Girl dies on cold 10 mile walk ; Dad and Uncle charged with murder

[2NJSons_Mom]

 


Girl dies on cold walk; dad charged with murder
22 mins ago
TWIN FALLS, Idaho – The father of an 11-year-old girl who died, likely of hypothermia, after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day has been charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child.

Robert Aragon, 55, of Jerome, made an initial appearance Monday in 5th District Court, where Judge Mark Ingram appointed a public defender for him. The judge denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000 bond. He was being held in the Blaine County Jail.

Aragon was emotional during the short hearing. He banged his head on the defendant's table as Ingram read the charges against him, The Times-News reported. After Ingram noted that second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Aragon said "Oh my God" as he banged his head on the table one final time.

Sage Aragon and her 12-year-old brother, Bear, were with their father on Thursday when his truck got stuck in a snow drift near state Highway 75, north of Shoshone in southcentral Idaho, according to the Lincoln County sheriff's office.

The children live with Aragon in Jerome and he was taking them to visit their mother, JoLeta Jenks, in West Magic.

After the truck got caught in the snow, authorities allege Aragon let the children out to walk to their mother's house while he and another adult stayed behind to free the vehicle.

Jenks said she called Aragon because she was concerned after no one arrived at her home on Thursday. Aragon had driven back to Jerome after letting the kids out to walk to her house, Jenks said.

"They didn't even call me, telling me they were walking," she told the Times-News.

Jenks called the police and a Blaine County search and rescue team found the boy at a rest area near the highway shortly before 10 p.m. on Thursday night.

Adults in the search effort described the snow as knee-deep for them.

The boy was found wearing only long underwear, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said in a news release. Apparently delusional from hypothermia, the child had discarded his jacket, pants and shoes, the sheriff's office said. He was treated and released at a nearby hospital.

The rest area was about 4.5 miles from where the children started walking.

At some point the children separated and their mother said her son told her they disagreed about whether to keep going or turn back.

"(Bear) kept on telling her: 'Let's go, Sage, let's go, Sage,'" Jenks said, recalling what her son told her. "She said, 'No, I'm going back.'"

The little girl was found about 2.7 miles from where the two set out, barely visible under windblown, drifting snow when search dogs located her along a local road about 2 a.m. Friday. She was wearing a brown down coat, black shirt, pink pajama pants and tan snowboots, the sheriff's office statement said.

"I thought she was alive because they said they found her," Jenks said. "I was excited."

The girl was pronounced dead at a Ketchum hospital; preliminary autopsy results indicate she died of hypothermia.

Officials say temperatures in the area at the time the girl was missing ranged from 27 degrees above zero to minus 5.

Jenks and Aragon are not married. While she said she doesn't understand the decision Aragon is accused of making in letting the children walk to her house, Jenks added, "I don't need to sit and yell. I know he's going through hell right now."

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_us/hypothermia_death/print

[MuffyBee]

The phrase "you can't fix stupid" came to mind after I read this.  And then I wondered was he stupid for letting the children walk alone so many miles in the cold, or did he just not care?  Or both?  Either way, the children have suffered terribly.  The little girl paid with her life and the boy, even though in care now must be feeling a lot of physical and emotional pain. 

Jenks and Aragon are not married. While she said she doesn't understand the decision Aragon is accused of making in letting the children walk to her house, Jenks added, "I don't need to sit and yell. I know he's going through hell right now."

"...letting the children walk?"  Or telling them to walk?  Walking in knee deep snow in sub-freezing temps to a destination 10 mi. away?   And he drove back to Jerome ?  He didn't go back for them or see if they arrived or let Jenks know they were out there?  Unbelievable.Their mother says she doesn't need to sit and yell?!  I guess we can count her out for caring for the children too.  It sounds like she's more interested in her guy then in the welfare of her children, one dead and one injured, because the guy was stupid or uncaring or both.    So the guy is going through hell.  Boo-hoo.  What hell did Sage go through before she died?  And what hell did Bear endure before he was found and has to live with the pain of that night and losing his sister?  That's who I care about, and to me, who Jenks should care about.  It sounds to me like the judge that denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000.00 is speaking for the children.  I hope Bear recovers and the family is looked at closely and monitored to be certain it's a safe place for him.  And Aragon?  He can keep banging his head on the table, walls, wherever... Sorry for the rant.  I wonder if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol?  Not that in any way, shape or form excuses his sorry behavior.  Just thinking it might be his stab at defense. 

[2NJSons_Mom]

The phrase "you can't fix stupid" came to mind after I read this.  And then I wondered was he stupid for letting the children walk alone so many miles in the cold, or did he just not care?  Or both?  Either way, the children have suffered terribly.  The little girl paid with her life and the boy, even though in care now must be feeling a lot of physical and emotional pain. 

