EROME, Idaho – On a bone-chilling Christmas Day, a single father set out to drive his two young children to their mother's home, but the trip came to an abrupt halt when his car got stuck in a snowdrift. Then, prosecutors say, the man did the unthinkable: He sent the pair to walk the remaining 10 miles to their mother's alone, leaving them to trudge through the desolate countryside in frigid temperatures.

Hours later, his 11-year-old daughter was dead from hypothermia. And the man's 12-year-old son narrowly survived after growing delirious from the bitter cold.

Now Robert Aragon, a 55-year-old laborer, is jailed on charges of second-degree murder and felony injury to a child. And many of the 8,000 people who live in this small dairy community are questioning who should be held accountable.

Some are reluctant to believe a parent could knowingly send his children into such dangerous conditions.

"Who knows what went through his mind? It's just so sad," said Ron Choate, who owns a diner in Jerome. "Sure, the dad was dumb to let them walk, but he probably didn't think something bad was going to happen."

Others are less forgiving. On that day, temperatures ranged from 27 degrees to minus 5, and winds were blowing up to 25 mph with snow and ice — conditions that florist Dalene Buckman said felt "like razor blades on your skin."

"I am sure that the jail cell Mr. Aragon is now occupying is much warmer at night than the snow bank he provided for his daughter," Pat Brownfield of nearby Twin Falls wrote in a letter to the local newspaper.

Aragon lived with the children in a small house and earned $12 an hour spreading manure. His boss said the two children often came to work with him in the summer when school was out.

Sometime after the children began walking, Aragon was able to free his car from the snowdrift and drive back to Jerome, a town about 100 miles southeast of Boise where the largest employers are cheese and milk processing plants.

Then the children's mother called to say the kids never arrived. When authorities found Aragon about 10 p.m., he was searching for the children at the site where the car had become stranded.

Early the next morning, a search dog found Sage Aragon's body covered in snow, wearing a down coat, shirt, pink pajama pants and snow boots.

"She had a hard life. She's in a better place," said Thomas Luper, who grew up in Jerome and went to high school with the children's mother. "God, it's just so horrible."

Aragon's son, Bear, was found in a deserted, single-stall rest stop more than 4 miles from where the children started walking. The boy had become delusional from hypothermia, discarding his jacket, jeans and tennis shoes and stripping to his long underwear.

The snow at the site measured 4 feet deep in some places, and deputies had to crawl over the drifts to rescue the boy.

Aragon, who is jailed on $500,000 bond, cried during a Dec. 29 initial court appearance where a judge told him he faced up to life in prison. Two days later, deputies escorted him to a funeral home to mourn his daughter.

He is scheduled to return to court Jan. 23 for a preliminary hearing.

Also in the car that night was Aragon's cousin, 29-year-old Kenneth Quintana, a man the children called uncle. He now faces the same charges.

The Associated Press left messages seeking comment with public defenders representing both men, but a judge has issued a gag order in the case, barring attorneys and authorities from talking with reporters.

About 300 relatives, friends and others attended a memorial service for the girl. Darrell Tendoy, a great-uncle to the children and uncle to their mother, urged mourners to forgive Aragon.

"It's hurtful for him to be incarcerated and not be able to care for his child. A jail sentence is too harsh," Tendoy told The Associated Press after the service.

Randy Adams employed Aragon and Quintana on his farm. He said Aragon was a hard worker who put in 12-hour days.

"I don't believe he would drive off not thinking those kids were OK. He would not do that," Adams said. "There's another side of this we don't know anything about."

The children had lived with their mother, 32-year-old JoLeta Jenks, until a few years ago, when they moved in with their father, said Luper, Jenks' former classmate.

Aragon was convicted in February of misdemeanor drug possession.

"He was a nice guy as far as I knew. He loved those kids," Luper said. "I do feel sorry for him. He's going to pay tremendously in his heart."





wtf when is it ever ahhhhh never mind they are all retards
*****es be crazy

I read this a few days ago. It's incomprehensable to me that he would expect them to walk, & the little girl was wearing pajama bottoms??? I bet he was drunk or high. No one could be that stupid & live to be 55.

i agree he should be beaten

That's just freaking insane!!!!

In 55 years he never went out in the cold? Stupid!!!

exactly hes an artard because he had to go out in the cold to get to hos car

Both men , the father & the uncle have a history of drug related arrests. Oh boy,what a surprise!

