A Vineyard woman pleaded not guilty in Dukes County Superior Court Thursday to a charge of murder connected to the death of an infant that she was babysitting last year.
Aimee Cotton, 41, also pleaded not guilty to reckless endangerment of a child. Both charges stem from the death of Frank Rodenbaugh, a two-year-old who was under Ms. Cotton’s care in March 2025.
Ms. Cotton is accused of leaving Frank and another child in her SUV alone for several hours while she did chores inside her Oak Bluffs home. Ms. Cotton later found Frank unresponsive in the vehicle, and he died after nearly a week in intensive care.
Ms. Cotton was previously charged with manslaughter and the case had been moved to Cape Cod for a trial. A Dukes County grand jury later indicted Ms. Cotton this August on an elevated second degree murder charge.
Thursday’s hearing was brief, lasting only a few minutes. Ms. Cotton’s lawyer, Matthew Bober, entered her plea with Dukes County Superior Court Judge Peter Krupp, and assistant district attorney Courtney Scalise requested the previous bail set in the manslaughter case be transferred to the murder and reckless endangerment charges.
Ms. Cotton’s bail was set at $23,800, and she is to stay away from the victims, their families and witnesses in the case. She is also not allowed to run a daycare or supervise children under five.
Before the arraignment, Frank’s father Matthew Rodenbaugh put out a call to the community to come to the courthouse to join him and demand justice for the family.
“One year ago this week, she stood in that same courthouse charged with manslaughter,” Mr. Rodenbaugh said in a statement. “[My wife] Julie and I have said all along that Frankie’s case deserves the fullest measure of accountability the law allows, and we have never stopped advocating for that.”
More than 70 friends and supporters of the Rodenbaughs packed the Edgartown courthouse benches behind Ms. Cotton and her family, who were sitting in the first row.
After the arraignment, the crowd stood outside waiting for Mr. Rodenbaugh. When he came out of the courthouse, he hugged and shook everyone’s hand.
“The support is absolutely awe-inspiring and just means so much to me to have all these people here,” Mr. Rodenbaugh told the Gazette. “It’s been a long fight to get to here and we really appreciate everybody coming out.”
At the outskirts of the crowd, Julia and Samantha Bettencourt stood in support of the Rodenbaughs. Samantha said her mother works at the Oak Bluffs School with Ms. Rodenbaugh, and though they don’t know the family well, they wanted to stand in solidarity.
“We just want justice for [Frankie],” Julia said.
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Krupp decided to move the case to Barnstable Superior Court, if the parties were in favor.
Mr. Rodenbaugh was surprised that the transfer was decided at the arraignment, but said he fully supported the change of venue to Barnstable, which sits more often than the Vineyard superior court.
“[The trial] is always going to be a chapter of our life, but we’d like for that chapter to have an end in sight,” he said. “I think Barnstable affords us that expediency.”
Prosecutors allege that Ms. Cotton left Frank and a one-year-old girl in their carseats alone for about three hours. Officials said Frank was later diagnosed with hypothermia before he died at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Police said that Ms. Cotton claimed that she initially left Frank and the girl inside her car for about 15 minutes before bringing them inside. Surveillance footage from a home security camera outside Ms. Cotton’s home showed the children were left unattended for several hours, according to police.
The incident came to the attention of officers when Ms. Cotton called 911, saying she had found Frank unresponsive and turning blue.
The Rodenbaugh family have filed a civil lawsuit against Ms. Cotton in Dukes County Superior Court, asking the court for damages. That case was put on pause as the criminal cases play out.