She Didn’t Treat Her Autistic Daughter’s Cut Before It Got Infected and Killed Her. She Won’t Have to Go to Jail Anymore

A woman from Indiana did not go to jail for the death of her autistic 12-year-old daughter in 2023. The girl died of an infection while living in a dirty, rodent-infested home.

Rosa Hargrave, 35, took a deal from prosecutors on Friday and pleaded guilty to one count of neglect resulting in major bodily injury for the death of her daughter, Rosa Hargrave, who was also named Rosa Hargrave but was known as “May May.”

Hargrave has agreed to spend three years in a group home or another approved residential setting as home detention. She has also been told to take parenting classes. She is going to be on probation for four more years.

May May had a cut across her upper back, so Hargrave took her to Riley Children’s Hospital on February 28, 2023.

According to police papers obtained by Law & Crime, the doctors who examined the child saw that the “oozing” wound was “severely infected” and dripping a “yellowish-colored substance.” The child also started to vomit blood in the emergency room.

Officials say the wound was caused by a skin patch that was done about two years ago to treat necrotizing fasciitis. It was meant to be cleaned every day.

“It was clear that the wound was not cleaned or cared for properly,” the cops wrote, adding that the cut looked like it had not been treated at all.

Hargrave told the cops who were looking into the case that her daughter had autism, ADHD, asthma, and couldn’t talk. When they took her to the hospital, her wound got sick.

The death of May May on March 2, 2023, was ruled a murder by carelessness by the coroners.

The mother also told police that the skin graft cut was caused by a ruptured gallbladder. However, May May’s gallbladder had not been removed, but her appendix had been, according to Fox 59.

When police searched Hargrave’s house, they found more reasons to be worried.

Police said the house was “extremely poor and unsanitary on the inside,” with “numerous mice/rodents, cockroaches, bugs, feces, and half-eaten and rotten food throughout the entire house.”

The bugs inside the house seemed used to living with people and “not afraid of any human interaction.”

Authorities said that May May’s bedroom was full of rat poop and that the bathroom next to it didn’t have running water.

Police also found four other kids living in the house. The kids had spots and dirt all over their bodies, according to the police. One of the kids had cuts and bruises and was wearing a very dirty diaper. Two of the kids belonged to Hargrave and her boyfriend, Charles Turner. The other two belonged to Felicia Hargrave, May May’s aunt.

Turner and Felicia Hargrave had already pleaded guilty to neglect of a dependent in connection with May May’s death. They were spared jail time and given over two years of probation instead.

May May was called a “girly girl” who loved all things pink in her internet obituary.

The page says, “She was a Grandpa’s and Grandma’s girl.” You always knew how May May felt because she wore her heart on her sleeve.