A Jackson man pleaded guilty Friday to a pair of decades-old Jersey Shore murders, admitting that he was enlisted by a friend’s mother to kill her sister and then her husband in 1994 and 1995.
Jose Carrero, 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor. In exchange, he will testify at the trials of Dolores Morgan, 66, the alleged mastermind of the murders, and her son Ted Connors, 47, who is accused of helping Carrero carry out the killings in Long Branch.
During the hearing, Carrero provided a detailed account of both killings, testifying Connors committed both, but he was present at both.
Carrero was arrested last month and charged in the death of Long Branch woman Ana Mejia in December 1994 and the killing of her in-law Nicholas Connors in May 1995, authorities said.
Carrero admitted in court Friday that he had a conversation with Morgan and her son Ted Connors, who now live in Florida, in the kitchen of their Van Dyke Place home in 1994 to discuss Mejia’s murder.
He said Morgan said she wanted Mejia dead because she set up her drug-dealing boyfriend at the time by working as a confidential informant to police. Morgan assumed Mejia was going to do the same to her and wanted Mejia dead, Carrero admitted.
Carrero said Morgan said she was going to pay him. He also said he and Ted Connors planned to go to a party the night of the murder, which they did, so they had an alibi. Carrero and Connors left the party in Ted’s car, parked down the street from Mejia’s house so no one would see it, he said.
Delores Morgan appears in Superior Court of Monmouth County in this February 5, 2020 photo.Noah K. Murray | For NJ Advance
Mejia opened the door, he said, and went back to her room after Carrero and Connors walked into the apartment. Carrero said he covered her face because he “didn’t want to see her” while Connors stabbed her.
Carrero went back to the car with Connors and went back to the party to show their faces again, he said. They got rid of the knife somewhere in North Jersey, later, he said. Morgan didn’t pay Carrero, he said, but he borrowed money from her and never paid her back.
It was Morgan’s and Connors’s idea to show their faces at the party, Carrero said. When Connors said “let’s take a ride,” Carrero knew he was going to murder Mejia, Carrero confirmed in response to the prosecution’s questioning.
The second conspiracy to commit murder involving Nicholas Connors also was discussed in the kitchen with Morgan and Ted Connors, Carrero said. He said Morgan wanted Nicholas Connors killed for insurance purposes.
Ted Connors got a gun and they planned for it to look like a robbery, Carrero said. Morgan went to work that night, so she wasn’t home and she could throw suspicion off her, Carrero said.
Ted Connors went to a man’s house in Long Branch to get the gun, which Carrero said he believes was a small gun. At night, Carrero said they parked down the street from the house on Van Dyke Place and they went to the side door, slicing the screen so it was made to look like a robbery.
Carrero said he heard the TV on, he sat down to have a conversation and then went to the kitchen. That’s when Ted Connors shot Nicholas Connors, which Carrero said he did not see — he only heard it.
He heard the second shot and ran outside back to the car, with Ted Connors a couple feet behind him. They got to the car and disposed of the gun at the beach in Long Branch, Carrero said. He doesn’t remember where he went after that.
After both killings, Carrero said he still lived at the Connors’ house for a little bit. He didn’t pay rent and Morgan eventually kicked him out of the house, he said.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni on Friday again lauded his office’s cold case unit and Long Branch police.
“But unfortunately for the family members in these cases, the justice is a long delayed process. This is just one step along the way,” he told reporters after the hearing. “There remains a long way to go with the other two defendants which the state intends to present their cases to grand jury in the coming days.”
Gramiccioni said Carrero believed it was in “his best interest” to cooperate with the state.
“From our perspective, we welcome that because it’s very rare that we get an inside look at a criminal enterprise or conspiracy,” the prosecutor said. "This gives us unique insight and really supplements the quantity of evidence we already have against the other two defendants.”
Carrero’s sentencing was scheduled for June 5, but will not happen until after he testifies for the prosecution.
Ted Connors appears in Superior Court of Monmouth County in this February 5, 2020 photo. Noah K. Murray | For NJ Advance
Brianna Kudisch may be reached at bkudisch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @briannakudisch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
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