A mother and son face charges of murder and conspiring to murder the woman’s husband and sister more than 25 years ago in New Jersey.
Monmouth County prosecutors said Ted Connors, 47, carried out the murder with his friend on behalf of his mother, Delores Morgan, NJ.com reported. Both were indicted Wednesday on seven counts of murder and conspiracy for the shooting death of Nicholas Connors — Morgan’s husband and Connors’ stepfather — in Long Branch in May 1995 and the slaying of Ana Mejia several months earlier.
The elder Connors was found fatally shot in his home on May 14, 1995. Two of the children he had with Morgan, ages 12 and 13 at the time, slept through the crime, according to the website. Mejia was found stabbed 23 times on Dec. 8, 1994.
Her two children, ages 1 and 3, were not harmed. Ted Connors told police he was a drug dealer in the 1990s and that he lost money when Mejia and her boyfriend were arrested in 1994 in a drug case. Officials said that gave him a motive to kill her.
Morgan, 66, collected on a $200,000 life insurance policy after her husband’s death. She moved to Florida with her son soon after the murders, according to the news site.
Connors’ lawyer Jonathan Petty argued Meija was perceived as a possible “snitch” in the drug investigation and could have been killed by several other people.
Jose Carrero, 48, a former friend of Connors, pleaded guilty last week for his role in the killings. He is expected to testify against the mother and son and faces up to 10 years in prison for each count.
