20-03-2025
Babysitter charged with manslaughter after child left in SUV on Martha's Vineyard dies
A Cape Cod woman is now charged with manslaughter after a toddler's death on Wednesday, nearly one week after the child she was babysitting was found unresponsive in her SUV. Prosecutors said the boy was left unattended in the vehicle for hours.
Aimee Cotton, 41, of Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard, was arraigned on the manslaughter charge in the Edgartown District Court on Thursday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said in a statement shortly before 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Cotton was held on $21,000 bail with GPS. Prosecutors had asked that Cotton be held on $50,000 bail. She is due back in Edgartown District Court on April 3 for a probable cause hearing.
The charges against Cotton were upgraded after the two-year-old victim died of his injuries at Mass General Hospital on Wednesday, six days after being found unresponsive and buckled in a car seat in the SUV, Galibois said.
'District Attorney Galibois's thoughts are with the family and loved ones of the young toddler during this incredibly difficult time,' Galibois' statement said.
On Thursday, March 13, at approximately 1:16 p.m., the Dukes County Regional Emergency Communications Center received a 911 call from Cotton, who stated that a child she is babysitting was not breathing and turning blue, Galibois said.
Cotton initially reported that she had left the boy in her car briefly, which she estimated to be 15 minutes, and returned to find him unresponsive in a car seat, according to the police report.
She later admitted to investigators that she left the boy, and another child, unsupervised in her vehicle for approximately three hours, after investigators reviewed Nest video footage, police stated in their report.
'Cotton stated that for the hours JV-1 and JV-2 were secured, strapped and fastened in their car seats, in her vehicle, she was in her house cooking bacon in the oven, conducting personal hygiene, prepared her son's hockey bags and conducted several household chores,' police wrote in their report.
When first responders arrived to Cotton's home in Oak Bluffs following her 911 call, they found Cotton preforming CPR on the young toddler in the second-row passenger seat area of a 2021 Chevrolet Tahoe, according to the police report.
Oak Bluffs Police and paramedics took over emergency lifesaving efforts. The boy was taken to Martha's Vineyard Hospital and then flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in critical condition, Galibois said.
On March 14, Cotton was arraigned in Edgartown District Court on the charges of assault and battery on a child with injury and reckless endangerment of a child. At that arraignment, Cotton was held on $2,800 bail with conditions of release. Prosecutors had requested $10,000 bail.
Oak Bluffs Police and the State Police Detective Unit assigned to Galibois's office are investigating.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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