LEWISTON — The news came in fast and hot on that Sunday evening, but not from the usual channels.

There were no grim news releases or dire statements on police Facebook pages. There were no sad statements from public officials or blurbs on the TV news.

The people who were buzzing about the dead homeless woman in Lewiston were the homeless themselves, or those who work closely with them.

The facts were these.

Over Memorial Day weekend, the body of a woman was discovered by a homeless man who sleeps between the rhododendrons and the old Victor News building on Park Street.

The man awoke and found it strange that a woman was sleeping next to him. Only she wasn’t sleeping at all; she was 36-year-old Caitlin Grautski and she was dead.

The earliest reports were alarming. Word began to spread that Caitlin appeared to have been badly beaten. Her normally sweet face was horrifically bruised, they said, and it was clear she had been the victim of violence in her final moments alive.

But the police investigation said otherwise. Though Caitlin Grautski was young and her death sad, they reported, there was no evidence whatsoever of foul play.

Still the streets buzzed with the news of Caitlin’s death, and it continued to buzz over the following week. During that week, I was inundated with at least two dozen phone calls, messages and emails from people wanting to know more about Caitlin’s death.

But it wasn’t the allure of scandal and cheap gossip that motivated these people. It was compassion. It was altruism, empathy and a sincere desire to see that Caitlin Grautski didn’t become just another sad, downtown statistic.

On June 1, dozens of people descended on Kennedy Park for the start of a vigil in Caitlin’s memory. Among those invited were the dead woman’s family, who traveled from Massachusetts for the service.

“My parents went up there, and my aunts and uncles,” said Chris Grautski, Caitlin’s brother. “It sounded like it was very well attended by the local folks.”

Paul R. Bernard and his wife, Riechelle, homeless advocates in the area as long as anyone can remember, were there. Chef Sean Stanton and his volunteers brought food.

Caitlin’s parents helped serve dinner in Kennedy Park before the group made their way to Park Street, the scene of Caitlin’s final moments. The vigil site included flowers, candles and photos, along with a poster board signed by those who had known the dead woman from the warming shelters or from the street.

One woman sang “I Hope You’re Dancing In The Sky” while Caitlin’s parents looked over all the pictures and flowers assembled in their daughter’s memory.

Caitlin’s mother brought some of her clothes from home and gave them to some of Caitlin’s friends among the homeless. She had Riechelle Bernard read a poem she had written for her daughter.

“It was sad but a beautiful celebration of her life and her warm smile,” said Megan Parks, another homeless advocate who had gotten to know Caitlin through the shelters.

In the aftermath of Caitlin’s death, details have emerged about her life, and here we find ourselves faced with yet another person who did not seem destined for the streets but who wound up there, anyway.

“She was an extremely caring person who would give you the shirt off her back or food off her plate,” said her brother Chris. “She loved nurturing people.”

At some point in her life, though, she began running with rough crowds, Chris said, and her life went in a different direction.

“There was never any legal trouble. She was never arrested or anything like that,” Chris said. “I feel like she could just never get her head above water.”

The last time he talked to her, he said, she had been working two jobs and had a place to stay that kept her off the streets.

“And then all of sudden,” he said, “she didn’t.”

Being from Worcester, Massachusetts, originally, how Caitlin ended up in Maine isn’t clear. She and her boyfriend, Brandon, had been staying in homeless shelters in Augusta before they made their way to Lewiston in December, according to those who knew her.

The couple had frequented the warming shelters in Lewiston over the cold winter, but had been moving around since warm weather moved in.

What happened in Caitlin’s final moments on Park Street? Chances are good that will never be known. There are some indications that she fell into the side of the old Victor News before she died, which would account for some of her injuries.

There are those who believe that and those who don’t. Some see it as just another tragic end for a homeless person while others cling to the idea of foul play.

“It is very unsettling either way,” Parks said. “She was a good person, kindhearted.”

And now Caitlin’s body is being returned to Massachusetts, where her family will hold funeral services Friday.

Back in Lewiston, another impromptu vigil developed Tuesday afternoon in the area near the former Victor News. More candles were lit and more flowers arranged. This was at least the third such gathering assembled in Caitlin’s honor since news of her demise started getting around in homeless circles.

More than a week after her death, people were still buzzing about it, though the buzz was a little quieter than it had been.

Kevin and Kristi Boilard, who run the nonprofit Kaydenz Kitchen Food Pantry, posted photos from the Sunday night vigil on their Facebook page. There have been spikes in homeless deaths over the past two winters, they said.

The trick is to never let these deaths become so commonplace that they are too quickly forgotten — even if those deaths never make news headlines or cause stirs outside of homeless circles.

“We don’t always hear about all the tragedies on the streets,” the Boilards wrote, “but can assure you this girl’s life mattered just as much as you or I.”