To reach a suicide prevention hotline, call the new 988 three-digit hotline or visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. Suicide prevention services can also be reached at 888-568-1112 or 800-273-TALK (8255).
A Bowdoin student found dead in a Topsham parking lot Sunday morning died by suicide, Topsham police concluded after an investigation.
The 20-year-old woman, identified by police as Qingyang Zhan of California, was found at about 7:02 a.m. Sunday in a Main Street parking lot, according to Topsham Police Chief Marc Hagan.
Her body was taken to the Maine medical examiner’s office in Augusta, where an autopsy was conducted.
“Barring any non-corroborating information from the medical examiner’s office toxicology report, whose findings can take up to 6 – 8 weeks, this investigation is considered closed,” Hagan said in a news release Tuesday.
Zhan, who also was known as K, was born in Shanghai and had been living in the United States since 2019, Bowdoin College President Safa Zaki said in a message to the campus community.
Zhan attended Oxnard College in Oxnard, California, before coming to Bowdoin College in Brunswick in the fall of 2021.
She was pursuing a double major in government and legal studies and Asian studies, helped found Bowdoin’s Chinese Students Association and was also active in the Asian Student Association, Zaki said.
“K’s death is a devastating tragedy for her parents, her brother, other loved ones, and also for her friends, classmates, and our entire Bowdoin community. This news is very difficult to process, especially since we do not yet know the circumstances of K’s death. Please take care of yourselves and of others and take advantage of the opportunities to come together,” Zaki said.
The Main Street parking lot is being used to store construction equipment for the replacement of the Frank J. Wood Bridge.
BDN writer Christopher Burns contributed reporting.
