How Connecticut DCF, a custody court, and a school withdrawal let an 11-year-old vanish
Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia was 11 when she was pulled from New Britain Public Schools on August 26, 2024, the first day of sixth grade. Her mother filed a withdrawal and a homeschooling notice the same day, then removed Jacqueline from the only routine that still saw her in person. Records show investigators now believe the killing happened weeks later in Farmington. The child was starved and abused, her body concealed in a basement. In March 2025 the family moved back to New Britain, and a plastic tote with Jacqueline’s remains moved with them. In January 2025, while Jacqueline was already gone, DCF accepted a video sighting in which another child posed as her. DCF closed its case in March. On October 8, 2025, police found a child’s decomposed remains inside a tote behind an abandoned house on Clark Street in New Britain. They identified Jacqueline. Three relatives are jailed on high bonds while arrest affidavits remain under seal.
The story begins long before the bin on Clark Street. DCF had contact with the family from the start. Jacqueline was born on January 29, 2013. Her mother, Karla Garcia, was incarcerated, so a paternal relative, the grandmother, took guardianship that year. DCF closed its initial case in August 2013 after guardianship transferred. Between 2014 and 2016, while the children lived with the grandmother in New Britain, DCF provided services in response to family risk reports. The guardian allowed regular visitation by Karla and the father, Victor Torres. In 2016 the grandmother sued for child support, a sign that formal custody and financial responsibility issues were still active in court.
By May 2022, the juvenile court returned custody from the grandmother to Karla and Victor. The record says the decision included agency support and agreement from the grandmother and the child’s attorney. DCF investigated again in 2022, then closed the case in November that year, recording that the children were in school and being seen by medical providers. According to later entries, the father complained in 2023 that Karla denied him visitation. Those disputes did not trigger safety interventions that would have kept neutral eyes on the child. By June 2024, a family court order gave Karla sole custody. DCF was not a party to that proceeding. The effect was to isolate Jacqueline from relatives who had raised her, and to remove the last formal guardrails before the withdrawal from school.
August 26, 2024 is the first clean break. New Britain Public Schools received a “Notification of Withdrawal” that said the family had moved to Farmington, and a “Notice of Intent: Instruction of Student at Home.” Under routine district practice, there is no superintendent approval process. Once the notice is filed, the school does not require an in-person presentation of the child. No teacher sees her. No nurse logs a height or weight. No attendance officer asks questions when a sixth grader never shows up. The system closed the door on itself.
The dossier states investigators believe Jacqueline was killed in the fall of 2024 while the family lived in Farmington. The child suffered prolonged physical abuse and severe malnourishment. Her body was hidden in the basement. No one filed a missing person report. Because the school had accepted a homeschool notice, there were no attendance flags. Because there were no scheduled doctor’s visits for her after May 2024, there were no medical red flags either. The family had removed the child from every neutral setting that could have seen her.
DCF’s last clear chance came in January 2025. The agency had re-opened on allegations related to a younger sibling. Case notes summarized in the dossier say DCF asked to see Jacqueline. Karla Garcia said Jacqueline was homeschooled and visiting out of state. To address the concern, DCF accepted a video “wellness check.” The dossier records the critical detail. “Karla had another child impersonate Jacqueline on the video call,” which “effectively” fooled the agency. By March 2025 DCF closed the investigation. There was no in-person verification. No cross-check of identifying details. No requirement that Jacqueline be physically produced. The agency’s own summary calls it exactly what it was, a “missed opportunity.”
In March 2025 the family moved back to New Britain. Evidence cited in the dossier says the plastic tote holding Jacqueline’s remains traveled with them. Through mid-2025 there were no social worker visits for Jacqueline, no teacher inquiries, and no medical appointments after May 2024. The combination of a closed DCF case and the homeschool status left no mandatory reporter in contact with the child. The system called that closure. In effect, it was abandonment.
October 8, 2025 is the discovery. A witness reported a man dropping a large bin at 80 Clark Street, an abandoned property in New Britain. Officers found a plastic storage tote in the yard. Inside were decomposed human remains. They identified Jacqueline, who would have turned 12 that January, which is consistent with an 11 to 12 year old. The condition of the body showed many months of decomposition. The joint investigation by New Britain Police, Farmington Police, and Connecticut State Police retraced the family’s movements. Neighbors and surveillance indicated a red and white bin stored for some time in a car on Tremont Street near the family’s apartment, and that on October 8 the mother’s boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, moved that bin to Clark Street. That same night police confronted Karla Garcia at her apartment.
