An Idaho father has been charged with second degree murder for the death of his daughter after he ordered her and her brother to walk nearly 10 miles through the snow to her mother's house on Christmas after his car got stuck in a snowdrift, Idaho's Magic Valley Times-News reports.
Robert Aragon, 55, faces 10 years to life in prison if convicted.
Watch Times-News reporter Andrea Jackson's video report of the tragedy and the father's reaction in court on Monday.
Sage Aragon, 11, whose snow-covered body was found by rescue dogs at 2 a.m. beside a barbed wire fence, died of hypothermia, the newspaper reports.
Her 12-year-old brother, Bear, who got separated during the long trek in freezing weather, was found alive in a public restroom, wearing only his long underwear. The newspaper, quoting a county sheriff's office, says the boy had discarded his jacket, pants and shoes because of hypothermia-related delusion.
Aragon, who had custody of the children and lives in Jerome, Idaho, told authorities he thought their mother was going to meet the kids on the road, court papers show, the newspaper reports.
The Times-News quotes Aragon's cousin Kenneth Quintana, who was a passenger in the vehicle, as saying the father "didn't send those kids out there to die."
"He just wanted their mother to spend Christmas with them," Quintana says.
(JoLeta Jenks holds a family photo of her children, Bear and Sage. Photo by Ashley Smith/Times-News/AP)
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