Eight-year-old Justina Morales was last seen in Brooklyn, New York, sometime in November 1995. At the time of her disappearance, she was a student at Public School 1 and lived in an apartment on Halsey Street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Justina had a history of frequent absences from school, which led a relative to report her truancy to the Bureau of Child Welfare. Although the agency opened a case file, a caseworker found no evidence of abuse.
After Justina was absent from school for three consecutive months, her mother, Denise Solero, informed the school principal that the family was moving and that Justina would be transferred to a different school. While the family did move, Justina was never re-enrolled in another school. Solero told neighbors that Justina had gone to live with her father, a claim that was later found to be untrue. The BCW closed Justina's file in February 1996, unaware that she had not been seen in months.
The case took a turn in February 1997 when a friend of the family reported to the police that Justina had been killed. This led to an investigation that implicated Solero's live-in boyfriend, Luis Santiago, in Justina's death. Solero claimed that Santiago had a history of physically and sexually abusing both her and Justina. She portrayed herself as a terrified victim who was too afraid to protect her daughter. According to both Solero and Santiago, Justina died on December 31, 1995. Santiago confessed to unintentionally killing Justina by beating her with his fists and a metal pole during an altercation with Solero. However, Solero provided a different account, stating that Santiago became enraged when Justina refused to take a bath and subjected her to a two-hour assault that included attempted drowning, punching, and suffocation. She admitted to holding Justina's hands while Santiago wrapped duct tape around her daughter's nose and mouth, causing her death.
In a plea deal, Denise Solero pleaded guilty to hindering prosecution and agreed to testify against Luis Santiago in exchange for a sentence of five years' probation. Prosecutors stated that this agreement was necessary due to the lack of a body, making Solero's eyewitness testimony crucial to the case against Santiago. They also admitted that they were unaware of the full extent of her complicity at the time the deal was made. In December 1997, a jury acquitted Santiago of murder but convicted him of second-degree manslaughter and evidence tampering, indicating they believed his version of events. He was sentenced to six to nineteen years in prison for the manslaughter charge and an additional term for evidence tampering. Solero's lenient sentence was met with public criticism. As part of her stringent probation, she was forbidden from having unsupervised contact with her other children. In 1999, her request for supervised visits with one of her daughters was denied.
Santiago and Solero claimed they disposed of Justina's body in a vacant lot in Brooklyn. Despite a thorough search of the area, her remains were never recovered and are believed to have been removed with garbage when the lot was cleared. Although foul play is suspected due to the circumstances of her disappearance, Justina's body has never been found.Last Seen: Nov 1, 1995
