BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA – An 18-year-old from Pennsylvania, identified as Ash Cooper, has pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including third-degree murder, following the killing of a 12-year-old girl more than a year ago, according to law enforcement officials.
Cooper, a transgender woman previously known as Joshua Cooper, admitted to the charges on Thursday. The charges also encompassed possession of an instrument of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
The murder of 12-year-old Morgan Connors took place on Nov. 25, 2022, in a trailer park located in Bensalem Township. Court documents, as reported by the Bucks County Courier Times, reveal that the victim and the accused were friends who were watching a Netflix show together before the incident occurred.
Following the murder, local police were alerted by a mother of one of Cooper’s friends, who had seen Connors’ body during a video call on Instagram with Cooper. The Bucks County District Attorney’s Office stated that during the video chat, Cooper showed the legs and feet of a person covered in blood.
Upon arriving at the crime scene, authorities spotted a teenager fleeing from the trailer. Inside, they discovered the body of Connors, who had suffered an apparent gunshot wound. There were also signs of an attempt to clean up the crime scene.
Cooper later confessed to using her father’s gun, which she had taken from a safe, to commit the murder. On Thursday, she was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison. As a legal adult, Cooper is also mandated to undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations.
During the sentencing, a statement from Connors’ grandfather was read by Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy, expressing the “intense pain and heartbreak” he experienced following the murder.