Dad said he could see his breath in room where toddler froze to death alongside single space heater: Police

Left: Shane McLaughlin (Penobscot County Jail). Right: Eleanora McLaughlin (Erika Dupuis/WCSH).

A 37-year-old Maine father is facing multiple felony charges over the death of his 13-month-old daughter, who died of hypothermia at the family's home nearly 10 months before his arrest.

Shane McLaughlin was taken into custody Wednesday and charged with one count of manslaughter and three counts of child endangerment in connection with the December 2025 death of Eleanora Ray McLaughlin, authorities announced.

According to a press release from the Maine State Police, Eleanora was found dead in McLaughlin's home on Dec. 28, 2025. The arrest followed a monthslong investigation led by the agency's Major Crimes Unit that included an autopsy conducted by the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in April. The autopsy determined that Eleanora's cause of death was hypothermia and the manner of death was accidental, authorities said.

Eleanora lived with her twin sister and 3-year-old brother at her father's home when she died, the Bangor Daily News reported.

The three child endangerment counts involve the circumstances surrounding Eleanora's death, according to a report from the Portland Press Herald, citing the indictment. The document reportedly accuses McLaughlin of recklessly endangering Eleanora and two other children by violating a duty of care or protection.

McLaughlin spoke about his daughter's death in a December 2025 interview with Portland, Maine, NBC affiliate WCSH. During the interview, he confirmed to the station that he was the only adult in the home on the wintry night when Eleanora died. She was sleeping in his room with her siblings.

"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."

According to the Press Herald, the circumstances surrounding Eleanora's death drew the attention of local lawmakers. One state senator reportedly wrote to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services that Eleanora was found dead "while living in a home alongside her siblings with no heat and no running water in the middle of a Maine winter."

Eleanora's mother, Erika Dupuis, previously told WCSH that she was "angry and upset" that McLaughlin, her estranged husband, had not been charged over their daughter's death. She had reportedly moved from Maine to West Virginia the summer before Eleanora died.

McLaughlin was booked into the Penobscot County Jail, where he is being held on $250,000 bond. He is scheduled to make his initial appearance in court Friday.