According to a civil lawsuit, a five-year-old boy in Oregon spent his final hours naked, alone, and crying out for his mother after wandering away from a home where his mother had left doors unsecured while consuming alcohol heavily. The child ultimately 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,” states the civil complaint filed on behalf of the estate of Joshua McCoy.
“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 filed in Marion County Circuit Court.
Joshua’s estate has filed suit against his mother, Angela German, alleging that she left the home’s doors unsecured while she slept for an extended period. German has not faced any criminal charges in connection with her son’s death.
Joshua’s body was recovered from a forested area near his rural Oregon home four days after he went missing in November 2024. His estate alleges that German recklessly disregarded his safety and that the Oregon Department of Human Services repeatedly failed to intervene despite having received multiple warnings regarding the conditions of his care.
The 31-page complaint states that an assistant attorney general had approved a protective-custody declaration and petition on Joshua’s behalf in May 2024, yet child welfare workers never filed it , even as German repeatedly refused to cooperate with their ongoing investigation.
The first of three reports submitted to ODHS was received on May 14, 2024. Upon arriving at the residence, investigators allegedly found the home littered with food, dirty dishes, and garbage. A potty chair containing feces and urine had allegedly been covered with a paper towel and left unattended for several days. Beer bottles were reportedly scattered within Joshua’s reach, and the refrigerator was allegedly stocked almost entirely with beer.
The individual who initially reported German described Joshua as appearing “very thin with visible bones on his spine and ribs” and as being “frequently starving.” His diet reportedly consisted largely of Oreos, candy, dry cereal, marshmallows, and chocolate milk, and his bottles appeared not to have been washed in an extended period of time, according to the complaint.
German allegedly consumed alcohol heavily following overnight work shifts and slept throughout the day, leaving Joshua without supervision. A man who regularly provided childcare for Joshua corroborated these concerns to investigators, stating that Joshua’s ribs were visibly prominent, that food was routinely left on counters for days at a time, and that urine, human feces, and alcohol bottles were present throughout the residence.
Child welfare workers made multiple attempts to visit the home, according to the complaint. On May 17, 2024, a caseworker allegedly observed Joshua briefly through a window, but German reportedly refused to grant her entry or allow her access to the child.
Per the lawsuit, ODHS protocol required the worker to request law enforcement assistance whenever access to a child of questionable safety was denied. She allegedly failed to make any such request.
Several days later, the worker and her supervisor consulted with Assistant Attorney General Jordan Cash, who concluded that sufficient information existed to pursue custody of Joshua. He approved a protective-custody declaration to be filed in the event that German remained uncooperative and the agency was unable to obtain the necessary information, the complaint states.
German allegedly continued to ignore calls and messages, denied access to Joshua and the residence, and traveled out of state without informing the agency.
Despite these circumstances, the custody petition was never filed, according to Joshua’s estate.
When an ODHS caseworker finally made contact with Joshua on May 29, 2024, he reportedly began crying and pointing toward his mother before eventually emerging from his bedroom without clothing. Despite prior documentation indicating he was dangerously underweight, the worker allegedly made no effort to assess his physical condition or arrange a medical examination.
Her official record of the visit stated, “There were no safety concerns identified at this time,” according to the complaint. While the worker allegedly documented dirty dishes, spilled food and beverages, and overturned furniture, she nonetheless concluded that the home did not present an unsafe environment.
The ODHS caseworker allegedly never requested Joshua’s medical records. She also allegedly failed to interview his father, who, according to the complaint, was aware that Joshua had sensory processing issues, was frightened of the surrounding woods, and had previously been confined alone in a room while German was under the influence of alcohol.
A second report was allegedly received on July 12, 2024, once again raising concerns about the condition of the home and German’s capacity to provide adequate care for Joshua. A sheriff’s sergeant who conducted a welfare check at the residence described an extremely unsanitary environment, with food and stains on the floor and various objects overturned, per the complaint.
German allegedly acknowledged that she had been experiencing mental health difficulties and stated that Joshua’s father had recently threatened her life. ODHS reportedly made no attempt to contact the child’s father.
On November 9, 2024 , the day Joshua died , German informed police that she and the boy had lain down for a nap at approximately 1:00 p.m. and that she had awakened around 5:00 p.m., according to the complaint. She allegedly discovered the front door open, ducks inside the home, and her son missing.
The complaint states that German searched the house and drove along the nearby road but did not contact law enforcement. Instead, she allegedly reached out to a friend in Utah and requested that she travel to Oregon to assist in searching for Joshua. It was ultimately that friend who notified authorities.
Upon the arrival of law enforcement officers, German allegedly claimed that Joshua’s father had kidnapped and killed him. After officers confirmed that the father was located in Ohio, she stated that Joshua must be lost in the woods and dead, per the complaint.
Four days after Joshua’s disappearance, search teams located his body approximately 1.6 miles from the residence. He was unclothed and had died from hypothermia following prolonged exposure to the cold November weather.
The complaint details the suffering that Joshua’s estate alleges he endured in the hours before his death. It describes his exposure to cold temperatures and wet ground, hunger and thirst, the physical exhaustion of walking barefoot for more than 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,” along with separation distress from his mother, panic, sensory overload, and the profound helplessness of being unable to call for adult assistance while “unclothed, lost, and alone in the forest.”
Following Joshua’s death, ODHS conducted an additional assessment and, in January 2025, classified German’s neglect as “founded” on three separate grounds: failing to obtain developmental evaluations for Joshua, subjecting him to an unsafe and unsanitary living environment, and failing to supervise him adequately , a failure that resulted in his wandering outside without clothing in hazardous weather conditions, the complaint states.
Each of these concerns had either been previously reported to the agency or formally documented during the course of its earlier investigation, according to Joshua’s estate.
Following Joshua’s death, investigators allegedly obtained his medical records within nine days and interviewed his father within three days , actions the complaint asserts should have been undertaken well before his death occurred.
The estate is pursuing separate wrongful death claims against ODHS, alleging negligence and violations of state child-welfare statutes and administrative regulations. It further accuses German of reckless and wanton conduct, asserting that she was aware her son was incapable of safely navigating his surroundings or finding his way home, yet left him unsupervised in a home with unsecured doors.
The estate is seeking up to $17 million in noneconomic damages to account 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 on the matter, citing the pending litigation, when contacted by reporters. Attempts to reach Angela German for comment have been unsuccessful.
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