Nearly four decades after a young woman was killed in her Westbrook apartment, state police say the man who lived with her at the time is now facing a murder charge.
Stephen Bouchard, 63, of Winslow, was arrested Friday after a Cumberland County grand jury indicted him in the 1987 slaying of his live-in girlfriend, according to state police. Investigators say Bouchard was taken into custody at 2:17 p.m. and transported to the Cumberland County Jail.
Detectives from the State Police Major Crimes Unit - Unsolved and Major Crimes Unit - South carried out the arrest after the grand jury returned the indictment, as reported by Boston 25 News. The outlet reports that a full reinvestigation of the case in 2025 led the Maine Attorney General’s Office to seek a murder charge.
Alice Hawkes was just 23 when she was found dead on Oct. 4, 1987, in the Westbrook apartment she shared with Bouchard. Investigators later ruled her death a homicide, according to the Portland Press Herald. The case went cold over the years, and Hawkes’ family kept pressing for answers. In 2019, her sister Rosemary Driggers told the paper, “I just know we aren’t going away.”
Arrest, Indictment And What Comes Next
Bouchard was arrested in Winslow and booked into the Cumberland County Jail. State police say he is expected to be arraigned in the near future. The grand jury indictment was handed up one day before the arrest, according to Boston 25 News.
How To Help Investigators
State police are still looking for information that could help them tighten up the case file. Anyone with information about Hawkes’ death is urged to contact the State Police Major Crimes Unit at 207-657-5710. Tips can also be sent through the Unsolved Homicides tip form linked on the Maine State Police case listing, which includes contact details and an online form for leads.
The arrest marks a rare prosecutorial move in a decades-old cold case and follows renewed investigative work by state detectives, the Portland Press Herald reported. Family members have called the development a long-awaited step toward accountability and are again urging anyone who knows something about Hawkes’ killing to come forward.
