Maine State Police have arrested a teenage boy and charged him with murdering a Bowdoinham woman this week.

The boy, who lives in Bowdoinham, was taken to the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland where he will be held until his initial court appearance Friday in West Bath District Court, Maine Department of Public Safety spokesman Stephen McCausland said in a statement Wednesday evening.

Because the boy is a juvenile, his name is not being released. McCausland said the boy’s identity will be revealed at his 1 p.m. court appearance.

Beulah “Marie” Sylvester, 55, was found unresponsive at her mobile home at 946 Post Road on Monday morning. Deputies from the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office were responding to a call that Sylvester had suffered a heart attack.

Sylvester was taken to Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick before being transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland where she died late Monday night.

The Maine State Police and Sagadahoc County investigated, leading to the boy’s arrest Wednesday.

The teenager had been hospitalized since Monday at Mid Coast Hospital, McCausland said, though he didn’t say why. Police arrested the boy as he was being released from the hospital.

McCausland said Wednesday that the cause of death is not being released at this time, but that “the death is now classified as a homicide.”

State police are the lead agency on homicides in most of Maine. Sagadahoc County sheriff’s deputies assisted state police in the investigation.

Detectives spent much of Tuesday inside Sylvester’s home gathering evidence, but McCausland didn’t discuss details.

McCausland said Sylvester didn’t live alone, but he declined to elaborate.

Staff writers Edward D. Murphy and Gillian Graham contributed to this story.

Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com