HARTFORD, CT (WFSB) — On Saturday morning, families of the Connecticut National Guard gathered for an annual event designed to provide support and comfort during the holiday season.

Operation Embracing Lonely Families has been a tradition for 23 years, offering much-needed support to military families separated from loved ones who are deployed.

The event focuses on easing some of the financial burden and emotional stress that military families face during deployments, especially during the holidays.

“It’s an enjoyment because it brings everyone closer during the holiday so they can still be around their family too,” said Newton Maldonado, a National Guard soldier.

One of the attendees, Nicole Scalora, whose husband was recently deployed to Africa for a year, shared the challenges of military life.

“It’s tough. We have to take it one day at a time. Doing everything at home by yourself, not having that shoulder to rely on can be difficult. But I have a lot of family and a lot of support, so that helped a lot. Also, the military is constantly reaching out. Making sure that we’re good and that if we need help, they’re there,” she said.

Saturday’s event included treats and toys for the families, as well as a visit from Santa Claus.

The tradition, which began under former Governor Jodi Rell and continued by each subsequent Lieutenant Governor, has become a symbol of appreciation for those who serve and their families.

While this year’s ceremony was smaller in scale, organizers are expecting the event to grow significantly next year, with nearly 800 families anticipated to attend.

These families are affected by the various deployments of National Guard members overseas.

Lieutenant Governor Susan Bysiewicz expressed her gratitude, noting, “, I’m really glad for the people of Connecticut that our celebration is rather small, because it means our national guard families are here at home celebrating.”

The event remains an important opportunity for the community to come together and honor the sacrifices made by military families throughout Connecticut.

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A home at 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney on Saturday is clear of the police tape that cordoned it off Friday while Maine State Police and local officers investigated the killing of a 14-year-old boy. A woman was arrested after reporting to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office that a crime had occurred at the home early Friday morning. Ethan Horton/Kennebec Journal

SIDNEY — One day after a woman was arrested in connection with the homicide of a 14-year-old boy, residents of a residential neighborhood were left with more questions than answers, as police continued to withhold information about the boy and what exactly happened.

Police had left 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney by Saturday morning. There was little sign of the daylong investigation at the home Friday as snow flurries fell on a bitterly cold day.

Brady Maheux, 25, said he has lived his whole life on the windy, residential road near the Augusta-Sidney line, but did not know the people who lived in the house under investigation Friday.

“How does something like that happen?” said Maheux. “What the hell happened? It’s crazy.”

Megan McDonald, 39, was arrested Friday afternoon and charged with murder, Maine State Police said in a statement issued Friday evening. The arrest came after police found a 14-year-old boy dead outside the Summerhaven Road residence, state police said.

Megan McDonald Courtesy of Kennebec County jail

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Augusta determined the cause of the boy’s death as “a combination of asphyxiation, manual strangulation, and sharp force injury,” according to state police. The medical examiner’s office also ruled the manner of death as homicide.

Investigators were seen throughout the day Friday working at 2005 Summerhaven Road, a single-story home, with a detached garage flying a U.S. Marine Corps flag.

Town tax records list the property’s owner as Megan McDonald.

State police said they were called to investigate after Kennebec County sheriff’s deputies conducted a wellbeing check and found the dead teenager. The deputies were asked to conduct the check after a woman reported an incident at her home to the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, according to state police.

Why the incident was reported there was not known Saturday. Just before 5:30 a.m., “an adult female arrived at the Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office to report an incident that occurred at her home,” state police said Friday.

The Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Office, in Auburn, is about a 40-mile drive from the Summerhaven Road residence in Sidney, according to GPS mapping.

Androscoggin County Sheriff Eric Samson wrote in a message Saturday the woman who reported the crime in the Sheriff’s Office lobby was taken into custody, though he did not release that woman’s name. Samson referred further questions to a state police spokesperson.

Before police announced the homicide investigation Friday, Carl Gartley, superintendent of Regional School Unit 18, had sent an announcement to community members earlier in the day that a Messalonskee High School student had died. Sidney is one of the towns served by the Oakland-based district.

“Due to an ongoing police investigation, we are unable to release a name at this time,” Gartley wrote Friday.

Police and school district officials remained tight-lipped about the 14-year-old boy’s identity through the weekend, and it was not clear if the Messalonskee student who died was the one found dead on Summerhaven Road.

“I was hoping to release the name yesterday (Friday) but it’s ultimately up to the AG’s Office,” Shannon Moss, public information officer for the Maine Department of Public Safety, wrote in an email Saturday.

A spokesperson for the Office of the Maine Attorney General, which prosecutes all homicides in the state, did not respond to a message Saturday.

A woman retrieving her mail outside her home on Birch Circle, around the corner from the Summerhaven Road residence, said she knew the boy killed in the alleged homicide, but did not want to share any details publicly about him or provide her name until police release the name.

Several state police cruisers and a large Maine State Police Evidence Response Team box truck are parked at 2005 Summerhaven Road in Sidney on Friday afternoon. State police say they discovered the body of a 14-year-old outside of the home early Friday morning. Megan McDonald, 39, was taken into custody and charged with murder. Keith Edwards/Kennebec Journal

Another man, who has lived on Birch Circle for about 30 years, said he was cordial with the people that lived at the home where police were investigating but did not know them well. He was not sure how many people lived there and never knew them by name.

He called them “decent folks” and said he would see them if their dog got loose or when he was walking his dog in the area.

“There has been nothing that would’ve led you to believe there was anything wrong,” said the man, who declined to give his name because he did not want attention from other neighbors for speaking to the news media.

“Had we known, would we have done something?” he continued. “Of course.”

At several other nearby homes, residents either were not home Saturday morning or did not answer the door. Others who did answer the door said they did not know much beyond the information released by state police.

Maheux, the 25-year-old Summerhaven Road resident said he did not even hear or see police investigators arrive in the morning.

“I believe I was awake at that hour when they had gotten there,” Maheux said. “I never heard anything in the morning hours either.”

It is usually a quiet neighborhood, he said. “Nothing goes on out here.”

A neighbor of Maheux, who declined to provide his name, said the same, but recalled at least one other major incident nearby in recent years: a double homicide of an Augusta couple, found dead in the woods in Manchester, on Christmas Day in 2015. That killing was found to be related to drug dealing.

More information about Friday’s alleged homicide could emerge Monday, when McDonald would likely appear in court. If she remains in custody Monday, McDonald would be expected to make an initial court appearance in Kennebec County.

At that initial appearance, usually a brief hearing, a judge would read McDonald the charge against her. McDonald would not be required to enter a plea then, since prosecutors first need to present their case to a grand jury for an indictment before it could move forward.

It was not known Saturday if McDonald has an attorney. That information in Maine is only available through court clerk’s offices, which are closed on the weekends.

At Messalonskee High School in Oakland, about 14 miles north of the Sidney neighborhood, counseling sessions were available from 9-11 a.m., according to the announcement from school administrators.

Around 1 p.m., it was quiet around the school as a snow flurry fell. Only a handful of cars were in the parking lot, and there were no signs of any kind of memorials placed by community members.

“As we travel through our break, if you are in need, please do not hesitate to reach out for support,” the high school said in a Facebook post Saturday. “We are Messalonskee Strong.”

The post offered several resources:

• National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine: 1-800-464-5767, info@namimaine.org, call or text 988

• The Crisis Text Line: text “Home” to 741-741

• Crisis and Counseling Centers: 1-888-568-1112 or 207-626-3448

Sun Journal reporter Joe Charpentier contributed to this report.

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