A Pennsylvania man has confessed to killing a 12-year-old girl with whom he allegedly had a sexual relationship. However, after the man was arrested, the suspect changed to a transgender individual.
Ash Cooper, a transgender man who went by the name Joshua Cooper before his arrest, pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of third-degree murder, possession of instruments of crime and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. The judge sentenced Cooper, 18, to 15 to 40 years in prison.
Cooper, who was 16 at the time of the killing, admitted to killing 12-year-old Morgan Connors on Nov. 25, 2022, at a trailer park in Bensalem Township.
However, Cooper allegedly showed the deceased 12-year-old girl’s bloody body to a female friend in an Instagram video chat. Cooper then tried to persuade his friend to help dispose of Morgan’s body, according to court documents.
A friend alerted his mother, who then called the police.
When police arrived at the crime scene, they saw a teenage boy “running out of the back of the trailer.”
of Bucks County delivery times According to the report, “Police found the body of a young girl inside the home with her pants tied around her ankles on the bathroom floor. Police said it appeared she had been shot. Officers also found a body of a girl with her pants tied around her ankles. I also witnessed towels and cleaning supplies stained with bleach, as well as a strong odor of bleach. ”
“Officers entered the residence and observed a female juvenile (later identified as Connors) deceased on the bathroom floor with apparent gunshot wounds,” the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said in a statement.
Morgan’s cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the neck and upper chest.
Police became aware that there were attempts to clean up the gruesome murder scene.
“There was also evidence that significant measures had been taken to clean up the crime scene,” police said.
Cooper later admitted to shooting Connors using his father’s gun, which was kept in the safe.
According to the probable cause affidavit, Cooper told police the killing was “an accident…”[he’s] I’m sorry,” and he said, “I’m going to prison for the rest of my life.”
WPVI-TV “The affidavit also states that during an interview with Cooper’s mother and police, she claimed that Cooper had previously had a sexual relationship with the victim.”
of daily mail reported, “During the investigation, authorities discovered that Cooper had been accused of sexual assault in a previous, unrelated incident. She was convicted in juvenile court.”
Cooper was initially charged as Joshua Cooper, but after his arrest he began identifying as transgender. During the trial, Cooper’s attorney asked the court to identify Joshua as Ash.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Christine M. McElroy read a statement from Connors’ grandfather during sentencing: “The human heart is not designed to endure such heartbreak.”
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