Missing woman from Virginia found dead in southern Maine, police say

DAYTON, Maine (WMTW) – A Virginia woman who was reported missing was found dead in a town in southern Maine, according to authorities.

Maine State Police officials said 23-year-old Autumn Cleveland, of Newport News, was found dead shortly before 3:30 p.m. Monday inside a vehicle parked near Goodwin Mills Road in Dayton.

Cleveland’s family members told Maine’s Total Coverage the young woman was traveling to Maine Thursday.

In the days before Cleveland was found dead, social media posts about her case were shared thousands of times.

However, there were inconsistencies throughout those social media posts, which included email addresses that led to nowhere and links that led to potential scams and viruses.

Randy Seaver, administrator of the Biddeford-Saco Community Group on Facebook, decided to remove a post about Cleveland from the page with more than 15,000 followers — and he took some heat for his decision.

“If it cannot be verified by an independent law enforcement agency and it’s not being covered by mainstream media, then we’re not going to post it on our page — whether it’s real or not,” Seaver said. “We are going to wait and only publish things that can be verified because there are kinds of scams out there, hoaxes and who knows?

“I mean, I’m not a social media expert. I’m not an internet expert. I’ve just seen too many scams and too many people get hurt where I’ve said, ‘You know what? We’ll allow you to post something if it can be verified,’” Seaver added. “Otherwise, no dice.”

The Maine State Police Major Crimes Unit-South continues to investigate Cleveland’s death, pending an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of her death.

Authorities said there is no danger to the public.

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