Transcription
On March 27th, 2024, officers from several agencies in the state of Washington would be alerted about a child who went missing under suspicious circumstances. Family members of four-year-old Ariel Garcia notified officials of their concerns. He was last known to be with his mother, Janet Garcia.
In an affidavit, Ariel's grandmother shared that Janet's behavior had become "very violent and unpredictable." She was obviously concerned for her grandchild's safety. Through investigative work, officers discovered Ariel was last seen leaving her apartment at 7:00 a.m. that morning.
In the midst of tracking her location down, officers would just so happen to receive a call from an alcohol rehabilitation center just 3 hours after the missing child report was put in place. Officers from the Clark County Sheriff's Office met Janet at the rehab center and pulled her out of the building to question her about her son's whereabouts.
"How you doing? Yeah, okay. Yeah, sure. Nothing on you, no. Okay, you guys give us some privacy. Can I just speak? You don't need to reach in. I'll just... You know why we're here. Are you okay if I open the zipper? Why? Why are you guys here? What's going on today? Can I open the zipper? Just check in there. Thank you. I just want to make sure before... What's going on today with you and... Sounds like the cops have been talking to you already. Yeah, so my um... so I... You got some blood drops on your shoes. Yeah, so my son fell this morning earlier. Oh no. Yeah, but I was able to take him to the doctors and everything was okay. I took him to... with another lady so she can watch him for me 'cause I was... I wasn't staying at home. I had problems going on with my parents and they didn't let me in the house so I um... I was staying with another lady. She was super sweet. That's where my son fell and then... but... but we left so I was like, okay, you know um... so I went to another lady's house and I told her if she could watch him for me. I wanted to come get, you know, I wanted to fully recover. I'm an alcoholic so um... I was like, if you can watch him for me for 12 months, that'd be amazing because I'm not talking to my mom and she's the one that has just like a notarized paper saying that she has legal custody of them, but I have legal custody of them. She's not letting me see my older son, so I'm a little... that would be really hard. Yeah, I'm a little bit upset about that."
One news report shared that Janet's own mother, Maria, had filed for legal guardianship of both Ariel and his seven-year-old brother only two days prior, on March 25th. Sources share that Janet, Maria, and Janet's two sons all lived in an apartment together. An affidavit shares that Maria accused Janet of taking Ariel with her to go drinking at a bar while out with friends and that he had no shoes and was not dressed appropriately for cold weather conditions. She said Janet would also leave both her sons unsupervised for long periods of time without food. Janet had also allegedly violently thrown Ariel's older brother against a wall, physically abusing them. Janet's mother also specifically cited her drug and alcohol abuse as a problem.
In addition to filing for legal guardianship, Maria also filed for a restraining order against Janet, prohibiting her from being within 100 ft of Ariel and his brother. The court then granted an emergency guardianship the day prior to this footage, on March 26th. A court date was scheduled for March 29th to go over the conditions of the guardianship and the restraining order. "It's likely that this situation is heavily affecting Janet's actions, so I'm here now and everything's okay, so I don't know what else... Well, we obviously, we just... we want to make sure that he's safe and know where he is. Who's the friend that you left it with? Um, I left him with another lady. I don't have her information. Oh well, that's... that's not going to cut it. We got to figure out where he's at. Where can you like tell me the location where somebody could go and check on him and make sure he's okay? In SE... like SeaTac area. Okay, Seattle. More specific? I don't have an address, nothing. Who's the friend? How do you know the person that... how did you pick the person? She's a longtime friend that I know. Okay, what's her name? Um, Alica. That's how I know. Alica Bone. Alica Bone. M. Okay, and you've known... or anything. Okay, but you've known her for a long time. So how did you reach out to her? So I reached out to her um... because I... I needed help. How did you reach out to her? Um, I found her number on my old Facebook, but I no longer have a Facebook anymore. Okay. Something you don't sign back into? And no, no. You deleted it? All. I delete it all the time. So yeah, you found it today on your old Facebook? And her name is Al... Ala Bone. Alica Bone, like B O N E. Mhm. Note Janet's confirmation of her friend's name, Alica Bone, spelled B O N E. Okay, and she lives in the SeaTac area. So you drove him from the first house you were at to her house or the doctor first? Mhm. What doctor did you take him to? Swedish. Swedish? And that's it? Swedish where? Or I think it's Providence actually. Providence in Everett. In Everett Providence. Okay. You understand we just need to make sure that he's okay and then... yeah, we do that and then we can leave you be, you know. Yeah, okay. So how do we find Alica? I don't know. Can you describe to me how you got there from Providence? So I just drove from there to Seattle and then that's it. You drove from Providence to Seattle to Alica's house? Yes. Okay. Um, did you drive on the freeway or...? Mhm. Okay. Um, how... how long did it take you to get there? Like 2 hours. 2 hours? And what car were you driving? My car. So just like 1 hour or so? And what kind of car do you have? Um, I have a Nissan. Where's that car now? I don't have it with me. Okay, so where's it at? Um, I left it at her house and then I came over here on the bus."
