warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised
On December 2nd, 2019 just days after celebrating Thanksgiving with family Christine Holloway and her 14 month-old daughter, Vanessa, went missing. Parked on the street outside her apartment was Christine’s new car but she was not answering the door.
Despite the freezing conditions, two windows were sitting open. The door was locked but a light remained on. When officers forced entry, they made a horrific discovery. The investigation into what happened to Christine and Vanessa began…
thankgiving 2019 in ansonia, connecticut,there had been a snowfall the day before ,but the roads were clear from morning traffic. at the bright morning star daycare,rosie clark ,was growing concerned.
the head teacher in charge of her infant room, 43 year old christine holloway, had not yet arrived.it was not typcal of the good- natured teacher they knew as consistent christine to be late for work. co- workers attempted to reach her without success.
by 1 :00 p.m that afternoon, after calling around to family members ,rosie requested a welfare check at her apartment at 6/ 2 myrtle avenue.
the apartment was on the second floor of a threecar garage. towards the back of the building, the officer observed that one of the bay windows sat open.
similarly the skylight to the unit’s bathroom was a jar.
these observations were particularly unsettling, given the freezing temperatures outside. there was no answer at the door and no movement inside.
nothing further was a miss,though it seems christine was not at home.
christine was the mother to 14 months old vanessa ,whom she shared with boyfriend
jose morales.jose had informed christine’s brother and sister in law that he saw christine that morning around 7:00 a.m. as she left for work with vanessa.
her work at the daycare meant that vanessa could stay with her everyday.
she would not have made other arrangements for her care.
christine had met jose on an online dating app.
he had two children,isaac and isabella, from a previous relationship,who lived with him throughout the week in his mother’s basement in fair haven.
on the weekends,jose stayed with christine in ansonia. armed with these pieces of information, officer smith and sergeant guerrera of the ansonia PD gave jose a call…
to smith and guerrera,jose altered this assertion.stating that he only spoke with her on the phone at that time.
he had not seen her since thay parted ways at his mother’s house on friday evening after spending thanksgiving together.that was not the only inconsistency.
he told the officer that his girlfriend drove a 2002 gold mazda protege, exept this vehicle was no longer registered to her.
roughly a week prior,christine had replaced the mazda with a black 2017 ford focus. her family was aware of the new car.
indeed ,it seemed jose had helped her select the new vhicle at the car lot, an event he evidently had entirely forgotten.the conversation with jose morales was concerning.
officers returned to myrtle avenue andagain knocked repeatedly on the door. with no answer.
while assessing the state of the apartment,officers canvased the neighborhood,hoping to fund someone who had seen christine and vanessa.
no one reported seeing them recently,though someone had spotted jose leaving the apartment earlier that day.
taking everything into consideration, officers opted to force entry into the home.christine was found clearly deceased in the bathtub , officers secured the scene and search for baby vanessa.
she was not in the apartment with her mother.vanessa was still missing.
christine marie holloway had been 43 years old.she was the eldest of five children. as such she developled a nurturing personality and a desire to care for others.
one of her greatest wishes in life had been to become a mother.a wish fulfilled when she welcome her beautiful daughter, vanessa,into the world.
as a daycare educator ,she loved working with children, especially with babies. according to family , friends and co- workers, she had the patience of a saint.
christine’s faith was also very important to her. she was a member of the columbia, a collection of catholic whomen who share in a sisterhood, service and faith while actively helping in the community.
christine’s autopsy found that her death was caused by no less than eight blows from a blunt object. a hammer was the most likely implement, though the murder weapon was not found in the aparment.
she appeared to have been attacked and left to pass away on the landing only feet from vanessa’s crib.later ,someone had undressed christine hand moved her into the bathtub where officers would discover her.by that time , she was visibly deceased.
a lieutenant on scene described seeing an internal organ removed from her body and lying near to the tub.
the mother’s time of death was estimated to be between late saturday and early sunday morning.there were strands of hair found in her hand,most likely pulled from her killer as she fought for her life.
inside the apartment,investigators notied ,with the exception of the bathroom,that it was clean and neat.scented candles had been lit.
