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Last updated: Friday, Jan. 27, 10:59 p.m.
News

UMaine student’s body found in Orono

By William P. Davis
Posted on Jan. 30, 2010, at 1:37 p.m.

Police have identified a body found Saturday morning on Middle Street in Orono as University of Maine student Jordyn Bakley, according to Dean of Students Robert Dana.

The body was found by a passerby around 5:40 a.m., according to Captain Josh Ewing of the Orono Police Department. The police are investigating the incident as a possible hit-and-run.

Bakley, 20, was a junior elementary education student. Originally from Camden, she lived off-campus on Middle Street, according to friends. While in high school, she competed on the swim team, according to Camden Hills Regional High School’s newspaper.

“This is an unspeakable tragedy, and our sincere sympathies go out to Jordyn’s family and friends,” Dana wrote in a statement. “The UMaine community is a close-knit one, and Jordyn’s death will have a significant and lasting impact on many of our students, faculty and staff.”

Police did not immediately identify the body Saturday, as Bakley did not have any indentification on her. Police are investigating the death as a homicide.

The state medical examiner’s office was scheduled to perform an autopsy Sunday. A representative said the office is not yet releasing information, pending further investigation.

Friends of Bakley said she was active in the Student Women’s Association and cared about peace and environmental consciousness. She enjoyed photography and recently had her work displayed at the Hunting House Gallery in Orono.

“All of my interactions with her were the result of her desire to do the right thing and help people,” said Melanie Rockefeller, one of Bakley’s friends.

Abe Furth, co-owner of Woodman’s Bar and Grill in downtown Orono, said he planned to donate a portion of Saturday night’s sales, totaling $320, to “whoever needs help,” whether it be Bakley’s family or friends.

“We have a lot of customers who are directly involved,” Furth said.

Furth said he hopes he can start a trend with local businesses to contribute when such events occur.

A Bangor Daily News deliveryman found the body Saturday morning and called 911, the paper reported.

“He came in and was really distraught,” Janice Nye, assistant store manager for Circle K on Main Street, told the BDN. “He didn’t want to finish his route.”

Those with information are asked to call the Detective Andrew Whitehouse of the Orono Police Department at 866-4451.

UMaine’s Counseling Center is offering help to UMaine community members. The Center can be reached at 581-1392.

Lisa Haberzettl and Mario Moretto contributed to this report.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010, 1:37 pm. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.

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  • A friend

    I think it’s really sickening that you are place huge banners at the top of the site about this, and now a tag cloud at the top of the page.

    Please have some respect.

  • another friend

    I agree with the person above. Please do not advertise Jordyn’s untimely death so carelessly.
    There are MANY other ways you could describe a person’s death, especially one so loved.
    Please reconsider your “banner” and change it, Jordyn deserves more.

  • anon

    I also thought the former banner was in extremely poor taste. I was disappointed that more tact was not shown regarding such a sensitive matter.

  • another friend

    She was an angel and will be missed sorely.

  • friend

    agreed, the banner is unnecessary.

    love you jordyn <3

  • alum

    I am certain all of you are in deep pain after the death of a friend. However to suggest the Maine Campus is attempting to capitalize on the increased activity on their website by sticking in web ads is ridiculous. I am no web design expert, but I doubt that they can control/remove the specific ad content on one article, while not affecting the others. I suspect it is a template, so to speak, where the content can change with each story, but the ad banners and general format can only be edited centrally, and even then it is for the MC site not this story’s page. Would you write a letter to the editor of a paper who runs an ad in the same section as the obits? Or criticize Facebook’s webmasters for placing ads on a memorial group for a friend? Save your anger for those deserving of it, not the messengers.

  • anon

    alum, I wish to clarify, this was not about an advertisement.
    The aforementioned criticisms were in regards to a Breaking News banner across the main page. It was highlighted in red, in all uppercase letters, and read: STUDENT JORDYN BAKLEY’S BODY FOUND
    I and others objected to the celebrity-gossip-style headline displaying her name in such garish colors and showing a flagrant lack of sensitivity.

  • staff

    It was a mistake (colors) and they have have already brought their apologies.

    http://mainecampus.com/2010/02/01/from-the-editor-closure-needed-after-tragedies/?ref=hp

    As for content I do not think they have done anything inappropriate.

    Otherwise we would never learn on what happened on 9/11 or in Virginia Tech. I agree with with Alum — they are messengers and the community has to be aware….

  • Danke

    Could care less about the manner in which the banner was presented, that is not important.

    What is important is that the person responsible is pursued, caught and held responsible and I hope that the campus does something about this.

    If I were that person, I’d be long gone from Orono. Maybe you could start there.

    Get out there and talk to the people on Middle Street and do some actual reporting, you don’t have to just wait for it. Do your best to find out who was on Middle Street and who left recently.