Evidence discovered later would suggest Janet did not take the bus to get there. Instead, security footage shows that she parked her vehicle down the street from the alcohol rehab center, ironically parking it at a bar roughly 3 hours before the police began questioning her. About a minute after parking, she exits her vehicle and walks towards the rehab center. It's worth noting that the rehab center is an over 2-hour car ride away from her supposed friend's house in SeaTac. Taking the bus, especially if it was a last-minute trip, is highly unlikely. All trips we could find wouldn't have even dropped her off until after 6:30 in the afternoon, as the routes that leave in the late morning can't bring her there any earlier. The closest bus stop to the rehab center is over a mile walk away as well. Only if she was running would she have arrived before police began to question her.
"Do you remember what exit you took? I don't know. Okay. Um..." Janet takes a seemingly relaxed, big yawn here despite talking to police about her son's whereabouts. "Janette... okay, Janette, you're not... you're not lying. You have a longtime friend that you reach out to to leave your son with, who you obviously care about very much. I love him with all my... Yes, and you're expressing how upset you are about what's going on between you and your mom and the custody of him and your older son. Like that's horrible. So I know that you're not gonna go leave your son with somebody and you don't know where he is. Yeah, no. So you do know where he is? No, I know where he is. I know where he's at. Tell me where he's at. I don't have the address for him. Okay. How can we find the address for him? I don't know. Did you put it in your phone? No. Sck... get there. Okay. Alica, you know where your son is because you're a mom who loves her son very much and you didn't... Not Alica, I'm Janette. I'm sorry. Janette. Yeah, you took him somewhere and you're going to go back to him and you know where he is. M. So tell me where he's at so we can make sure that he's okay or what's going on. So he's not... I mean, he's there. He's with her, but he has to go check on him. I can give you an address. Okay. What's the address? I don't know. You have to write it down. Okay, I can do that. Do... have a phone number for it to...? Um, I don't. Okay. I don't have a phone number for her, but when he fell... where he... get her... just... he... on his head, but he fell on the ground and he hurt himself. Heads are the worst. Yeah, I'm just trying to find... I don't even... How old's your son? He is five."
Janet says her son is five, but according to news reports, he was 4 years old when this video was taken. "So I don't know if this is the right one. The address Janet supplies, which we are keeping private for the homeowner's sake, as they may not even be involved, is nowhere near the SeaTac area as she claims. The address she shares is roughly a 30-minute drive away from that area. Seattle, Washington. Where did you get that address from just now? From the top of my head. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So that's where you remember leaving him? So yeah. Alica. That's Alah. Mhm. How do you spell that? A L I C A. Okay. Um, last name is B O N N. B O N N. Yeah. Uh..." She seems to remember a different spelling of her friend's last name, contradicting her previous confirmation from before. "...So and... and if you guys can't find him or whatever, this is where I'm going to be for the next 12 months, but I mean, he's there. Check in. How did you guys discuss that you're going to... you're obviously going to communicate with him still. You want to check on him and all that. How are you guys going to communicate? Well, I'm not... I'm not going to have my... I'm not going to use my phone 'cause I'm going to be here for the next 12 months. Okay. Um, so if anything... I don't know what else. Okay. That's it. You didn't discuss that with Alica before you left? I... I yes, I discussed with her. I'm going to be here for 12 months and then um... and then but before that um... like I don't speak to my parents or anything like that because we got into an altercation, so but this is where I... this is where I'm going to be. Okay. You can um... going to give him that address. Yeah, and then um... tell me about your alcoholism. How long have you been dealing with that? I've been drinking alcohol... You don't mind telling me? You don't have to tell... I've been here. This is like my... okay. I've been here like... this is like my 30 here. Okay, so I did 11 months in recovery because I've never... I was never like an alcoholic. I was more like of a drug user, so the only drug I ever used was meth. Yeah, and I used it for roughly like five... four to 5 years. Okay. Um, I came to finally get clean on and off... on and off, right? I tried it one time and then years pass and then I do it again and then years pass. This my third year clean. I started drinking a lot because I was like, okay, I'm