Prosecutors are pursuing manslaughter charges against Aimee Cotton while Frankie Rodenbaugh’s parents seek damages in a wrongful death lawsuit.
EDGARTOWN, Mass. — More than a year after 2-year-old Frankie Rodenbaugh died following an emergency at his babysitter’s Oak Bluffs home, the case has expanded into parallel criminal and civil proceedings that continue to move through Dukes County courts.
The legal path has become central to the story. Aimee Cotton, 40, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter and reckless endangerment of a child in the criminal case. At the same time, Frankie’s parents, Julie and Matthew Rodenbaugh, have filed a wrongful death suit accusing Cotton of negligence and seeking damages. Together, the two matters are shaping how the facts will be examined: the criminal case focuses on whether prosecutors can prove culpability beyond a reasonable doubt, while the civil case seeks financial accountability for the child’s death and the family’s losses.
The chronology begins on March 13, 2025, when Cotton called 911 from her home in Oak Bluffs and reported that the toddler she was babysitting was unresponsive and turning blue. According to court reporting based on police records, first responders found Frankie in a second-row passenger seat and rushed him first to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital before he was flown to Boston in critical condition. Public reporting says the child remained hospitalized for nearly a week before dying on March 19. In the months that followed, investigators reviewed security footage from Cotton’s driveway and built the case around what the video showed. Prosecutors say Cotton had been caring for Frankie and a 1-year-old girl and left both children strapped in car seats inside her SUV for about three hours while she went in and out of the house.
That surveillance evidence became the backbone of the criminal prosecution. Investigators said Cotton initially told police she had left the children alone for roughly 15 minutes. But prosecutors later said driveway video showed the vehicle parked outside from about 9:22 a.m. until shortly after noon with the children still inside. According to police summaries cited in multiple court reports, Cotton entered and exited the residence several times without removing the children and later acknowledged going inside for routine tasks, including cooking and getting sports gear ready. The prosecution has argued those acts showed a disregard for the risk to the children. The defense has not publicly laid out a full trial strategy, though court reporting said Cotton’s lawyer previously contended she changed Frankie’s diaper and gave him yogurt about an hour before he was found unresponsive. Those claims have not been tested at trial.
The charges changed as Frankie’s medical condition changed. Cotton was first arraigned in district court on charges that included assault and battery on a child and reckless conduct creating a risk of serious bodily injury to a child. After Frankie died, prosecutors elevated the case, and a Dukes County grand jury returned indictments on Sept. 23, 2025, charging manslaughter and reckless endangerment of a child. Cotton was arraigned in superior court on Oct. 7, 2025, and pleaded not guilty. Judge Maureen Hogan kept her bail in place at $23,800, according to court reporting, and ordered conditions that included no contact with the Rodenbaugh family and GPS monitoring. The case had already shifted venues once because of an employee conflict in Edgartown District Court, with part of the earlier process handled in Falmouth District Court.
Pretrial disputes have focused on Cotton’s release conditions and the pace of the case. Reports from February 2026 said prosecutors asked a superior court judge to reinstate a curfew that had previously been attached to Cotton’s bail. Judge Daniel Wrenn declined, saying there had not been a new probation violation since the case moved into superior court. Earlier court reporting said Cotton had been found in violation of a stay-away order after an April 7, 2025, incident involving the victim’s family, though she remained free on bail. Her next court date was set for April 27, 2026. That hearing was expected to mark another step in the pretrial process, including continued discussion of discovery and the conditions under which Cotton remains out of custody while awaiting trial.
The civil case adds a different set of allegations and a different possible outcome. On Jan. 28, 2026, Julie and Matthew Rodenbaugh filed suit in Dukes County Superior Court. The complaint seeks damages for negligence, wrongful death, punitive damages, conscious pain and suffering, medical expenses and loss of companionship. One report said the family was seeking at least $260,000 plus punitive damages and asked for a jury trial. Their lawyers alleged Cotton left Frankie strapped in a car seat outside her residence for hours, with inadequate clothing and no food or water, until he suffered hypothermia and cardiac arrest. Family attorney Benjamin Zimmermann has said the civil suit is meant to secure compensation and financial accountability in ways the criminal system does not. For the Rodenbaughs, the two cases now move side by side, one aimed at punishment and the other at damages.
Publicly, the family has said both proceedings are about more than court dates. Outside hearings and in later interviews, Matthew Rodenbaugh has described Frankie as a joyful child and said the family wants the facts fully examined. The family has also tied its public statements to remembrance, saying it started a foundation and built a playground in Frankie’s name. Cotton’s attorney, Harrison Barrow, has repeatedly declined comment in news reports, and prosecutors have said little publicly as the criminal case advances. That leaves many of the final questions for the courtroom: what jurors may eventually hear about the surveillance video, how medical evidence will be presented, and whether the civil case settles or goes to trial before a 12-person jury.
As of March 20, 2026, the criminal prosecution remained pending in Dukes County Superior Court and the wrongful death suit was active. The next scheduled milestone in the criminal case was an April 27 pretrial appearance.
Author note: Last updated March 20, 2026.