CRHE mourns Mimi Torres-Garcia, 12-year-old homeschooled child in Connecticut

Child advocacy group urges legislative reform to close deadly gaps in homeschool oversight policy

For immediate release

Washington, DC – On October 8, 2025, 12-year-old Jacqueline “Mimi” Torres-Garcia’s remains were discovered in the yard of an abandoned property in New Britain, Connecticut. Torres-Garcia, whose parents are facing murder charges, was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in August 2024, around when she likely died. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, mourns the loss of Torres-Garcia.

Torres-Garcia’s story follows a tragically familiar pattern. It is the latest of over 226 known fatalities of homeschooled children that CRHE has documented in our Homeschooling’s Invisible Children (HIC) database. Analysis of HIC data reveals a trend of abusive caregivers withdrawing children from school not for educational purposes, but rather to evade suspicion for, and to escalate, abuse and neglect. Cases that involve known withdrawal from school feature higher rates of prior social service history, abuse consistent with torture, and fatality. Nearly half of all fatality cases involve known withdrawal from school. 

In states like Connecticut, which currently does nothing to regulate homeschooling, abusive caregivers can easily exploit the cover of homeschooling to intentionally isolate victims. Connecticut does not prevent caregivers with violent criminal histories nor open DCF cases from homeschooling, and it is one of only 12 states that does not require home educators to notify their school districts of their intent to homeschool, making follow-up on child-welfare concerns difficult. 

Torres-Garcia’s death came to light just a few months after it was discovered that a Waterbury man had been imprisoned and tortured for decades by his stepmother, who used the cover of homeschooling to isolate him from the outside world. “Cases like Mimi Torres-Garcia’s reflect unacceptable failures of policy to adequately protect children,” said CRHE’s executive director Tess Ulrey. “We urge Connecticut lawmakers to implement basic safeguards that ensure every homeschooled child receives a quality education in a safe home.”

The Coalition for Responsible Home Education empowers homeschooled children by educating the public and advocating for child-centered, evidence-based policy, and practices for families and professionals. www.responsiblehomeschooling.org

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