Adorable toddler froze to death in bitterly cold room with no heat or running water… as accused dad’s haunting TV interview resurfaces
A Maine father has been charged nearly a year after his adorable toddler froze to death.
Shane McLaughlin, 37, was arrested on Wednesday for manslaughter and three counts of child endangerment in connection with the death of his 13-month-old daughter, Eleanora, according to the Maine State Police Department.
Eleanora was found dead on December 28 last year. The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled her cause of death to be hypothermia and concluded the manner of death was accidental.
Despite the office’s conclusion, investigators later found evidence supporting a manslaughter arrest.
In the wake of his daughter’s death, McLaughlin recalled the harrowing moments when he found her in an interview with local NBC affiliate WCSH.
He confessed the room his children slept in was so cold he ‘could see my breath.’
McLaughlin said he was using a space heater to keep it warm.
‘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,’ he said.
‘I was using an electric space heater in my bedroom between the girls’ bed. The door was open because one of the animals came into the bedroom, and I could see my breath.’
Eleanora McLaughlin was found dead on December 28, 2025. Her cause of death was determined to be hypothermia
Eleanora was a twin and had an older brother. The three children lived with McLaughlin in Maine. Picture source: Facebook / Shane McLaughlin
Eleanora’s mother, Erika, told WCSH in April that the couple was estranged and their three children were living with him in Maine while she was located in West Virginia.
She said she was ‘angry and upset’ that her estranged husband had not been charged in connection with her daughter’s death.
In a previous interview, Erika said Eleanora was a twin and a ‘happy child.’ Recalling a family trip to the zoo, she said the child was ‘almost walking on her own.’
Before Eleanora’s death, McLaughlin appeared to post about his family on Facebook. His profile biography reads: ‘Father of 3 beautiful kids my family will always come first no matter the cost!!’
Last August, he shared a story online of another child who was found dead in Maine in her mother’s vehicle.
McLaughlin was arrested for manslaughter and three counts of child endangerment
McLaughlin called the incident ‘sickening’ and condemned the parents who allegedly left their children in the car.
After McLaughlin’s arrest, Erika told local ABC affiliate WMTW that state officials told her that Eleanora was found in bed covered in urine.
The couple’s other two children have been placed in the custody of Erika’s grandmother since the investigation began.
The case has gained widespread attention as State Senator Jeff Timberlake called on local officials to increase investigative standards in child deaths.
The couple was estranged and the children were living with McLaughlin. Erika said she was was ‘angry and upset’ he had not been charged in connection with her daughter’s death in April. Picture source: Facebook / Shane McLaughlin
He wrote in a letter to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services after Eleanora’s death that the child had been ‘living in a home alongside her siblings with no heat and no running water in the middle of a Maine winter.’
McLaughlin is being held at the Penobscot County Jail on $250,000 bail and is set to appear in court on Friday.
He has not yet entered a plea to the charges against him, and it is unclear whether he has retained an attorney.
