A Connecticut man was sentenced Monday to 65 years in prison for the 2019 beating death of his girlfriend, Christine Holloway, but their baby daughter disappeared at the time and remains missing.
Jose Morales, 48, was convicted by a jury in April of murder and evidence tampering in Holloway’s killing, which took place inside her home in Ansonia, about 10 miles west of New Haven.
Their daughter Vanessa was 14 months old when Holloway was killed and relatives continue their efforts to find her. Police said in 2019 that Morales was a suspect in the girl’s disappearance, but he was never charged.
Several family members of Holloway spoke at the sentencing. They were dressed in white T-shirts with an image of Holloway on the front and baby Vanessa on the back, CBS affiliate WFSB reported.
“What was done to my niece, Christine Holloway, is unforgivable and disgusting and that monster continues to lie. Where is Vanessa? How can someone be so cruel?” said Anna Rodonski, Holloway’s aunt.
Morales declined to speak at the hearing in Milford Superior Court. He did have a statement written, according to WFSB, but his attorney advised him not to read it.
He testified at the trial in Milford that he did not kill Holloway. Morales said he, Holloway and their daughter, Vanessa, were in Holloway’s apartment when two intruders broke in. He said one of the intruders attacked Holloway with a crowbar and he was assaulted before they kidnapped Vanessa, who has never been found. Morales also said he was high on PCP at the time.
Morales also admitted on the stand that he attempted to clean the apartment after Holloway was killed and had also put some of the blood-soaked evidence in a donation bin, WFSB previously reported.
His lawyer, Edward Gavin, told the judge on Monday, “It’s an extraordinarily difficult case. It shows the ills of PCP and drug use in our society.”
Before handing down the sentence, Judge Shari Murphy called the crime vicious and said Morales showed a careless indifference to human life.
“Mr. Morales, you are a dangerous person, a significant threat to society and you need to be removed from the community for a substantial period of time,” the judge said.
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