Credit: Bensalem police
A Bensalem Township teen will head to state prison for killing a 12-year-old girl, who then streamed the aftermath on an Instagram chat.
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Ash Cooper, 18, was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in state prison after pleading guilty Thursday to the third-degree murder of 12-year-old Morgan Conners in November 2022 and a number of other offenses. Bucks County Court of Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Finley also imposed a consecutive seven-year probation period upon Cooper, who previously identified as Joshua Cooper.
Bensalem Township police said they received a call of a possible homicide. The caller told a dispatcher their daughter received an Instagram video chat from the 16-year-old boy where he stated he had just killed a person. The teen boy then turned the phone to reveal the legs and feet of someone covered in blood.
During the chat, Cooper reportedly asked the girl he was talking with on Instagram if she was going to help him dispose of the body.
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After receiving the report, police said they went to the Top of the Ridge Trailer Park and spotted Cooper dashing out of the back of the mobile home where they were called.
Officers found the victim in a bathroom with a fatal gunshot wound, police said.
A manhunt was launched for Cooper after he fled and he was taken into custody at Newport Mews Drive and Groton Drive, police said.
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The investigation found that Cooper had accessed a firearm from his father’s secured gun safe by manipulating its security measures, authorities said.
During the sentencing, an impact statement from Conners’ grandfather was read by Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin McElroy.
“The human heart is not built for such heartbreak,” the letter read.
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