Idaho jury acquits father charged in daughter’s hypothermia death

Jury acquits father in hypothermia death case

SHOSHONE, Idaho — A jury has acquitted a father charged with involuntary manslaughter in the hypothermia death of his 11-year-old daughter last Christmas.

Robert Aragon was also found not guilty Friday of felony injury to a child after the jury deliberated for two hours.

Aragon was accused of allowing his two young children to walk several miles in freezing conditions along an isolated rural highway on Christmas Day. His son suffered hypothermia but survived. The girl did not.

Aragon was driving his 11-year-old daughter, Sage, and son, Bear, who was 12, to see their mother on Christmas Day last year when his car got stuck in the snow.

The children tried to walk the remaining 10 miles to their mother’s house.

The boy took shelter from the cold in a single-stall restroom. A search dog found the girl.