A transgender biological man has been sentenced to 15 to 40 years in state prison for the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Pennsylvania.
Joshua “Ash” Cooper, 18, pled guilty on Thursday to third-degree murder, possession of an instrument of crime, and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence for the November 2022 murder of Morgan Connors, 12.
Just after 4 p.m. on November 25, 2022, the Bensalem Township Police Department received a 911 call about a possible murder from the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park.
The call was from a juvenile witness who was on an Instagram video chat with Cooper, who claimed that he had just killed someone.
During the call, Cooper flipped the phone around and showed the witness Connors’ bloody legs and feet.
The transgender killer then asked the juvenile witness to help clean up and dispose of the child’s body.
According to a press release from the Bucks County District Atorney’s office, “Police went to the Gibson Road property and as they arrived, they spotted a juvenile running out of the back of the trailer. Officers entered the residence and observed a deceased juvenile female, later identified as Connors, 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.”
Police set up a perimeter around the trailer park and eventually found and arrested Cooper.
The district attorney’s office said, “The investigation revealed that Cooper used a firearm from his father’s gun safe in the home to shoot the victim. Cooper was able to get into the safe by replacing the batteries his father had removed to make the combination lock inoperable.”
In addition to the 15 to 40 years in state prison, Cooper was also sentenced to seven years of probation.
During sentencing, Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy read an impact statement from the victim’s grandfather, who discussed the “intense pain and heartbreak” of losing his granddaughter.
“The human heart is not built for such heartbreak,” the letter said.