Jenks and Aragon are not married. While she said she doesn't understand the decision Aragon is accused of making in letting the children walk to her house, Jenks added, "I don't need to sit and yell. I know he's going through hell right now."

"...letting the children walk?"  Or telling them to walk?  Walking in knee deep snow in sub-freezing temps to a destination 10 mi. away?   And he drove back to Jerome ?  He didn't go back for them or see if they arrived or let Jenks know they were out there?  Unbelievable.Their mother says she doesn't need to sit and yell?!  I guess we can count her out for caring for the children too.  It sounds like she's more interested in her guy then in the welfare of her children, one dead and one injured, because the guy was stupid or uncaring or both.    So the guy is going through hell.  Boo-hoo.  What hell did Sage go through before she died?  And what hell did Bear endure before he was found and has to live with the pain of that night and losing his sister?  That's who I care about, and to me, who Jenks should care about.  It sounds to me like the judge that denied Aragon's request to lower his $500,000.00 is speaking for the children.  I hope Bear recovers and the family is looked at closely and monitored to be certain it's a safe place for him.  And Aragon?  He can keep banging his head on the table, walls, wherever... Sorry for the rant.  I wonder if he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol?  Not that in any way, shape or form excuses his sorry behavior.  Just thinking it might be his stab at defense. 

Many of the same thoughts, here, Muffy.  Yes, he can keep beating his head, because it's not going to change things.  Makes you wonder what kind of life Bear and Sage had to begin with. 

[rebelgirl901]

It's hard to say if it's stupidity or selfishness or a combination of the two.  This is a tragedy that didn't have to happen.  He obviously wasn't thinking about their welfare.  10 miles is a long ways for two children to be walking alone much less in subfreezing temperatures and knee deep snow.  The man didn't even have the courtesy to go & check on his children after he got the truck out, instead he went home.  He didn't have the courtesy to call their mother and let her know they would be walking.  It sounds to me like he just didn't want to be bothered with them or he was in a hurry for his next fix.

What a jerk!  He should be banging his head.  He will have to live with it for the rest of his life. 

I will never understand some people

[MuffyBee]

Jan 1, 10:47 PM EST

Uncle arrested in Idaho girl's snowstorm death

By JOHN MILLER
Associated Press Writer
 BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- A man who allegedly allowed his 11-year-old niece and 12-year-old nephew to attempt a 10-mile walk to their mother's house on a frigid Christmas Day was arrested on a murder warrant Thursday in connection with the hypothermia death of the little girl.

The warrant accuses Kenneth Quintana, 29, of second-degree murder and felony injury to a child, said Jerome County sheriff's Deputy David Ursino.

The children's father, Robert Aragon, 55, was arrested earlier this week and faces the same charges.

Aragon and Quintana had been driving the children to visit their mother when their 1988 Buick Century got stuck in a snowdrift on a desolate road. They allegedly allowed the children to attempt the trek on foot along a windswept, snowy highway while they stayed to free the car. They eventually returned to Aragon's hometown of Jerome.

Sage Aragon, 11, walked about four miles with her older brother Bear in subfreezing temperatures, but then turned back.

JoLeta Jenks, the children's mother, told The Associated Press earlier this week that she called Robert Aragon after the kids failed to arrive. She called 911 after learning the children were on foot, she said.

A search dog found Sage's body, obscured by drifting snow, early Dec. 26 more than 2 1/2 miles from where she and her brother had set out. She was wearing a down jacket, black shirt, pink pajama pants and tan snowboots. She was pronounced dead at a hospital in Ketchum. A preliminary autopsy report indicated she died of hypothermia.

A search and rescue team found Bear at a rest stop shortly before 10 p.m. on Christmas night. He was treated at a nearby hospital and released.

The children lived with Robert Aragon, who wasn't married to Jenks. She couldn't be reached for comment Thursday. Her phone number was not in service.

Quintana also faces drug charges. He was found with marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia when he was arrested, officers said.

Efforts to reach Quintana's family in Jerome were unsuccessful.

Quintana was expected to be charged Friday in 5th District Court. Like Aragon, he's being held on a $500,000 bond.

Residents of Jerome, an agricultural town in Idaho's dairy heartland, packed a Mormon church Wednesday for Sage Aragon's funeral. At the service, Darrell Tendoy, a great-uncle to the children, asked for forgiveness for Robert Aragon.

"He raised those children. I was proud of him," said Tendoy. "Sometimes in our lives, we do make mistakes. He must be feeling a lot of pain right now."

