Homeschoolers Win Battle to Expose Connecticut and Media Lies in Connection to Child Murder Case

Homeschoolers Win Battle to Expose Connecticut and Media Lies in Connection to Child Murder Case

Republished with permission from AbleChild.

The tragic murder of 12-year-old Jacquelene in New Britain sparked misleading claims blaming homeschooling for the failure to locate her and prevent this horrific outcome. Those claims have now been decisively refuted by legal representatives, advocacy groups, and key law enforcement clarifications. This has turned the tide in favor of the homeschooling community and exposed serious systemic failures for Jacquelene.

Governor Ned Lamont finally commented on the case as did multiple lawmakers in Connecticut only to continue to look to regulate homeschooling rather than take responsibility for their failed agency the department of children and family services (DCF)  that lost contact with the family prior to the murder.  Connecticut is a one-party system, a failed state.  Therefore, the state has no other option then to lash out at the families that have left the dangerous education system to homeschool their children.  This little girl’s family are products of DCF; and all the lawmakers of the state are completely responsible for this outcome.  This is the state’s “evidence based” outcomes we hear so much about in all the legislative hearings where the public gets very little input, if any at all.

Nothing changes, if nothing changes and that is exactly the way they like it. Now The DCF Agency will “self assess” where they went wrong, lessons learned – rinse and repeat.  It is disgusting!   One lawmaker even stated DCF missed the mark on this one, you think?  Josh Michtom, a senior attorney at the Center for Children’s Advocacy claims “We need well-supported offices, mental health care and an oversight body, and I don’t think we have any of those things right now.”  Are you kidding?  What is the behavioral health oversight partnership that allocates millions in mental health funding?  This is basically corruption and fraud.  Let’s just say it.

Partial disclosures and misrepresentations raise questions about the State agency and public schools’ motives. There are no documents to back up why the State lost track of the family. These issues must not deflect from the true failings in protecting Jacquelene. Attorney Deborah Stevenson, representing the homeschooling community, has publicly refuted claims that Jacquelene was homeschooled at the time of her death (press release below).  Court records clearly show she was murdered in late June 2024, which was over two months before her mother filed homeschooling paperwork in August 2024. This timeline is irrefutable and directly contradicts the false media narrative claiming homeschooling was a contributing factor according to the press release.

New Britain Police confirmed that Jacquelene remains, discovered in October 2025, were in an advanced state of decomposition. Investigators believe her death occurred while her family was living in Farmington, where her body was reportedly kept in the family’s basement before moving to New Britain. Home School Attorney Deborah Stevenson confirmed from court documents that the child died in June 2024, over two months before homeschooling paperwork was filed.

Even People Magazine jumped to run Connecticut’s unverified reporting without checking facts. The media appears to avoid any type of investigative reporting.  The media continues to cover up for not only failed politicians but failed policies that failed this 12-year-old. This wrong data sends the consumers the wrong concept that somehow homeschooling is the reason that authorities lost track of this young child; this negatively impact the homeschooling community without any facts.

This timeline underscores neglect and abuse by those responsible for her care under what appears to be the unwatchful eye of DCF and the public school system. Remember, there are 98,000 children in Connecticut who are missing from attending public school.  Where are those children?

Police Chief Matt Marino clarified his remarks that the media inaccurately reported as fact that Jacquelene was homeschooled. He emphasized it was “reportedly” so. He added that he would leave it up to the Department of Children and Families (DCF) to speak for themselves.

The oversight failure by both the school system and DCF let Jacquelene go missing for so long without detection. The Superintendent, who claims he has forms relating to Jacquelene’s schooling, must release all records and not selectively release some.  When the schools are asked to provide the mental health records of the mass killers, they hide behind privacy laws, yet this Superintendent is willing to release some of these records to blame homeschoolers? The glaring question to the Superintendent should be: When was the last time you saw this child alive? His comments should be backed up with documents? let’s see them all or is this claim to deflect attention from the school and DCF’s role in the death of this child? This important distinction highlights how unverified statements were incorrectly presented as confirmed facts.

All records from the DCF regarding this family, along with all school records, should be fully released—not selectively leaked to damage homeschooling communities across the nation, but they won’t be, of course.  The focus must shift to holding accountable those agencies responsible for protecting vulnerable children, who in this case tragically failed Jacquelene, and of course the murderers responsible for her death.

NATIONAL HOME EDUCATION LEGAL DEFENSE, LLC
Attorney Deborah G. Stevenson
Founder
P.O. Box 704
Southbury, CT 06488
(860) 354-3590

[email protected]

 October 16, 2025

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

This is a notice to all media outlets, in addition to the public.

Ever since the story broke about the poor unfortunate New Britain 12 year old girl whose mother, aunt, and another are accused of murdering her, rumors began to fly that the girl was “homeschooled” and was killed after signing a withdrawal form on August 26, 2024 stating the family was moving to Farmington, and signing another form that same day indicating the mother’s intent to “school her at home”.

NHELD has refrained from commenting on that because the forms that she purportedly signed have not been released, such that the claim remains simple hearsay.

We are commenting now, however, because we do have evidence that the date that the murder occurred was June 21, 2024.  How do we know that and what is the evidence?

We know because we have read the publicly available Case Detail appearing on the state’s Judicial Website concerning the mother, Karla Garcia.  The link to that site is: https://www.jud2.ct.gov/crdockets/CaseDetail.aspx?source=Pending&Key=f71b6c85-9563-4dbc-af16-c2b11927805e

On that site, you will see that it shows that Karla Garcia has been charged, among other things, with murder.  Adjacent to the charge you will see a column stating the “Date of Offense”.  Under that column it is clearly listed that  the Date of Offense of the murder is June 21, 2024.

This is extremely important because if the Date of the Offense is June 21, 2024, when the little girl was enrolled in the fifth grade at the public school, then it would appear that the child was murdered over a month BEFORE the mother allegedly signed the withdrawal and notice of intent to school at home forms, on August 26, 2024.  That appears to be a reasonable conclusion based on the available facts known at this time.

Assuming that to be the case, then, all of the rumors, statements, and arguments that have been swirling around in the media until now clamoring about the need to “regulate homeschooling” because this tragic murder was caused because the girl was “homeschooled”, is absolutely false.  Those who are responsible for spreading these rumors now owe the homeschool community a very large and genuine apology.

This should be a wakeup call to everyone.  It’s never a good thing to jump to conclusions without having solid facts first.  We hope the lesson is well learned.

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