Idaho Girl Dies in Blizzard, Father Charged With Murder

Deadly Weekend in the Rockies

11-year-old dies in Christmas storm.

By Gary Stivers, SunValleyOnline.Com, Guest Writer, 12-29-08

This view looks east along West Magic Road, one mile from Highway 75, approximately where Sage Aragon's body was found, at far right, early Friday morning.

Editor's Note: This story is cross-posted from SunValleyOnline.Com

An 11-year-old Jerome girl who tried to walk through a Christmas Day blizzard along West Magic Road in her pajama bottoms and a down coat died of hypothermia late Christmas Day or early Friday morning. The girl's father, Robert Aragon, has been charged in her death.

Sage Jenks-Aragon, 11, and her brother, 12-year-old Bear Mooshine Aragon, were in a grey 1988 Buick Century sedan with their father, 55-year-old Robert Aragon of Jerome and the father's cousin, Kenneth Quintana, also of Jerome. Blaine County Sheriff's lieutenant Jay Davis said Monday the four were en route to a West Magic Resort home where he believes the children's mother lives or was house-sitting.

Shortly after entering West Magic Road, Robert Aragon's Buick became stuck in a snow drift across the road approximately a mile from Highway 75. According to reports, the two children started out to their mother's house by foot, walking northwest along the road in the blowing snow. Both children had on coats and boots but only pajama bottoms. Between 10:30 and 11 a.m., Robert Aragon and cousin Kenneth Quintana were able to get their Buick back on the road and headed back toward Shoshone.

"Entering Camas County" reads the sign at left. West Magic Road curves in and out of Blaine, Lincoln and Camas counties, confusing jurisdictional boundaries. Lincoln County filed charges against Robert Aragon.

A news release from Blaine County said between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m., Aragon received a call from the children's mother telling him the Sage and Bear had not arrived. Aragon and Quintana then drove back to where they had separated from the children and headed in on foot to look for them. Snow drifts covered the highway a various points.

Blaine County received notice of the girl's disappearance around 7 p.m. Christmas night from friends of Ms. Jenks. Deputy Cory Weatherly contacted the Idaho Transportation Department's Division of Highways which sent a snowplow. Blaine County Search and Rescue responded with several snowmobiles. Deputy Weatherly found Aragon and Quintana and directed them back to the highway to meet with a Lincoln County Deputy. The Blaine County Communications Center was busy mobilizing every search and rescue member they could find and directing all available deputies to the search area.

"Entering Camas County" reads the sign at left. West Magic Road curves in and out of Blaine, Lincoln and Camas counties.

Sheriff's Captain Ed Fuller found 12-year-old Bear in the BLM restroom along West Magic Road by at 9:30 that evening, where the boy had taken refuge. The boy was wearing only his long johns, after discarding his jacket and shoes. Fuller transported Bear to an ambulance waiting at Blaine County's command post where West Magic Road meets Highway 75.

Bear Aragon was found here, at a BLM restroom, 4.3 miles from his father's car.

Fuller said Bear told him his sister Sage had said she could go no further and decided to return to her father's car. Bear found his way to the restroom.

Davis said the search for Sage intensified, though it was several hours more before her body was located. Davis said around 2:00 a.m. Friday, Sun Valley Police Chief Cam Daggett his Airdale Rocky were working with K9 handler and veterinarian Heidi Wook and her Labrador Yaquiana along the west side of West Magic Road when Yaquiana directed them to a mound of snow next to the roadside fence. Sage Jenks-Aragon lay mostly covered by the drift. Her body was transported to St. Luke's Wood River where physicians pronounced her dead at 4:15 a.m. Friday.

This compound is directly across West Magic Road from where Sage Aragon's body was found. The weather was considerably snowier on Christmas Day.

Blaine County Coroner Russ Mikel said an autopsy performed by the Ada County Coroner's Office confirmed the little girl had died of hypothermia.

Assigning fault

Lincoln County Prosecutor E. Scott Paul has charged Robert Aragon with second degree murder and felony injury to a child in his daughter's death. Aragon is being held under a $500,000 bond in the Blaine County Public Safety Facility on Airport Way in Hailey.

Funeral arrangements for Sage Jenks-Aragon have not yet been announced.

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By Gary Stivers, SunValleyOnline.Com, Guest Writer, 12-29-08 | comments (21) | email story | print story

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By Mickey Garcia, 12-29-08

Maybe the father had hypothermia too, reducing his brain functions.

By Nan, 12-30-08

Not likely Mickey. The father had been in the warm truck up to the point that he tossed his defenseless children out into the freezing cold. Any person with a speck of common sense knows that it's dangerous for anyone, especially a child, to try to walk any distance, let alone 10 miles, in that kind of weather. The idiot should have kept the children with him until he either got the truck unstuck or help came to get them out. He should have never sent those babies out into the cold by themselves to try to walk that distance. Even in good weather that wouldn't have been acceptable. This idiot deserves any punishment they give him!

