Mom Tried to Cover Up Dead Daughter Killing in Video Call: Police

A 12-year-old girl disappeared and no. one noticed for more than a year. Jacqueline Torres Garcia's remains were. discovered this month inside a plastic. bin behind an abandoned home in New. Britain, Connecticut. And police believe. she has been dead since the fall of. 2024. And now, newly unsealed warrants. They are revealing that her mother, Carla Garcia, admitted to starving her. daughter in the weeks before she died. and even had another child impersonate. Jacqueline during a DCF video call after.

she was already gone. We are going to be. breaking down the latest developments in. this disturbing case with a family law. attorney. Welcome to Sidebar, presented. by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. [Music]. How does a 12-year-old girl vanish from. her community and no one notices for. more than a year? That's the allegation. That's what we're talking about right. now. Jacqueline Mimi Torres Garcia's. story has horrified Connecticut and it. has left people asking how every system.

meant to protect her seemingly failed. Her remains were found earlier this. month in a plastic bin behind an. abandoned home in New Britain. Police. believe she possibly died nearly a year. ago in the fall of 2024. Her mother, Carla Garcia, and Garcia's boyfriend, Jonathan Nanita, are now charged with. her murder. Garcia's sister, Jacqueline, faces charges of child cruelty and. unlawful restraint for her alleged role. in all of this. But what has newly come. to light makes this case even more.

disturbing because according to newly. unsealed warrants, Garcia apparently. admitted that she stopped feeding her. daughter in the weeks before she died. Family court records show relatives had. fought bitterly over custody of. Jacqueline. And DCF now says that Garcia. went so far as to have another girl. seemingly pretend to be Jacqueline. during a video call with case workers. after the child was apparently already. dead. Now, we're going to get to all of. that in a moment. The new warrants, the. shocking admissions, what investigators.

now say really happened. But first, we. got to break this down. This is. Jacqueline Mimi Torres Garcia. Friends, family, they called her Mimi. She. attended kindergarten through fifth. grade in the New Britain School District. until August 26, 2024. That's when. instead of starting sixth grade, her. mother, Carla Garcia, who we've been. talking about, filed paperwork to. withdraw her from school, telling the. district that she planned to homeschool. her daughter instead. Police now believe. that around this time, Jacqueline was. being abused and malnourished inside the.

family's Farmington apartment. Detectives say the abuse continued. through the fall of 2024, which is when. police believe she died. Now, the motive. behind killing her, that may not be. clear, but what we do know is that. rather than report her death, police say. they allege that Garcia instead kept her. daughter's body hidden in the basement. of that home. And in March of 2025, when. the family moved to New Britain, investigators believe they brought the. remains with them. So now, months go by,

no one sees this little girl, no one. sees Jacqueline, no one reports her. missing. Her paternal grandmother, Patricia Delgado, told NBC Connecticut. in Spanish that she hadn't seen her. granddaughter in months, but whenever. she asked, she says she was always. refused. Then came October 8th at around. midday. Someone calls 911 to report some. suspicious behavior, including a large. plastic storage bin that is behind this. abandoned property on Clark Street in.

New Britain. When officers arrive, they. open the bin and they found human. remains inside and police would confirm. that those remains belong to Jacqueline. October 12th, police arrest Carla Garcia. and her sister. So, this is Jacqueline, Jacqueline Garcia. At a press. conference, New Britain Mayor Aaron. Stewart said this. >> As a a mother, um, this makes me sick to. my stomach to be standing here today. with what we're about to tell you. Um,

on Wednesday, October 8th, when a report. of suspicious activity at 80 Clark. Street in New Britain came in from an. anonymous caller requesting police, responding officers had no idea what. they would be walking into. This caller. reported suspicious activity at a known. abandoned house in their neighborhood. This house had been vacant for over two. years, and it was owned and is owned by. an out ofstate landlord from New York. None of those determined to be involved. with this case have ever resided at this.

