Brother of Idaho girl who died of hypothermia says dad warned to ’stick together’ before hike

Boy: Dad gave warning before sister’s fatal hike

SHOSHONE, Idaho — The brother of a girl who died of hypothermia said Thursday that their father warned them to stay together, be careful and avoid nearby farm fields before the children set out to trek several miles to their mother’s house last Christmas Day.

Bear Aragon, 13, testified in the trial of his father, Robert Aragon, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter and felony injury to a child. The 56-year-old laborer is accused of allowing his 11-year-old daughter, Sage, and Bear walk 10 miles in freezing conditions after his car got stuck in a snowdrift.

Sometime after the two started walking, Sage turned around and started hiking back toward the car, Bear testified.

“She got too cold,” he said. “Her feet were starting to get numb.”

Sage died of hypothermia and rescuers found her body the next day. Bear, then 12, survived by taking cover in a single-stall restroom at a recreation site.

The boy, who a family member testified has been attending weekly counseling sessions since his sister died, was the prosecution’s final witness against Aragon.

The defense rested Thursday after examining a handful of witnesses before a jury of eight women and four men in rural Lincoln County. Both sides were expected to present closing arguments Friday, when the case will be handed over to the jury to deliberate.

Aragon was driving the children to see their mother on Christmas Day morning when the car hit ice and slid into the snow bank, Bear testified. His father got out of the car and used a small military shovel to dig the his 1988 Buick Century free from the snow.

The boy said he decided to set out on his own and walk because he wanted to find help for his father. Sage decided to go with him.

“He said ‘OK, stay together and don’t go into the fields,’” Bear testified.

After Sage and Bear began walking, Aragon freed his car from the snowdrift and drove back to their home in Jerome. The children’s mother called later to say the children never arrived.

When authorities found the father about 10 p.m. that night, he was searching for the children at the site where the car had become stranded.

A search and rescue team soon found the boy at a rest area near the highway, more than 4 miles from where the children started walking, alone.

A search dog found Sage’s body the next morning, barely visible under windblown snow. She was wearing a brown down coat, a black shirt, pink pajama pants and tan snow boots.

Teressa Aragon, a Jerome resident and half-sister to the children, was among witnesses for the defense who testified that Aragon was a good father that worked hard to support his family and had custody of the children since after they enrolled in elementary school.

Sage and Bear wanted to see their mother for the holidays, she said, and she understood how Aragon might have been persuaded to let them hike the rest of their way on their own.

“Just being excited to see their mom, I can see something like that happening,” she said.

While a number of defense witnesses also testified to Aragon’s good nature, Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul said they were not there when the children embarked on hike along the desolate stretch of road in the snow-covered desert.

Public defender Patrick McMillen argued that the weather didn’t worsen until after the children started walking and that Aragon did not knowingly put Sage and Bear in harm’s way.

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.