{"id":496225,"date":"2026-10-14T21:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496225\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T21:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T21:34:15","slug":"san-jose-parents-charged-with-neglect-in-8-year-olds-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/496225\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jos\u00e9 Parents Charged With Neglect in 8-Year-Old\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Santa Clara County District Attorney is calling for a new approach to keeping kids safe.<\/p>\n

Oct 14, 2026<\/p>\n

Updated 1:06 pm PT<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jacob Randolph enters the courtroom before being arraigned at the Hall of Justice in San Jose on Oct. 13, 2026. Randolph has been criminally charged in the alleged neglect death of 8-year-old Aurora Williams.\u00a0(Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

In the wake of the tragic death of another child involved in the Santa Clara County <\/a>child welfare system, two parents have been charged with criminal neglect, and the district attorney is proposing a new approach to keeping vulnerable kids safe.<\/p>\n

Gabrielle Hanson and Jacob Randolph, the mother and stepfather of 8-year-old Aurora Williams, were arraigned in a San Jos\u00e9 courtroom Tuesday afternoon on felony charges of child neglect that resulted in her death, along with several other child endangerment misdemeanor charges related to the well-being of six other children in their home.<\/p>\n

Aurora, who died in May following an asthma attack, is the latest of several children to die while their safety was being monitored and evaluated by the county\u2019s embattled Department of Family and Children\u2019s Services, which has faced intense scrutiny and state intervention due to the spate of deaths in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another child in the home was reportedly sexually assaulted while she was between ages 11 and 15 by Hanson\u2019s brother, Jonathan Hanson, who was charged with two felony counts of sexual assault of a minor in court Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis little asthmatic girl and her brothers and sisters were living in a home filled with roaches, mold, animal feces and two parents who were not providing enough care or food for their children, along with a sexual predator,\u201d District Attorney Jeff Rosen said about Aurora and her siblings at a press conference held immediately after the court hearing.<\/p>\n

\"\"Gabrielle Hanson wipes her eye as she talks with Chief Alternate Defender Brian Matthews at her arraignment at the Hall of Justice in San Jos\u00e9 on Oct. 13, 2026. Hanson has been criminally charged in the alleged neglect death of 8-year-old Aurora Williams.\u00a0(Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is this happening when we have a system that is supposed to save children from abuse, from drugs and from neglect?\u201d Rosen said. \u201cOf course, this is a complex problem, but public servants are supposed to solve complex and difficult problems. These children\u2019s deaths have been met with reports and remorse and promises of reforms. And yet, here we are again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aurora\u2019s death is \u201canother urgent warning\u201d about kids who are in danger in Santa Clara County, Rosen said.<\/p>\n

He said his office is looking into a new blueprint in which the DA\u2019s office and other county officials \u201cplay a more direct, tangible and collaborative role in these fraud, children and family matters\u201d to better protect kids.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis in general is a plan that creates a team of high-ranking specialists from different agencies who would jointly address the safety of our county\u2019s most vulnerable, like Aurora,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s child welfare system has been under state oversight by the California Department of Social Services since 2023, following the overdose death of 3-month-old Phoenix Castro, who was living in a home with addicted parents, and the stabbing death of 6-year-old Jordan Walker at the hands of his uncle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a report from the state<\/a> last month, investigators with the California Department of Social Services found \u201csignificant systemic gaps in documentation and timeliness across required emergency placement procedures,\u201d and that only 10% of emergency placements made by the county complied with state law.\u00a0<\/p>\n

State officials also found roughly half the background checks to determine if foster parents were safe caretakers for children in need were conducted only after the children were placed in their care, and that social workers often didn\u2019t include evidence of criminal records when reviewing potential foster parents and extended family members.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Aurora\u2019s case, police officers and detectives who searched the East San Jos\u00e9 home on Lancelot Lane in May said they \u201cfound every room was unkempt and in disarray, with a severe cockroach and insect infestation, a pungent acidic odor of urine and animal fecal matter, and visible mold throughout the residence,\u201d a police investigative summary said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police said there were 12 reports to the child welfare department dating back to 2022, \u201cindicating that school personnel and medical providers had repeatedly expressed concerns involving unsanitary living conditions, inadequate supervision, irregular school attendance and inconsistent medical follow-up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Jacob Randolph, left, and Gabrielle Hanson, second from right, talk to their lawyers as they are arraigned at the Hall of Justice in San Jos\u00e9 on Oct. 13, 2026. They have been criminally charged in the alleged neglect death of 8-year-old Aurora Williams.\u00a0(Nhat V. Meyer\/Bay Area News Group)<\/p>\n

However, DFCS records obtained from the county show that in at least four different instances since September 2023, social workers visiting the home and interviewing the parents and Aurora concluded that reports of neglect or abuse were unfounded or inconclusive, with several other similar determinations made regarding other children in the home since that time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While prosecutors asked Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Kelley Paul to keep Randolph and Gabrielle Hanson in custody, Paul allowed them both to be released after court Tuesday, with criminal protective orders not to see their children, who were removed from their home after Aurora\u2019s death, and requirements that they not supervise or care for any other children.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Hanson was kept in custody with no option for bail.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the court hearing, Gabrielle Hanson was seen crying and shaking her head as Deputy District Attorney Morgan Willis, in an argument to keep Hanson in custody, alleged that she showed \u201ccontinual disregard\u201d for Aurora. Willis said Hanson also \u201ccallously ignored\u201d a plea from her stepdaughter who told Hanson that she was experiencing sexual abuse at the hands of Jonathan Hanson.<\/p>\n

Hanson\u2019s attorney, Chief Alternate Defender Brian Matthews, said prosecutors were \u201cpreying on emotion in a very serious and tragic case,\u201d but that she should be released while the case moves forward. The pair are expected back in court on Nov. 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI will strongly object to the idea that she callously ignored anything,\u201d Matthews said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KQED reporter Brian Krans<\/a> contributed to this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Santa Clara County District Attorney is calling for a new approach to keeping kids safe. Oct 14,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":496226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[88,90,89],"class_list":["post-496225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=496225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/496225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=496225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=496225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=496225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}