SURRY – The state Medical Examiner’s Office determined Wednesday that drowning was the cause of death for a 38-year-old woman whose body was discovered washed up on the beach.

It appears Beth Ellen Spain’s death was a suicide, said Maine State Police Trooper Cliff Peterson.

Spain, a transient originally from Sorrento, drowned in the waters of Patten Bay. An appraiser inspecting a shorefront home found the woman’s body just before 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The body had washed up near the high-water mark on a private beach between Contention Cove and The Gatherings Campground.

The body was fully clothed when it was found, and Spain was wearing a small bookbag-type backpack containing personal items.

Spain was last seen in Ellsworth about 7 p.m. Sunday, Peterson said.

“Witness accounts said that she had been distraught,” he said.

At this point, investigators have no information as to when or how Spain got from Ellsworth to Surry.

The investigation into the death is continuing.