    Maybe you can help, but at the least you can keep us informed.
    They better find this person and they better make him/her pay with their own life, in prison.

    I’m sure that the police will do the best they can do and maybe they’ll figure it out, but I hope that this paper and the whole campus takes action on this because it is absolutely horrible. Don’t expect much from the administration, except flowers and condolences.

    A 20 year old girl with a bright future is gone, and everyone that knew her well is going to suffer for a long time. There isn’t anything that can bring her back, but the thought of the person who did this getting away and living out the rest of their life makes me sick, and very angry. Most likely this person was drunk or speeding, or both. I don’t know any of the facts, but if they had immediately called 911 after the accident she might have had a chance. This is disgusting, to let anyone die that way, in the cold.

    I’m sorry, don’t mean to upset anyone further. Please find the person who did this.

    I wish you all the best.

  • duncan

    The worst thing is that the culprit probably lives very close by. Possibly on Middle Street. It’s not a main road and whoever would have been driving there would either have been returning home to Middle Street or going home from a party there.

    I still feel totally sick about all this.

  • Anon

    I’ve known Jordyn since our freshman year of college. We didn’t know each other well, but we were acquainted with one another. She was very good friends with many of my good friends, and I know she meant the world to them. From the time I spent with Jordyn, I was able to see what a beautiful person she was, inside and out. She was one of the sweetest girls I’ve ever met, and I am very sad that she is gone.

    It makes me sick that somebody could do this. Whoever did this and left is an absolute coward. The grief that they have caused cannot be measured. I hope police find whoever did this quickly, but finding them at all would be great.

    Rest peacefully, Jordyn. You were beautiful in all aspects of life, and you will continue to shine. You were a lovely, lovely person and you will live on in the hearts of your friends.

  • Maine1

    To say that this was unnecessary is a huge understatement. Very very sad. If it was indeed a hit and run it was such a cruel thing to do. Though I did not know her, from what i read about her – it seems that a society in which people run away from their responsibility and run away from the opportunity to save someone’s life is probably a society that is not worthy of someone like Jordyn. But still, her family didn’t deserve to lose her.

    Real heroes never die, they just move on…

  • Grieving Neighbor

    Please know that the residents on Middle St are deeply shaken by this. We did not know Jordyn, but we watched over her with grief, sorrow and prayers on Saturday morning during the investigation.
    Blessings to all whose lives she has touched and to her family.

  • A friend

    Someone’s life was lost and that’s the most important thing.

    I was really upset at first because there was a giant banner and a tag cloud where people could type in one word to describe their feelings, which i thought was particularly hard to look at, because people had already started to put joke words in there, and how can you describe the terrible feeling of loss in one word?

    Jordyn will be missed, regardless of how anything was reported, it’s just been extremely hard to deal with fake media people pretending that they care.

    I just hope that maybe this coverage will cause whoever did to turn his or herself in. The friends and family need this closure.

  • Brian

    Last year I lived in Jordyn’s apartment. My car got hit while it was parked in the driveway on the night of graduation, and the driver drove away leaving nothing except my car in a heap and small bits of his own car. My consolation during that minor ordeal was that no one got hurt. Well, now a real nightmare has happened. I am lucky in the financial sense to be able to replace my own car without much heartburn. But nothing will ever bring back Jordyn who was a friend and a fine person.

    This should obviously be a wake-up call for law enforcement in this community as I have read and heard other people say. But perhaps moreso, it should be a wake-up call to the citizens and visitors of Orono. Have some accountability, and do the right thing. It’s easy to feel like you live in a bubble insulated from the real world in college, but that’s not how it is. A real person and member of a family and community is dead because someone was needlessly reckless. Is that what it takes?

    I’d have a thousand smashed cars to have you back, Jordyn.

  • Concerned

    As a concerned friend who wants to find out who did this to such a wonderful girl I would like to recommend that the Maine Campus update this story to include the probable description of the vehicle. Getting the word out on what to look for is the best way to find the perpetrator. If you guys could do this as soon as possible it would greatly appreciated.

  • Also Concerned

    Jordyn’s death has dealt a great shock to the entire UMaine community, regardless of whether you knew her or not. I had only met her briefly at the start of this semester in one of my classes, and she was and forever will be one of the nicest people I’ve met while here at UMaine.

    I think that her death has served as a reminder to be more cautious , as her death was completely senseless and unfortunate. However, last Saturday, the lessons we learned from Jordyn’s death help to possibly save someone else’s life. While on the Late Night Local that night, some of us in the van noticed a girl who was overly intoxicated stumbling down a road barefoot and with no jacket in the 6 degree weather outside. We brought her in the van and helped get her to UVAC where she could be helped out better. I cant imagine what would have happened to her had we not found her.

    I hope the person responsible can come forward and admit to their actions. Not only have you robbed UMaine of a good student, but also of a great friend, and a good daughter and sister to her family as well.