property. I want to thank the initial. caller for speaking up, for having the. courage to say something. Without that. initial call, no one can say for certain. where we would be at this point in time. >> Police called this case heartbreaking. and disturbing. 35 years. This is. probably one of one of one of the worst. cases that we've had to uh I think the. facts that you have um that she probably. died a long time ago uh and and was.

stowed away is probably enough uh to. show you u what we are dealing with. here. So yes, no very very difficult on. everybody uh handling these cases. >> Now at that point investigators were. still searching for Garcia's boyfriend. Jonathan Nanita. He was arrested on. October 13th. Cameras captured him being. led from the station, his face bruised. as officers placed him in a cruiser. Now, all three suspects appeared before. a judge on October 14th. This was their. first court appearance since the.

arrests. Jacqueline's mother, Carla. Garcia, was charged with murder with. special circumstances, conspiracy to. commit murder, improper disposal of a. body, tampering with physical evidence, unlawful restraint, intentional cruelty. to a child under 19, and risk of injury. to a child. Her bond was set at $5. million. Her sister Jacqueline was. charged with intentional cruelty to a. child under 19, risk of injury, firstderee unlawful restraint. Her bond. was set at $1 million. And Anita is. charged with murder with a special. circumstance, conspiracy to commit.

murder, risk of injury to a child, unlawful restraint, intentional cruelty. to a child. He's being held also on a $5. million bond. Now, obviously, this is a. story that we wanted to bring to you. And the reason that we can cover. something like this is not only because. of the amazing support that we get from. all of you out there, but also from our. incredible sponsor, Upside. This is the. free app that gets you cash back on. daily essentials like gas, groceries, food. So, I pump my gas, I can use. Upside. I go out to lunch, I can use. Upside. I get something from a. convenience store, I can use Upside. And. why wouldn't I want to get cash back.

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getting darker because we are learning. new details from three different fronts. You have DCF's own records, newly. unsealed police warrants, and family. court files, and each one adds another. layer to how all of this unfolded, how. this tragedy unfolded. So, to help us. break all this down, I want to bring on. a special guest. I'm joined by family. law attorney Randy Kesler. Randy, thanks. so much for coming back here on Sidebar. Really appreciate it. Always great to be. with you, Jesse. >> How does a case like Jacqueline Mimi.

Torres Garcia, how does this happen in a. modern system? How could a 12year-old, 11year-old disappear for nearly a year. with I I guess the question is nobody. noticing without detection. >> Yeah, I'm so glad you're covering this. story. Shine some light on it. Now, you. know, these social workers and people. that work for departments of family and. children services across the country, they're always overworked. They're. always underpaid and things slip through. the cracks, right? We don't think about. it until we hear something like this. But we need to keep shining a light on. this. It should have been caught. We as.

a government, we as a people, we as a. civilization need to protect the most. innocent. That's the term in Latin, parents patriot. The state acts as. pseudo parents to take care of children. And this one fell through the cracks. There were warning signs everywhere. Somebody should have caught it. Well, well, more specifically legally, what do. agencies like the Department of Children. and Families, DCF, what do they play in. protecting children? What are their. limitations? Where do the systems fail? >> So, there a lot of times when I say they. have no limitations, and they should.

have more limitations because they are. enormously powerful, it's very hard if. you're a legislator in a state to vote. against giving child protective services. all the power they need, right? Their. job is to protect children. So, there. are a lot of laws on the books that let. them go in, you know, if I'm trying to. get custody for my client, I have to. file a lawsuit. You know, I have to go. to court. I have to get an order. They. have administrative powers where they. can go right in on suspicion and say, "First things first, let's protect the. children. Then, we'll investigate and. figure it out." There are a lot of good.

laws on the books. So, it's not a matter. likely of the law being there for them. to use. It's a matter of them having the. time to research it and figure out which. case should we use this law on. This is. one they should have used all the. powers. I cannot imagine they didn't. have the power to go in and protect this. child before this tragedy happened. And. >> and this aspect of custody battles, right? How common is it for family. disputes, custody battles where it. escalates to the point that a child is. at risk, obviously children are. affected, but where a child is at risk.

