A Connecticut woman and her boyfriend — who are already accused of murdering her 11-year-old daughter — now face additional criminal charges after officials discovered the pair allegedly lied about the girl’s death in order to continue receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Authorities believe Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia was killed during September of 2024. Her body wouldn’t be found until October 8, when investigators entered the couple’s residence and found her remains stuffed inside a container.
Mimi, according to medical examiners, was severely malnourished when she died, and weighed only 26 to 27 pounds, and had likely been dead for around a year before she was found. Mimi’s mother, Karla Garcia, Garcia’s ex-boyfriend, Jonatan Nanita, and Garcia’s aunt, Jackelyn Garcia, have all been arrested for Mimi’s murder.
Karla shares three other children with Nanita.
Karla, 29, and Nanita, 30, have been accused of making false statements to the state about Mimi in order to receive additional SNAP benefits in Mimi’s name.
Department of Social Services investigators allege that Karla has been receiving SNAP benefits for her household since October 13, 2020.
After her arrest for Mimi’s murder, police contacted Social Services to search their system, where it was found Karla had been receiving SNAP benefits for Jacqueline and her four other children at the time of her arrest.
In both January 2025 and August 2025, Social Services determined Karla submitted SNAP renewal forms, while failing to report that Mimi was no longer a part of the household.
She also did not report Nanita was a part of the household. DSS found Nanita had been receiving his own SNAP benefits from October 16, 2024, through his arrest in October 2025, using an address in a nearby town.
Social Services acknowledged that Karla would have received less in SNAP benefits had she had been honest.
Both Karla and Nanita signed the renewal paperwork, acknowledging they could be fined up to $250,000 and imprisoned for up to 20 years for making false statements.
Karla is charged with conspiracy to commit larceny in the first degree by defrauding a public community and two counts of giving false statements. Nanita is charged with larceny in the first degree by defrauding a public community and two counts of giving false statements.
Karla and Nanita blamed each other for the child’s death, reports WFSB.
The little girl’s remains were found in plastic trash bags that had been placed inside a 40-gallon tote that was found in a laundry basket, beneath a comforter and bedsheets. Police claim it appears a white powdery substance was poured on the remains in an effort to mask the smell of decomposition.
According to WFSB, warrants indicate Karla told investigators who were looking for Mimi that her daughter was visiting a friend. Karla repeatedly asked, “What do you mean?,” later on, when she was told by police only three of her kids were found at her home.
Police then told Karla that no one had seen Mimi for more than a year, and they believed the body found in the tote was the little girl’s. Karla denied knowing anything about a tote containing her daughter and denied knowing what happened to her.
She told police she last saw Mimi eight months earlier, when the family was living in Farmington. She said the last person she saw her daughter with was Nanita.
