The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Dedicated group presses search for toddler
ANSONIA — The digital billboards along the state’s highways are a constant reminder that toddler Vanessa Morales is still missing.
So are the flyers spread liberally at convenience stores, gas stations and local businesses.
It’s been three months since 1-year-old Vanessa was last seen in public but the missing child is still the focus of a dedicated cadre
of officials and others who aren’t giving up on finding her.
One of those is Katie Copeland, an Ansonia resident, mother and one of the
more than 7,600 members of the “Bringing Home Vanessa Morales” Facebook page.
Copeland’s life intersected occasionally with Vanessa’s mother, Christine Holloway, before Holloway was killed and Vanessa went missing.
“We weren’t friends or anything like that,” Copeland said. “I chose to do this because I’m a mother. I would hope that if the tables were turned and one of my children went missing, someone would do this for me.”
Copeland’s is one of a number of Facebook groups, some moderated or created by out-of-state individuals, that are exclusively devoted to spreading the news of Vanessa’s disappearance. Others share information occasionally and continue to ask for help finding Vanessa.
Locally, some of those Facebook pages include Ansonia, CT Community Updates & Forum, City of Ansonia, Ansonia Talks!, Ansonia News & Progress and Ansonia GOP.
The billboards, meanwhile, continue to show Vanessa’s picture from the Amber Alert issued when she first was found to be missing.
Matt Duddy, vice president and territorial manager for Lamar’s digital billboards, said Vanessa’s image is recirculating as much as 2,400 times a day on each billboard.
Lamar is continuing to post Vanessa’s image at the request of the FBI.
It’s “part of our civic duty to help get her back home,” Duddy said. “Fortunately, we have found these postings to be very effective over the years.”
Expanding the search
Copeland has pasted posters containing Vanessa's picture, the reward information and the police contact information on storefront doors and windows up and down New England.
“I’m doing everything I can to help bring her home,” said Copeland, back from a recent trip to Massachusetts where she taped some posters on doors and windows. “Like everyone, I’m just praying for that
one person to make that phone call that brings Vanessa home.”
Holloway’s boyfriend Jose Morales — Vanessa’s father — is charged in her murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
Wherever she goes, Copeland will walk into a gas station, convenience store or business and ask permission to tape Vanessa’s poster on a door or window. Nearly every place she’s visited has Vanessa’s picture displayed.
“I was surprised when I
was in Massachusetts that people knew of this case...I want to get her little face out there so people keep an eye out,” Copeland said.
Gail Mascali, of Meriden, is also part of the search for the toddler. She has sent Vanessa’s photos to friends in Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, Italy and France to post.
“This little babe has crawled into my heart and soul,” Mascali said. “I can’t ignore what happened to her. I made a promise to myself and Vanessa that I would share every article, every picture and every update. My heart is broken thinking of what she must be going through.”
Nancy Donnelly and Kelly McAlister, both of Georgia, are co-administrators of the “Finding Vanessa Morales” Facebook page. Assisting them as moderators are Eryn Nicole, of Florida, Kaylan Stephenson, of Alabama, and Kristina Claire of Connecticut.
“I first got into groups for missing children in October of last year,” said Donnelly, a mother of six. “I honestly had no idea groups like this existed. I thought it was pretty awesome seeing something amazing being done by using social media.”
Shortly after Vanessa was discovered missing in early December 2019, “I saw a news article posted on Facebook regarding Vanessa and her mother,” Donnelly said. “Since we already had over 500 members, I felt it would be a great idea to change the group to help Vanessa.”
Donnelly said none of the site’s administrators or moderators know the Holloways. “You can’t help but become attached to this
beautiful baby and her family with such a tragedy as this. With my own daughter being very close in age, it really hit me hard.”
Locally, Facebook pages including Ansonia, CT Community Updates & Forum, City of Ansonia, Ansonia Talks!, Ansonia News & Progress and Ansonia GOP continue to ask for help finding Vanessa.
Recently Jodi Jacobellis, Holloway’s sister-in-law, used the “Bringing Home Vanessa Morales” Facebook page to alert hikers, walkers and area residents to watch for an iPhone 8 in a black Otterbox case on trails, parks and greenways.
She said the last ping on Holloway’s phone came from a cellphone tower in Naugatuck.
“I know hiking season is just around the corner,” Jacobellis wrote, “and if you happen to find an iPhone 8 like the one my sister-inlaw Chrissy has please do not touch it...Call the local police department or the Ansonia Police.”
Donnelly said it’s important that people also stay alert for the polka-dot blanket, Graco car seat, teething ring and the Eddie Bauer backpack that went missing with Vanessa.
“If the whole world is watching, someone will eventually see something and call the tip line,” she said. “This case and many other has definitely made me more aware when it comes to my kids. I, like so many others, hold my babies tighter at night.”
The trail has not gone cold
Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said Vanessa’s disappearance is still a very active case.
“We continue to receive tips regarding Vanessa and
investigate them as we get them,” he said. “There is no particular time table or period I can point to as far as determining a case to be cold. Any case is active until all tips, evidence and leads leads are investigated. A case is not considered cold until all of those things stop.”
Publicity can do wonders, said Frank Maco, a retired state prosecutor who was involved in the prosecution of the kidnapping, rape and murder of New Milford’s Maryann
Measles.
“The more publicity the better,” Maco said. “I would like to think people seeing it are making a conscious effort to watch for her.”
Frank Riccio II, a Bridgeport criminal defense lawyer and father, agreed.
“Many times missing people are found almost by accident,” he said. “There’s an old saying ‘out of sight out of mind.’ It’s important to have her image engraved in people’s memory. Maybe one day someone will see her and alert authorities.”