that there are warning signs for. attorneys or judges to look for. I mean, again, as we're still trying to piece. together what's going on here. Oh my. god, I wish I had three days to answer. that question, Jesse. You know, one. problem is that the judges are. overwhelmed. Across the country, family. court judges or judges that handle these. kind of cases get 800, 900, a thousand. cases a year to resolve. And so when. you're thinking about a case as a judge, you're also thinking, I got 12 more I. got to get to today. It's hard to dig. into the background. The other thing is, you know, we have some priorities,

right? There's an echelon of priorities. Parents come first. Next would be. stepparents, grandparents. So grandma. had custody. And then when they got to. court and mom came forward and said, "I. want to have custody." Because she's the. mom, the blood relative, the biom, she. trumped grandma even though grandma had. been the main person in the child's. life. And the court awarded mom custody. because that's the general thing to do. That's the general hierarchy. Digging a. little deeper, spending a little more. time on it, you know, sunlight is the.

best disinfectant. there was not enough. sunlight shed on this case and on this. situation. >> How do schools, medical providers, neighbors, are there ways to better spot. signs of abuse, signs of neglect in. cases where a child, you know, is maybe. withdrawn from school, isolated at home? I know hindsight is 2020, but are are. there ways what they should be looking. out for? >> Yeah. And again, we're talking about. layers. It's, you know, be a good. neighbor. Yes. Report things if you see. it. Schools have duties. They have.

obligations and most importantly they. have opportunity. They see things you. know counselors see things. There's a. thing called a mandatory reporter. Some. institutions psychologists for example. or schools or teachers are mandated. reporters. If they're are aware of abuse. they're required to report it you know. but then there's this pendulum of well. if they over report and they keep. reporting parents because a child breaks. their arm and they say maybe the dad did. something bad to the child and then the. school was wrong. Then the parents might. sue the child and they're being wrongly. accused. So there's this balance of.

protecting a child versus falsely. accusing somebody of this horrible. thing. You know, as far as I'm. concerned, we protect children. We worry. about the secondary victim second. First. things first. So schools have to be more. alert. Don't be afraid. If you see. something, say something. It's the only. way less children are going to be harmed. or killed like this one. >> I want to start uh getting into this and. I want to start with this reportedly. deceiving DCF uh video call that was. placed. The Connecticut Department of. Children and Family, DCF, uh, now says.

that in January of 2025, it conducted. this video call was someone that the. mother claimed was Jacqueline Mimi. Torres Garcia. So, this is months after. investigators believe Mimi had already. died. And according to DCF's newly. released timeline, their last prior. involvement with the family had been in. September of 2022. Now, this was a. separate investigation into Jacqueline's. younger siblings because at that time, Jacqueline and her siblings were. determined to be safe uh visible in the. community. And then you fast forward to.

August of 2024 where Carla Garcia. submitted notice to withdraw Jacqueline. from public school, indicated the family. was moving to Farmington, intended to. homeschool her. School records show the. withdrawal date is August 26, 2024. But. then in January of 2025, DCF reopened. contact due to alleged concerns. involving Jacqueline's younger sibling. And during that investigation, Garcia. had told DCFA case worker. And during. that investigation, Garcia told DCF case.

workers that Jacqueline was being. homeschooled, was temporarily out of. state with a relative. And DCF says they. asked to speak with Jacqueline directly, right, to make sure everything was okay. And in response, the family arranged. this video call, produced a child who. appeared on camera, presented as. Jacqueline, and because no further. concerns were flagged, DCF closed its. involvement with the case in March of. 2025. Randy, that is a quite the. allegation here that someone was posing. as that child. If that's true, have you. ever heard anything like that before?

