A 52 year-old Trenton, New Jersey man will spend the rest of waking moments in a state prison after he was giving a life sentence for murdering his girlfriend at a Bensalem hotel in January of 2025,
Orenthia Upshur, entered a guilty plea Monday for the Jan. 15, 2025, murder of 49-year-old Maisha Coon, also of Trenton and was sentenced by Common Pleas Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. to a mandatory life sentence of imprisonment without parole for the killing.
Court testimony indicated that 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, authorities said in a release.
“This brutal act of domestic violence robbed Maisha Coon of her life and shattered the lives of those who loved her,” said Bucks County District Attorney Joe Khan.
Her daughters remembered Coon 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 homicide investigation began when a family member entered the Pennsylvania State Police Trevose Barracks at 5:00 a.m. on January 15, reporting that Upshur had admitted to shooting his girlfriend in a Bensalem hotel.
Authorities used cell phone location data to pinpoint the victim’s location to a cluster of hotels in the area.
At approximately 4:30 a.m. on the same day, Trenton Police received 911 call reporting shots fired. When officers arrived, they heard more gunshots and saw an armed individual, later identified as Upshur, run into a home. After a standoff with the Mercer County Tactical Response Team, Upshur was taken into custody. Police also recovered a gun believed to be the one used in the homicide, authorities said at the time.