EDGARTOWN, Mass. — Authorities on Friday released the arrest photograph of a Martha’s Vineyard woman charged with manslaughter after a toddler died on Wednesday, nearly one week after the child she was babysitting was found unresponsive in her SUV. Prosecutors said the boy and another child were left unattended in the vehicle for hours.
Aimee Cotton, 41, of Oak Bluffs, Martha’s Vineyard, was arraigned on the manslaughter charge in Edgartown District Court on Thursday, Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert Galibois said in a statement early Thursday afternoon.
Cotton admitted to investigators that she left the two children, a 2-year-old boy and a 1 1/2-year-old girl, strapped in their car seats in her SUV unattended for three hours while she cooked inside her home and did housework, police wrote in their report.
The mother of the boy who died teaches at the Oak Bluffs Elementary School, which Cotton’s two children also attend, according to court documents.
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 upgraded charges against Cotton come after the 2-year-old boy 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 police that she left the boy, and another child, unsupervised in her vehicle for approximately three hours, after investigators reviewed Nest video footage and noted inconsistencies in her statements, police wrote 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.
“Cotton stated that throughout the day she accessed her cellular telephone to send and receive phone calls and text messages,” the report states.
Cotton told investigators that she did not provide the two children “with food, water, or supervision, throughout that time as well,” the police report states. “Cotton was remorseful at times and made statements knowing that what she did was wrong, however, attempted to justify her actions throughout the interview.”
Cotton did go to the SUV and changed the boy’s diaper and gave him a yogurt about an hour before he was found unresponsive, Cotton’s attorney, Harrison Barrow, said in court on Thursday, the Vineyard Gazette reported.
The newspaper reported that Cotton allegedly told investigators that this was the fifth time she had left the children alone in the vehicle for an extended period. Cotton had been babysitting the boy since he was four months old and claimed she could see him in the vehicle through her home window, prosecutors said.
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 by a caregiver and wanton or reckless behavior creating a risk of serious bodily injury to a child. At that arraignment, Cotton was held on $2,800 bail with conditions of release. Prosecutors had requested $10,000 bail.
At her arraignment on Thursday, Barrow, Cotton’s attorney, argued for a lower bail, saying that she was cooperative with officers and voluntarily gave them access to her camera footage, the Vineyard Gazette reported.
“The purpose of bail is to ensure her appearance,” Barrow said, according to the newspaper. “She’s a Vineyarder, she will show up.”
The newspaper reported that Barrow said that the prosecution was too heavily focused on the initial three-hour period where the children were left alone, when Cotton did go to see the boy about an hour before he was found turning blue.
“I would suggest that the really relevant time period to this...is the time between 12:24 p.m. and approximately 1:15 p.m., when officers say that they can see, on that camera, Ms. Cotton going out, changing [the boy’s] diaper,” Barrow said, according to the newspaper.
“There were no issues...and obviously something happens between 12:24 p.m. and the horrifying moment,” Barrow said.
Boston 25 has reached out to Cotton’s attorney for comment.
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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