A mother and son have been indicted on murder charges in connection with two separate 25-year cold case killings, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Wednesday.

Last month, Dolores (Connors) Morgan, 66, and her son Ted Connors, 47, both of Del Ray Beach, FL, were each charged with two separate counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Ana Mejia and Nicholas Connors in Long Branch. Nicholas Connors was the husband of Delores (Connors) Morgan, adoptive father of Ted Connors.

If convicted of murder, Morgan and Connors each faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The cases’ background …

On Dec. 8, 1994, Ana F. Mejia, 24, was discovered dead and partially clothed inside a bedroom of the Prospect Street apartment in Long Branch that she shared with her boyfriend and her two young children. Mejia had been stabbed multiple times and a white powdery substance had been rubbed on her face. Her children were found safe within the residence. 

Six months later, on May 14, 1995, Long Branch police officers were dispatched to the Van Dyke Place home of Nicholas Connors, 51.  There, authorities found Nicholas Connors dead on a sofa inflicted with multiple gunshot wounds to the head. 

An investigation into the two murders was initiated by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Long Branch Police Department.  Additional evidence recently uncovered by the authorities resulted in the arrest of both defendants 25 years later.  

Ted Connors and Morgan are both currently being detained, pending trial, in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution, Freehold.

— Edited press release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office

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