Who Really Killed Connie Falconeri On General Hospital?
Several "General Hospital" characters originated from the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Bensonhurst. These include Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard), Lois Cerullo (Rena Sofer), and Olivia Falconeri (Lisa LoCicero). They all grew up together, along with Olivia's cousin, the late Constanza "Connie" Falconeri. Megan Ward originated the role in 2007, played the part until 2009, and then was recast with Kelly Sullivan in 2011.
During a storm in Port Charles, a woman's car broke down, and she ended up at Sonny's office. There, she introduced herself as Kate Howard, and Sonny eventually figured out she was his first love, Connie (via Soap Central). Kate had worked hard to separate herself from the old neighborhood and Sonny, legally changing her name to Kate Howard because she felt she'd be more respected in the fashion industry.
When they were teen lovers, Connie and Sonny had planned to run away together, but as he waited for her at their rendezvous point, she stood him up. Now in Port Charles as Kate, Sonny learned that she'd become a fashionista and editor-in-chief of Couture magazine. She'd previously had an affair with Trevor Lansing (Stephen Macht), Sonny's former stepfather and father to his half-brother, Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst). Trevor owned Couture and blackmailed Connie to choose between him and her career or Sonny. Kate chose Sonny and got Jasper "Jax" Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) to fund her new venture — her own fashion magazine called Crimson, per Soap Dirt.
Kate realized she had a mental disorder
Now that they had reunited, Sonny wanted to marry Kate, so he attempted to leave the mafia for her (via Soap Dirt). However, when they finally made it to the altar, someone shot Kate. She survived but later learned that Sonny had slept with his ex-wife, Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright), so she broke up with him. Kate left town but returned a year later — now played by Kelly Sullivan — to continue her work at Crimson and try to patch things up with Sonny. He was disappointed to learn that Kate knew Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) was his son but had never told him. The two then realized they couldn't be a couple.
Meanwhile, Kate was experiencing lost time and realized that she had kept her bloody wedding dress, which led her to seek therapy. It turned out that her blackouts were because she had dissociative identity disorder, and her alternate personality called herself Connie. Kate learned that Connie manifested as a way of protecting herself from Sonny's dangerous lifestyle.
Connie surfaced and recruited mobster Johnny Zacchara (Brandon Barash) to help break up Sonny and Kate. After a terrible fight with her cousin Olivia Falconeri, Kate went to a mental institution. Connie took over and set things up so Sonny would find her in bed with Johnny. When her therapist tried to help her, Connie attacked him and fled town. Fortunately, Jason Morgan (Steve Burton) caught her, and she explained her dual personalities to him and Sonny, per Soaps in Depth.
Connie's killer is revealed
In therapy, Kate learned that she had trauma from her teen years, which helped her to heal (via Soaps in Depth). She and Sonny tried to get married again, but Connie took over, informing him that she was already married to Johnny. After her antics worsened, she inadvertently caused the death of her long-lost son, Trey Mitchell (Erik Valdez). After Kate agreed to be committed again, her personalities were finally integrated, and she chose to be called Connie from then on.
Per Soap Central, a man named Derek Wells (William deVry) came to town, and his media company bought Crimson. However, he was secretly a mobster from Port Charles' past named Julian Jerome, and Ava Jerome (Maura West) was his sister. Derek let Connie stay on as editor-and-chief, but soon she overheard him talking to Ava and realized his true identity.
She tried to warn Sonny that the siblings were after him, but Ava shot her before she had the chance to reveal the truth. As she lay dying, Connie scrawled the letters "A" and "J" with her blood on the floor. Everyone assumed that meant AJ Quartermaine (Sean Kanan) had killed her, and Sonny then killed AJ in retaliation. However, Ava eventually confessed to Sonny that she was the real shooter. Thankfully, a vision of Connie appeared to Sonny and talked him out of killing Ava. Luckily for Ava, a file with her recorded confession went missing, and she got away with murder (via Soap Dirt).
Sadly, Kate/Connie never found justice.