Overview
- A grand jury returned an indictment charging Aimee Cotton with second-degree murder and reckless endangerment in the 2025 death of 2-year-old Frank “Frankie” Rodenbaugh.
- Prosecutors say Nest security video contradicted Cotton’s initial 15-minute account and showed the children were left alone in her SUV for about three hours.
- Frankie was taken from the SUV on March 13, 2025, later flown to Massachusetts General Hospital, and died six days afterward from injuries tied to the incident.
- Cotton had pleaded not guilty to earlier manslaughter and child endangerment charges, was released on $23,800 bail, and is scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 5 in Dukes Superior Court.
- The Rodenbaughs’ wrongful-death civil suit is stayed while the criminal case proceeds, and the indictment raises the prospect of harsher punishment under Massachusetts law because second-degree murder covers conduct likely to cause death.