Woman's employer, police take the stand in first day of Jose Morales trial

The jury trial for a man accused of murdering his girlfriend in December of 2019 began on Monday at Milford Superior Court.

The state is charging Jose Morales with murder and tampering with evidence in the case of Christine Holloway, who was beaten to death.

Morales is also the prime suspect in the disappearance of his and Holloway’s daughter, Vanessa Morales.

The jury trial began shortly after 10 a.m.

In the audience were family members of Holloway and Vanessa Morales, but there did not appear to be any family members supporting Morales.

State prosecutor Howard Stein and defense attorney Ed Gavin skipped the opening statement portion and went straight to bringing in the state’s witnesses. The first witness was Rosie Jones-Clarke.

Jones-Clarke testified to being Holloway’s employer for two years at a daycare in Bridgeport, formerly owned by Jones-Clarke.

While on the stand, Jones-Clarke described Holloway’s personality while at work.

"Christine was very quiet, pretty simple, very consistent, always on time,” Jones-Clarke said.

Jones-Clarke was the first person to make a 911 call to the Ansonia Police Department asking for a welfare check to Holloway’s home on Dec. 2, 2019 after Holloway did not show up for work.

Family photo

Family photo

The second witness brought in was Officer Paul Smith with the Ansonia Police Department.

Smith testified to being the one who conducted the first welfare check to Holloway’s home on 6 ½ Myrtle Ave. in Ansonia.

Smith said he did not come in contact with anyone at the home but once back at the police station, he met with Steven Holloway, Christine’s brother, and his girlfriend at the time, Jodi Jacobellis.

Smith said he obtained Christine’s contact information and Jose Morales’ information.

The officer said he then proceeded to call the numbers he was given from a landline at the police station and when he called Holloway’s cell phone number, it rang once and then the call went straight to voicemail.

Smith said when he called Morales’ phone number, a man picked up the phone and said his name was Jose.

In the phone call, the jury was able to hear Morales state he had seen Holloway and Vanessa the morning of Dec. 2, 2019, but by the end of the conversation, Morales changed his response from seeing the two, to only having heard from them.

The third witness was Lieutenant Alexander Barreira of the Ansonia Police Department.

During Barreira's testimony, he shared that he was a patrol sergeant and the shift supervisor that day.

Barreria said he was in the room when Smith made the first phone call to Morales, asking about Holloway's whereabouts.

After that phone conversation, Barreria said he went to the home to conduct a second welfare check, after Smith reported no one had responded earlier in the day.

Once at the residence, Barreria said he started doing a walk around of the house while Officer Nelson conducted a neighborhood canvas.

Barreria testified that when Nelson returned from speaking to neighbors, he had conflicting information which made him move forward with a forceful entry to the home.

The state played Barreria’s body camera footage, which shows him kicking in the main door until gaining entry into the home. Then he walks around and notices a baby’s crib without sheets, a bed without sheets and the ceiling fan on a high volume.

While Barreria is walking through the studio apartment-sized home, he hears Nelson scream out explicitly after discovering a dead woman’s body inside of the bathtub.

Barreria is heard telling Nelson to “clear the residence” and look for the baby.

Barreria included in his testimony that he saw a blood stain that appeared to have been washed next to the baby’s crib, but he left the house without finding anyone else inside.

The last witness for the day was George O’Mara, the former next-door neighbor of Holloway and Morales.

At the beginning of his testimony, O’Mara used the word “murder” as he answered Attorney Stein’s question, “What do you remember from Dec. 2, 2019”?

Judge Shari Murphy excused the jury and instructed the witness to not make reference to the term murder during the rest of his testimony.

The defense raised a motion for a mistrial, but the judge denied that motion.

Murphy brought the jury back into the courtroom and instructed them to strike out O’Mara’s initial testimony from the record.

The first day of the Morales trial wrapped up at 5:45 p.m. Court will resume on Tuesday at 10 a.m.