An 18-year-old Pennsylvania girl has entered a guilty plea after killing a 12-year-old girl more than a year ago, authorities said.
Ash Cooper, a transgender woman formerly known as Joshua Cooper, pleaded guilty Thursday to numerous charges, including third-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.
Cooper killed Morgan Connors, 12, on Nov. 25, 2022, at a trailer park in Bensalem Township. The two friends were watching a Netflix show when Connors got up to go to the bathroom, according to court documents obtained by the Bucks County Courier-Times.
After the murder, police were contacted by the mother of one of Cooper’s acquaintances, who said she saw Connors’ body on an Instagram video call.
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Ash Cooper, a transgender woman formerly known as Joshua Cooper, recently pleaded guilty in 2022 to the murder of a 12-year-old girl. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office/FOX 29 Philadelphia)
In a press release, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said, “Investigators learned from the call that the juvenile witness was video chatting on Instagram with an acquaintance, later identified as Cooper, who claimed to have killed someone. “I learned that there was a problem,” he said.
“During the video chat, Cooper reversed the video image to show someone’s legs and feet covered in blood.”
The girl told her mother after Cooper asked an acquaintance to help clean up and dispose of the body, according to the Cooper Times.
When authorities arrived on scene, they saw a teenage boy “jump out of the back of the trailer.”
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Cooper used his father’s gun to kill Morgan Connors, 12. (FOX 29 Philadelphia)
“Officers entered the residence and observed a female juvenile (later identified as Connors) deceased on the bathroom floor with apparent gunshot wounds,” the prosecutor’s office said. The Courier Times reported at the time that Cooper’s pants were around her ankles.
“There were also indications that significant steps had been taken to clean up the crime scene.”
Cooper later revealed that he had used his father’s gun, which he had taken from a safe, to kill the preteen.
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Ash Cooper pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. (Bucks County District Attorney’s Office)
A judge on Thursday sentenced Cooper to 15 to 40 years in prison. As a legal adult, Cooper is also required to undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations.
At sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Christine M. McElroy read a statement from Connors’ grandfather, in which she described the “intense pain and heartbreak” Connors felt after the killing.
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The murder occurred in November 2022 at a trailer park in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania. (FOX 29 Philadelphia)
The letter said, “The human heart is not designed to endure such heartbreak.”