>> I I think I've heard it all, you know, and I'm starting to think expect the. unexpected in family law. And it's just, you know, I've heard worse. I've heard. people falsifying DNA test to prove. their child is not her own child, a. mother that didn't want someone to have. custody. So, they've instead of. falsifying it to claim that a rich. athlete is the father of their child, I've seen opposite. So, I've seen a lot. of that, but you know, you got to dig. deeper. I mean, there there's so many. warning signs and a lot of them seem. small. You know, the the neighbors that. smelled some foul odor in the in the. building and the you know, the child's.

going to be homeschooled and the dad. who's not seeing the someone's got to. piece it all together. The problem is we. think and hindsight's 2020 that somebody. is monitoring this case, piecing. together the facts, figuring out what's. going on. And really, it's a bunch of. paperwork that comes across the desk and. they say, "Let's just make a call. We'll. do a video call. We'll check it out. It. looks normal to me. We got worse cases. where there's blood and guts and police. reports and violence and recordings. Let's move on to the next case." This. one didn't have the overt evidence. This. was the maybe something's going on. All.

right, let's satisfy our concerns. They. saw a video. don't fault DFCS or. whatever the name of it is in that. state. Um but gosh, this is a just. terrible conspiracy. Bls go off to me. when you're taking a child and you're. going to homeschool the child and you. don't want the father to see the child, you know, but again, who leaves to the. conclusion that a child's been murdered? It's just a, you know, no one wants to. think that. No one wants to believe. that. >> What about the gap? So DCF hadn't been. involved since September of 2022. They.

reopened contact in January of 2025. Is. that typical for child welfare cases, monitoring things like that? >> Yeah, I don't think they were monitoring. the case. I think they figured it was. all said and done, nothing was going on. anymore, so there was no reason to stay. involved. It was not a foster parent. situation. This was the real mom with. the child. Um, you know, there's so many. other kooky things, Jesse. You know, dad's paying child, not dad, the the dad. of the new children's paying child. support, but then she's having more. children with that debt. You know, if. you piece all these little pieces. together, in hindsight, it does look.

like why wasn't somebody paying. attention? But I think what happened in. 2022, they looked at it, cleared her, and said there's no other need to get. involved. And then when something else. arose, they got back involved. I wish. they'd been monitoring it the whole. time. >> If a parent intentionally deceives child. welfare authorities, not, you know, whether it's putting some a different. child on camera, whatever, have you talk. about the DNA results? What are the. legal consequences? >> Well, you know, there's perjury, there's. all sorts of hiding evidence, or they. concealing a crime. there a lot of legal.

consequences, but again, they're going. to pale in comparison to the actual. crime if there's murder. But if you're. not doing anything wrong except lying to. DFCS or the child protective services uh. in your state, yes, you're going to be. in trouble. You're lying to a government. authority. You're going to be uh asked. to to state things under oath. So, you're committing perjury. Um the. problem again is those organizations are. going after people who have harmed. children, not people who have lied to. them. They're more interested in. protecting children than liars who are. just lying because they're afraid. they're going to be found to have done.

something else wrong. You know, written. a bad check, got parking violations. So, people lie all the time in court. And we. try to go after them, but the worst. crimes are the ones we go after. So, um. there are remedies, but it's not what. the protective services group has time. to do. They don't pursue people that lie. to them. Uh they're worried about the. immediate thing on their desk. And. unfortunately, there's another one on. their desk and another one on their desk. and another one on their desk. They've. got to put out the fires before worrying. about the little tinder and the other. small things that might lead to a bigger. fire later.

>> By the way, I should say uh DCF's. involvement with Jacqueline, it actually. goes back to the day that she was born. Okay, so according to a timeline that. was released by DCF, uh they first. stepped in in January of 2013 when Cara. Garcia was in a detention center. So. Jacqueline was placed in the care of a. paternal relative, quickly became her. legal guardian through the Superior. Court for Juvenile Matters, and DCF. closed its case in August of 2013. Over. the following years, DCF, they kind of. remained intermittently involved from.