not a drinker. I'm... I'm like... I was, you know, I was a... I was a drug user, so alcohol is okay. So alcohol is fine. I'm like, it's a socialized thing that everybody does. I'm going to go out. I'm going to have dinner. I'm going to do this. Well, I drink to the point where I can drink a whole bottle of Just Like Liquor, so I'm like, that's... now I'm an alcoholic. Gotta... so I started to have all kinds of problems and then now I'm back here hoping I can get clean again. I just... well, I'm glad you're in a space where you feel safe, that you feel like that can work for you. I hope it does. Yeah, that's great. Yeah, I'm ready. Good. Well, I hope... I just want to um... figure out where your son is. OB... there was some concerns and once we can do that... his injury was pretty bad. Yeah. Was there quite a bit of blood and stuff? What did he do? He jumped from the... from the bed that we were sleeping on to the ground and then he just got blood on his head and so I had him... take him to the doctor and so he's doing good. Okay. Okay. How did... what did he hit it on? Just on the ground. Okay. How did it start bleeding? Just... it just started bleeding. Can you show me like what side of his head? Do you remember what side of his head it was? Um, I don't remember exactly what side of the head it was, but it's starting to rain a little bit. Yeah, it is. Okay, so you don't... how... what time did it occur today? Like early? Like at 10, 11? So how long were you guys at the hospital? We were only there for a little bit. He... I don't even think he got checked... we got there and um... but we didn't... he didn't... I didn't wait enough for him to get checked out, so... so he didn't actually go back and get checked. Gotcha. Did you actually go inside and check him in? Okay. And then did you tell him you were leaving or did you...? Okay. You just said he's not going to be seen and left? Yeah. Okay. And how is he acting? He's okay. Yeah. What happened to him when he fell? Nothing. He just cried. Just cried. Mhm. Just... just like, you know, just... so yeah. Okay. Yeah. Do you want to sit down? I can put you... just... I can leave the door open. You can sit right there so you're out of the r...u... When you fell down, you think need to go to hospital because he was bleeding from his head, so that's why. Yeah. Okay. Go... that's a legit reason. I... you can stay dry. Yeah. So... well, that's scary. He's four."
Janet confirms his age of four, even though she said he was five earlier. "Do you know how long you at the hospital for? Um, I was only there for a little bit of time again. I didn't want to wait, so I was like, let's go. MH. Can you describe to me what that Providence looks like? Do you know what road it's on? Did you park in the emergency room parking lot or...? Mm... I don't remember. I don't know. Or was there a parking gar... or anything? I don't remember at the top of my head. Okay. Do you remember when you walked in? Like can you describe to me when you walked in what it looked like? It just... the hospital... just the hospital. Okay, but can you describe like when you walk in the door, where was the check-in? In the front? Like the... I walked in, as soon as I walked in the front desk was checked in right there and I just... I said my son had to be seen for something and then I just... his name and everything... everything. Okay. You're going like this. So you wrote it down or was there like a check-in thing or... there was a check... all but I think they checked me in. No. Yeah. So you didn't write anything on there. Okay. Have you been there before? No. No. That was your first time? That was my first time. When you checked in, the desk was it just an open desk or just an open Des...? Was it behind a like a... did they have like a glass wall or just an open desk? Okay. Was there a lot of people in there? MH. Yeah. That's why you didn't want to wait 'cause it was too long. Do you think he needed stitches or anything? No, he's fine. Okay. You didn't remember where his injury was. Is it front side, back? Do you remember? It's the side. It was the side. Definitely one of the sides. That you... the front. Yeah. Okay. Front. You're kind of pointing above the eyebrow. Mhm. You contacted your friend through Facebook. Yeah. Okay. Or I got her information through Facebook. Oh, okay. And then what information did you get? Um, just her number and then I went to her house and dropped off my kid there and then now I'm here. Okay. You got like her phone number. Mhm. Okay. And did you call her from your phone? Um... from my phone. Okay. The one that's in your purse there? You called her from...? Okay. I think I erased it though, but I have her number. At this point, there are multiple definitive pieces of information that Janet didn't remember or simply didn't have access to that she miraculously remembers or discovers in her phone. Who she left her son with being one, where she left him being another, where his injury was on his head, and now