Police still hope for ‘safe return of Vanessa’
Investigation into Ansonia toddler’s disappearance hits 1-year mark
ANSONIA — The digital billboards on state highways no longer flash her face. The posters taped to store windows have faded. The volunteers who once handed out flyers at intersections stay home.
A year has passed since Vanessa Morales has gone missing.
On Dec. 2, 2019, police discovered Christine Holloway’s fatally beaten body in her Myrtle Avenue apartment. Two months later, they charged her boyfriend, Jose Morales, with murder and tampering with evidence.
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well as being a convicted felon in possession of stun guns. He has been detained on $5.25 million bond with a Jan. 21 appearance set for Milford Superior Court.
No one, however, has been charged in the disappearance of Vanessa, the couple’s toddler who vanished about that time and has never been found.
Rumors circulated after Morales was charged that he may have given the baby to a friend or had her taken to relatives in Puerto Rico. Police have discounted both those scenarios.
There were alleged sightings in Stratford and Bridgeport, but those turned out to be other children.
By March, the public’s attention was diverted by the pandemic and stay-at-home requests, demonstrations and marches demanding an end to racial injustice, and a hotly contested presidential election. The missing child slipped from the public eye.
Still, local police remain hopeful of finding now-2-year-old Vanessa, even 12 months after she disappeared.
“The investigation into the disappearance of Vanessa Morales is ongoing,” Ansonia Police Lt. Patrick Lynch said. “We continue to receive tips, but unfortunately, none of them have led to her return.”
Lynch said the pandemic has not altered or slowed down the department’s work. The number of tips have lessened, but that is “more a result of the amount of time since Vanessa went missing.”
“This is common in most investigations that span over a long period of time,” he added.
Lynch said he remains optimistic, in part because “the items that Christine Holloway used daily in taking care of Vanessa have not been located.”
These include a Graco car seat and possible attached teething key ring, a multi-colored polka dot comforter and a gray Eddie Bauer backpack diaper bag.
Nor has Christine’s white iPhone 8, last used in Naugatuck, been recovered.
But neither Joseph Giacalone, a retired New York Police Department sergeant who once commanded a cold case unit, and Ken Gray, a retired FBI agent, believe the items, if eventually found, will yield much useful evidence.
“Still, I’d rather have them than not,” Giacalone said. “Maybe you get lucky.”
While not personally involved in the investigation, both retired officers said based on their experience the case is getting cold.
“That doesn’t mean the case is shelved, it just means there’s no new information, no active leads and no investigation into those leads,” Giacalone said.
“It appears any existing leads were exhausted back in January and February,” Gray said. “At a certain point, you start waiting for a lucky break or someone to come forward.”
Both said the police may need to start putting pressure on people who were investigated at the time of Christine’s death and go over the ground again in hope that something will break.
“What I would also do is start re-canvasing,” Giacalone said. “Review all the video surveillance. Look at phone and toll records and passenger lists again. Go back to the scenes ... and use ground penetrating radar. Reach out to the family members again, particularly those in Puerto Rico. Go back to the neighbors.”
And interview people in person, he said.
“I’m not a big fan of talking to people on the phone. I want to be there watching body movements, listening to the way they answer questions. You can do this in accordance with social distancing,” Giacalone said.
He suggested using the electronic billboards again and handing out posters, particularly near medical clinics and baby stores.
“This is a baby. A baby needs food, clothing and medical care,” he said.
As for the police at the heart of the investigation, Lynch said there still is a $10,000 reward available to any individual who provides information that directly leads to Vanessa’s safe return.
“We encourage anyone with information regarding baby Vanessa — where she is or who she may be with — to come forward,” he said. “The circumstances of how Vanessa came into their custody are secondary to the safe return of Vanessa to her family.”
Giacalone also said now is a good time to increase the reward.
“A lot of people have lost their jobs because of the pandemic. Money talks,” he said. “Up the reward to $25,000. You’ve got nothing to lose and everything to gain.”