A man who is accused of killing his girlfriend, the mother of his missing daughter, in her Ansonia home in December 2019 took the stand in his own defense and told the jury he saw the attack but could not do anything because he was on PCP and he explained how he cleaned up the house after she was attacked.
Jose Morales has been charged with the murder of Christine Holloway and tampering with evidence.
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WATCH HEREThe defense rested its case on Thursday afternoon.
Morales took the stand on Wednesday and resumed testifying on Thursday.
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SIGN UP He told the jury that one person attacked Holloway and another took their baby daughter, Vanessa.
Morales told the jury that carried Holloway's body to the tub after she was killed and said he used a bucket and towels to clean up blood, then put the water down the garbage disposal.
He also said he was sad, wanted to dress Holloway and he put her clothing in the washing machine while he was at the house.
The dramatic turn in the case came on Wednesday when Morales first took the stand after the state rested its case and a criminal psychologist testified as a defense witness.
Before he testified, the judge asked Morales if he was sure he wanted to take the stand and Morales responded, "I am sure."
During cross-examination on Thursday, prosecutors asked Morales if he ever recalled calling Holloway “a pig,” and Morales responded that he did.
The prosecution also asked Morales if he had accused Holloway of being unfaithful and Morales responded, “probably.”
Prosecutors also showed a series of text messages between Morales and Holloway where he was asking where she was, bringing up money and raising concerns that she was seeing someone else.
Holloway responded to those messages by saying she loved him, there was no one else and not to give up on her, prosecutors said.
The trial is happening five years after Holloway was killed.
Police found her body on Dec. 2, 2019 and Morales was arrested on Feb. 7, 2020.
State's attorney Howard Stein cross-examined Morales and tried to poke holes in his story about two men coming into their apartment and one of the men beating Holloway with a crowbar.
At one point, Stein became very direct.
Mr. Morales, did you kill Christine Holloway?" he asked.
"No," Morales replied.
"Mr. Morales, were you so intoxicated on a substance -- PCP or alcohol, or any other substance, that you do not remember killing Christine Holloway?" Stein asked.
"I did not kill Christine Holloway," Morales said.
The couple’s daughter, Vanessa Morales, was 14 months old at the time and she not in the home when police found Holloway. There has been no sign of her since.
On Thursday, Stein asked Morales why he did not call police to report that Vanessa had been taken and he told them he was scared.
He was also asked why he did not perform CPR on Holloway.
This followed his statements from a day before when Morales told the jury of how and Holloway met, through a dating app, and she he was living in Ansonia on weekends and in New Haven, where his parents live, during the week.
He also provided an account of Thanksgiving weekend in 2019, just days before Holloway was killed, and they spend time with her family as well as his.
Morales told the jury that he was on PCP (phencyclidine, which is also known as angel dust) while he was inside the home on Myrtle Avenue in Ansonia where Holloway was killed.
Morales said he heard screams and sounds of a struggle.
He told the jury that he saw a man in the house repeatedly hitting Holloway with a crowbar but that he couldn't help because of the effects of the PCP.
"This is 10 minutes, not even, from when I smoked the PCP. I went inside the apartment, I tried to look for Vanessa everywhere, the car seat was gone," Morales said.
He also testified that the unknown man told him if he called the police, his daughter would suffer the same fate.
The state's attorney objected to the testimony as hearsay, but the judge allowed it, with limits.
Court will not be in session on Friday so closing arguments will happen on Monday. The judge instructed the jurors not to look at any coverage of the case or to discuss it.