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HYPOTHERMIA_DEATH?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[Nut44x4]

Murder charges dropped in girl's snowy death   

Story Updated: Jan 14, 2009 at 3:32 PM PST
By Associated Press KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — Idaho prosecutors have dropped a second-degree murder charge filed against the father of an 11-year-old girl who died after trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day.

A complaint filed in 5th District Court Tuesday instead charges 55-year-old Robert Aragon with involuntary manslaughter, the Idaho Mountain Express reports.

Authorities say Sage Aragon, and her 12-year-old brother, Bear, were with their father when his car got stuck in a snow drift on Dec. 25 near state Highway 75 in south-central Idaho.

Authorities have accused Aragon of letting the children walk to their mother's house while he and his cousin, Kenneth Quintana, 29, stayed behind to free the vehicle. The boy survived. The girl died, likely of hypothermia.

Prosecutors charged both Aragon and Quintana with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child. The second-degree murder charge filed against Quintana was also reduced to involuntary manslaughter on Tuesday.

http://www.katu.com/news/37593619.html

[Nut44x4]

 

Murder charges dropped in ID girl's snowy death
An Idaho prosecutor has dropped murder charges and will instead pursue an involuntary manslaughter case in the death of an 11-year-old girl who was trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day.
 
An Idaho prosecutor has dropped murder charges and will instead pursue an involuntary manslaughter case in the death of an 11-year-old girl who was trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day.

Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul filed a motion Tuesday amending the second-degree murder charges against Robert Aragon, 55, and his cousin Kenneth Quintana, 29, in the death of Aragon's daughter, Sage Aragon.

Aragon and Quintana, both of Jerome, are now charged in 5th District Court with one count each of felony involuntary manslaughter for their alleged roles in the girl's death.

Authorities say the girl and her 12-year-old brother, Bear, were with their father and Quintana on Dec. 25, en route to the home of the children's mother, when Aragon's car got stuck in a snow drift on an isolated stretch of highway north of Shoshone.

In the criminal complaint, the prosecutor accuses Aragon and Quintana of allowing the children to walk to their mother's home in bone-chilling weather while the adults tried to dislodge the car.

The children ultimately separated, never made it to their mother's home and a search ensued. The boy survived, but rescue crews found the girl early the next day buried in snow. She was later pronounced dead, likely of hypothermia.

Police arrested the father on Dec. 26 and he was charged with second-degree murder and felony injury to a child. Quintana was arrested days later and charged with the same crimes. Aragon is being held on a $500,000 bond in the Jerome County Jail; Quintana is being held on a $150,000 bond in the Blaine County Jail, the Idaho Mountain Express reported.

Under Idaho law, the difference between second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter is the level of intent, says Nora O'Callaghan, a criminal law professor at the University of Idaho.

Second-degree murder requires prosecutors to show a defendant acted on impulse and with some level of intent and deliberation, while involuntary manslaughter suggests the defendant was aware of the potential danger but failed to act in a way to prevent it, she said.

"Involuntary is a case of showing indifference to the value of human life by your conduct," O'Callaghan told The Associated Press. "It's not like you wanted the person to die, but you should have been more protective of human life."

If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the two men face punishment of up to 10 years in prison.

Both men are also still charged with felony injury to a child, in the case of Bear Aragon.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008629476_apidhypothermiadeath1stldwritethru.html

[Nut44x4]

Fifth District Judge G. Richard Bevin on Monday rescheduled to trial for July 7. He also scheduled a hearing for May 15 on a defense motion that the charges be dismissed

4/7/09

JEROME -- A judge has delayed the trial of a Jerome father charged in the hypothermia death of his 11-year-old daughter on Christmas Day.

Robert Aragon, 55, is accused of involuntary manslaughter and felony injury to a child for allowing his daughter, Sage, and son, Bear, walk several miles to their mother's home along a cold, windy road after his vehicle got stuck in a snowdrift.

The boy survived the ordeal after taking shelter in a roadside rest room, but the girl's body was found the next day buried in snow.

Fifth District Judge G. Richard Bevin on Monday rescheduled to trial for July 7. He also scheduled a hearing for May 15 on a defense motion that the charges be dismissed.

Aragon has pleaded not guilty and is free on bond.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/magicvalley/stories/ktvbn-apr0709-hypothermia_death.b117a92b.html

[Nut44x4]

Idaho trial begins for girl's hypothermia death
(AP) – 18 minutes ago

SHOSHONE, Idaho — A father accused of allowing his 11-year-old daughter to walk to her death along a cold, rural highway on Christmas Day failed to do what he needed to protect her, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Robert Aragon put his children at risk "and one of them died," Lincoln County Attorney E. Scott Paul said during opening statements.