but when forensic teams from the connecticut state police began processing the scene,they found indications of blood on the walls , on the rugs ,and many items centered around the area where vanessa’s crib was kept.
the rocking chair, stuffed animals, and containers full of children’s toys likwise tested positive for blood. a single infant- sized pink slippers was found amongs these items.the matching shoe was missing.
there were obvious signs of a cleanup.discolered wet rags were located in a bucket under the kitchen sink .when the drain to the sink itself was taken apart,forensic teams identified very fine bone fragments which were matched to christine’s DNA.
also curious was the overflowing recycling bin full of empty cans sitting on the porch.while inside,another full bin was emptied onto the floor.it contained over 12 cans of beer amongs dozen water bottles.
there was no alcohol found to be in christine’s system upon her death.the teacher and mother was not a drinker.
as the swabs from these stained items were tested, a definitive DNA match could not be obtained.though logic dictated that christine was at least one of the contributors to the samples taken , there were no matches to little vanessa.
the man who used the garage level of 6 and a half myrtle as a workshop reported hearing loud noises and voices from the upper level apartment on friday night sometime between 4 and 5:00 p.m.
he heard a male voice,perhaps some hammering into a wall as though they were building something. and what he thought could have been furniture being moving around..
when he left the building that night, the bay window above the garage was open to the winter air.another neighborhood witness reported spotting jose outside of christine’s apartment on the morning of november 3oth ,the saturday.
he was fitting a car seat into a black ford with a little girl, presumably vanessa.
there was no car seat located in christine’s focus,nor anywhere else on the property when police arrived.
neighbor george omera had not seen christine in days, but he had seen jose leaving the building on monday afternoon,not long after police had first responded to the welfare check.
this sighting was later confirmed by surveillance. it showed jose leaving the home and driving away in his nissan centra at about 2.p.m. the car is distinctive.it has a low sitting muffler that is also defective. it can be heard as well as seen.
investigators began compiling surveillance from homes on myrtle avenue.
west street mott street, as well as across the way at cottage road where a camera gave a clear to vehicles traveling to and from christine’s apartment off of west street.
it would take days to piece together. in the meantime, they had a witness who placed jose exiting the apartment after they knew christine to have been dead inside.
he had already provided inaccurate, if not overtly deceptive, answers to officers over the phone, and he showed a suspicious lack of concern for his missing girlfriend and his daughter.
jose was located at the home of his mother and stepfather. he was brought into the station for questioning. at that time, jose was told only that christina and vanessa were still missing.
during the 38 – minute ride to the station, the 43 year old spoke about how nice the police car was. he commented on how he lived a sober life, how he did not do drugs and rarely drank.
he did not ask about his daughter.
when the interview commenced, jose downplayed his relationship with christine.they were not very serious, he said, and only in regular contact because they shared vanessa.
he stated that he last saw christina and vanessa on friday night when they left his mother’s house after staying there for a few days over thanksgiving.
from there, he went to the home of a friend named hector,and they traveled to bridgeport. initally , at least, jose was unable to provide hector’s last name or his adress.
over and over again ,jose insisted that he had no idea what had become of christine or their daughter. he became indignant,questioning why christine’s family was not also at the police station undergoing questioning.
after just 40 minutes,jose decided to leave.investigators still compiling evidence from the scene the vehicles , and neighborhood surveillance were unable to formally arrest him at that time.
they did insist upon taking his clothing for testing.jose was not impressed.as he removed his shirt, a small bruise was visible on his right chest.
detectives also noted abrasions on the knuckles of both of his hands and faint scratches on both arms .his face appeared swollen and red on the right side.
on the black sneakers ,jose had worn to the police station.they identified staining in addition to a tissue like material which was sent for testing.
he left without providing any useful information for the search of vanessa.he had also not been informed at that point that christine had been found murdered.
after returning jose to his mother’s home in fair haven,police remained on the scene to secure the property while a search warrant was obtained.
at that time ,they informed lydia , marcos and jose of christine’s death.jose sat to the right in the living room, observing his mother’s reaction to the devastating news.
the search for vanessa was timesensitive.law enforcement used what was at their disposal to pressure jose for information.in this case, that presure came from his parents.
