Inset: Joshua McCoy (The Gatti Law Firm). Background: The area in Oregon where 5-year-old Joshua McCoy allegedly wandered off and was found dead (KPTV/YouTube).
A "mostly nonverbal" 5-year-old boy in Oregon spent his final hours naked, alone and "calling for his mother" after wandering away from a home where the mom left doors unsecured while "drinking heavily," a lawsuit says. The child died from exposure to the elements.
"He spoke in one-to-three-word phrases and was mostly non-verbal, had sensory sensitivities, and was afraid of the woods that surrounded his home," a civil complaint filed by Joshua McCoy's estate explains.
"Recovered near his body was a cell phone Joshua had used to record a video of himself at 1:05 p.m. on November 9, 2024, which showed Joshua in severe distress, calling for his mother, while naked and wandering alone in the woods," according to the complaint, which was obtained by Law&Crime after being filed on Monday in Marion County Circuit Court.
Joshua's estate is suing his mom, Angela German, alleging she left doors unsecured while she slept for hours. German was never criminally charged for her son's death.
Joshua's body was discovered in the forest near his rural Oregon home four days after he disappeared in November 2024. His estate is accusing German of recklessly disregarding his safety and the Oregon Department of Human Services of repeatedly failing to intervene despite warnings about his care.
In the 31-page complaint, Joshua's family says an assistant attorney general approved a protective-custody declaration and petition for Joshua in May 2024, but child welfare workers never filed it, even as German repeatedly refused to cooperate with their investigation.
The first of three reports to ODHS arrived on May 14, 2024, according to the complaint. When investigators arrived, German's home was allegedly littered with food, dirty dishes and garbage, along with a potty chair containing feces and urine that had allegedly been covered with a paper towel and left for days. Beer bottles were also scattered within Joshua's reach, and the refrigerator was allegedly full of beer, the complaint says.
The person who reported German described Joshua as allegedly being "very thin with visible bones on his spine and ribs" and "frequently starving." His diet consisted largely of Oreos, candy, dry cereal, marshmallows and chocolate milk; his bottles appeared not to have been washed in a long time, according to the complaint.
German allegedly drank heavily after overnight work shifts and slept through the day while leaving Joshua unsupervised. A man who regularly babysat Joshua provided additional information to investigators, saying Joshua's ribs were clearly visible, food was left on counters for days, and urine, human feces and alcohol bottles were scattered throughout the residence.
Child welfare workers made several attempts to visit the residence, according to the complaint. On May 17, 2024, a worker allegedly saw Joshua briefly through a window, but German reportedly refused to let her inside or allow her access to Joshua.
According to the lawsuit, ODHS rules required the worker to request law enforcement assistance when denied access to a child whose safety was in question. She allegedly did not make such a request.
Days later, the worker and her supervisor consulted Assistant Attorney General Jordan Cash, who determined there was enough information to seek custody of Joshua and approved a protective-custody declaration to be filed if German remained uncooperative and the agency could not obtain the information it needed, the complaint says.
German allegedly ignored calls and messages, refused access to Joshua and his home, and traveled out of state without notifying the agency.
Still, the custody petition was never filed, according to Joshua's estate.
When the ODHS worker finally saw Joshua on May 29, 2024, he began crying and pointing toward his mother before eventually emerging from his bedroom without clothes, according to the complaint. Despite the earlier warning that he was dangerously thin, the worker allegedly did not assess his weight or physical condition or arrange a medical examination.
Her record of the visit stated, "There were no safety concerns identified at this time," according to the complaint. The worker allegedly documented dirty dishes, spilled food and drinks, and knocked-over furniture but concluded the home was not unsafe.
The ODHS worker allegedly never obtained Joshua's medical records. She also allegedly failed to interview his father, who the complaint says knew Joshua had sensory issues, feared the woods and had previously been locked alone in a room while German was under the influence.
A second report allegedly arrived on July 12, 2024, and again raised concerns about the home and German's ability to care for Joshua. A sheriff's sergeant who conducted a welfare check described a very dirty residence, food and stains on the floor, and objects knocked over, per the complaint.
German allegedly acknowledged struggling with her mental health and said Joshua's father had recently threatened to kill her. ODHS allegedly never contacted the child's father.
On Nov. 9, 2024 — the day Joshua died — German told police she and the boy lay down for a nap around 1 p.m. and then German woke up around 5 p.m., according to the complaint. She allegedly found the front door open, "ducks inside the home" and her son missing.
The complaint says German searched the house and drove along the road but did not call law enforcement. Instead, she allegedly contacted her friend in Utah and asked her to travel to Oregon to help look for Joshua. The friend ultimately alerted authorities.
When officers arrived, German allegedly told them Joshua's father had kidnapped and killed him. After they confirmed the father was in Ohio, she said Joshua must be lost in the woods and dead, per the complaint.
Four days after Joshua disappeared, searchers found him dead about 1.6 miles from the residence. He was naked and had died from hypothermia after exposure to the November weather.
The complaint outlines the suffering Joshua's estate alleges he experienced before his death. It describes exposure to the cold and wet ground, hunger and thirst, exhaustion from walking barefoot for over a mile, and the "progressive effects of hypothermia, likely causing shivering, pain in the hands and feet, numbness, loss of coordination, confusion, and/or exhaustion."
The estate further alleges that Joshua experienced "fear and terror of being in the woods unclothed and alone," separation distress from his mother, panic, sensory overload and the helplessness of being unable to summon an adult for help while he was "unclothed, lost, and alone in the forest."
Following Joshua's death, ODHS conducted another assessment and, in January 2025, classified German's neglect as "founded" on three grounds: failing to obtain developmental evaluations for Joshua, exposing him to an unsafe and unsanitary home, and failing to supervise him adequately, resulting in his wandering outside without clothing in dangerous weather, the complaint says.
Each of those concerns had either been reported to the agency or documented during its earlier investigation, according to Joshua's estate.
After Joshua died, investigators allegedly obtained his medical records within nine days and interviewed his father within three days. The complaint says these were steps that should have been taken before his death.
The estate is pursuing separate wrongful death claims against ODHS for negligence and alleged violations of state child-welfare statutes and administrative rules. It accuses German of reckless and wanton conduct, alleging she knew her son could not safely navigate his surroundings or find his way home, yet left him alone while the home's doors were unsecured.
The estate seeks up to $17 million in noneconomic damages for Joshua's alleged physical and emotional suffering, as well as the loss of his companionship and society.
A spokesperson for ODHS declined to comment, citing the pending litigation, when reached by The Oregonian. Attempts to reach German have been unsuccessful.