An Oregon father allegedly watched his two-year-old son walk out of their home unaccompanied while he was binge-watching a television programme — and failed to intervene, in a case that ended with the toddler drowning in a river and his father facing criminal charges.
Aaron Paulsen is facing misdemeanour child neglect charges following the death of his son Dane Paulsen on 1 March 2025 in the rural community of Siletz, Lincoln County. According to court documents obtained by KATU, Dane’s mother, Cha Met Jackson, had told Aaron the toddler would be in his care before she left the house. Aaron later told police he had been binge-watching television when he watched Dane walk out of the back sliding glass door alone — and did nothing to stop him.
Meanwhile, prosecutors allege that Cha Met heard her son knocking on the door of a separate trailer she was in on the property and thought to herself “Oh [expletive], the baby’s out” — but did not open the door and instead continued cleaning inside. According to the Lincoln Chronicle, District Attorney Jenna Wallace said a total of 15 minutes passed before either parent noticed Dane was missing.
When the alarm was eventually raised, authorities found a toddler’s footprint at the edge of the Siletz River near the family home alongside a toy Dane had been playing with before his disappearance. A major search operation was launched, involving nearly 100 certified search and rescue members, six law enforcement agencies including the Oregon State Police and the FBI, four watercrafts, 13 divers, four drones, six canines and 40 investigators. Dane’s remains were ultimately found by volunteer diver Juan Heredia in the Siletz River, approximately three miles downstream from the family home.
Court documents state that both Aaron and Cha Met were “aware that Dane loved the water, was not fearful of the water, but did not know how to swim.”
The case has also drawn attention to a previous pattern of concerns about the family. Court documents obtained by KATU reveal that a neighbour had previously called police to report that the couple’s older daughter — who was nine at the time of the court proceedings — had also been left outside playing in the yard or street unsupervised for 30 to 60 minutes as a toddler. In a separate incident in September 2024, a teenager found Dane standing alone on Highway 229 wearing nothing but a diaper and a blue sweater, and brought him to their home until his parents could be contacted.
Aaron was indicted by a grand jury in October and pleaded not guilty to misdemeanour child neglect charges the following month. He was released under conditions restricting him from being present around unsupervised children under the age of five — a condition that did not apply to his older daughter. Prosecutors plan to call 20 witnesses at his upcoming trial.
