EVERETT, Wash. — A mother accused of stabbing and killing her 4-year-old son in Everett pleaded not guilty Monday.
Janet Garcia, 27, stabbed her son, Ariel, dozens of times before leaving his body near Joint Base Lewis-McChord on March 27, charging documents in the case said. Garcia was charged April 15 with first-degree murder.
Bail was set at $3 million.
Responding officers noted in their report they initially identified 16 "sharp force wounds" on his body but there could be as many as 41. A medical examiner determined the boy's death to have been caused by "homicidal violence."
Ariel Garcia was reported missing by family members on the evening of March 27 from an apartment in Everett, where Janet Garcia had been staying with a friend. Janet Garcia's mother informed law enforcement she sought an emergency order granting her custody of Ariel Garcia. Her mother initially went to the apartment to serve the papers. Janet Garcia had reportedly been struggling with substance abuse and was known to use methamphetamine.
Family members sought custody of her two sons because her "behavior was progressively getting worse," according to a probable cause statement.
When law enforcement searched the apartment, they found a large blood stain on the carpet indicating "at minimum, a serious injury had occurred," according to court documents. When Janet Garcia was asked about what happened by the apartment's owner earlier in the day, she said the 4-year-old fell and hit his head, but she took him to the hospital and he would be OK.
Witnesses told law enforcement that Janet Garcia had recently checked herself into a rehab program in Vancouver. When law enforcement got in touch with her, she was "evasive and non-specific" when she was asked about the whereabouts of herself and her son. She told the officer she dropped Ariel Garcia off with a friend but was inconsistent when asked where and what the friend's name was.
At the same time, the rehab facility Janet Garcia had gone to called law enforcement to report she was not wanted there. She was taken to a precinct where she was interviewed. She continued to give inconsistent statements about Ariel Garcia and how exactly he had been injured. Law enforcement noted there were drops of blood on her shoes and shirt.
Meanwhile, Everett police used Janet Garcia's cellphone data to track her location from the time she was last seen to when she showed up at the rehab facility. Data showed she traveled southbound on Interstate 5 and stopped in the vicinity of JBLM. Agents with the FBI and the South Sound Gang Task Force searched the area for the 4-year-old boy and discovered his body wrapped in a blanket taken from the apartment.
The boy had "numerous" sharp force injuries to his chest, abdomen and back. An initial count identified at least 16 wounds to the front of his body and a cluster of sharp-force wounds to his upper back.