Aragon, 56, is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of his daughter, Sage, who died of hypothermia after trekking several miles in freezing conditions after her father's vehicle got stuck in a snowdrift on Dec. 25.

He also is charged with felony injury to a child for allowing his son, Bear, 13, join his sister on the 10-mile hike to their mother's house. Bear was found more than 4 miles from where the children started walking, suffering from hypothermia in a single-stall restroom at a federal Bureau of Land Management recreational site.

Public defender Patrick McMillen said Aragon had the children's safety in mind and implored his children to be careful, according to the Times News.

"This man is not a felon," McMillen said.

If convicted, Aragon faces up to a decade in prison for involuntary manslaughter and up to another 10 years for felony injury to a child.

Aragon, who lived with the children in Jerome, was driving them to their mother when his car got stuck in a snowdrift along an isolated rural roadway in Lincoln County on Christmas Day. The children asked Aragon if they could walk the rest of the way to see their mom, and Aragon agreed, the prosecutor told the jury.

"He told them to stay together," Paul said. "There are no longer any hypotheticals, what-if's or what might have been."

Police say that sometime after the children began walking, Aragon freed his car from the snow and drove back to Jerome. The children's mother called to say they never arrived, and authorities later found Aragon searching for the children at the site where the car had become stranded.

A search and rescue team found the boy at a rest area near the highway. He told police his sister had turned back when she could no longer walk.

Sage's body was found by a search dog less than three miles from where she started the trek, barely visible under a pile of snow and wearing a heavy coat and pajama bottoms.

Temperatures in the area at the time the girl was missing ranged from 27 degrees to minus 5. Winds were blowing up to 25 mph with snow and ice.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6VDKkwiyYMDb5X09CdLMLYPJnWQD9B6ER8G0

[Nut44x4]

 

On Christmas day two youths -- Bear Aragon, 12, and his sister Sage, 11, from the rural Idaho town of Jerome -- set out alone on this road, seen on Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009
(AP Photo/Charlie Litchfield)

http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/us_news/west/nat_ap_boise_trial_begins_in_idaho_girls_hypothermia_death_200910051323_2929293

[Nut44x4]

Well that didn't take long   

Idaho jury acquits dad in girl's hypothermia death
By JESSIE L. BONNER (AP) – 1 hour ago

SHOSHONE, Idaho — An Idaho man who let his 11-year-old daughter walk several miles in freezing conditions along an isolated rural highway on Christmas Day was acquitted Friday of involuntary manslaughter in the girl's death from hypothermia.

Robert Aragon was also found not guilty of felony injury to a child after the jury of seven women and five men deliberated for about two hours.

Aragon declined to comment after he left the courtroom with family members including his adult daughter, Teressa, who sat with the children's' mother and cried as the court clerk read the verdict.

Aragon was accused of letting his 11-year-old daughter, Sage, and his 12-year-old son, Bear, walk after his car got stuck in a snow drift.

The children lived with Aragon in Jerome, a tiny community located in the heart of the Idaho dairy industry. He was driving them to see their mother on Christmas Day morning when the car hit ice and slid into the snow bank.

Bear Aragon said he decided to set out on his own and walk because he wanted to find help for his father, and said his sister decided to go with him.

The boy survived after taking shelter in a single-stall restroom. Sage's body was found early the next morning curled up by a barbed wire fence, covered in snow.

Jurors began deliberating on Friday morning and sat somber as the verdict was read. They quickly filed out of the courtroom, declining to comment, after they were dismissed.

The prosecutor and defense attorney in the case both declined to comment, as did the children's mother, JoLeta Jenks.

Temperatures in the area at the time the girl was missing ranged from 27 degrees above zero to minus 5. Winds were blowing up to 25 mph with snow and ice.

"Sage froze to death, alone, in the horrible weather as a result of the defendants' decision," Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul told jurors before they deliberated.

Paul said Aragon was "supposed to protect his children and he failed."

Public defender Patrick McMillen described how Aragon spent between two to three hours digging his car out of the snow after it got stuck, while the children sat in the back seat.

It was the boy, Bear, who decided to start walking, McMillen said, and Aragon was likely suffering from hypothermia, which causes confusion and poor judgment.

McMillen detailed how the children were bounding with energy when they left the car and stopped to make snow angels along the road.

"There's a difference between a tragedy and a felony," McMillen told jurors.

"There is no one in this courtroom who feels worse about Sage's death than that man," he said pointing at Aragon, who kept his head down through most of the proceedings.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j6VDKkwiyYMDb5X09CdLMLYPJnWQD9B7SAE80