BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA — A New Jersey man will spend the rest of his life in prison for fatally shooting his girlfriend in a township hotel last January, authorities said.
Orenthia Upshur, of Trenton, N.J., entered the guilty plea in Bucks County Court on Monday for the Jan. 15, 2025, murder of 49-year-old Maisha Coon, also of Trenton.
He was then sentenced to mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to first-degree murder and related charges in the fatal domestic violence incident.
The two had been in a relationship spanning three decades and had gone to the hotel to address ongoing relationship issues before the encounter turned fatal, another tragic reminder of the lethal nature of domestic violence, the Bucks County District Attorney's Office said.
Coon's two daughters read victim impact statements, remembering their mother as a hardworking woman who often balanced two jobs at a time to support her family, including dedicated work caring for individuals in group homes.
They remembered her vibrant spirit, her eye for fashion and home decorating, and her status as the "life of the party."
"The home feels haunted by her absence," one daughter wrote.
The homicide investigation began when a relative of Upshur entered the Pennsylvania State Police Trevose Barracks to report that Upshur had admitted to shooting Coon in a Bensalem hotel room.
The family member informed troopers that the couple had been arguing and that an argument between them was overheard during a phone call around 12:30 a.m. that day.
State Troopers conducted a check at the Sleep Inn on Street Road, where they learned Coon had rented a room. Upon entering Room 317, officers discovered Coon dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
Detectives with the Bensalem Township Police Department recovered three spent bullet casings inside the room, along with physical evidence indicating a bullet trajectory that penetrated into the hotel room on the floor below.
Prior to the discovery of the victim, Trenton Police responded around 4:30 a.m. to a 911 report of shots fired in Trenton, N.J. Arriving officers heard additional gunfire and observed an armed man, later identified as Upshur, flee into a nearby residence.
Following a multi-hour standoff with the Mercer County Tactical Response Team, Upshur was taken into custody.
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