MILFORD, Conn. — Jose Morales, accused of killing the mother of his one-year-old child in her Ansonia home, is now going to trial as his daughter, Vanessa Morales, is still missing.
Police charged Morales with murder and tampering with physical evidence after finding Christine Holloway dead in her Ansonia home in December of 2019. Morales has been behind bars for nearly five years and was recently offered a plea deal by prosecutors.
Morales appeared in a Milford courtroom Tuesday to answer to that potential deal.
“The parties are still a substantial distance apart in reaching any resolution. At this point, I believe the matter needs to go to trial, your honor,” said Howard Stein, the supervisory assistant state’s attorney.
As the defense attorney agreed, the judge made the call to send the case to trial.
“This certainly will be one of the cases that will be the focus of the likely jury selection in the new term,” said Superior Court Judge Kevin Russo.
As Morales began to walk out of the courtroom, Holloway’s family asked, “Does the family get a chance to speak?”
Some relatives came from Nashville and Philadelphia, hoping to address the courtroom Tuesday.
Though they didn’t get the chance, they are accepting this next step.
“Myself and the family are content with going to trial. Because now we can prove that Jose committed the crime. And there will be justice for my sister-in-law Christine,” said Jodi Jacobellis, Holloway’s sister-in-law and the aunt of Vanessa Morales.
Jacobellis goes to as many court appearances as she can in support of her late sister-in-law. While she wouldn’t reveal the specifics of the plea deal, Jacobellis said it needed to at least come with one condition.
“Give us some sense where Vanessa is,” Jacobellis said. “That and years to where he’s never out of jail.”
Morales has not been charged with the disappearance of his one-year-old baby, Vanessa. Jacobellis said she is frustrated by the lack of communication and answers from prosecutors and police.
“We are all aggravated on how long it took to get to this point. The hurt that we live with every day, searching for our niece, when there’s no answers,” Jacobellis said.
Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said when it comes to the investigation into Vanessa’s disappearance, they are in the same place they were back in December of 2019.
“We understand the family’s frustration. And we are trying everything. We want to give them answers. We want to give them the information that they want. We’d like to give them the proper closure. And we’re going to continue to do that,” Lynch said.
Lynch said they have received thousands, if not tens of thousands of tips on Vanessa’s whereabouts over the last four and half years. However, none of those tips coming from across the country and even the world have resulted in any strong leads.
“We’re constantly looking at it, we’re going over reports. We’re looking to see if anybody missed anything. You have different people looking over the reports for a fresh set of eyes to see, ‘Okay, maybe someone didn’t see something in a report that makes sense to them,’” Lynch said.
Lynch said Vanessa’s disappearance is something his department thinks about all the time.
“Every day. Every day. A lot of us are parents, so, we understand the frustration in the unknown. We have tried everything we can,” Lynch said.
Lynch also said the trial will have no impact on their investigation involving Vanessa. However, he hopes it gives the family some answers.
“We believe we’ve built an extremely strong case, and we’re hoping we’ll be able to at least give the family closure on that end, as far as Christine goes and that they can have some peace with that,” Lynch said.
Jacobellis said the state’s attorney has made it clear that Vanessa’s disappearance is a separate case, and will not be a focus of the upcoming trial.
In the meantime, Ansonia police is reiterating that anyone who hears or sees anything related to Vanessa’s disappearance is asked reach out. The department has set up an anonymous tip line through tip411.com. People can also call the police department at (203) 735-1885.
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Julia LeBlanc is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at jleblanc@fox61.com Follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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