Left: Gabrielle Hanson. Right: Jacob Randolph (San Jose Police Department).
An 8-year-old California girl suffered through hours of medical distress during a fatal asthma attack before her mother and stepfather sought help, according to prosecutors.
Gabrielle Hanson, 32, and Jacob Randolph, 39, have been charged with felony child endangerment in connection with the May death of Hanson”s daughter, Aurora Williams. Her death was ruled a homicide after the medical examiner determined that medical neglect contributed to her fatal asthma attack, The Mercury News reports.
A probable cause affidavit obtained by the local newspaper says “cockroaches and debris” were found in Aurora’s respiratory mask and nebulizer equipment. The other two children living in the East San Jose home “had cockroaches stuck in their ears,” and one child needed medical assistance to get one of them out, the affidavit says.
Aurora was found unresponsive at the family’s residence on May 13. She was rushed to a hospital and placed on life support, but died four days later after a severe asthma attack deprived her brain of oxygen, according to the medical examiner. Hanson and Randolph were arrested Monday.
The affidavit says Aurora had been in medical distress for approximately eight hours before her family sought medical attention. Investigators also found troubling conditions inside the home, where Aurora lived with her mother, stepfather, siblings and other adult relatives.
After Aurora was diagnosed with asthma in 2022, medical providers reportedly warned Hanson that the home’s unsanitary conditions — including a cockroach infestation — could worsen the girl’s condition.
“Despite prior warnings from social workers, repeated medical contacts, and their documented knowledge of the residence’s condition, Ms. Hanson and Mr. Randolph continued to allow the children to live in the home without taking adequate steps to address the cockroach infestation and other unsafe and unsanitary living conditions,” the affidavit states, according to The Mercury News.
When investigators searched the residence after Aurora was taken to the hospital, they allegedly could not find her asthma inhaler.
Court records reportedly describe earlier cockroach incidents involving the other children. Aurora had also been identified as underweight during a 2023 medical visit, when doctors determined she met “the criteria for failure to thrive,” according to the affidavit.
The family’s home was reportedly the subject of 12 child welfare referrals since 2022. In at least eight referrals since 2023, social workers determined that allegations of abuse or neglect were unfounded or inconclusive.
Hanson has disputed that her daughter’s death resulted from neglect. In a September interview with The Mercury News, she said the incident was a medical emergency and defended the care she and Randolph provided that morning.
“If the house is to blame, then why don’t my other kids have any problems like that?” Hanson said. “Losing a child and then losing my other ones to CPS are both of my worst fears come to light.”
Hanson claimed the family tried to administer asthma medication, including albuterol and a nebulizer treatment, but nothing appeared to work. She said she called 911 after Randolph brought Aurora into the bedroom and then had a hard time following the dispatcher’s CPR instructions.
Hanson and Randolph are facing two felony child endangerment counts related to Aurora’s death and six misdemeanor child endangerment counts involving the other kids who lived in the home. The surviving children, ranging in age from an infant to a teenager, have been placed in foster care.
Hanson and Randolph are due back in court Nov. 20.
