Investigation Underway After Bowdoin Student Found Dead in Topsham Parking Lot

An investigation is underway after a Bowdoin College student was found dead by police Sunday in a parking lot near the Frank J. Wood Bridge that connects Brunswick to Topsham.

The 20-year-old female student from California was found deceased in a Main Street parking lot in Topsham shortly after 7 a.m. on Sunday, police said.

The parking lot, located at 2 Main St. in Topsham, is currently being used to store construction equipment for the ongoing replacement of the bridge, Topsham Police Chief Mark Hagan said Sunday.

According to Topsham Police, the student was enrolled as a student at Bowdoin College in Brunswick and was in her first year.

The woman’s body has been transported to the Maine Medical Examiner’s Office in Augusta, where an autopsy was conducted, the results of which are currently pending, Hagan said.

The Topsham Police Chief said the investigation is continuing but there is currently no cause to believe that there is an active threat to the community.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the deceased as well as the Bowdoin College Community,” Hagan said.

Although Topsham Police did not release the woman’s identity, Bowdoin College President Safi Zaki identified the student as Qingyang Zhan in a message to the campus community.

Zhan, who also went by K, according to President Zaki, transferred to Bowdoin in the fall of 2021 from Oxnard College in Oxnard, California, and was pursuing a double major in government and legal studies and Asian studies.

Zhan was born in Shanghai, and had been living in the U.S. since 2019, Zaki said.

Zaki said Zhan helped found Bowdoin’s Chinese Students Association, was a member of the Peucinian Society, and was also active in the college’s Asian Student Association.

“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,” Zaki said. “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.”