A Maine father whose 13-month-old daughter died in a freezing room last December was arrested last week after authorities determined she died of hypothermia, officials said.
Shane McLaughlin, 37, was hit with charges including manslaughter Wednesday after little Eleanora Ray McLaughlin was revealed to have died of hypothermia by the medical examiner, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.
The circumstances around the baby’s death were not immediately available, but McLaughlin spoke to NEWS CENTER Maine not long after his daughter died in their Milford home.
The dad told the local TV station he’d noticed the room where he and his children were sleeping, which was warmed by a space heater, was cold after a pet left the door open – and he could see his own breath.
“I grabbed a package of Pop-Tarts, opened it up, and I went to wake up Eleanora, and that’s when I found her dead,” McLaughlin told the outlet.
McLaughlin’s estranged wife, Erika Dupuis, later told the station that she was “angry and upset” her husband hadn’t been charged for their daughter’s death.
Dupuis, who left behind her children after moving to West Virginia in the summer of 2025, told the outlet she hoped to see manslaughter charges filed against McLaughlin.
The couple had been previously investigated by Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services, according to Maine State Sen. Jeff Timberlake.
The Republican pol told NEWS CENTER Maine that records he’d obtained indicated officials had been investigating the couple before.
McLaughlin confirmed to the outlet he and Dupuis had been investigated several times since 2017, though disputed the investigators’ conclusions.
After his arrest, the dad was taken to the Penobscot County Jail and is expected to appear in court at the Penobscot Judicial Center.
Attorney information for McLaughlin was not immediately available.
Timberlake said the charge for Eleanora’s death was “about time.”
“I don’t know what took so long,” he said.
