Mom Zip-Tied Daughter on Pee Pad Before Horrifying Killing: Police

12-year-old girl Jacqueline Torres. Garcia was allegedly restrained with zip. ties and forced to lie on pea pads in. her own home. And now a newly unsealed. search warrant reveals even more. horrifying details. Jacqueline's mother. and others allegedly starved her, concealed her body, and even let another. child impersonate her during a DCF. check. Apparently after this girl had. already died. We are going to break down. the latest chilling developments in this. case with family law attorney Jennifer. Roman. Welcome to Sidebar presented by. Law on Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

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found inside of a plastic tote behind an. abandoned home in New Britain. And now. we have this new update. Okay, so Long. Crime has obtained a newly unsealed. search warrant, and it reveals. disturbing new details that. investigators say they uncovered, including what happened after. Jacqueline's death and how her body was. moved. And this warrant also describes. messages and photos that police say show. the extent of the abuse, including one. image that was allegedly sent by.

Jacqueline's aunt showing this. 12-year-old girl zip tied and lying on a. pead. Now, we're going to break down. what's inside this new warrant, how it. changes what we know about this case, because what's laid out in these pages, it hits even harder when you understand. where this story began, how a. 12-year-old girl's life just slowly. disappeared from view. So, this again is. Jacqueline Torres Garcia. For years, she. attended school in New Britain. That was. until August 26 of last year when her.

mother, Carla Garcia, apparently. suddenly withdrew her, saying that she'd. be homeschooled instead. No one knew it. then, but that was the last time anyone. outside that home would ever see. Jacqueline alive. And police now believe. that in the months that followed inside. their Farmington apartment. Jacqueline. was abused and starved and restrained. And investigators say this abuse. continued through the fall of 2024, the. same period they believe she died. But. instead of reporting her death, detectives alleged that Carla and her. boyfriend Jonathan Nanita kept her body. hidden. First in their basement and.

later when they moved to New Britain. inside this plastic storage tote that. they brought with them. So months. passed, no one reported her missing. And. then you go to October 8th, 2025 and. everything changed. You had this. anonymous 911 caller who reported. something suspicious that was going on. And it was behind this abandoned home on. Park Street, New Britain. When officers. arrive, this is when they make a. discovery that is horrifying because. that plastic tote sealed shut inside. They find the remains of Jaclyn Torres.

Garcia. At a press conference, New. Britain Mayor Erin 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. >> And police have called this case exactly. what it is, 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, you know, very very difficult on. everybody uh handling these cases. >> So within days, detectives announced. three arrests here. Jacqueline's mother,

Carla Garcia, she 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. Garcia's. sister, Jacqueline Garcia, the aunt. here, was charged with intentional. cruelty to a child under 19, risk of. injury, and first-degree unlawful. restraint. Garcia's boyfriend, Jonathan. Nita, was the last to be taken into. custody, arrested the day after Carla. and her sister. And once police.

confirmed his alleged involvement in. Jacqueline's death, he was then charged. with murder with a special circumstance, conspiracy to commit murder, risk of. injury to a child, unlawful restraint, intentional cruelty to a child under 19. And while these arrests were unfolding, DCF's involvement in Jacqueline's life. came under scrutiny. This is something. we talked about because according to. newly released agency records, DCF first. stepped in when Jacqueline was born back. in 2013. This was after her mother was. in detention. Jacquine was placed with a. paternal relative who became her legal.

guardian. And DCF closed the case later. that year. You had intermittent. involvement that followed over the years. related to her younger sibling. The. final pre-death contact came in. September of 2022, confirming that the. children were safe, that they were. receiving care. And as I mentioned, in. August of 2024, that's when Carla Garcia. withdrew Jacqueline from public school, claiming that she would homeschool her. In January of 2025, DCF, they reopened. contact due to concerns regarding. Jacqueline's younger sibling. They. arranged a video call with someone who.

presented as if they were Jacqueline. That's one of the weird aspects of this. This is, by the way, months after police. say she had already died. DCF closed the. case again in March of 2025 after there. were really no concerns that were. flagged. years of family conflict over. custody that created additional tension. in this story. Court records show that. after initial placement with her. paternal grandmother, Patricia Delgado, there were these custody disputes. between Jacqueline's parents and. relatives that continued for years. And. after regaining custody, Garcia. reportedly restricted family access to.

her daughter. But here is where the. story takes a deeper and darker turn. This newly unsealed search warrant is. offering a look inside what police say. may have been happening in the weeks and. months leading up to Jacqueline's death. So, to help us break all this down, I. want to bring on family law attorney. Jennifer Roman. Jennifer, thank you so. much for coming here uh back on Sidebar. Um, this is a unique kind of case. because from your experience, how common. is it for a child to just disappear when.

maybe you don't have continual DCF. oversight like on a continual basis, but. they were a part of this girl's life for. quite some time? Is it uncommon to see. something like this? >> Unfortunately, no. And I think it's. becoming more and more common. Um, you. know, DCF reported that for at least a. period of two years, if not more, they. had no contact at all with the family. And that's because DCF said there was no. reports of abuse, no concerns of abuse.

