NEW BRITAIN -- Benjamin Morales appeared in a Connecticut court Friday for the first time since being captured and charged with the murder of Alice Figueroa.
As Benjamin Morales, 42, got the news that his bond had just been increased to $5 million, prosecutors read his criminal history to justify his high bond. According to court records, this isn’t the first time he’s been charged in somebody’s death. According to state prosecutors Morales has an extensive criminal history.
- Previous convictions include burglaries, larcenies and manslaughter in 2007 for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
- 20 convictions
- 3 active arrests warrants in CT and NY.
- flight from Connecticut
Thirty days before her murder, officials said Alice Figueroa filed a complaint with the New Britain Police about and altercation with Morales. An arrest warrant for Morales was obtained, but was not served prior on Morales prior to her killing.
In the arrest warrant, police allege Morales showed up at her Elam street apartment on February 4th and fatally shot her in the abdomen and legs.
When police arrived they could smell gun powder at the doorway. They found Figueroa on the floor in her bedroom doorway.
Police say after killing Figueroa, Morales left the apartment where he encountered Alice’s niece outside.
Amarrillis Martinez, Alice’s niece, described the confrontation in an interview with FOX 61 earlier this month. “He came back out and he went in front of the car and he pointed the gun at me and said 'te voy a matar a ti tambien [expletive],' which means 'I’m going to kill you too'," Martinez said.
Morales then went on the run until he was finally captured last week on his birthday hiding, in a refrigerator, in a trailer in South Carolina.
Morales’s next court date is April 16th.