marcos then began asking jose directly where his daughter was.
displaying little emotion to this point,jose then began to insist emphatically that he had no idea what happened to his girlfriend or their daughter.
investigators learned from lydia and marcos that jose left their home on the friday evening at the same time as christine.she and the ford focus.
he wasdriving his nissan sentra with loud muffler.
jose claimed he was not with christine,but with his friend hector.at that point his mother reminded him that he had a Face Time video call with her that weekend from christine’s home on myrtle avenue.
at first ,he claimed he was using hector’s phone for this call ,then corrected himself.he made the call with his iPad,he said.
the iPad that jose shared with his sone isaak was eventually seized with the search warrant. the FaceTime call with his mother had been place from it.using the Wi-Fi connection at myrtle avenue.
as the investigation continued,detectives became aware of a 911 call that was receivedbyh ansonia police on saturday,december 1st at about 2:00 a.m.
the call was traced back jose morale’s cell phone ,and it connected through a tower one street over from christine’s apartment.it lasted 1 minute and 14 seconds.
on the call , a male voice slurring stated the street name , myrtle avenue.much of the speech was muffled and incoherent,but a female voice was also heard coming in and out in the background of the call.
once enhanced,that voice was heard stating, “stop.hang up. who are you calling?”
the line disconnected and the operator was unable to reconnect after multiple attempts. officers were sent to myrtle avenue to check if anything was obviously a miss.
though they did not have a street number and found nothing of concern when driving by.
the physical evidence linking jose morales to the murder,or at the very least,the cleanup of the scene was growing.in his shower ,they recovered washcloths and towels stained with what they suspected was blood.
in his Nissan, a large black contractor’s trash bag was located in the trunk with a reddish stain.testing confirmed this was christine’s DNA.
swabs from the gas and brake pedals as well as the interior and exterior door handles likewise returned matches to christine.
then there was his cell phone data.
police eventually tracked down the friend named hector with whom jose claimed to spent the weekend.the friendwas identified as hector rodriguez of new haven.
cell phone data confirmed that the two had indeed been together in bridgeport on friday evening,just as jose had claimed.
initially ,hector told police that they were together all weekend.later, he admitted that jose had asked him to say that ,but it wasn’t true.his friend actually came and went throughout saturday and sunday,but mostly spent his time elsewhere.
jose’s cell phone, alongside surveillance cameras from the neighborhood, supported that narrative.video surveillance showed that about 6.00 a.m on saturday morning ,roughly 4 hours after the muffled 911 call,jose’s loud Nissan left the area of myrtle ave and drove towards derby ave in the direction of st. michael’s church.
less than 15 minutes, he drov to a shell gas station on main street, where he entered the store and attempted to purchase cigarettes.his debit card was declined.
a second trip towards derby ave was made later that day ,this time driving christine’s ford focus.it again returned to the apartment . christine’s cell phone made this trip as well.
by the afternoon of monday,december 2nd,both vehicles were parked in front of the aparment.they were captured by officer kelly’s body camera as he performed the first welfare check that day.
jose morales was alost certainly inside the apartment at that time. so was christine,though investigators believed that she had been dead since saturday night.
the importance of jose’s trip towards st. michael’s church became apparent following a phone call from the charity kiducation,which kept donation bins by the church onfderby avenue.
december 5th, an employee of the nonprofit emptied the donation bins and found bags full of items that were covered in a bloodlike substains.
supervisor mary tuttlebach observed the contents and discovered amongst the toys, articles of clothing, and various baby items was a collection of letters.
these was addressed to christine holloway at 6 and !/2 myrtle avenue.
she googled her name and then immediately called police.they arrived within 5 minutes.what police found in the donation bags was distrubing.some of the items included a diaper genie pail ,an infant’s pillow,toy radio, baby clothing, toy blocks,stuffed animals and a bloody towel.
mixed in were several pieces of christine’s mail.they pujlled out toy blocks ,books,puzzles , and more stufffed animals.there were also multiple items of adult clothing,male and female,the man -sized tripple XL.
they found a single infantized pink slipper.it was for the left foot, a match to the right one found on myrtle avenue.
