Donated items under the spotlight in second day of Jose Morales trial

In the second day of the trial for Jose Morales, the focus was largely centered around the items found in a donation bin in Derby.

On Tuesday, a total of four witnesses took the stand in the case of the State of Connecticut against Jose Morales.

Morales is being charged with murder and tampering with evidence after his girlfriend Christine Holloway was found beaten to death in her Ansonia home in December of 2019, according to Ansonia police.

The first witness of the day was Officer Christopher Kelley with the Ansonia Police Department.

Kelley testified to being assigned to conduct a welfare check at 6 ½ Myrtle Ave. in Ansonia on Dec. 2, 2019.

Kelley said he did not make any contact with anyone; he tried to look through the garage windows in the back of the house, but they were blacked out and he was unable to see anything.

Kelley said he was at Holloway’s home for about five minutes before reporting back to dispatch.

He said he advised dispatch to contact the complainant, who initially requested the welfare check, to inform them no contact was made at the home.

The second witness brought in was Mira Watkins.

Watkins testified that she was an employee at Kiducation - Community Crusade for Children, Inc. a clothing donation nonprofit, back in 2019.

Watkins explained that while at Kiducation, she would drive the vans that collected donations at clothing bins.

Watkins said on Dec. 4, 2019, she was assigned to a route with her coworker and one of the stops was St. Michaels Church in Derby.

Watkins testified that her coworker was the one in charge of taking items from the donation bins and passing them to Watkins to throw into the van, which would later be brought back to their warehouse. 

Watkins said on Dec. 4, her coworker alerted her of a loose item in the bin that appeared to have a “blood-like substance.”

During Watkins’ testimony, Supervisory Assistant State Attorney Howard Stein introduced two photos as state evidence: one of them was a diaper genie with red stains on it and the second was a red-stained towel holding an unclear object.

Watkins testified that the item with the “blood-like substance” was a diaper genie, she said she immediately called her boss, Maryanne Tutlebuck, to ask her for guidance on what to do.

Watkins said Tutlebuck told her to place the item in a separate bag from the rest, and to also separate any other items with similar stains.

Watkins ended her testimony stating she left the bagged items in the bins and testified to the integrity of the bags and bins.

As their third witness, the state called Tutlebuck, Watkins’ former employer at Kiducation.

Tutlebuck testified to giving Watkins the instructions to bag the “items with red stains” in separate bags and said she was present the following day to open the truck that had the bins and bags inside.

She said when the bins were in the middle of the garage, she noticed a piece of bank mail addressed to Christine Holloway on top of the bag with the red-stained stuff.

Tutlebuck said she felt that was odd and decided to Google the name Christine Holloway, and that is when she found out about the ongoing investigation and immediately called Ansonia police.

The last witness on Tuesday was Connecticut State Trooper Kevin Duggan.

Trooper Duggan testified to his role in the investigation once state police were called in to assist by the Ansonia Police Department.

Duggan said he received a call from his supervisor during the late hours of Dec. 2, assigning him as the primary investigator in a possible homicide case.

Duggan said he was off-duty that day but went ahead and got dressed and eventually got to 6 ½ Myrtle Ave. in Ansonia around 1 a.m.

As part of the Major Crime Division with Connecticut State Police, Duggan was part of the team of five detectives and a sergeant who went to the scene.

In his role as primary investigator, Duggan said he arrived at the scene and began doing a walkaround of the exterior and interior with his sergeant.

Duggan said the other detectives were tasked with documenting evidence by video recordings, taking main and back-up photos and creating a crime scene map.

During his testimony, State Attorney Stein introduced multiple photos as state evidence.

The photos shown to the jury showed the exterior of Holloway’s home and close-up photos of the damage to the front door which was done the previous day during the forceful entry by Ansonia police.

In addition, state evidence included photos of the interior of Holloway’s home.

As part of his testimony, Duggan explained the contents of the photos which included a view of Holloway’s living area, kitchen space, bedroom area and the hallway leading to the bathroom.

Duggan testified to the home carpet having red stains on it, the bed being without sheets or a comforter and candles that appeared to have been burning at length due to them being found in liquid form, instead of wax form.

During Tuesday’s court proceedings, a juror raised a concern to Judge Shari Murphy.

The juror was dismissed from his duties and replaced with an alternate. The alternate was then sworn in as a regular juror.

Court will resume on Wednesday at 10 a.m.