Connecticut man gets 65 years for killing his girlfriend, but their daughter remains missing

MILFORD, Conn. (AP) — 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 (16 kilometers) 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.

“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.

Steven Holloway, Christine Holloway’s brother, delivers a victim’s impact statement during the sentencing hearing for Jose Morales in state Superior Court, in Milford, Conn., Monday, July 14, 2025. (Ned Gerard/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool)

Morales declined to speak at the hearing in Milford Superior Court. He testified at the trial that two intruders attacked Holloway with a crowbar and assaulted him before they kidnapped Vanessa. Morales also said he was high on PCP at the time.

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.