BOISE, Idaho — An Idaho prosecutor dropped murder counts against two men and instead charged them with involuntary manslaughter in the death of an 11-year-old girl who was trying to walk 10 miles in the snow on Christmas Day.
Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul filed a motion Tuesday amending the second-degree murder charges against Robert Aragon, 55, and his cousin Kenneth Quintana, 29, in the death of Aragon’s daughter, Sage Aragon.
Authorities said the girl and her 12-year-old brother, Bear, were with their father and Quintana on Dec. 25, when Aragon’s car got stuck in a snow drift en route to the home of the children’s mother.
The prosecutor accuses Aragon and Quintana of allowing the children to walk to their mother’s home while the adults tried to dislodge the car. The children ultimately separated and never made it to their mother’s house. The boy survived, but rescue crews found the girl the next day.
