a dispatcher she heard him say that police were chasing him, that something had happened to DeSantis, and that he intended to kill himself.
A Maine man who is an employee of Sugarloaf has been charged with the murder of a woman he worked with at the ski resort.
Austin Doucette, 24, was arrested Monday night in connection with the shooting death of Mikayla Rose Desantis, 23, of Connecticut. https://t.co/kX4qdqqH5Z pic.twitter.com/ndu9cxgXrW
— WMTW TV (@WMTWTV) March 10, 2026
Physical Evidence and Autopsy Findings
First responders intercepted Doucette and DeSantis on Route 27. Paramedics reported that Doucette described a .45-caliber handgun going off as they treated DeSantis, who was suffering from multiple gunshot wounds, before she was transferred from a Farmington hospital to Maine Medical Center in Portland. She later died, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that her death was caused by multiple gunshot wounds.
Carrabassett Valley police, searching Doucette’s vehicle, reported reddish-brown stains in the back seat and later recovered a cellphone believed to belong to DeSantis. A search warrant executed at the condo turned up multiple Blazer .45 auto shell casings, along with a handgun on the couch and a nearby magazine with unspent rounds, according to affidavits described in local reporting. That physical evidence now frames investigators’ skepticism of a single-accidental-shot account.
Legal Questions Ahead in Maine Case
In a custodial interview with state police, Doucette allegedly said the shooting was accidental, confirmed that DeSantis was his girlfriend, and said the gun used was still on the couch. He then invoked his right to remain silent until speaking with an attorney. Publicly available reports do not state how Doucette has pleaded, and no trial date has been set in the material reviewed.
DeSantis’s family has remembered her in an online fundraiser as a caring, creative young woman who loved baking, crafts, and the people around her. Doucette’s attorney, Verne E. Paradie, has countered that narrative of intent, saying in a statement that “This appears to be a terrible accident and we hope to get more information in the near future regarding the circumstances of the situation.” The central conflict between Doucette’s accident claim and the pattern of gunfire detailed by investigators will likely be tested in court as the case moves through Maine’s criminal process.
The case now turns on how jurors or a judge ultimately reconcile the emotional 911 calls, the defendant’s shifting statements, and the medical and ballistic evidence. Until the facts are tested in open court, the question of whether DeSantis’s death was a crime of intent or a claimed accident remains legally unresolved.
