An Oak Bluffs woman accused of leaving a young boy alone in her SUV for several hours before he died was indicted by a Dukes County grand jury Tuesday.
The grand jury returned indictments for Aimee Cotton, 40, on charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment of a child in connection with the death of Frank Rodenbaugh, a two-year-old who Ms. Cotton was babysitting.
Ms. Cotton’s case will now move into Dukes County Superior Court; a new arraignment date has yet to be scheduled, a court official said Tuesday.
Police say Ms. Cotton was caring for the infant and a one-year-old girl in March. Ms. Cotton allegedly left Frank Rodenbaugh in a carseat for about three hours, and he was later found to have hypothermia before he died, according to prosecutors.
Cape and Islands district attorney Robert Galibois declined to comment on the indictments, saying he wanted to preserve his case against Ms. Cotton. Ms. Cotton’s attorney Harrison Barrow also declined to comment.
The incident came to the attention of police when Ms. Cotton called 911 on March 13, saying she had found Frank Rodenbaugh unresponsive and turning blue, according to an arraignment report from police.
Frank Rodenbaugh was brought to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and later flown to Massachusetts General Hospital for treatment, but died after nearly a week in intensive care.
Ms. Cotton pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter, assault and battery on a child and reckless endangerment of a child in Edgartown District Court before her case was moved to Falmouth for a potential conflict of interest with staff in the Island’s district court.
The new case, now in superior court, is expected to take place on the Vineyard.
During initial interviews with police, Ms. Cotton claimed to have only left the boy and girl in the vehicle alone for about 15 minutes before bringing them inside to play.
But after reviewing surveillance footage at Ms. Cotton’s home, officers say it appeared the children were left in the vehicle, unattended, for about three hours.
During a previous court hearing, Ms. Cotton’s attorney said Ms. Cotton did go and change the boy’s diaper and gave him a yogurt about an hour before he was found unresponsive.
Ms. Cotton was previously released on $21,000 cash bail and was told to have no contact with the alleged victim’s family. She was later found to have a probation violation in April for failing to not stay away from the Rodenbaugh family, but remained free on her previoulsy posted bail.
Matt Rodenbaugh, Frank’s father, needed time to process the charges Tuesday.
“We need some time to digest this and understand where we go from here,” he told the Gazette. “We can’t thank the community enough for all they have done and are doing.”
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