By david, 12-30-08

Another exmaple of how lower intelligence in a species leads to extinction--in this case Idahoans. No wonder the population of native Idahoans is dying off and being replaced by smarter, sharper, faster, harder-working out-staters who don't let their little kids operate deadly farm machinery or send them on 10 mi. remote treks in blizzards! If it weren't so pathetic and sad, the rest of the country would be laughing...

By Lesa, 12-30-08

And guys like this have custody of children...

By bikeboy, 12-30-08

Anybody whose life has been graced by a young, dependent children, feels like bashing this guy's head in with a hammer. Talk about severely impaired judgment! Yep - some people shouldn't be allowed to reproduce. How sad for the little girl... but she's in a better place now, and well looked-after, I'm guessing.

By LK, 12-30-08

My mom grew up in Iowa on a farm in a very loving family. She and her brother had to walk roughly 8 miles to school everyday, snow or no snow. One time following a big snow storm she fell into a snowy ditch and couldn't get out. Her older brother kept walking, not knowing what had happened. Luckily he noticed at some point and went back looking for her. City people (like me) and country people (like my parents) are a different breed entirely. I don't think this father would have let them go if he thought they might die. They were probably hardy kids who walked a lot, in all kinds of weather, and this time something bad happened. He sounds terribly grief stricken, and this punishment will go on forever for him. Is he guilty of a lack of good judgment? Yes. But (intentional) murder? Give me a break. Come to the city where I live and see how *evolved* parents intentionally kill their children by shooting, stabbing, starving, and lighting them on fire. That's murder.

By Lee Davies, 12-30-08

What is happening to us??? The once generous, fair-minded, practical people of this country are becoming frighteningly more foolish (and dumber) with each passing day! The unbelievably negligent actions of this idiot dad Aragon are just an example of how foolish Americans are becoming: We put people on tv news who spout off financial idiocy ("take on more debt!" "buy the biggest house you can!"); we give the moral limelight to Hollywood knucklheads (theyre only actors for crying out loud!) who want to promote homosexual marriage to our kids and who would destroy someone's life for wearng a fur but give a medal for killing a human baby. This year we even voted for a 47 year old socialist empty suit with no accomplishments to be our leader over a war hero with 50 years of sacrifice and public service just because the empty suit makes better speechs and white citizens feel guilty about an evil that ended here 143 years ago which everyone else in the world, white black, and yellow have also been guilty of for at least 3,000 years of recorded history...I'm so sad but America looks DONE, even as a great power. The party must end. We've still clipping the coupons from the wise decisions of our forefathers but those coupons can no longer cover the bill for our increasing foolishness. Look out for dozens more Caylee Anthony and Sage Aragon stories and a nationwide economic meltdown in the next 4 or 5 years. It's heartbreaking.

By Jill Kuraitis, 12-30-08

A little girl is dead. Despite the father's criminal idiocy, there are no doubt family and friends who are sick at heart and suffering. I hope we can remember that's what this story is about.

By Ken, 12-30-08

No doubt the search and rescue people were angry as hell at having to spend Christmas day this way. It sounds like Aragon was only going to drop the kids off at their mothers house, not join them. The criminal negligence in my mind came about not so much with the initial decision to let them walk to the house, but with the lack of follow up once he got the car unstuck. It is UNBELIEVABLE that he would simply drive back to Shoshone and not attempt to locate them or call to make sure they got to the house OK. I imagine the road conditions may have prevented him from driving further along the route they walked. But to simply turn around, drive away and not call anyone IS criminal. It is criminal abandonment and he deserves to go to jail. There would probably been enough time to save the girl if he had acted as he should have. This is an inexcusable tragedy.

By michelle, 12-30-08

this story is so gut wrenching- this little girl was at the mercy of this parent and died because of it. how many people would love to have a child to love and nurture. she suffered to death and he is alive. it makes me sick. it makes me hug my kids more and more. god bless that little girl and her brother. i feel for him- he must have a rough life by the looks of his creepy looking father. he looks like a drunken, drug addict - makes me wonder how he has custody. pretty scary- so many more children at the mercy of incompetent parents who neglect and abuse them every day. i pray for them all. so so many.