she claims to have her friend's number even though she said she deleted her Facebook and phone records. I don't know if you guys want to call her, but I don't think she's going to answer anymore. In searching the phone number that Janet provided, we discovered it is sourced from Alhambra in California, which is just south of Pasadena. No records of who might own this phone number were available online at the time of editing this video, but we are keeping it private. It is unknown if this was another thing that Janet has pulled out the top of her head. I don't think she's going to answer. How come? What makes you think that? Because I don't know if she's still going to be there. Did you send her any text messages? No. Okay. Do you remember what your son was wearing today when you took him to the hospital? Um... pajamas. Blue pajamas. Poo... like when... need the poo... just regular blue pajamas. Oh, blue. Can I ask who you're messaging with? Yeah, my sister. She... I was just talking to her about um... her flying out here. Oh, nice. Where did she live? California. Par... um... in Pasadena. Yeah. I want to move over there. That's nice and sunny down there right now. Yeah. Really good. I might just take her phone. She's got some specks on her shirt. She's got BL on her shoes. She's not really making sense. So if you guys don't like locate my son, what's going to happen? Who's working on at the moment? Why? Why do you think they won't be able to locate them? I mean, you got the address to where you'd be because like... I'm... I don't know. I'm just saying if you guys are not able to find him, like what's... what can happen? What's looking like... what it's looking like right now is that we're going to need to stay with you until we find him 'cause it sounds like you said you know where he is. You know where you left him, so it shouldn't be an issue, right? Should be able to locate him. Okay. So that's what... we just need to stay with you until... till we locate him. Okay. Um, I have another favor though to ask. Yes. Because it's raining and it's cold and I'm shivering and we're going to be with you I think for a little bit. Are you listening to me? Yeah. We're going to be with you for a little bit. Would you mind... we have a precinct right at the road. It's comfortable and dry that we can all sit in so we can chat um... so we're all out of the rain. Would that be okay? Where is it? It's right down the fa... rounds. Yeah, just on 179. Yeah. And then we can give you a ride back and all of that if that's okay. Can I get a coffee from here before we go? We got coffee there. We have coffee. We got coffee. Coffee. Can you grab that seat belt around your backside then that way we can all be dry and comfortable and sit... you can get some coffee. Welcome. Hey, I appreciate it. Absolutely. I can stop and get her a coffee or something."
The male officer appears to drive Janet to the station. Although there is some interrogation footage we will break down later on, it appears there is no footage covering their journey to the station. The female officer stays behind to investigate the area.
"I... I need everybody out of here. There's no... there's no like... if answer... we're investigating a crime right now." She evacuates and searches the rehab building but discovers nothing of significance. She also questions others on site who may have interacted with Janet. "Undercover right there. She pulled in quick too. You know her? So um... did you chat with her today or anything? Just when I pulled up I saw her and I said, 'What are you doing back?' And she said she's trying to... she sober again. She cut her hair like Britney Spears. She had really long hair. Oh, she said really long hair? Oh yeah. Maria's filing for legal guardianship also cited Janet recently shaved her head and that she was becoming more 'erratic' and then she just kind of looked washed up, you know? I said, 'Well, you know, be good and listen.' That's what I told her. In the fall, last fall she was here. She's been here like four or five times, you know? She just... but not since like last fall. No. I don't know how she showed up. You said that she might have took an Uber or something. Yeah. And then they came and then she H... so... but you didn't see no car drop her off or anything? Huh? No. She got dropped off up there. When you say that, you mean us? Yeah. I came earlier. Okay. You saw her? Oh yeah. Yeah. When they were up here earlier, she hid from them. Hell yeah. Okay. 100% positive she had dropped off in the black car, but I didn't think she was coming here until I walked in there and I said, 'Ola, seor...' I thought it was..."
Although footage shows Janet drove and parked a car at the local bar and walked towards the rehab center, the roads connecting them are fairly busy with a speed limit of 50 mph and seemingly no sidewalks. It's possible someone might have picked her up as a hitchhiker and dropped her off. It's also possible that this eyewitness is simply mistaken.
