Angela German Walks Free

Joshua McCoy is dead. A five-year-old autistic boy was found naked in the woods of North Bend, Oregon, three days after vanishing from his home. The cause of death? Hypothermia. The cause of silence? Legal strategy.

Angela German, his mother, told investigators she had been napping with Joshua before waking to find him gone. The first story she told investigators was that she fell asleep with Joshua at 1:30 pm and woke up at 3:00 pm to her son missing. She later changed her story to falling asleep with Joshua around 10:30 am and waking around three. To add further suspicion to the circumstances, the 911 call reporting little Joshua missing came not from Angela German, but from a family friend in Utah! Dozens of prescription bottles were seized from the home. She fled the state after his death, but she is back in North Bend now. And she's not in jail.

The public wants answers. They want accountability. But the sheriff can't arrest her. The DA won't charge her. And the law? The law says falling asleep...even when it ends in tragedy...isn't automatically neglect.

The Case That Keeps Her Free

In Matter of Leenasia C. (2017), a New York court ruled that a mother who fell asleep while her toddler wandered off and drowned had not committed neglect. Though charges were filed against her abusive boyfriend, 22 bags of PCP were in the refrigerator, marijuana was scattered throughout, and the home was filthy and crawling with spiders and roaches, no neglect was found. The court emphasized that neglect requires a failure to exercise a "minimum degree of care"...not just a lapse, not just a nap. Even when the outcome is fatal, the law demands more than heartbreak to convict.

Angela German's attorney could cite that case in seconds. If the DA rushed charges and lost, it would trigger double jeopardy, a constitutional protection that bars someone from being tried twice for the same offense. If she were acquitted, even with new evidence later, the state couldn't touch her, ever,

As much as it pains the community, the DA was right not to charge her. Not yet. Because if they want justice, they only get one shot...and it has to count.

But This Case Isn't Clean

Joshua's body was found less than two miles from home, beneath brush, naked. Candy wrappers and his cell phone were nearby. But the soles of his feet? Clean. No scratches. No mud. No signs of a barefoot child navigating coastal forest terrain. The community is asking: how does a child walk through the woods alone in the rain and stay pristine?

Then there's the search. Officials claim a search team that included 100 people went out to look for McCoy, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, local fire departments, search and rescue teams, K9s, drones, overhead support, deputies, detectives, local officers, and state and federal agencies were working together to find Joshua. Locals say otherwise. Some saw no one. Others say the numbers were inflated...or outright fabricated. And the public? They weren't allowed to help. No community search parties. No volunteers. Just silence and exclusion.

Why would a town be barred from searching for one of its own? Why would a mother vanish across state lines and return without consequence? Why would a child's death be ruled "suspicious," then quietly downgraded to tragic? Matter of Leenasia C.

The System Is Broken, And That Leaves Us All Waiting

Angela German walks free because the system is waiting. The sheriff can't arrest without cause. The DA won't prosecute without a winnable case. Double jeopardy ensures that they get one shot, and it better be airtight.

Justice delayed isn't always justice denied. Sometimes it's justice protected until the truth is undeniable.

The community isn't buying it. They see the gaps. They feel the silence, and they are not done asking questions.

Joshua McCoy deserved more than a footnote. He deserved a search. He deserved the truth. Coos County deserves answers.