The mother of a 4-year-old Everett boy who had disappeared stabbed him at least 16 times, killing him, before leaving him near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Pierce County, police said in newly released court documents.
Janet Ernestina Garcia, 27, was booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Friday for investigation of first- and second-degree murder and assault of a child. At her first court appearance Monday, a judge set her bail at $5 million.
Court documents in Snohomish County show the boy’s grandmother had won emergency guardianship of him and his brother the day before he disappeared after convincing a judge his mother was a threat and unable to care for him.
In a petition, Maria Angelica Garcia described her daughter’s behavior as “very violent and unpredictable,” and wrote that Janet Garcia would leave home for days because of her drug and alcohol addictions, which had worsened in recent months.
The disappearance of Ariel Garcia last week launched an extensive, regional search before his body was found Thursday evening. Detectives think the killing was premeditated because of the custody dispute and Ariel’s extensive injuries, according to court documents. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office determined he died from homicidal violence.
According to a probable cause statement written by police, when the grandmother and her son arrived Wednesday at an apartment where Janet Garcia was staying to serve the emergency guardianship order, they found “a large amount of blood on the floor.” They did not see Janet Garcia there. The apartment was her ex-boyfriend’s mother’s.
Police later noted the blood, which had seeped through to the subflooring beneath the carpet, was “rather a highly concerning amount that would lead me to believe that at minimum a serious injury had occurred,” the documents said.
In texts between Janet Garcia and her ex-boyfriend’s mother, Garcia called the blood “nothing serious” and said Ariel had fallen and she was taking him to the hospital. The ex-boyfriend’s mother reportedly said she saw Garcia and Ariel when she left the apartment for work at 7 a.m.
Garcia’s brother, who was later at the apartment with police, told officers that Garcia “has had episodes of extreme paranoia,” according to the documents.
About 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, the Clark’s County Sheriff’s Office was alerted that Garcia was staying at a rehab facility in Ridgefield and was “not wanted” there. When sheriff’s deputies showed up, they reportedly found her with blood on her clothes and shoes.
In interviews with law enforcement, she was “evasive and non-specific,” and contradicted herself when talking about where her son was and how he got hurt, court papers say. She first said he fell off the bed while they were sleeping, then she said she was making tea when he fell, then she said he was jumping and then fell, according to the documents.
She also gave a phone number for someone she said was with her son, but the number didn’t exist, police wrote.
Sheriff’s deputies initially booked Garcia in Clark County for investigation of making false statements to police who were trying to locate a missing or injured child. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant for her phone.
Seattle Times staff reporters Lauren Girgis and Mike Carter contributed to this story.