An 11-year-old Connecticut girl was starved to death. Court records
reveal chilling allegations
[November 15, 2025]
By DAVE COLLINS
An 11-year-old Connecticut girl was not given food in the two weeks
leading up to her death last year and had often been restrained with zip
ties, police say.
Her remains were found inside a plastic bin last month. A few months
after her death, another child impersonated her during a video call with
the state child welfare agency, court records reveal.
Stunning details of Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia's death have emerged
in recent weeks with the release of arrest and search warrants, alleging
severe abuse and an attempted cover-up. The chief medical examiner's
office last week issued an official determination that she died of
“fatal child abuse with starvation.”
“No child should ever have to endure such suffering,” Paul Melanson,
public safety director in Hartford suburb of Farmington, told reporters
last month, adding the girl's death has been difficult to comprehend and
has taken an emotional toll on investigators.
On Friday, Jacqueline's mother, Karla Garcia, 29, and two others
arrested in the case made brief appearances in Torrington Superior
Court. Garcia's lawyer entered not guilty pleas on her behalf to charges
including murder and cruelty to a child.
Garcia's ex-boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, 30, did not enter pleas to
similar charges including murder. Garcia's sister, Jackelyn Garcia, who
is not charged with murder, pleaded not guilty to cruelty to a child and
other charges. The defendants' cases were continued to December.
Lawyers for all three defendants, who remain detained on bail, declined
to respond directly to the charges against their clients after the court
hearings.
“Obviously the allegations are horrific and what happened to this child
is horrific,” said Ioannis Kaloidis, a lawyer for Jackelyn Garcia. “What
my client's culpability is has yet to be determined.”
Girl's body found in plastic bin
The girl's body was found Oct. 8 in a plastic bin that had been dumped
at an abandoned house in New Britain, about 12 miles (19 kilometers)
southwest of Hartford. Police believe Jacqueline died more than a year
earlier, in September 2024, when she lived with her mother and siblings
in nearby Farmington.
In arrest warrants, police said Karla Garcia admitted that she and
Nanita stopped giving the girl food two weeks before her death, and that
she, Nanita and Jackelyn Garcia all mistreated her including using zip
ties as restraints. Karla Garcia has three children with Nanita and two
others, including Jacqueline, with another man. Police allege Nanita
dumped the bin containing Jacqueline's body at the abandoned home last
month.
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Karla Garcia, Jacqueline "Mimi" Torres-Garcia's mother, appears
during a hearing in Torrington Superior Court, Friday, Nov. 14,
2025, in Torrington, Conn. (Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media via
AP)
According to police, Karla Garcia told investigators that her
daughter was “bad, she didn’t listen, she didn’t respect them.” She
also said during police interviews that Jacqueline was doing things
she wasn't supposed to, including hitting other children, going into
people's cars and having five boyfriends, an arrest warrant says.
Police said Garcia initially told them she believed Jacqueline died
after Nanita stomped on her head, after the girl pushed her mother
down some stairs. But she confessed to the neglect and abuse after
investigators told her the autopsy found no signs of physical
injuries, the warrant says.
Authorities said Karla Garcia kept her daughter’s remains in her
home and took them with her when she moved back to New Britain
earlier this year. In the summer of 2024, she had removed the girl
from the local school system, telling officials her daughter would
be educated at home. When people asked where the girl was, she told
them she was staying with a friend or other relatives, police said.
In January of this year, the Department of Children and Families
responded to a report of possible child mistreatment in the Garcia
home involving Jacqueline's sister, the agency said. A video call
was set up, and officials talked to a girl whom Karla Garcia claimed
was Jacqueline, but police said it actually was another girl,
possibly a daughter of one of Karla Garcia's friends.
The department said it is reviewing its dealings with the family.
Officials said the agency had prior contacts with the family, with
the last one coming in 2022 when it determined the children were
safe.
Department and law face scrutiny
State lawmakers, including both Democrats and Republicans, are
questioning the department's actions. Concerns also have been raised
about whether the state’s homeschooling laws need more child
monitoring requirements.
The Department of Children and Families and homeschooling laws also
drew scrutiny earlier this year after a man rescued from a house
fire in Waterbury told police he had been held captive in the home
for the past 20 years since he was about 11 years old. He, too, had
been removed from public schools to be homeschooled, officials said.
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