April of 2014 through June of 2016. Again, briefly in 2017 and 2021, the. agency provided services that were. related to Jacqueline's younger sibling. And during these periods, the relative. guardian allowed the parents regular. access to the children and Jacqueline's. younger sibling. They were formerly. placed with the guardian in February of. 2016. In 2022, Carla Garcia, Jacqueline's father, Victor Torres, they. successfully petitioned to regain. guardianship of both of the children. So.

DCF, they actually supported this move. because they reviewed the family's. history. They spoke with the children. They assessed the parents ability to. care for them. Their final pre-death. involvement came in September of 2022, which I mentioned before. And at the. time, DCF found that the children were. safe. They were attending school. They. were receiving medical care. They. provided inhome support and housing. assistance. And the case was closed in. November of 2022. There was no findings. of abuse and neglect. From November of. 2022 to fall of 2024, DCF really had no.

further contact with the family. During. that period, Jacqueline continued to. attend school, as I said, excuse me. And. during that period, Jacqueline continued. to attend school, received routine. medical care. She wasn't homeschooled. Carla Garcia was granted sole custody in. June of 2024, a court process in which, by the way, DCF played no role. But. Randy, is that a typical back and forth. like you see? I mean, it seems to me the. goal of the state is to have. reunification with the biological.

parents. >> Yes. I mean, it seems like they did. their job, right? But it's hard to say. that when you see what the consequences. are. I mean, maybe there should be. random check-ins. Maybe there should. have been a a plan. Like, we have. reunification plans when a parent hasn't. seen a child for a while and they've got. to jump through some hoops. You know, in. this case, I just keep thinking, how. much smoke do you need before you're. convinced there's a fire? There's so. much going on that, you know, can you. have a tentative or conditional. assignment of custody. We don't do that. Someone gets custody of their child, we. leave them alone. If the court decides. they should have custody, like in this.

case, then we presume the court did. right and we let them have custody until. they screw up and we we learn of it. But. in this case, when you know, child. protective services was involved, maybe. there should be some annual check-in, sort of like a probation period, maybe. that's something the court could have. ordered. You know, hindsight, again, it's 2020, but from the protective. services group's uh perspective, they. did what they were supposed to do. >> There was nothing there was nothing more. for them to do. There's nothing more to. challenge it. There's nothing more to. challenge custody, >> right?

>> No, I don't think there was. >> Um, there's something else I want to. talk about that just developed these. newly unsealed search warrants because. they're shedding light on the alleged. chilling abuse that led up to. Jacqueline's death. Okay, so. investigators say that Cara Garcia. admitted to police that she stopped. feeding her daughter in the weeks before. she died. That is a horrifying. confession and it confirms months of. neglect and abuse if true. According to. the warrants reviewed by the Stamford. advocate, Garcia and Anita restrained.

Jacqueline using zip ties. They did this. whenever she quote acted badly. Garcia's. sister, Jacqueline, told detectives that. she had witnessed the abuse firsthand, even telling authorities she quote knew. the girl was going to die. She described. seeing this little girl tied up, confined to a corner, forced to lie on. pea pads on the floor. So, she wasn't. able to move freely or escape this. abuse. And the documents also reveal a. strange and disturbing detail that. Garcia reportedly began taking notes for.

a podcast that she planned to record. about what happened to her daughter. Now, Randy Garcia's sister reportedly. witnessed this abuse, claimed she knew. the child was going to die. She's facing. her own kind of legal consequences here. What do you take away from these new. allegations? >> Well, shame on her for not doing more, right? We are all, you know, we don't. just get along in society and just live. independently. We have a duty to do good. for others, especially for family, especially for children. Um, yeah, she's.

going to face some consequences as well. if she was aware of it, didn't report. it, didn't help that child. And she's. going to face consequences maybe in the. afterlife. Who knows uh what kind of. consequence she's going to face, but you. know, it's just crazy that nobody else. knew this, that nobody else saw this. I. understand the neighbors, you know, maybe it was postmortem that they. smelled the smells of the deceased body, but um you know, how can we fix these. things? And I think it's just shedding. sunlight on it. There are situations. like this. You know, if you're watching. this, it could be your neighbor. It. could be someone across the street. It's.

