Morales
ANSONIA – Jose Morales, the father of missing child Vanessa Morales and the suspect in the 2019 murder of Vanessa’s mother, Christine Holloway, has two more months to consider a plea bargain offered by the state.
Morales was arrested more than four years ago in connection to the Ansonia homicide. In January, prosecutors offered him a plea deal, the details of which have not been made public. He was scheduled to accept or reject that deal on Thursday (March 7).
Instead, after a lengthy discussion between the prosecution and defense, he was granted more time to consider the offer. He will return to court on May 15.
After the date was moved, several members of Holloway’s family who were in attendance left the courtroom together.
“That’s not right,” one relative said to the court as she was leaving. “It’s not fair.”
Relatives outside the courtroom declined to comment, as did Morales’ attorney, Edward Gavin.
Jodi Jacobellis, Christine Holloway’s sister-in-law, said in a 2023 interview with CT Post that any plea deal should require Morales to answer the question of Vanessa’s whereabouts.
Morales has not been charged in connection to Vanessa’s disappearance.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information that leads to finding Vanessa. Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Vanessa, who is now 5 years old, should call the Ansonia Police Department at 203 – 735‑1885 or the F.B.I. tip line at 203 – 503‑5555.
Ansonia police arrested Morales on Feb. 7, 2020 and charged him with murdering Holloway, the mother of their 1‑year-old daughter, Vanessa, inside a residence on Myrtle Avenue in late 2019.
Holloway’s body was discovered in the home on Dec. 2, 2019. She died from blunt force trauma. Both Christine and Vanessa were last seen by family members on Nov. 29, 2019.
Morales was also charged with tampering with evidence. The arrest warrant states that Morales’ DNA was identified on several pieces of evidence, and that his vehicle had been recorded leaving Holloway’s residence after the murder.
When Morales’ family was informed by Ansonia Detective Richard Esposito that Christine had been murdered, the warrant describes Morales as “sitting there unemotional as if nothing was going on.”
Morales’ story shifted several times during interviews with officers, including claims that he had been smoking PCP with a friend and that he and Holloway had been victims of a break-in that led to her murder. The arrest warrant repeatedly describes Morales as reacting with little emotion to Holloway’s murder.
Click here for a story about the anniversary of Vanessa’s disappearance. The story includes an age-enhanced photo of Vanessa that was released in 2022.
