San Jose prosecutors charged an 8-year-old girl's mother and stepfather with felony neglect after she died from an asthma attack in a cockroach-infested home they allegedly ignored for years.
Aurora Williams died days after a May 13, 2026, medical emergency at the family’s home on Lancelot Lane in San Jose. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide and found medical neglect a significant contributing factor, Fox News reported.
Santa Clara County prosecutors charged her mother, Gabrielle Hanson, 32, and stepfather, Jacob Randolph, 39, with felony child neglect. They allege the couple knew the home was dangerous, ignored repeated warnings, and waited eight hours before seeking help when Aurora went into serious distress.
District Attorney Jeff Rosen tied the case to a broader failure of accountability.
"Another 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,"
Rosen said. He added that charging people after a tragedy like this is necessary, and not enough.
Investigators say Aurora and her siblings lived in “squalid and dangerous conditions” since at least 2019. Prosecutors described cockroaches, mold, and pet feces throughout the home.
Asthma equipment was not properly maintained. A prescribed inhaler was missing during two home searches. A dirty inhaler spacer lacked its rubber seal. A respiratory mask contained cockroaches.
Prosecutors said medical professionals and social workers had repeatedly warned Hanson and Randolph about the risks more than a year before Aurora’s death. Those warnings did not stop the conditions that followed.
Cases of parental neglect ending in a child’s death keep landing in courtrooms nationwide, including an Indiana father sentenced after a newborn died under his care.
In February 2025, a relative took Aurora to an emergency room for asthma symptoms, wheezing, and trouble breathing. Staff saw a bug fall from her shoe and a cockroach on her. She smelled like cat urine. She looked underweight and pale. She said she was hungry and had not eaten.
Prosecutors say Aurora told hospital staff about the insects at home.
"Oh yeah, bugs just crawl on me."
That visit came more than a year before the final emergency. The home conditions described by prosecutors did not improve.
In May 2026, Aurora began experiencing serious medical distress. Prosecutors allege Hanson and Randolph waited eight hours before seeking medical help.
San Jose police and firefighters responded to the Lancelot Lane home on May 13, 2026. Aurora was declared dead four days later.
The medical examiner determined she died from a lack of oxygen to the brain caused by severe asthma and an acute lung injury tied to a viral infection. Medical neglect was listed as a significant contributing factor. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.
A prosecutors’ news release put the outcome in plain terms.
"It was too late,"
Six other children in the household, ages 2 months to 17 years, were taken into protective custody. The pattern is grimly familiar to readers who followed reporting on twin toddlers found dead in a South Los Angeles home under investigation.
Aurora’s maternal uncle, Jonathan Hanson, 44, was charged with two counts of molestation and one count of possessing explicit videos of an alleged victim. Prosecutors say the alleged victim was a child in the home between 11 and 15 years old at the time of the offenses.
Gabrielle Hanson was also charged with knowing about the alleged abuse and failing to intervene.
All three defendants were arraigned Tuesday. Jonathan Hanson was ordered held without bail. Gabrielle Hanson and Jacob Randolph were released under supervised own recognizance over prosecutors’ objections.
Their next court appearance is set for Nov. 20 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
Rosen did not treat the charges as the end of the story. He pointed to the length of time the children lived in those conditions and called for real changes beyond courtroom filings.
"There are 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."
Prosecutors say the mother and stepfather knew about the dangerous conditions and had been warned again and again. Aurora still died after an eight-hour delay, broken or missing asthma equipment, and years of filth that social workers and medical staff had already flagged.
When a child dies in plain sight of warnings, the charges matter, and so does every system that left her there until it was too late.