not confined to poor people or rich. people or people of a certain culture. just, you know, these things happen. >> It's unfortunate. It's horrible. Let's. not let another one happen. But yes, those allegations, >> I cannot believe it didn't come to light. before before she was killed. >> Is it evidence of premeditation? Is it. evidence of consciousness of guilt? You. know, if this is you're stop feeding the. girl who who succumbs. I mean, what do. what do you take away from that? >> I mean, premeditation, it's a whole.

pattern, you know. It's it's similar. conduct. It's Yeah. I mean, I think it. it's murder and it just shows it's sort. of an aggravating circumstance, especially because the victim was a. minor. It's going to heighten the. charge. It's going to make it a more. serious case than it's simple murder, if. there is such a thing. But yeah, all. those factors go into it. And of course, when you're in front of a jury, the less. the jury likes you, the harder it is to. get any kind of um relief. So, this lady. is not going to do well in front of a. jury. I cannot imagine that she's not. going to plead out at the last second,

but she may have no choice. The state. may say, "We're not accepting a plea. We. want you to be tried. We want the. maximum consequence. >> What about this podcast? That was weird. >> Yeah, I mean it it doesn't rise to the. level of a mental insanity defense. because she was coordinating it. It was. a pattern and she was not constantly. insane the whole time. This wasn't a. momentary act. But yeah, it just makes. her very very unlikable to put it. nicely. >> I want to ask your opinion about this. So court records they reveal that her. mother Carla Garcia and father Victor.

Torres who we've been mentioning had. been engaged in intermittent custody. disputes for years and even after. Jacqueline was initially placed with a. paternal relative at birth in 2013. Family records reviewed by NBC. Connecticut revealed that for most of. her life Jacqueline lived with her. paternal grandmother Patricia Delgado. after her mother Carla Garcia was unable. to care for her at birth. 2016, Delgado. sued Garcia for child support, and that. highlighted the early tensions over this. girl's care. She told NBC Connecticut, quote, "DCF took her away from me. I.

felt they forced me to hand over the. girl, and I went to court, and they told. me that the grandmother no longer had. any rights to take or even see the. child." And Delgado also said that after. Garcia regained custody, she restricted. family access, refusing to let relatives. see or speak with this little girl. And. in addition to disputes with her. grandmother, Garcia also faced conflicts. with Jacqueline's father, Victor. In. 2023, Torres took Garcia to court, alleging that she wasn't honoring their. joint custody arrangement. He wrote, "I.

want to see my children weekend like. agreed when given joint custody or any. day for that matter." Now, Randy, you're. seeing these disputes. Is it true that a. grandparent really doesn't have rights. as we might think? >> Welcome to my world. I'm going to meet. with somebody later today about a. grandparents rights case. You know, like. I was saying earlier, parents, natural. parents have the first, you know, right. to raise their children. And, you know, if you ask me, I'd say if you look at it. neutally, grandparents are probably.

better to raise children than parents in. some situations, right? They're older, wiser, usually wealthier, have more life. experience. But we give natural parents. the right to raise their children unless. they really screw up and they're found. to be unfit. And maybe the right. situation would have been to leave her. with her her grandmother. You know this, and again, this is going to sound. terrible, but grandma was obviously. angry at mom for the way she treated her. the daughter and she sued her for child. support and got child support. And that, you know, all this bubbled up and. eventually mom got her act together to.

some degree and fought back and sued for. custody. And then when she got custody, she was so angry she said, "I'm not. going to let you visit. I'm going to sue. for soul custody." So human emotions are. so important in family law. the best. thing to do is do everything you can to. make peace with the other relatives, with the mother of the child. But yes, unfortunately, the court either didn't. dig deep enough or didn't have enough. evidence to say despite the fact that. you're the natural mom, this child has. now become acclimated to grandma has. been raised well by grandma and we're. going to leave grandma in the picture.

