A former New Jersey woman and her son face murder and conspiracy charges in the killings 25 years ago of her husband and sister.
Dolores Morgan, 66, and Ted Connors, 47, both of Delray Beach, Florida, were indicted Wednesday for the 1994 and 1995 killings of Ana Mejia and Nicholas Connors, said the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey.
Prosecutors allege Ted Connors carried out the murders with his best friend, Jose Carrero, who has admitted to conspiring with the mother and son in the two killings 25 years ago.
Mejia, Morgan's sister, was found dead and partially clothed on Dec. 8, 1994 in a bedroom of a Long Branch apartment she shared with her boyfriend and two young children, the prosecutor's office said. She had been stabbed about 20 times, authorities told NBC New York at the time. She also had a white powdery substance rubbed on her face when her remains were discovered. Her children were found safe in the residence.
About six months later, on May 14, 1995, Nicholas Connors, who was Morgan's husband and Ted's adoptive father, was found dead on a sofa at his home in Long Branch, New Jersey, with multiple gunshot wounds to his head, the prosecutor's office said. Prosecutors allege he was killed over a $200,000 life insurance policy that Morgan collected after his death.
The mother and son are each charged with first-degree murder in the killings of Mejia and Nicholas Connors.
Carrero, 48, of Jackson Township, New Jersey, admitted in court on Feb. 21, as part of a plea agreement, that he conspired with Morgan and Ted Connors to kill Mejia in retaliation for what they believed were her actions to tip off law enforcement about the illegal activities of her boyfriend, the prosecutor's office has said.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree conspiracy to commit murder in the killings.
The prosecutor's office said last week that additional evidence recently uncovered by its office's cold case unit and the Long Branch Police Department resulted in charges being brought against the three defendants on Jan. 10.
Carrero has been detained in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township since his arrest last month. Ted Connors and Morgan are both being held at the same jail awaiting trial.
