Justina Morales
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Justina Morales (February 19, 1987 - December 31, 1995) was an eight year old girl from the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York, USA who gained notoriety predominantly through the New York City tabloids when she was killed by her mother's boyfriend Luis Santiago on New Year's Eve in 1995.
The crime went unnoticed for more than a year until February of 1997 when a relative of Justina's informed the police that she had been missing and possibly killed. What also stood out in Justina's case was that teachers and school officials did not take note of her absence from school between 1995 and 1997, from when she was killed to when police learned of her death. There had been some speculation that if there had been attention paid to her absences that perhaps her death would have been investigated quicker. But Justina's murder, similar to the deaths of Elisa Izquierdo and Nadine Lockwood in the same time frame, brought to light the short comings of New York City's child welfare system.
At Santiago's trial in 1997, it was brought to light that he had physically abused Justina for several years both physically and sexually, and that he had beaten her to death on New Year's Eve 1995 after she had refused to take a bath. Much attention—and debate—had also been focused upon Justina's mother Denise Solero, who was Santiago's girlfriend and who had likewise abused him. Several news reports and editorials portrayed her as a victim who was terrified to inform anyone that her daughter had been killed, while other accounts depict her as an accomplice to the crime who displayed a depraved indifference toward her daughter's plight. Two years after Justina's murder, Santiago was sentenced to 6 to 19 years in prison; Denise Solero agreed to testify against Santiago in exchange for immunity. Justina's body was never found.
