Pool Photo Courtesy of Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut
Members of Christine Holloway’s family sit behind Jose Morales as the jury delivers a verdict of guilty on all at his murder trial at state Superior Court in Milford April 22, 2025.
MILFORD — It only took a jury about two hours to find Jose Morales guilty of murdering Christine Holloway in Ansonia in December 2019.
The jury on Tuesday (April 22) also found Morales guilty of tampering with physical evidence.
Sentencing is scheduled for July 8.
Morales, 48, faces up to 65 years in prison.
Prosecutors said Morales beat Holloway to death inside her Myrtle Avenue apartment on Dec. 1, 2019. Their daughter, Vanessa Morales, has not been seen since Nov. 29, 2019. Her father was the last person to see Vanessa, now 6 years old.
Pool Photo Courtesy of Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut
(Left to right) Howard Stein, the prosecutor, and Edward Gavin, the defense attorney.
MILFORD – A prosecutor said Jose Morales was a controlling boyfriend who beat Christine Holloway to death in her Ansonia apartment the morning of Dec. 1, 2019, spent some 36 hours meticulously cleaning the crime scene, and, two weeks later, concocted an elaborate lie involving home invaders and PCP.
The evidence shows Morales is guilty of murder and tampering with physical evidence, supervisory assistant state’s attorney Howard Stein told the jury during this closing argument in Superior Court Monday (April 21).
Both the prosecution and defense presented closing arguments Monday (watch the video below). By 4:30 p.m., the case, after nine days of testimony, was in the hands of the jury.
Jose Morales testified April 17, 2025 that he took this picture of Vanessa Morales and Christine Holloway in 2019 approximately four to six weeks before Holloway was killed.
MILFORD – On Monday, Dec. 2, 2019, as the mother of his missing daughter lay dead in her apartment, Jose Morales said he opted to leave her there and to go for a ride around Ansonia in a car to smoke PCP.
Morales told a jury Thursday that he stayed with the body of Christine Holloway for over a day after her death. During that time, he said he cleaned the crime scene, including on a rug, where he saw his own bloody footprints. He said he left the apartment to buy cigars from gas stations, to get high on drugs, and to dispose of bloodied items found near Holloway’s body.
Morales is charged with murder and tampering with evidence in connection to Holloway’s death. On day nine of the state’s trial against him, Morales answered cross-examination questions from prosecutor Howard Stein about his actions in 2019.
Pool Photo via Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media
Jose Morales testifies in Superior Court in Milford, April 16, 2025.
ANSONIA – Five years after being charged with murdering Christine Holloway, Jose Morales took the witness stand Wednesday and said that two men he didn’t know killed Holloway and kidnapped his 1‑year-old daughter, Vanessa Morales.
Morales testified he was high on PCP and was unable to do anything as he watched a man beat Holloway to death with a crowbar inside her Myrtle Avenue apartment.
“He said that if I call police, the same thing that happened to Christine would happen to my daughter,” Morales said.
MILFORD — Jose Morales said Wednesday morning he wanted to testify in the murder case against him and, at about 2:40 p.m. April 16 in Superior Court in Milford, he did just that.
Morales is charged with murder and tampering with evidence in connection to the 2019 homicide of Christine Holloway, the mother of Morales’ child, Vanessa, who has not been seen since Nov. 29, 2019. She was a year old when she went missing.
Day eight of the Morales trial featured the prosecution resting its case. Edward Gavin, Morales’ lawyer, then made a motion asking Judge Shari Murphy to acquit his client. The judge rejected the motion.
Gavin then said Morales wanted to take the stand. The judge asked a series of procedural questions to confirm Morales’ desire to testify. Morales testified after the defense called their first witness, Eric Frazer, a licensed clinical psychologist.
Frazer, under questioning by Gavin, talked about the effects PCP, or ‘Angel Dust,’ can have on a person. Frazer said constant PCP use can cause amnesia.
Morales, according to the warrant used to charge him, had previously told police he was high on PCP the weekend police believe he killed Holloway.
The use of PCP may have been introduced by the defense in an attempt to weaken the “intent” element needed to secure a muder conviction in Connecticut.
Under questioning from prosecutor Howard Stein, Frazer said he had no information on what substances, if any, were in Morales’ system in late Novermber and early December 2019. Under questioning, Frazer said that he was paid $10,000 by the defense for his work.
MILFORD – Jurors watched a six-minute edited video in court Tuesday where investigators from the Ansonia Police Department tell Jose Morales, his mother, and his stepfather that Christine Holloway is dead.
“We know where Christine is,” an officer tells Morales’ mother in the family living room in New Haven. “Christine is dead.”
Morales’ mother puts her hands on her forehead, falls back into her chair and wails. She takes off her glasses, presses her hands into her eyes and cries.
“What happened to her? What happened to her?” she asks the police.
“We’ll let you know this. It’s a homicide,” Detective Sgt. James Frolish says. “We’re looking for all the help we can get.”
Ansonia Detective Stephen Adcox interviews Jose Morales early on Dec. 3, 2019.
ANSONIA – During an interview the morning after Christine Holloway was found beaten to death in her residence on Myrtle Avenue, detectives repeatedly pressed Jose Morales about why he didn’t seem concerned that his daughter, Vanessa, was missing.
“The whole ride here you didn’t talk about your 1‑year-old daughter missing,” Ansonia Detective Stephen Adcox said to Morales inside the Ansonia police department.
Vanessa Morales, now 6, has not been seen since Nov. 29, 2019. Her mom’s body was discovered Dec. 2, 2019.
Morales is now on trial for murdering Holloway and tampering with physical evidence. He was arrested Feb. 7, 2020. He has not been charged in connection to Vanessa’s disappearance.
ANSONIA – Day five of the people versus Jose Morales began Friday with testimony about a 911 call from Morales’ cell phone to city police just before 2 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 1, 2019.
Morales is charged with murdering Christine Holloway inside her home on Myrtle Avenue around that date. Holloway was last seen Nov. 29, 2019. She was found beaten to death inside her residence Dec. 2, 2019.
Morales is also charged with tampering with evidence.
Holloway was the mother of Morales’ daughter, Vanessa, who has not been seen since Nov. 29, 2019. She was a year old at the time she went missing.
