Prosecutors say Alexandra Straccia’s scheduled caregivers were called off days before police found the 21-year-old dead in her bedroom.
CRANSTON, R.I. — Days before Alexandra “Aly” Straccia was found dead in the apartment she shared with her mother, the outside caregivers who were expected to help the 21-year-old were told not to come, according to prosecutors laying out their case against Anna Maria Angelosanto.
That break in Straccia’s normal care routine has become one of several pieces of evidence in a first-degree murder case that centers on a young woman whom police described as entirely dependent on other people. Angelosanto, 62, is accused of intentionally killing her daughter and then trying to take her own life. Prosecutors have also pointed to relatives being unable to see Straccia, computer searches involving prescription overdoses, medications recovered from the home and a note investigators say addressed death and burial. Angelosanto has not been convicted, and the precise medical cause of Straccia’s death has not been publicly released.
Police said Straccia had severe autism and needed around-the-clock assistance from her mother. Prosecutors went further at an Aug. 11 hearing, saying Straccia could not administer her own prescribed medication. That level of dependence gives particular importance to the question of who had access to her, who handled her medicine and when her usual caregivers last expected to see her. It also means investigators cannot treat the medications found inside the apartment as ordinary background without examining who controlled them and how they were used.
The state’s timeline begins before officers ever entered the home. Special Assistant Attorney General Alison Bittl told the court that Angelosanto canceled appointments with caregivers who had been scheduled to assist Straccia on Monday, July 27. Relatives also tried to visit over the weekend, but Angelosanto said Straccia was sleeping, according to the prosecutor. Those allegations are part of the state’s reconstruction of the days immediately preceding the discovery of Straccia’s body.
Authorities have not publicly said exactly when Straccia was last seen alive by someone outside the apartment. Nor have they released a complete timeline establishing when she died. Court records described in news reports indicated that officers believed she had been dead for a period of time when they found her. That leaves the canceled appointments and unsuccessful family visits as potentially important markers, but not by themselves proof of when or how Straccia died.
The discovery came by an unexpected route. At about 8:30 a.m. July 27, Cranston police went to the Kingwood Avenue property after the landlord reported a water emergency. Officers entered the first-floor apartment and found Angelosanto injured in a bedroom. Police described the injuries as apparently self-inflicted. Emergency responders transported her to Rhode Island Hospital, while officers continued through the residence.
In another bedroom, they found Straccia dead. The Rhode Island Office of the State Medical Examiner responded and took custody of her body. At that point, police had a deceased young woman, an injured mother and no publicly announced explanation for the death. Detectives with the department’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation began what police later called a comprehensive inquiry, obtaining authorization to search the home and interviewing people connected to the family.
What investigators found inside shifted the case toward a murder allegation. Police disclosed that detectives recovered prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and a handwritten note. At Angelosanto’s later court appearance, prosecutors said searches on a computer involved prescription overdoses. They also said the note contained burial directions and expressed an expectation that mother and daughter would remain together. Those details are allegations concerning the state’s evidence and will be subject to challenge in court.
The medical evidence remains less clear in the public record. Prosecutors said Straccia appeared to have regurgitated an unidentified substance and stressed that she could not give herself medication. But authorities have not publicly identified a particular drug as the cause of death, announced toxicology results or released a final medical examiner’s finding. Police also did not initially describe an obvious injury that explained how she died. The gap between the evidence recovered at the scene and the still-undisclosed medical conclusion is one of the central unresolved issues in the case.
Investigators also seized electronic devices and other items from the residence. Digital evidence can help establish when searches were made, which account or device was used and whether online activity has a meaningful connection to later events. Prosecutors have said the overdose-related searches support their account of an intentional killing. At this stage, however, the public record does not show how extensively that evidence has been tested or what explanation the defense may offer.
The mother-daughter relationship adds another layer to the case. Reporting on Angelosanto’s earlier public statements showed that she had described herself as a strong advocate for Straccia. She had written about securing appropriate services and about wanting others to understand and value her daughter. Those statements complicate the public image of the defendant but do not decide the criminal allegation in either direction. A history of caregiving does not disprove a homicide charge, just as the pressures associated with caregiving do not establish a motive for murder.
Records discussed in subsequent reporting indicated that Angelosanto had also faced financial difficulty and possible eviction from the apartment. That information may help describe the circumstances in which the family was living, but prosecutors have not established publicly that housing or money problems caused the alleged crime. Responsible reporting on the case requires separating documented strain from an unsupported conclusion about motive.
After the July 27 discovery, Angelosanto remained hospitalized while detectives continued their work. Police said they interviewed relatives and also interviewed Angelosanto during her hospitalization. Once investigators believed they had probable cause, the department consulted the state attorney general’s office and obtained a warrant charging her with domestic violence first-degree murder.
She was arrested after being discharged from Rhode Island Hospital. Authorities initially arraigned her before a justice of the peace and ordered her held without bail. At the more detailed Aug. 11 court proceeding, prosecutors presented the sequence involving the canceled caregivers, the family visits, the medications, the note and the computer searches. The magistrate again ordered Angelosanto detained without bail and referred her to a public defender.
The murder charge represents the state’s allegation that Straccia’s death was intentional and that Angelosanto caused it. The prosecution ultimately must prove those elements under Rhode Island law. Evidence that may appear significant during an initial hearing can later be challenged on its meaning, reliability, admissibility or connection to the charged offense. The defense has not yet had a trial at which it can fully confront the state’s evidence.
For Straccia, the case has also raised questions about how the final days of a person who depended on continuous assistance can be reconstructed when her ordinary care contacts suddenly stop. Investigators are relying partly on the people who expected to see her, the relatives who attempted to visit, records from inside the apartment and electronic activity they say preceded her death. Each piece fills part of the timeline, but several important details remain unreleased.
Angelosanto remains held without bail on the first-degree murder charge. No later court disposition was located. The state has publicly described evidence it says points to planning and intent, but the final cause of Straccia’s death and the ultimate determination of criminal responsibility remain matters for the continuing investigation and court process.
Author note: Last updated September 21, 2026.