Without a doubt...this father was negligent...but I have to ask just where or how you arrived at the title of this post.

Did you mean dumbest?

Bleeding heart?

typo bleeding heart is due to the family that basically said he should not be punished for what happened

haha

Oh...interesting...so if this guy is a right wing, church going, gun toting, republican is he still a bleeding heart?

Umm what if he were a man of faith who prayed his children made it through the storm?

You know...like those religious conservative parents who pray over their children when they are exposed to the ravages of disease instead of weather?

I see the religious right defending that sort of negligence on a regular basis.

It's all B.S.

If he...well...I am struggling with a way to put this so as not to offend...if he was perhaps..challenged do you still think he is guilty of abuse?

So, perhaps at best this guy was an idiot. At worse he was criminally negligent.

Maybe his family understands that?

bleeding heart refers to his family who said it hurts to see him in jail

ahh well...I bet it does hurt to see him in jail

I bet it's a reminder of everything that is wrong and all they've lost.

I wonder if...oh nevermind...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hb-VFoUeYKIJdSPEqW5Jrm5Jc0owD95DJDUO0

Records show Aragon was convicted in February for misdemeanor drug possession. In 1994, he was found guilty of drug possession with the intent to deliver or manufacture.

Quintana, the cousin who was with Aragon on Christmas Day, said his relative has been wrongfully accused.

"There's no way that he could have known what was going to happen," Quintana told the Times-News.


http://jonathanturley.org/2009/01/02/father-and-uncle-charged-with-murder-in-idaho-death-of-11-year-old-girl/


Quintana was also the subject of drug charges for his possession of marijuana, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

It is criminal child neglect to send two young children to walk alone ten miles regardless of the conditions.

To do so in the conditions is premeditated murder in my eyes. Anyone with any reasonable cognitive awareness stepping out a car in those conditions would know it was.

He knew enough to keep himself and his drug connection protected in the car.

If he went back he was trying to find the bodies and probably hide them before someone else found them.

The only comfort I find in these angels freezing to death, which I very nearly did in college, is it is not as painful going into it as it is coming out of it; and at least they were spared that. Living with two drug addicts you know their life was hell on earth. Maybe the Lord was more merciful than he sounds.

I know it is vengeful but I can't help wishing both of these guys would be put out in a prizon yard until they very nearly freeze to death over and over.

And the family that did not step in and remove these kids from a home with drug addicts should be charged with child endangerment.

If there were more "Mandated Reporting" laws there would be fewer kids in harms way. The sad part is for every person who is and addicted parent there are probably a hundred people who know it.

The problem with mandatory reporting laws is that they open the door even wider to abuse of the system.

People file abuse reports falsely regularly. People often do not speak up when they should as well.

Family, Child Protective Services, what ever they call it in your city or state are already over whelmed with children at risk. There simply are not enough staff to adequately investigate and follow up all reports of possible abuse already.

Once abuse has occurred there are even fewer homes to place children in. While most foster parents are giving amazing individuals there sadly are more than a few who are in it for the money and are as abusive as the parents who offended.

Care about this issue?

Report

Get involved: foster or consider becoming a CASA volunteer.

What's CASA?

CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to watch over and advocate for abused and neglected children, to make sure they don’t get lost in the overburdened legal and social service system or languish in an inappropriate group or foster home. They stay with each case until it is closed, and the child is placed in a safe, permanent home. For many abused children, their CASA volunteer will be the one constant adult presence—the one adult who cares only for them.

Last year, nearly 60,000 CASA volunteers served more than 240,000 abused and neglected children through 954 program offices. CASA volunteers have helped more than two million abused children since the first program was established in 1977.

http://www.nationalcasa.org/about_us/index.html

does that mean when the school that takes your tax dollars refuses bus transportation that they should be charged

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i am not condoning but lets keep the scale level

it is crimal to sen young kids to walk ten miles when the pemp varies from 22 degrees to negative 4! u dont sen kids out in a blizzard through woods

The 11 yr. old daughter was wearing pajamas and the son had on tennis shoes in 4 feet of snow.

I wouldn't let my child walk that far by themselves even in good weather.

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/us_world/NATLLittle-Girl-Freezes-to-Death-on-Christmas-Day.html?corder=&pg=2#comments

There are comments after this article. One poster claims to know the family & stated they had drug & drinking problems & family services had been involved with them before.