Crime, Regional Interest

Prosecutor: Man Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy in 25-Year-Old Cold Case Murders

Twenty-five years after the crimes were committed, a 48-year-old man has admitted that he conspired with two others in two separate Long Branch homicides, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced on Friday.

Jose R. Carrero, of Jackson Township, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree conspiracy to commit murder in connection with the 1994 stabbing murder of Ana Mejia and the 1995 shooting murder Nicholas Connors. 

In Friday’s plea hearing before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor, Carrero admitted that he conspired with Ted Connors, 47, and Dolores Morgan, 66, to kill Mejia in retaliation for what they believed were her actions to tip off law enforcement officers about the illegal activities of her boyfriend.

The case background …  

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

Carrero also admitted to conspiring with Ted Connors and Connors’ mother, Delores Morgan (then known as Delores Connors) to kill Nicholas Connors the adopted father of Ted and then-husband of Delores.

On May 14, 1995, six months after Mejia was murdered, Long Branch police officers found Nicholas Connors dead on a sofa with multiple gunshot wounds to the head at his Long Branch Van Dyke Place home. The motive for Nicholas Connors was collecting on a life insurance policy.

As part of his plea agreement, Carrero is required to provide truthful testimony in any potential trials for his co-defendants Ted Connors and Dolores Morgan, both of Del Ray Beach, FL, each of whom are charged with first-degree murder for the homicides of Mejia and Nicholas Connors.

The state will recommend a sentence of 5-10 years’ imprisonment for the first count, and a consecutive 5-10 years’ imprisonment for the second count, to be served in New Jersey state prison.  

A murder investigation was commenced by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office and the Long Branch Police Department shortly after these homicides occurred.  Additional evidence recently uncovered by the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Cold Case Unit and Long Branch Police Department resulted in charges being signed against the three defendants on Jan. 10, 2020.

Carrero has been detained in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) in Freehold Township since his arrest last month.  Ted Connors and Morgan are both currently being held in MCCI to await trial.