They pro had previously provided. services. Family seemed to be. cooperating and the court ultimately. returned custody to little Mimi's. parents and DCF no longer had. involvement with the family. The. circumstance that makes this. particularly unique, however, is that. they homeschooled her and they pulled. her out of the school system and around, you know, right before the school year. started in in August of 2024. And. Connecticut doesn't have any oversight. over homeschooled children. So, nobody.

had eyes on her um after May of 2024. when she last saw her doctor. Is it fair. to say, hey, you know, agencies, courts, they should have done something. differently. If you have these repeated. issues, these families disputes, these. restrictions, that these were red flags. Is that a fair thing to ask or no? >> It's definitely a fair thing to ask. And. those are always questions that do get. asked when we have something as horrific. and tragic of an outcome as we do here.

>> Yeah. And what is the role? What is the. responsibility. um of family members or caretakers in. something like this? Obviously, hindsight's 2020, but is there anything. more if someone's looking at a case like. this that those around a child or those. around a family should do? >> Sure. I mean, you certainly start to. wonder there. Mimi was failed on so many. levels, not only by the system, but by. all the adults in her life, including. family members and potentially neighbors. and others in the community. Um, her.

maternal aunt told police she thought. she was going to die in the f late. summer, early fall of 2024 when she. stopped living with the family. There. had been a paternal grandparent who had. had custody of Mimi and her siblings for. 6 or seven years um because the parents. were unfit and unable to care for her. So, it does make you wonder what. happened to those concerned adults, why. they weren't seeing what was going on or.

why there wasn't more red flags or. issues of concerns raised. Um, from what. we can gather, Mimi was starved to. death, um, you know, and and tortured. and abused for an extended period of. time. And so, you do wonder where these. other adults were, why they didn't say. anything. I mean, the maternal aunt. says, "I knew she was going to die." The. maternal aunt didn't bring anything to. the authorities. So, Mimi was just. failed on so many levels. It's just.

truly tragic. >> And now that aunt is facing her own. criminal charges, which is, you know, frightening to say. So, I want to get. into this search warrant affidavit. As I. said, it's going to provide more details. here. So, the investigation takes this. term when police received a tip that. would ultimately lead them to. Jacqueline's remains. According to the. affidavit, quote, on October 8th, 2025, the New Britain Police Department. received an anonymous tip concerning the. location of a possible dead body on. Clark Street, New Britain. According to.

the complaints, Jonathan Nenita picked. up a tote in the woods of a cemetery and. put it in the back of his Acura. Jonathan Nita then drove to 80 Clark. Street in New Britain where he removed. the tote from the back of his Acura and. left it on the property there. The. complainants believe the tote would have. contained a body. And by the way, the. autopsy results confirm the identity of. that child, provided further context of. her condition before death because. according to the affidavit, it says Dr. Pasal Styles noted that there were no. signs of recent trauma or injuries to.

her body that would have contributed to. her death. Dr. Pascal Styles noted that. Jacine appeared to be malnourished and. police they quickly identified Carla, her sister Jacqueline, Carla's boyfriend. Jonathan as potential suspects. And when. Carla was interviewed by investigators, she allegedly made admissions about the. abuse and neglect. According to the. affidavit, she Carla Garcia and Jonathan. Anita stopped feeding Jacqueline for. approximately 2 weeks prior to her. death. Carla Garcia also admitted to. previously restraining Jacqueline in zip.

ties as punishment when she was acting. bad. This affidavit goes on to detail. how the body was concealed following her. death. According to the affidavit, quote, "Carla Garcia stated Jonan and. Nanita brought Jacqueline's body. downstairs, but she wasn't sure what he. did with it." Carla Garcia stated the. odor from Jacqueline's decaying body was. so strong they had to leave their. residence in Farmington and stay with. friends or at hotels. Carla Garcia later. admitted that she knew Jacqueline's body. was transferred to a tote and was put in. the back of Jonathan Nenita's Acura.