Arrests followed. By October 12 and 13, police had taken three relatives into custody. Karla Garcia, 29, and Jonatan Nanita, 30, are charged with murder and related felonies. The child’s aunt, Jackelyn Garcia, 28, is charged with first degree unlawful restraint, risk of injury to a minor, and intentional cruelty to a person under 19. A judge in the Litchfield Judicial District, which covers Farmington, set bond at five million dollars for Karla and for Nanita, and one million dollars for Jackelyn. The court sealed the arrest warrant affidavits for fourteen days. As of mid October, all three remained jailed pending a November 14 court date. Jacqueline’s siblings and other related children were removed to DCF custody for safety. The autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is underway. Cause of death was pending at mid October. Investigators said they expect forensic evidence of prolonged abuse and neglect to be corroborated.
The failures are specific, not abstract. On August 26, 2024, the district accepted a same day withdrawal and homeschool notice. Policy did not require the child to be presented in person after withdrawal. That gap let a child disappear without a single neutral adult laying eyes on her. Records state DCF re-opened in January 2025 due to concerns about a younger sibling. The agency accepted a video sighting of Jacqueline, which the dossier describes as an impersonation by another child, then closed the case in March without an in-person visit. That decision contradicted basic child protection practice. When a child with recent CPS history is pulled from school and cannot be produced, an in-person safety check is the minimum threshold. It did not happen.
The legal process compounded the risk. The juvenile court returned custody from the grandmother to the parents in 2022 with agency support. The agency then closed that chapter in November 2022 after noting school enrollment and medical care. In 2023, the father complained that Karla denied visitation. In June 2024 a custody court granted Karla sole custody. DCF was not a participant, and the order did not impose contact with safe relatives or require ongoing services. Reunification without sustained oversight, followed by sole custody without guardrails, left Karla with full control while shutting out the grandmother who had provided years of care. When school oversight ended on August 26, there was nothing left.
Each handoff carried a missed safeguard. DCF closed in 2013 after guardianship transferred, then delivered services between 2014 and 2016, then closed again in 2022 with no sustained monitoring plan in place. The school district accepted homeschool paperwork on day one of the school year, and did not require a follow up sighting. The custody court adjusted orders in 2022 and 2024 without an enforcement mechanism that would have kept neutral adults involved. Finally, in January 2025, DCF accepted “verification” over a video call. The dossier states that “DCF noted no further issues.” The agency closed the file while Jacqueline was already dead.
The consequences are visible in the timeline of silence. No school attendance from August 26, 2024 onward. No pediatric visit after May 2024. No in-person contact required by DCF in January and February 2025. No system requirement in March 2025 when the family moved back to New Britain with a red and white plastic container now linked to the crime. No alarm until a neighbor saw someone drop a bin in a vacant yard in October. The systems tasked with seeing children did not look. The one person who did look was a neighbor calling 911.
The policy failures are concrete, so the fixes are concrete. Records show DCF closed its last case after a video call. The agency should have required an in-person safety check, identity confirmation, and documented production of the child when school withdrawal and prior CPS history coincided. The school district should have a trigger that converts a same day withdrawal for homeschooling, on the first day of school, into a welfare check for any child with recent CPS involvement. The custody court should consider continued contact with safe relatives, or mandate services after reunification, particularly where access disputes are documented. The dossier notes that public officials are now talking about reforms, including periodic in-person checks for homeschooled children. None of that helped Jacqueline. The only meaningful check would have been the one that never happened, a social worker or officer at the door, looking the child in the eyes.
Jacqueline is gone. Her siblings are in state custody while the homicide case moves through the courts. Karla Garcia and Jonatan Nanita face murder charges. Jackelyn Garcia faces restraint and cruelty charges. Bonds are set at seven figures. The affidavits remain sealed until late October unless a court extends the seal. The next court date is November 14, 2025. The autopsy continues. The unanswered questions are not rhetorical. Why did DCF accept a video impersonation without an in-person visit. Why is there no statewide rule that requires seeing a homeschooled child in person after a CPS case closes or after a same day withdrawal on the first day of school. Why did a custody court grant sole custody in June 2024 without requiring continued neutral contact or services for a family with documented history. The agencies should answer with records, not with talking points.
If you have documents, timelines, or firsthand knowledge about Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia or the oversight decisions in her case, send them to fuckdcf.paul@pm.me
