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The foggy mornings on Martha's Vineyard usually feel like a safety net. It's the kind of place where people move to escape the jagged edges of the mainland, a tight-knit island where everyone knows the elementary school teachers and the local hockey schedules. But last March, that sense of security vanished.
You’ve probably seen the name Aimee Cotton popping up in local headlines or heard hushed conversations at the Stop & Shop in Edgartown. It’s a case that has left the island reeling, not just because of the tragedy itself, but because of the chilling details that emerged afterward.
Honestly, the story of Aimee Cotton and the death of young Frankie Rodenbaugh is a parent’s worst nightmare realized in the most mundane way possible. It wasn't a high-speed chase or a freak accident. It was three hours of "household chores" that ended a life.
The Morning Everything Changed in Oak Bluffs
On March 13, 2025, the day started out fairly normal. Aimee Cotton, a 40-year-old mother of two from Oak Bluffs, was doing what many islanders do: juggling local life and childcare. She had been babysitting Frank “Frankie” Edward Rodenbaugh, a two-year-old boy, since he was just four months old. This wasn't a stranger; this was a trusted family friend.
Frankie’s mom is a teacher at the Oak Bluffs Elementary School. You can imagine the level of trust there.
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Around 1:16 p.m., a 911 call hit the Dukes County Regional Emergency Communications Center. It was Cotton. She sounded frantic. She told the dispatcher that the boy she was watching wasn't breathing. He was turning blue. When paramedics rushed to her home, they found her performing CPR on the toddler in the backseat of her 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe.
The Story vs. The Footage
At first, Cotton told the police a story that almost anyone could relate to. She said she’d left the kids in the car for "maybe 15 minutes" while she ran inside. We've all had those moments where we think, I'll just be a second. But the investigators didn't just take her word for it. They looked at the Nest surveillance footage from her own driveway.
What the cameras showed was hauntingly different from her story. Instead of 15 minutes, the footage showed that Frankie and a 1.5-year-old girl had been strapped into their car seats for roughly three hours. From about 9:22 a.m. until after noon, the children sat in the SUV while Cotton went in and out of her house.
What Was She Doing?
This is the part that people on the Vineyard can't stop talking about. According to court documents and police reports, when Cotton was confronted with the video, she admitted the truth. She wasn't dealing with an emergency. She wasn't trapped.
Basically, she was:
- Cooking bacon in the oven.
- Doing personal hygiene.
- Getting her son's hockey bags ready.
- Doing various household chores.
She told police she didn't give the kids food or water during that time. She also allegedly admitted this wasn't the first time. She claimed she had done this at least five times before because she could "see them through the window."
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The prosecutors called it an "intentional, callous disregard for human life." It’s hard to argue with that when you realize the car was turned off. While she was inside making breakfast, the temperature inside that SUV was doing something catastrophic to a two-year-old’s body.
The Medical Reality: It Wasn't Heat
Most people hear "child left in car" and think of the sweltering heat of July. But this was March. The Vineyard Gazette reported that the cause of death was actually hypothermia.
It’s a different kind of horror.
Frankie was flown by Boston Medflight to Massachusetts General Hospital. He spent nearly a week in intensive care, fighting. On March 19, 2025, he succumbed to his injuries. A little boy who was known for "running hugs" and shouting "Mama!" was gone.
Legal Fallout and the Indictment
The legal machine moves slowly, even on an island. Initially, the charges were assault and battery on a child. But after Frankie died, the Cape & Islands District Attorney, Robert Galibois, upgraded them to manslaughter.
By September 2025, a Dukes County grand jury indicted Cotton on charges of manslaughter and reckless endangerment of a child.
The case took a weird turn in April when Cotton was accused of a probation violation. A judge found she failed to stay away from the victim's family, which was a core condition of her release. Despite this, she remained free on $21,000 bail, though she’s now tethered to a GPS monitor and a strict curfew.
She's also barred from:
- Running any kind of daycare or childcare business.
- Supervising any child under the age of five.
- Attending local lacrosse games.
- Having any contact with the Rodenbaugh family or witnesses.
The Community's Grief
The Rodenbaugh family has been incredibly vocal, not out of malice, but out of a desire to prevent this from happening to anyone else. They’ve raised over $270,000 for a new preschool playground at the Oak Bluffs School in Frankie’s memory.
They recently placed a memorial brick for him at the Edgartown Lighthouse.
"Trust, and also verify," Matt Rodenbaugh told reporters. It’s a simple phrase, but it carries a lot of weight when you consider they had trusted Cotton for over a year.
The island's childcare network is also feeling the heat. Joanne Lambert, a member of the MV Family Child Care Network, has been pushing for parents to strictly use state-licensed providers. The reality is that the Vineyard has a massive shortage of affordable, licensed childcare, which often forces parents into these informal "handshake" agreements with neighbors or friends.
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What’s Next for the Case?
As of late 2025, Aimee Cotton has pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charges. Her defense attorney, Harrison Barrow, has argued that she did check on the kids, including changing a diaper and giving one a yogurt about an hour before the 911 call.
The case has been moved to Superior Court. A pretrial conference is scheduled for February 18, 2026.
The island is watching. The mainland is watching. It’s a case that forces everyone to look at the "convenience" of modern life and the terrifying risks we take when we think we’re just being efficient.
Actionable Insights for Parents
If you are navigating childcare on Martha's Vineyard—or anywhere else—this tragedy serves as a grim checklist for safety:
- Verify Licenses: Always check the Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) database to see if a provider is actually licensed and if they have any prior violations.
- Surveillance Access: If your kids are at a home-based daycare, ask if they have cameras and if you can have access to the feed or periodic photo check-ins.
- The "Pop-In" Rule: Truly professional caregivers never mind a random, unannounced drop-in. If a provider seems resistant to you showing up early or unexpectedly, that’s a red flag.
- Trust Your Gut: In the Rodenbaugh case, they had no reason to suspect anything was wrong until it was too late. But if a caregiver ever seems distracted or overwhelmed by "household chores," it might be time to find a new setup.
Check the Massachusetts EEC website to verify the status of any local provider before signing a contract. Don't rely on word-of-mouth alone.