The Vineyard woman who is facing a murder trial in connection with the death of a toddler had her lesser manslaughter charge dropped formally in court this week.
A Dukes County grand jury returned indictments on charges of murder and reckless endangerment of a child for Aimee Cotton in August related to the death of two-year-old Frank Rodenbaugh. Ms. Cotton was Frank’s babysitter and allegedly left him alone in her SUV for several hours before his death.
Those indictments superseded the previous manslaughter charge, prompting the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s office to notify the court that it would not be pursuing the prior indictments.
Barnstable Superior Court Judge Elaine Buckley accepted the district attorney’s decision on Nov. 3, and court records show the charges being dropped on Monday.
Ms. Cotton’s $23,800 bail for the murder and reckless endangerment charges, which she previously posted, still stands and she has a pretrial conference scheduled in the Barnstable courthouse on Jan. 7.
“Nothing has changed in terms of conditions of release,” district attorney spokesperson Danielle Whitney told the Gazette.
The case was moved off Island in the name of expediency and over concerns of being able to get a nonpartial jury on the Vineyard.
Prosecutors say Ms. Cotton was caring for Frank and another child in March 2025 when she left the children alone in her vehicle parked outside her Oak Bluffs home. Ms. Cotton later found Frank unresponsive in his car seat. He was brought to the hospital but died from his injuries.
Ms. Cotton pleaded not guilty to the new charges in October of this year.