The tragic story of a two-year-old boy from Martha’s Vineyard, who died of hypothermia after being left in a car by his babysitter, has left a community in mourning and a family heartbroken. The young boy, Frankie Rodenbaugh, repeatedly called out for his ‘Dada’ while strapped in the back seat, a haunting detail shared by his grieving father, Matt Rodenbaugh.
In March 2025, Frankie faced this agonizing ordeal allegedly due to the negligence of his babysitter, Aimee Cotton, 41. Cotton, who had been a trusted caregiver for the Rodenbaugh family, including looking after Matt’s six-year-old daughter for three years, is now at the center of a legal storm. She is accused of leaving Frankie and another child in her car for hours, without proper clothing, food, or water.
Matt Rodenbaugh expressed his shock and devastation upon reviewing surveillance footage that reportedly shows Cotton arriving at her home around 9 a.m. and not returning to the vehicle until approximately 1 p.m. The video, when enhanced for audio, captured the heart-wrenching pleas of Frankie calling for his father until silence fell.
Charged with manslaughter, Cotton awaits trial, as the Rodenbaugh family and their community grapple with the immense loss and the painful void left by this tragedy. “The amount of damage she’s done to our community is unimaginable,” Matt Rodenbaugh lamented, highlighting the profound impact of this incident on those around them.
‘She tortured my child,’ he said. ‘They enhanced the audio of the video, and he can be heard calling out for “Dada” over and over and over again, until the video went silent.’
Cotton was charged with manslaughter and is awaiting trial, as Frankie’s father said the ‘amount of damage she’s done to our community is unimaginable.’
He said his son was his ‘mini-me’ and recalled how he would greet him with a ‘ball of energy’ every day.
‘Every day I’d come home from work he would hear me coming and the dogs would bark, and he’d run to the gate here and yell, “Dada!” and (give me) a big, huge hug,’ Rodenbaugh told WBZ-TV. ‘He’d hug everyone. Just a super happy little kid.’
Martha’s Vineyard boy Frankie Rodenbaugh, 2, called out for his ‘Dada’ over and over as he was allegedly left strapped in a car for hours before his hypothermia death, his heartbroken father Matt says
Aimee Cotton, 41, allegedly left the child alone in her car for hours without food or water in March 2025. She has been charged with manslaughter and has pleaded not guilty
The Rodenbaugh family live in the Martha’s Vineyard enclave of Massachusetts.
They said Cotton was a well-known babysitter among families in their affluent neighborhood.
‘She watched my daughter, who’s now six, for the first three years of her life,’ Rodenbaugh said. ‘She was somebody really close to us and somebody we trusted.’
Rodenbaugh said he and his wife had no idea their life would be turned upside down on the morning of March 13, 2025, when Cotton picked up Frankie from their $2.1 million home and took him to her home in Oak Bluffs.
He said hours later, Cotton allegedly called 911 saying Frankie had stopped breathing, before calling his wife to tell her the tragic news.
‘She said “Frankie’s in an ambulance. He’s not breathing. I’m headed to the hospital now”. I just kept saying “What do you mean, what happened?” She’s like “I don’t know, I don’t know anything. Aimee called me crying,”‘ he recalled.
Frankie was rushed to the hospital by helicopter, but his father said doctors told him early on that the prognosis was not good.
‘They lost his heart rate, there’s not a lot of neurological signals going on right now. We’re not really sure what happened. He’s not doing well,’ he said.
‘They keep telling me “we’re very, very worried about Frankie” and that’s exactly how they would tell me. I knew, I knew what that meant.’
Rodenbaugh said he and his wife had no inclination their life would be turned upside down on the morning of March 13, 2025, when Cotton picked up Frankie from their $2.1 million property (pictured) in Martha’s Vineyard
The grieving father said his son was his ‘mini-me’ and recalled how he would greet him with a ‘ball of energy’ every day, saying ‘he’d run to the gate here and yell, ‘Dada!’ and (give me) a big, huge hug’
Matt Rodenbaugh said he wants justice for his son, alleging Cotton played ‘Russian roulette’ with his son’s life
The Rodenbaugh family live in the Martha’s Vineyard enclave in Massachusetts. They said Cotton was a well-known babysitter among families in their affluent neighborhood
Frankie died six days after being admitted from cardiac arrest brought on by hypothermia.
Rodenbaugh recalled that the tragedy was compounded by the death of his father, which took place at the same time that Frankie was in hospital.
The grandfather, Frank, who was Frankie’s namesake, suddenly died after having a pacemaker put in.
Rodenbaugh said as he was grieving, Massachusetts State Police told him they had arrested Cotton, a move that he initially did not support.
‘I remember my wife and I both were like, “You can’t do that. We love Aimee. She’s great”,’ he said.
He said police then showed him the footage of Cotton allegedly leaving his son in the car for hours without changing him or giving him any food or water.
Police alleged that Cotton admitted to leaving the children in the car, saying she went inside to run errands including cooking bacon and preparing her son’s hockey bags.
Rodenbaugh said his son deteriorated while in hospital and his family made the gut-wrenching decision to turn off his life support.
Rodenbaugh recalled that the tragedy was compounded by the death of his father, which took place at the same time that Frankie was in hospital
Cotton donned a pink Nantucket crew neck, black pants and glasses as she was arrested last year. She has pleaded not guilty
‘It was horrible,’ he said. ‘I held his hand, and I just kept saying, “Go to Pap Pap.” That’s what he called my dad. I held his hand for a long time and just kept saying, “Go to Pap Pap.”‘
The grieving father said he wants justice for his son, alleging Cotton played ‘Russian roulette’ with his son’s life.
Cotton has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is currently free on bail.
The Daily Mail has contacted her attorney Harrison Barrow III.
