Jaxon Juarez: 2-Year-Old Dies in San José Foster Care; Teen Relative Charged with Murder, Sexual Assault

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On Easter Sunday in 2026, 2-year-old Jaxon Juarez was found unresponsive in his crib at a San José residence, and sadly, he died four days later. 

His death has now led to serious charges against his 18-year-old foster brother, and also renewed questions about Santa Clara County's foster care system.

Jason Juarez 

Jason Jaxon 



Jason Jaxon had been under the care of Bridget Michelle Martinez, the mother of the teen suspect and the child’s aunt, for only a few weeks before his death

According to police reports, overwhelming evidence shows that Jaxon he had been physically and sexually assaulted repeatedly after he was placed in the home in February 2026

While the District Attorney’s Office has not announced an official cause of death, officials said they have preliminary indications but did not elaborate. 

They only accused the suspect of putting a hair tie around the toddler’s neck on one occasion, causing significant injury, as reported by KQED News.

When he was born, Jaxon lived with his mother, Brianna Burton, and his father, Albert Juarez. Sadly, his mother died of alcohol abuse in 2025, and at that point the boy was placed in county custody. 

Jaxon then lived with a foster family before being transferred to a maternal grandparent near Sacramento for six months. 

While there, the grandparent was required to bring the boy to the South Bay for regular visits with his father, but they couldn't meet up because of distance. 

This requirement ultimately prevented the grandparent from continuing to serve as a guardian, leading to Jaxon’s transfer to Martinez’s home in February.

Martinez was briefly arrested for murder after Jaxon passed, but she has since been released from jail.

Riley Wallace, Jaxon’s aunt, told KQED last week that family members in Arizona had asked the court to allow Jaxon to live with them, but the court refused and asked them to wait for the child to be put up for adoption. 

“It is completely unacceptable,” Wallace said. “They did not protect a child, and that’s their job, that’s what they took the child for, to protect him. And they failed him so terribly.”

Wallace argued that Jaxon should never have been placed with Martinez because of her records, and he has indicated that the family plans to sue the agency in charge. 





According to official records, Martinez had a prior felony conviction for child endangerment from a previous incident. In 2014, she was found with “red watery eyes, slurred speech and a strong odor of an intoxicating beverage” while driving her one-year-old daughter. 

At the time of that arrest, her license was suspended due to a prior DUI conviction in 2011, and she was also charged with another DUI in 2020 in Stanislaus County. 

It remains unclear whether the Department of Family and Children’s Services knew of the charges against Martinez, and the county has not explained how Jaxon came to be placed under her care. 

Jaxon is the third child who has died while under the care of the county’s Department of Family and Children’s Services in the last several years, as per KQED.

In 2023, a three-month-old died of a fentanyl overdose, and in 2024, a seven-year-old was allegedly stabbed by an uncle in 2024. 

Critics have accused the department of prioritizing family reunification over child safety, though in recent years it has been recognized for making progress under a corrective action plan that aims to rebalance focus between reunification and safety.

The Department of Family and Children’s Services is already facing a lawsuit from the grandfather of another young child, six-year-old Jordan Walker, who was stabbed to death by a relative in a San José home in August 2023.



According to NBC Bay Area, the District Attorney’s Office has added murder and rape charges to the suspect’s existing case that previously included multiple counts of sexual assault, including forced sodomy. 

The suspect is having his legal proceedings in a juvenile court because he was 17 years old at the time of Jaxon’s death. 

He has since turned 18, and District Attorney Jeff Rosen has filed a motion to transfer the case from juvenile court to the adult criminal division. He says it could take two to three months before the judge determines whether to grant the request to transfer the case to adult court. However, this decision ultimately rest with the juvenile court judge overseeing the current proceedings

Rosen also said his office is still investigating whether it might bring charges against anyone else in connection with Jaxon’s death, both inside and outside the county agency.

“The rape and murder of a child are two of the most serious crimes that we prosecute,” Rosen told reporters following the suspect’s first court appearance. “These crimes should be heard in our most serious criminal courts.”

Rosen said he believes there are important questions to ask officials at the highest level in the county, and his office is investigating whether other individuals could face charges. 

“This is not the first time that this has happened,” Rosen said after the suspect’s latest hearing. “People in the public, and myself as the DA, would like to know who is responsible criminally, civilly, morally, ethically, systemically. Why are horrible and tragic crimes happening to children in the care and custody of the Department of Family and Children’s Services over and over and over again?”

Both the San José Police Department and the Department of Family and Children’s Services are investigating Jaxon’s case, and the county has requested that the California Department of Social Services conduct its own independent investigation.

In a statement, county spokesperson Peter Gallotta said the death is under active investigation and that officials are conducting a thorough review of policies, protocols and staff actions, including every interaction involving Jaxon during his time in foster care.

The suspect is due back in court on May 21, 2026. For updates on this case and other high-profile true crime stories sign up for our free newsletter here. 



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