Carla Garcia admitted she knew the tote. containing Jacqueline was transported to. New Britain when they moved to 24 Clark. Street at the end of March. Now, Jennifer, this is just a horrifying, horrifying account. First of all, from a. legal point of view, does it make sense. how this girl died? Not the recent. trauma, but the idea of not feeding her, I think we're getting a sense of what. might have happened here. >> Yes. The indication, the autopsy, it. said there was no signs of trauma, but. yet she appeared to be malnourished. And. then we take that into uh we take that.

in conjunction with the mother's. reporting that they would punish her. without by withholding food by tying her. up with zip ties. She Carla admitted. that they hadn't fed her for 2 weeks. prior to her death in September of 2024. And we also have Carla's sister who said. um and Carla herself who admitted she. received a photograph from her sister. Jacqueline showing um the child zip tied. and on the floor on wee wee pads. You.

kind of the wee wee pads you would use. for an animal training a dog sort of. thing. Just so horrific that it was. clearly an extended period of abuse and. neglect for this young child to have. have died um in the circumstances that. she did. It's inhumane. It's hard to. even process this. Um, I'm going to ask. you a question that I don't I I want to. be clear about this. I don't believe. this obviously, but you wonder what a. legal argument would be. I wonder in. your experience if this is an argument. you've seen. I know that there, you.

know, there's always the goal is to have. reunification of the biological family, always making sure a child stays with. their biological parents. But at the end. of the day, are you going to see an. argument here? And I wonder if you've. seen it before. Look, we're allowed to. discipline our child. It may be. different. It may be unorthodox. Where. does it cross the line? I would say not. feeding your child for two weeks and zip. tying them probably crosses the line, but have you seen that argument before? Hey, I'm allowed to slap. I'm allowed to. put them on a wee pad. I I don't know.

Is that something that you've seen. before? Has that ever been successful? Um I'm not even sure that they would. raise this argument, but I just I've. seen it in other cases before and I'm. just curious your thoughts. Yeah, we. have seen other cases where somebody. that the defendant sort of alleges that. they were exercising their parental. authority and how they chose to. discipline a child even if that. discipline um crossed the line into. abuse or was clearly abusive in a. situation like this. However, I don't.

think that's the defense we're going to. be seeing. I think Carla has already set. herself up, according to the affidavit. from the police, that it was her. boyfriend who was inflicting the abuse. and she was somehow helpless or. powerless to prevent it. Um, there. appears to I wouldn't be surprised if. there's a drug history here. There's. clearly a mental health history of some. type. Um, because I don't think any. parent does this to their child unless. there's something really wrong with.

them. they're they're in some sort of an. altered state, whether that's because of. abuse of substances or alcohol or. because of mental health. They're. usually a combination of the two. So, I. think that Carla's defense is really. going to try to set her up as the less. culpable of the two between her and. Jonathan. Um, and Jonathan is the one. who, you know, removed the body, moved. the body, dis hid the body, took the. body off the premises, moved the body. back, abandoned the body. So, in terms. of, you know, a culpability argument, I.

think that's where we're going to go. Carla's going to try to distinguish. herself and get herself a lesser. sentence for the murder charges that. she's facing or maybe even try to get. something like an involuntary. manslaughter where she would have a. lower sentence and really try to blade. the blame on Jonathan as being the true. perpetrator here. I don't know whether. or not that's going to be successful. her. We just don't know enough yet about. the circumstances, but at first blush, I. would say I don't think either one of. these defendants have a shot. I think. they're both you the the evidence that.

we've the limited evidence that we. already know is so overwhelming um and. damaging to them that I don't think. we're really looking at a meaningful. plea deal for either one of them. >> And to be honest, like there's two. components to this, right? I mean, if if. they try to suggest that she died from. natural causes, they could still. potentially but not not even saying that. would work, they'd still be potentially. on the hook for concealing the body, right? And if you conceal the body, what. does that say about your involvement? So. there two separate points there. But. also I I'll say this, you know, as we're. trying to say, was there an agency? Was.

there somebody that could have stepped. in? I did wonder if one of the. challenges when I read this warrant is. is it tough to say to detect chronic. neglect that may not on the surface be. so apparent versus these acute specific. visible injuries where you could see how. a child is killed. Even if somebody was. looking at Jacqueline or monitoring her, it may have been tough to know something. was going on, right? Yeah, I mean. according to the police reports or DCF. rather, they said that Jacqueline had.

last seen her doctor in May of 2024, when a child's sort of not in the. community, the pediatrician becomes the. first line of defense. So if the. pediatrician wasn't noting any signs of. neglect or abuse, then the red flags. aren't going to be raised. And then we. have again, we have this situation where. they took her out of school and they. said they were homeschooling her. So now. we don't have the school and the. teachers and the administrators getting. their eyeballs on her. So she was very. much isolated which is a form of abuse. in and of itself. Um but that to me.

shows the intention and the. premeditation of the the mother and. father. And they were taking strategic. steps to isolate Jacqueline to keep her. out of the world's view to keep her out. of the system. Right? They knew what DCF. would do. They knew what was involved. They even took it a step further that. when DCF came in to investigate her. younger sibling, they said, "Oh, Jack, mother said Jacqueline's visiting family. out of state and they made someone. available for a video conference. That. someone wasn't Jacqueline.".