christine’s DNA was found on multiple items in these donation bins to a high level of certainty. in some cases,the samples were less defined , but it was clear that these had originated in her apartment. vanesssa’s DNA was not identified on these items.
the search for the one year old continued.
none of the items that christine was known to have used regularly for her care, a polka dot comforter,a gray diaper backpack,and a greco car seat were located amongst the items retrieved in the donation bins.
they were not in the apartment either.nor found in christine’s car.
ansonia police announced the arrest of jose morales for christine’s murder. they also made a plea to the public for help determining vanessa’s whereabouts.
the FBI offered a reward of$ 10,000 in exchange for information leading to her location.
jose was not assisting in the efforts to find his daughter,claiming that he had no information to offer,at least not at first…
after several interviews with investigators,jose’s account of what had transpired that weekend changed. he now claimed that when meeting with hector on friday night,
he smoked PCP or angel dust.PCP can cause hallucinations ,distorted perceptions of sounds,and psychotic behavior.
jose told police that he took the drug on more than once occasion that weekend, and as a result, he had little recollection of that period of time.jose claimed that as hiks memory returned,he recalled that late on saturday night,two unknown men forced their way inside the apartment.
they knocked him out for a time ,brutally murdered christine while he was incapacitated, and kidnapped his daughter.
he pleaded not guilty to christine’s murder.he was also charged with tampering with evidence for the cleanup of the scene.there were no charges at that time in relation to vanessa.
though he remained the primary suspect in her disapearance. an agonizing four years went by and vanessa was not found.
jose morale’s PCP story remained intact during that time.the murder trial commenced in spring 2025.
the prosecution argued that jose morales was a controlling,jealous, and emotionally abusive partner to christine.they dismissed his claims of drug use and instead suggested that it was nore likely that he was simply drunk.
they pointed to the collection of beer cans in the recycling bin.this form of intoxication would also explain how jose had been capable of an extensive cleanup at the scene.
driving to and from the apartment and the disposal of items in the kiducation bins,actions that are not likely undertaken while incapacitated by a drug like PCP.
the defense conceded to the second charge, tampering with evidence.
jose was under the influence of drugs and not thinking clearly.he was in fear of the intruders who had taken his daughter.given this concession, they argued there was no forensic evidence linking him to the murder itself.only the subsequent cleanup.
investigators had it seized and tested three hammers,but it failed to identify a murder weapon.
DNA was found under christine’s fingernails, which was thought to be skin,but it was not a match to jose morales.her hair in her hand however,was consistent with originating from both jose and christine.
jose took the stand to tell the jury about the intruders who killed christine and took vanessa.
the story he told on its surface seemed to account for everything.the PCP caused his memory to come back slowly in fragments,which explained why he had misremembered facts when speaking to police.
as his memory returned,he cooperated fully.he said.he claimed that the 911 call was placed when he first saw the attackers approaching the home.
his speech on that call was slurred due to the drugs.christine,he said, had not seen the men approaching and questioned why he was placing the call.then the line disconnected right before one of the men knocked him out , so, he could not call back.
jose used a diagram of the apartment as an aid as he explained to the jury how he saw the men approaching the house while he was in the bathroom.
objections by the state were prevalent throughout jose’s testimony.he struggled to avoid making statements of what others had said or thought within his narrative.
one statement was allowed on the record as an exception.he claimed that one of the men threatened him and that threat explains why he did not go after his daughter.
it explains why, according to jose, he cleaned up the scene instead of going to the police.
the jury deliberated for about an hour and a half over two days before returning their verdict.
jose morale’s sentencing date was set for july 8th, 2025. he faces up to 65 years in prison.
as of the publication of this story , he has made no further statements about the whereabouts of vanessa.
some legal experts have speculated that jose, if he had been in a hallucinated state at the time of the murder,may in fact have no memory of what happened to his daughter.
christine’s family disagree.
christine’s family has stated that they are happy with the verdict and are now placing all of their attention on finding vanessa.
the national center for missing and exploited children released an ageen enhanced photo.
in spring of 2025,vanessa morales would be almost 6 years old.