Trans teen sentenced to 15-40 years for murder of 12-year-old 'best friend' in Bucks County, PA

A trans-identified male has pleaded guilty to the brutal murder of a 12-year-old girl in Pennsylvania, and will spend at least 15 years in prison.

Ash Cooper, who was initially charged as Joshua Cooper but began transitioning after the arrest, admitted to the fatal shooting of 12-year-old Morgan Connors in Cooper’s family’s Bensalem, Pennsylvania trailer in November of 2022, the Daily Mail reports.

In a press release, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office said the judge sentenced Cooper to 15 to 40 years in state prison and a consecutive seven-year sentence of probation. Cooper, who is now 18, was also ordered to "follow all the rules and recommendations of adult probation and parole and undergo psychological and psychiatric evaluations."

At 4:11 pm on November 25, 3033, Bensalem Township Police responded to a 911 call about a possible homicide at the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park. Investigators learned that a juvenile witness was on an Instagram video chat with an acquaintance, later identified as Cooper, who had claimed to have just killed someone. 

In the video chat, Cooper, then 16, reportedly flipped the video image and showed the legs and feet of a person covered in blood to the juvenile witness. Cooper reportedly asked the acquaintance for assistance in cleaning the scene and disposing of her body.

When police arrived on the scene, they spotted a juvenile running out of the back of the trailer. They entered the trailer and found Connors, described as a "best friend," deceased on the floor of the bathroom with an apparent gunshot wound. "There were also indications that substantial steps were taken to clean up the crime scene," the office wrote.

Shortly after setting up a perimeter around the trailer park, Cooper was arrested.

Investigators said Cooper used a firearm obtained from Cooper’s father’s gun safe.  Connors’ cause of death was listed as a single gunshot wound to the neck and upper chest area. She was found lying facedown with her pants around her ankles and the gunshot wound to her backside.

Cooper told police that the two had been watching Netflix when Connors went to use the restroom. Cooper’s mother reportedly ended the interview before Cooper could reveal what happened next.