"Any other conversation you had with her today? I'm sorry, that's all I got. Her mom's Dr... off a bunch of times and they all... I know is she's just kind of problematic, you know? That like... like when she was here she wouldn't really listen. She'd get arguments with other women that were here um... you know, her sponsor would tell her to do things and and she wouldn't do them, you know? Like being here, there's like a set of rules. If you want to be here because it's free, we don't charge nobody and stay sober, you know, stay within the guidelines and it was just never that way with her, so okay. Just kind of... she was always off the wall kind of... I don't want to say crazy, but maybe mental health issues. Did you see her like have anything with her when she showed up? That little purse? No. She just came with a t-shirt. Yeah. She had like a zip-up sweatshirt on when she left. Oh, you guys gave her that? That she just had a t-shirt on and her purse and it's freezing right here. Yeah, it is. I'm freezing and I have a sunshirt on. Okay. I appreciate your help. Who owns this place? You and your dad. My dad. Your dad does. Where's he at? Um, I think he's at home. Oh, okay. So I know the deputy on the phone kind of talk to you, but did you see her get here? I didn't see her get here. No. She's been here before, but I mean, like I told the adult, she left and we told her mom to find her like actual like a... like a psychiatrist 'cause her problem is just like... it was beyond just drugs and alcohol. Yeah. So Janet's Mother, Maria, in her plea to the court for her grandchildren's custody seems to have taken the rehab workers' advice. In the order she had requested rehab and psychiatric care for Janet along with access to Janet's tax refund so Maria could use the money to support her kids while Janet was in psychiatric care. Maria had written to the court, 'If she has access to her tax refund, I'm afraid she will lose herself even more. The last thing I want is to lose her due to an overdose or in a drug-related incident. She needs rehab and psychiatric help to bring her back to who she was. Her kids need her. I really hope Janet will be able to come back from this to be able to fully parent her children. She needs more help than I can give her.'"
Minutes after that conversation, officers discover the car Janet parked at the bar. They appear to break open the driver's side window and secure the vehicle. Based off the footage provided, they seem to find nothing alarming.
"Empty. Hallelujah. All right. I was trying to..." While these officers question individuals at the rehab center, Janet is simultaneously being questioned at the station. More interrogation footage will be viewed later, but from this roughly 30-second clip we received, it appears investigators are going through her phone call history and questioning her on who each number is connected to. You can also see they've supplied Janet her coffee as promised, along with what appears to be cupcakes during police interrogations. It is vital that officers ensure suspects are taken care of so that they cannot reasonably claim in court that they were coerced into confessing.
"Daniel told me that her mom was calling because they can't find her son and her mom went to her house and saw blood. I don't know how dramatic it was, but saw blood. I don't know where, but just saw blood. Okay. And they can't find her son and then she's over here and Daniel... my brother... where's your son? She... he's with my mom and her mom's calling over here saying he can't find her son. I mean, she... I mean, there's a bad connection there. I don't know if she's lying, crazy. I don't know. And her mom's crying and hysterical. No, she's not here. He's not here. Where... where the heck is he? Do you know how many children she has? Two. Two. Uh... do we know where the other child is? Um... as far as I know, with her mother. Okay. And I think that was the whole dilemma is they can't find her other son, Goa. And so her mom went to her apartment and saw blood and went hysterical and this is how this all started. Did she seem like uh... from the... the previous Janet that you knew a couple years ago? Was it...? Yeah. Um... compared to today, how was her behavior? Uh... drastically different because she was always bubbly and loud and had this big great laugh, you know, kind of really annoying laugh and and talking to everybody and and she was just kind of with her hands in her pockets and quiet and um... and just went in and sat down and didn't talk to anybody really. So she's not currently resident. She doesn't have any private space or room here. Correct? Is her sponsor here? No. Okay. He's not here, right? Yeah. Um... does he normally live here or is he still primarily living here? He's the owner of the... of this... this land. Gotcha. Yeah. And I don't think he's here right now though. Do you know if she was being disruptive today or causing any issues? That's what I mean. It was kind of drastically... she just kind of quiet and went sat in the chair and didn't talk to... the part we were actually coming back from a job site. My dad called me. He told me to call you guys. Mhm. 'Cause I guess she was here and I think um... Janet's mom probably called him and told... told him the situation, what was going on that one of her sons was missing and uh... the... I think her mom ended up finding wherever she was staying full of blood or something like that. Okay. So he told me to call you guys and to let you guys know 'cause I think she had filed a report already over there and so he told me to call you guys uh... let you guys know that she was here and well, he didn't tell me all that part until I got here, but yeah, so that's why I called you guys. Was she on alcohol? It was alcohol. Crystal and probably everything in between. She didn't um... go back into any rooms or anything. Yeah, they didn't see her do it."
