A Bucks County teenager was sentenced for shooting and killing a girl and then asking a friend on Instagram to help cover up her death.
Ash Cooper, formerly known as Joshua Cooper, pleaded guilty on Thursday to third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence in connection to the November 2022 killing of 12-year-old Morgan Connors.
Cooper, 18, was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in state prison and a consecutive sentence of seven years of probation. Cooper was also ordered to follow all the rules and recommendations of adult probation and parole and undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations.
The death of Morgan Connors
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On Nov. 25, 2022, at 4:11 p.m., police responded to a 911 call reporting a possible homicide at the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park on Gibson Road in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. A witness told investigators they were on an Instagram video chat with a friend, later identified as Cooper. During the chat, Cooper told a friend she had just accidentally killed someone and flipped the video image, showing the legs and feet of someone covered in blood.
Cooper then asked the friend for help with cleaning up the scene and disposing of the victim’s body.
When police arrived at Gibson Road, they spotted a teen running out of the back of the trailer. They then entered the trailer and found Connors’ body on the bathroom floor. The girl was suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Police also said there were signs that someone tried to clean up the crime scene.
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The responding officers later spotted Cooper in the area of the trailer park and took the teen into custody.
Detectives said Cooper got the gun while cleaning and organizing her father’s safe. The teen accessed the safe while replacing the batteries that her dad had removed, making the safe’s combination lock inoperable.
While Cooper was sentenced, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy read an impact statement from Connors’ grandfather who described the “intense pain and heartbreak” of losing his granddaughter.
“The human heart is not built for such heartbreak,” the letter stated.