>> But does DCF know when they haven't. dealt with this? They haven't seen this. child in 2 years and they see a child. over video conference, can they really. discern whether or not that's still the. same child or not? Probably not. I mean. children grow and change so much between. the ages of 9 10 11 and 12 and they had. limited contact with the family to begin. with. So you know the parents here. really took a lot of steps to keep this. under wraps to keep this out of the. agency's purview. Um and that that just.

made it that much harder for DCF in this. situation to be able to really assess. what was happening. >> And and you mentioned the ant. So, the. affidavit highlights what police say was. the role of Jacqueline's aunt in. documenting this alleged abuse because. according to the affidavit, it reads, "Carla Garcia admitted that her sister, Jacqueline Garcia, sent her a photograph. of Jacqueline when she was lying on the. floor on peads, restrained in zip ties. Carla Garcia stated she didn't have the. photograph on her phone as she now had a.

new phone. Okay. Now, Jennifer, that's. remarkable, that aspect of it. The aunt, the sister here, right? >> Yeah. I mean, the sister clearly knew. that there was something horribly wrong. with this situation and the treatment of. her niece and she didn't do anything. I. mean, she she sends a picture to the. mother, but the mother is perpetuating. the abuse. The mother's part of the. abuse equation here. She didn't go to. the police. She didn't go to the. authorities. And one has to wonder why. not. >> Yeah, that's a great question. I I don't. have an answer for that. I really don't.

Um, I will say this. investigators. They. apparently obtained additional. admissions from Carla Garcia. And I. think that's going to really complicate. the case because it regards her actions, her intentions after Jacqueline's death. According to the affidavit, it reads, "Carla Garcia also admitted that she. told her sister Jacqueline Garcia that. Jacqueline died on September 19th, 2024." Carla Garcia also told Detective. Mccoan that most of the punishments. towards Jacqueline were under the. direction of Jonathan Nanita and that he.

handled her body after she died. Detect. Mcowan relayed that Carla Garcia shared. she was about to go on a podcast prior. to her arrest where she was going to. share the story of what happened to. Jacine. Detect Mcowen stated Carla. Garcia told him she wrote notes of the. story on her cell phone so she could. reference them for the podcast. And this. is something we've talked about, Jennifer, in the previous episode of. Sidebar. It's just a weird detail, but. you're right. I mean, this idea of. putting the blame on someone else. And I. guess the argument would be, I was.

scared. There's only so much I could do. I was in this relationship or I was with. this person where I I couldn't stop what. happened. I I was scared for my own. life. I mean, I'm not saying that's. necessarily what she's coming up with. here, but seeming to put the emphasis on. him. What do you make of this? I think that's her only shot at getting. a reduced sentence is to somehow. blame Jonathan, make him more culpable. I suspect I'm an addict. Jonathan abused. me. There was a level of coercive.

control or physical and emotional abuse. going on as well. So, I was helpless to. help and I was compromised by my. addiction issues or my substance abuse. issues. I wasn't able to think. rationally and clearly. this has sort of. got the underpinnings for those kinds of. arguments. I don't think they're going. to be effective, but that would be the. only defense that she could really mount. from what we're seeing so far. >> And this idea of I guess you were going. to document or publicly recount what.

happened in a podcast. >> So bizarre. I that is just one of the. most bizarre facts of this case. And and. and why? I mean, you're going to go. publicly and say, "Oh, my child was. starved." and abused and zip tied and. that helps her how I mean that's where I. kind of come back to how compromised is. her ability to think and to act and is. that going to play into her defense. because it's just such an odd fact. It's. just so bizarre.

>> You know, there's an aspect to this. where you think about when this girl. died and how long it takes to find out. something like this happened. I I don't. know if every case is like this, but is. this an outlier to you? >> You know, unfortunately, we've been. hearing more and more of these. situations where a child is chronically. abused, tortured, malnourished, and it. ultimately leads to their death. I I'd. like to think it's isolated. I'd like to. think that this really doesn't happen, but I think we we've heard about this in.

the news. There's been a couple of these. cases in the last 6 to9 months, and it's. just deeply disturbing. Just so. disturbing. Well, Carla Garcia and. Jonathan Nita, they remain behind bars. on $5 million bonds. Jacqueline Garcia. is being held on a $1 million bond. They're due back in court on November. 14th. Obviously, this is the second time. we've been covering it. If something. should develop, if we learn more. information, we'll make sure to stay on. top of it here on Sidebar. Jennifer. Roman, thank you so much for taking the. time. It was good to see you. >> You're welcome. Take care. >> 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].