Recent court documents have shed light on a tumultuous family custody battle involving a 12-year-old girl from Connecticut, whose lifeless body was discovered last week on an abandoned property.
Jacqueline Torres’s mother, Karla Garcia, and her boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, face charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Additionally, Garcia’s sister, Jackelyn Garcia, has been accused of tampering with evidence, according to a report from CrimeOnline. Karla Garcia is also charged with child cruelty.
Authorities suspect that Jacqueline Torres was killed during the fall of last year.
According to WVIT’s obtained documents, Jacqueline primarily resided with her paternal grandmother, Patricia Delgado, for much of her life. However, in 2022, custody was transferred to Karla Garcia.
Delgado expressed her distress in the court records, stating, “DCF (the state Department of Children and Families) 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.” She alleged that Garcia was obstructing the family’s communication with Jacqueline.
In the subsequent year, Jacqueline’s father, Victor Torres, initiated legal action against Garcia, alleging that she violated the terms of their custody agreement.
“I want to see my children weekend like agreed when given joint custody. Or any day for that matter,” Torres wrote.
Following that court filing, Garcia filed for full custody, which was granted in June 2024. Police say Jacqueline was murdered just a few months later.
Police found the body last week when they were called to investigate a report of suspicious behavior. They found a large container along the fence line in the backyard of the abandoned home. Inside was Torres’s body in an advanced stage of decomposition.
Police said during a news conference that they were told of someone dropping things off — including the storage bin where the remains were found.
The Garcias and Nanita are due in court on November 14.