The officers continued to question individuals at the rehab center and search the property.
Footage we've obtained: they found nothing that hinted at Ariel's potential location. Yeah, again, if if we find anything on our own, I mean, if you guys got a car, call 311.
Hours after bringing Janet to the station for further questioning, this footage shows some of of the interrogation room.
Cool, sorry, I'm wasting the call. Oh um, I'm just going to shut the door. Oh okay, grab okay, you need anything, just knock on the door. Okay.
Based off the footage we were given, it appears that a more thorough interrogation took place on footage that has not yet been made public. The problem is, it's reporting right now and it says most of the footage provided here showed very little contact with Janet. The video timestamps indicate that Janet was at the station for over 3 hours.
At this [Music] point, we ordered food earlier. Put, do you want some tacos and stuff? Do you want me to get you some water with them? Okay. Do you like ice in it or no? No ice. Okay. Okay, you're welcome.
And then any look finding? We haven't um and then so I'll let you know that you're going to be going to jail tonight for making false statements is what we're charging you with. Okay, so um I'm just wrapping up your paperwork and then we'll let you like eat and everything and then we'll take you down there. Okay. All right. [Music] Did she get some food?
All right, so I think um Tanya, Detective Johnson had told you that you're going to go to jail tonight. Okay, um I want to take a picture of your hand because you had said you had hurt your nail or broke your nail or something, so I want to get a good picture. Which one were you talking about? Do you remember? Um, I don't remember it. Okay, I'll just take a picture of yeah, hold them y like that. Excuse me, do you have any other injuries on your hands or anything? Okay. All right, just want to go for me. Mhm. Right. Yeah.
Janet, these are going to go with you. This is the search warrant for your cell phone that we wrote, and then this is your Citation for um making false statements to the public service, so these will go with you and go in your property in the jail. Okay, um I'm going to just uh search you real quick. Okay, so if I turn around, place the door for me, spread your legs for me. Nothing else in your pockets or anything? Okay. I'll it. Yes. All right.
According to reports, officials issued an endangered missing person's advisory at midnight that day. This more locally focused alert was issued instead of an Amber Alert. According to news sources, Ariel's disappearance did not meet the federal requirements for an Amber Alert, which requires information like a potential suspect vehicle description and a defined location of where an abduction or disappearance took place.
Just before 6:00 in the evening of the following day, on March 28th, 2024, officials would unfortunately discover Ariel's body off of Interstate 5. He was found in a location that was roughly halfway between Janet's allegedly blood-covered apartment and the rehab center she visited. The location of Ariel's body was an over 75-mile drive away from her apartment; however, it is unclear if this was where she was staying when she left for the rehab center.
Janet Garcia is being charged with first and second-degree murder, as well as an assault of a child. She has submitted a plea of not guilty, and she currently has a bail set to $3 million. At the time of editing this video, Janet's case is going through the court system, and a verdict and sentencing is yet to be determined. According to news reports, an autopsy revealed that Ariel was stabbed up to 41 times and showed signs of defensive wounds.
This story is unfortunately not an entirely unique one for the United States, and criticisms of custody laws continue to arise from situations like this. In this case, District 35 Representative Travis Couture criticized legislation during the events of this video that he sees as too lax. He shares that current legislation strictly keeps kids away from parents who use fentanyl, but other hard drugs do not qualify grounds for separation. He claims that in the specific case of Ariel, had something like my bill been in place, that death might have been prevented, and added, "We don't want instances like what we saw with this case with little Ariel where, you know, he's murdered, he's dumped like garbage on the side of I-5, like his life didn't matter."
As extremely dark and devastating cases of this nature come to light, we hope that in publishing these stories, however tragic, it helps promote transparency in government, inform the public, and shed light on events like these.