FREEHOLD – Three persons have been charged in two separate homicides that had remained unsolved for 25 years, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
Police say last week, Mr. Jose R. Carrero, 48, of Jackson Township, Ted Connors, 47, Dolores Morgan, 66, both of Del Ray Beach, Florida, were each charged with two separate counts of first degree Murder related to the deaths of Ana Mejia and Nicholas Connors.
According to police, on December 8, 1994, Ana F. Mejia, 24, was discovered deceased and partially clothed inside a bedroom of the Prospect Street apartment she shared with her boyfriend and her two young children. Mejia was stabbed multiple times and had a white powdery substance rubbed on her face when she was found.
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 on a sofa, deceased after multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
An investigation into these killings was commenced by the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office and the Long Branch Police Department shortly after these homicides.
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.
Carrero is scheduled for his first appearance in court tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020,
A detention hearing for is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2020, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Paul X. Escandon. Carrero is currently being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold Township.
Ted Connors and Morgan are both currently being held in the Palm Beach County (Florida) Detention Center, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
They are expected to return to New Jersey following an extradition hearing in the Palm Beach County Courthouse, in West Palm Beach, Florida.
If convicted of first degree Murder, each defendant faces a sentence of between 30 years to life imprisonment.
Anyone with additional information about this case is urged to contact Detective John Leibfried, of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443, or Detective Todd Coleman, of the Long Branch Police Department at 732-222-1000.