Mom charged with murder of 4-year-old boy found dead along I-5; Arrested in Clark Co.

By Web Staff Jefferey Limdblom and Paulina Aguilar

Click here for updates on this story

    CLARK COUNTY, Washington (KPTV) — A woman from Linwood, Wash. was arrested in Vancouver and is charged with the murder of her 4-year-old son, the Everett Police Department announced Friday.

Ariel Garcia was reported missing by a family member on Wednesday in Everett, Wash. that morning. According to court documents dated March 28, a friend in Everett that 27-year-old Janet Garcia and her son, Ariel Garcia, were staying with came home to find both mother and son gone, and a “substantial” amount of blood on the floor.

On Thursday at about 6 p.m., a child’s body was found along Interstate 5 in Pierce County near Tacoma. Detectives confirmed the boy was Ariel Garcia and the Snohomish County Medical Examiner will determine the cause and manner of death.

Meanwhile, in Clark County on Wednesday evening, deputies responded to a rehab center in Ridgefield after an unwanted person report. According to deputies, that person was Janet Garcia.

Staff members at the center said she had come to the facility for alcohol-related treatment and issues in the past.

Daniel, a staff member, said when Janet Garcia showed up Wednesday, staff were on alert because her mother had called them, concerned about her grandson.

“And that’s when I initially called 911 and told them that she was here,” Daniel said.

Daniel said she seemed as calm as ever as he waited for police.

“Your son is missing. There’s blood. And you’re just out here like nothing happened,” Daniel said. “It was just not normal.”

While Clark County deputies interviewed Janet Garcia Wednesday evening, a “vehicle of interest” in the case – a steel blue 2013 Nissan Sentra SV, was found in the parking lot of 3Peaks Public House & Taproom in Ridgefield.

Surveillance video showed the Nissan Sentra enter the parking lot and a person who appears to be Janet Garcia get out of the car and walk out of frame heading north on Northeast 10th Avenue, according to court documents.

Janet Garcia told deputies on Wednesday that her son fell off a bed and hit his head in Everett. She took him to a Providence Hospital in Everett, where she found the wait was “too long” so she left, dropped her son with a friend in Seattle and then took a bus to Ridgefield “to get alcohol treatment.”

The deputy states in Clark County court documents they saw blood on Janet Garcia’s shoes and blood specks on her white shirt.

In follow-up interviews, according to court documents, Janet Garcia said she found a friend’s phone number on Facebook and called the friend to ask if she could bring her son to that friend’s house. She told detectives she then deleted her friend’s phone number and deleted her Facebook account after dropping the boy off.

Then, Janet Garcia said she drove to a Greyhound bus station in downtown Seattle and left her car there. According to deputies, she showed them her set of keys to the car and said her mother may also have a set, but “no one knows she left her vehicle in the bus lot.”

Deputies said Janet Garcia “could not articulate any of the locations she went to, or how she knew where to go.”

Court documents say Janet Garcia allowed deputies to look at her phone call and text log which had “numerous calls and text messages,” and at her Google Maps history. Deputies do not say if they learned anything from that search.

Janet Garcia was initially charged on Thursday by Clark County deputies with giving false statements to law enforcement.

Then, on Friday, the Everett Police Department said she had been charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and first-degree assault of a child.

Daniel said he’d met Ariel Garcia.

“If it doesn’t hit you in the heart, there’s something wrong with you,” Daniel said. “All kids are innocent.”

Police are asking for any surveillance video that might help them track the car between Everett and Vancouver on March 27, or help them determine where the driver went after parking at 3Peaks.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.