A Maine father has been arrested in connection with the death of his 13-month-old daughter, who authorities say succumbed to hypothermia in a frigid room last December.
Shane McLaughlin, 37, was charged Wednesday with manslaughter and other offenses after the state medical examiner determined that Eleanora Ray McLaughlin died from exposure to extreme cold, according to the Maine Department of Public Safety.
Investigators have not publicly released a full account of what led to the toddler’s death. Shortly afterward, however, McLaughlin described the discovery in an interview with NEWS CENTER Maine at the family’s Milford home.
McLaughlin said he realized the bedroom where he and his children were sleeping had become dangerously cold after a pet left the door open. The space had been heated with a portable heater, but he recalled being able to see his breath inside the room.
“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 station.
Erika Dupuis, McLaughlin’s estranged wife, later said she felt “angry and upset” that he had not initially faced criminal charges over their daughter’s death.
Dupuis moved to West Virginia in the summer of 2025 and left the children in Maine. She told NEWS CENTER Maine that she expected authorities to pursue a manslaughter case against McLaughlin.
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The couple had previously come to the attention of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, according to state Sen. Jeff Timberlake.
Timberlake, a Republican, told the station that records he reviewed showed DHHS officials had investigated the family before Eleanora’s death.
McLaughlin acknowledged that he and Dupuis had been investigated multiple times since 2017, although he disagreed with the findings reached by authorities.
Following his arrest, McLaughlin was booked into the Penobscot County Jail. He is expected to appear at the Penobscot Judicial Center for a court hearing.
No attorney information for McLaughlin was immediately available.
Timberlake said the manslaughter charge in Eleanora’s death should have come sooner.
“I don’t know what took so long,” he said.