By Robert J. Smithers, 12-31-08

Lee Davies, your view on America is 100% but maybe a bit harsh on that dad. Looking at his grief filled face, the poor dad knows he screwed up. Perhaps he should go to jail but he'll be suffering for the rest of his life regardless. We should pray for him and his son and forgive and not condemn him. That said, yes, Americans have abandoned even a healthy fear of God and so God is turning us over to our own foolishness. As a nation, we've forgotten the meanings of the words honor, character, or wisdom.We worship beautiful people or anyone with lots of money but ignore true heros like our soldiers who died for us. We care more about saving whales then babies. We send more and more of our manufacturing jobs overseas saying financial jobs are better. We preach that deficits and debt are good. We elect leaders who are either likeable or smart and always attractive, but who have little wisdom. Is it any wonder that few Americans see our beloved country barreling headlong toward an economic cliff? The coming economic disaster will be much worse then what we're seeing now. I guess God will get our attention by hitting us where it hurts most, in our wallets.

By The Fan, 12-31-08

By Lesa, 12-30-08
And guys like this have custody of children...
Are you kidding me, you are going to us this tragic incident to get on your soup box and complain about your ex having custody. This father killed his child that's a fact. Don't muddy it up with other issues that you need to deal with

By David Brown, 12-31-08

It may sound clichéd, but there is *no* punishment that can be doled out to beat the one this man will be living with for the rest of his life, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear of a suicide attempt. I'll agree that the decision that was made was a bad one, but the word 'murder' "is the unlawful killing of another human being with intent". Does anyone truly believe that this man intended for his daughter's death? For one moment, look at what he lost in one day...his daughter, his freedom, and no doubt custody of his other child. His life has been irreparably and permanently inverted. Obviously, that doesn't compare to death, and he does deserve to be held accountable for his decision, but please keep all of this in mind. Everyone seems out to break this man, and you can't break something that already is.

By Brett Thackeray, 12-31-08

I feel great sorrow and regret for Robert, Kenneth, Sage, Bear, and their mother. I feel great appreciation for all the search and rescue and county workers who took an important day out of their lives to save a young boy and search for a young girl. Weather is a harsh adversary and unfortunately this Mr. Aragon made a poor judgment. I don't know his background or the conditions surrounding his decision. I do know, as a few commenters have mentioned, that any punishment can't compare to the natural consequence he has been dealt.
As for our country and our intelligence as a people, I hope that those of us complaining are also working to improve conditions.

By Mickey Garcia, 1-01-09

Accidents happen to even very intelligent people because they are preoccupied by something in their everyday existence and not noticing the approaching danger that is coming to hurt or kill them. A lot of government training money is spent alerting people to the dangers of hypothermia and what not to do and how to be prepared when their vehicle breaks down in the winter. Still the message doesn't get out to everyone. Maybe especially to some one who at age 55 has to shovel poop for a living to support his family. It wouldn't be right if he were punished excessively by the legal system just because he might happen to be one of the dimmer bulbs on the shelf.

By michell-lufkin, 1-03-09

god is not pleased , lets not judge , god will take care of this

By Kym, 1-04-09

Life's lessons are sometimes dealt to us harshly. Losing a child is difficult and painful. Nothing or nobody can make the dad feel worse than he already does. Long after you have all forgotten about Sage, he will remember, forever, his part in this tragedy.

By X Beidler, 1-05-09

How horribly tragic. A lapse in judgement that will affect all of this family for the rest of their lives. The guilt and loss must be a heavy burden for everyone involved. Pretty easy for folks to sit back and pass judgment on hearsay. Thank you Search and Rescue personnel for your selflessness.

By BEAR, 1-07-09

i'm tired of seeing all these reports and tear down about my dad, he worked 3 jobs to give me and Sage a good christmas, I miss my sister but I miss my dad too, he's the only one who has ever been there for us, we begged him to let us go we have lived in this wether all of our live's we didnt think about anything like this, how dare you put a man down that you know nothing about a hard worker and a GREAT dad, I want my father home, anyone wonder what happens to the kids that made a bad decision? my sister is dead my fathjer is gone my home is gone, what a new year huh and all you people can do is talk about my dad screw you all, do you have kids? sometimes your kids beg you to do something it was christmas we wanted our presents from my mom we were greedy so shut your stupid mouths and stop acting like you know my family, you dont know nothing I will always stand by my dad ALWAYS you pices of crap!

By Mickey Garcia, 1-07-09

Good for you kid, for having the courage to stand up for your dad and chastise those of us who are just guessing.

By Karen, 2-19-09

While it was a willingly ignorant decision of the parent to let two children walk out into a snow storm (IN PAJAMAS) and then just drive back without even calling to see if they made it to their destination, I do question why it took until 7pm for the other parent to call law enforcement and begin a search.

Much appreciation to those who went out (with no regrets I'm sure) to work the case and search for the child and remains of his sister on Christmas. When a person is missing it doesn't matter what day it is, what time, whether you've eaten or worked a double-shift... all that matters is trying to find them before they die--no matter the reason they are missing.

I hope the young man will find peace and happiness in his life eventually and recover from the trauma he's faced and that counseling has been made available.

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