We're going to grandma some visitation. rights. I mean, this there's always this. back and forth. You know, does a mom. have the right to say this child doesn't. get to visit grandma or grandpa? Right. now in most states the law is yes absent. some extreme circumstances mental. illness or something really bizarre. And. then you can imagine Jesse when a court. says to a mom or a dad you're going to. have to let your in-laws have time. Well. that's a piece of paper doesn't sit very. well with most parents to be ordered to. do something. If we try always to do. that out of court mediate it find peace.

find Rick, you know, whether it's money. or improving the life or finding a nice. environment where they can all be. together that's peaceful and and even. mom benefits because they all take a. family trip to somewhere mom wanted to. go. I mean, you got to think outside the. box in these situations because the law. is pretty clear. Natural parents have. the right to raise their children and. grandparents shouldn't interfere. They. should just say, "Please, may I see my. grandchildren?" That's the default. In. this case, the default didn't work.

One more thing that I want to talk about. with you um before we go because what. happened to Jacqueline isn't just. breaking hearts across Connecticut. It. is also sparking calls for change. According to the Connecticut Post, a. Bridgeport father named Los Fidel has. launched an online petition calling for. what he has dubbed Mimi's law. So this. proposed legislation would tighten the. oversight of homeschooled children to. ensure that as Fidel puts it, no child. disappears unnoticed again. And Fidel.

wrote that the system failed Jacqueline. because no one outside her home was. regularly checking on her well-being. His petition, which has had more than. 12,000 signatures as of the time of this. recording, it calls for a sweeping set. of reforms. Mandatory in-person welfare. checks for homeschooled children and. accountability requirements for DCF, especially when repeated reports go. uninvestigated. Body cameras for child. welfare case workers. Restrictions on. where convicted child abusers can live. noting that Jacine's aunt, Jacine. Garcia, who's now charged with child.

cruelty, had a prior conviction for risk. of injury to a minor. And regarding that. aunt, by the way, we're now learning. more about that prior case. According to. NBC Connecticut, Garcia was arrested in. 2023 after bringing her 11-month-old. daughter to Connecticut Children's. Hospital, reporting an issue with the. baby's leg. And investigators said the. child was found with multiple bruises. and fractures at different stages of. healing. An arrest warrant that was. reviewed by the outlet revealed that. Garcia had initially claimed the baby. had fallen, but there was no record of. any pediatrician being contacted despite.

the statements to police. Court records. show Garcia was convicted of risk of. injury to a child, sentenced to 10 years. in prison, suspended after 18 months, followed by 5 years of probation. So, Randy, what do you think of Mimi's law? You think this is something that's uh. that that would really have legs and is. important and is necessary right now? I think it's a great idea. I think there. should be a law like that in every. state. Funding, right? It all comes down. to funding because again, the laws are. on the books. There already good laws. there. You know, the nice thing about.

this push is not only that it might. create legislation and better laws, but. it's making people aware that these. situations exist. And again, if you're. working for Child Protective Services, you're going to say monthly checkups on. people that we've investigated years. ago. I got somebody right now who's got. a police report pending that I've got to. go out and visit them. How do I have. time to do a monthly checkup? They're. just, you know, people don't spend time. realizing how much money this stuff. takes and how how broad it is until. Jesse shows this on his show and talks.

about it and gives some, you know, some. coverage to it. Now, it's getting. coverage. Mimi's law will give it some. coverage. I hope the law passes, but I. hope it raises awareness and I hope it. raises contributions. It needs to be. funded, whether it comes from taxpayer. money or contributions. Uh, if there's. money there, we can do a lot. But yes, to to shortly answer your question, I. think it's a great idea. >> Well, all three suspects, they remain. behind bars. They're due back in court. on November 14th, and um we'll see where. it goes legally, but uh you know, you.

talk about failures, you talk about a. tragedy, this is one of those cases. Randy Kesler, thank you so much for. taking the time. Really appreciate it. >> Thanks for having me. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so. much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].