The parents of an 8-year-old girl who died after an extended asthma attack in her family\u2019s squalid San Jos\u00e9 home have been charged with felony child neglect, Santa Clara County prosecutors announced this week.<\/p>\n
The girl\u2019s mother, Gabrielle Hanson, 32; and stepfather, Jacob Randolph, 39, were arraigned Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Neither entered a plea.<\/p>\n
On May 13, the girl, identified by authorities as Aurora, had an asthma attack and \u201cfell into serious medical distress,\u201d but her parents waited eight hours before seeking medical help, according to the Santa Clara County district attorney\u2019s office. <\/p>\n
Aurora was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she died four days later.<\/p>\n
Last month, the county Office of the Medical Examiner-Coroner classified Aurora\u2019s death as a homicide. The cause was determined to be a lack of oxygen to the brain due to severe asthma with acute lung injury while fighting cold-like symptoms. The county\u2019s chief medical examiner, Michelle Jorden, determined that medical neglect was \u201ca significant factor in her death,\u201d the district attorney\u2019s office said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Aurora was one of seven children, ages 2 months to 17 years, who lived in an East San Jos\u00e9 house on Lancelot Lane that was filled with cockroaches, pet feces, garbage and mold. The children were taken into protective custody by county social workers after Aurora was hospitalized. <\/p>\n
Prosecutors said the Santa Clara County Department of Family and Children\u2019s Services was well aware that children had been living in unsanitary conditions in the home since at least 2019. Prior reports by county social workers and San Jos\u00e9 police \u201cdocumented significant cockroach infestations,\u201d according to the district attorney\u2019s office. <\/p>\n
In February 2025, a relative brought Aurora to an emergency room for asthma, wheezing and difficulty breathing. At the hospital, an insect fell from the girl\u2019s shoe, and a staffer saw a cockroach crawling on her, the district attorney\u2019s office said. <\/p>\n
Aurora told staff: \u201cOh yeah, bugs just crawl on me.\u201d <\/p>\n
The district attorney\u2019s office said the child was reported to smell like cat urine and appeared seriously underweight and pale. She told hospital staff she was hungry and had not eaten. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhy does this keep happening?\u201d Santa Clara County Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen asked at a news conference<\/a> Tuesday, where he demanded accountability from the county\u2019s child welfare agency<\/a>, which has been under intense scrutiny<\/a> after the deaths of multiple children in recent years who were under county supervision or whose families had contact with the agency. <\/p>\n In a statement, Rosen said that \u201cprosecuting people after this kind of tragedy is necessary \u2014 and not enough.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnother child is needlessly dead in this county, and once again our prosecutors will do everything in our legal power to hold the people who did this responsible,\u201d he said, adding that there \u201care serious questions about how this child and her siblings lived in this dangerous squalor for so long. In the name of this lost child and the others, this community deserves honest answers and real changes.\u201d<\/p>\n The Department of Family and Children\u2019s Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n During the investigation into Aurora\u2019s death, detectives did not find her prescribed inhaler in the home. They found \u201ca dirty, poorly maintained inhaler spacer that was missing the rubber seal designed to prevent medication from leaking\u201d as well as a respiratory mask with cockroaches in it, according to the district attorney\u2019s office. <\/p>\n Prosecutors said Hanson and Randolph had been warned multiple times by medical and social service workers that conditions inside their home were dangerous for the children. <\/p>\n The investigation into Aurora\u2019s death also led the district attorney\u2019s office to charge her uncle, Jonathan Hanson, 44, with sexual abuse involving another child in the house.<\/p>\n Jonathan Hanson, Gabrielle\u2019s brother, was charged with two counts of molestation and one count of possessing explicit phone videos of the child, who was between the ages of 11 and 15 at the time of the alleged abuse. <\/p>\n Jonathan Hanson, who lived at the home, also was arraigned on Tuesday and did not enter a plea, Sean Webby, a spokesman for the district attorney\u2019s office, said in an email. Gabrielle Hanson was charged with \u201cknowing about the molestation and doing nothing to stop it,\u201d prosecutors said. <\/p>\n Over objections by prosecutors, Aurora\u2019s mother and stepfather were released from custody Tuesday under the court\u2019s \u201csupervised own recognizance,<\/a>\u201d meaning they did not have to post bail and will remain out of jail until their next court appearance. <\/p>\n Webby said they have a no-contact order with their children and are not allowed to supervise any minors \u201cin any capacity, paid or unpaid.\u201d <\/p>\n Jonathan Hanson remains in custody without bail. <\/p>\n All three defendants are scheduled to appear at the Hall of Justice in San Jos\u00e9 on Nov. 20 for a plea hearing.<\/p>\n