11-10: Head found: See update below.
11-12: Teens charged with murder! See update below.
11-8-2007 Michigan SEE UPDATES
Northville police have identified the burned, headless body found on a cul-de-sac as a 26-year-old River Rouge man.
Nothville police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint to identify the man as Daniel Sorensen.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said.
A sewer and water department crew found his body at 9:32 a.m. on Hidden Ridge Drive.
A records check indicates Sorensen was a registered sex offender in Illinois.
His cause of death remains unknown. The Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy. ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Body of burned, decapitated man found at Seven and Ridge
11-8-2007 Michigan:
Workers performing fire hydrants checks this morning in Northville Township found the badly charred and decapitated male body.
The man was identified as Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, formerly of Westland, a registered sex offender on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.
Sorensen was convicted of fourth degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim between 13-17, according to the registry.
Personnel from the township’s water and sewer department found Sorensen’s remains at 9:32 a.m. at the end of a cul-de-sac in Hidden Ridge, an undeveloped subdivision west of Ridge Road and south of Seven Mile Road, according to Director of Public Safety John Werth.
The three men found the body lying on the side of the road.
Even though search dogs were brought to the site, the head of the body has not been found.
Township police were assisted by the Michigan State Police, whose mobile crime trailer was at the scene, Plymouth Township Police and Wayne Police.
After canvassing the area, talking to nearby residents, police believe the body was burned at the site sometime between 7:30 and 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
Witnesses noticed something burning in the area during that time.
Police think the murder took place elsewhere, with the body being brought to the township location.
Police believe the murderer decapitated and burned the victim in an attempt to conceal Sorensen’s identity.
“His hands were actually burnt, but we were able to get one fingerprint,” Werth said.
Police matched the man’s fingerprints in the state police database within three hours after the body was found.
Werth added that police learned from talking to residents in the area that fires are evidently started in the undeveloped area all the time, but no one calls the police or the fire department.
Second body found
This was the second body found dumped in Northville Township in less than four months.
A passing motorist who stopped to look at the ducks found a woman’s partially-clothed body in a retention pond by Country Club Condominiums about 3:40 p.m. on Aug. 7.
Police were able to identify the body within hours as 44-year-old Cheryl Lynn Boeskool of Garden City. Thomas Joseph Roe, 62, also of Garden City, who allegedly tried to help the mentally-challenged Boeskool at one time, was charged with first degree murder in her death on Aug. 10 in 35th District Court.
Roe, who pleaded not guilty on the murder charge, is currently in jail, awaiting trial. ..more.. by Pam Fleming can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 105, or pfleming@gannett.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Autopsy Conducted in Beheading Death of Sex Offender
11-9-2007 Michigan
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — An autopsy was being conducted Friday morning on a beheaded, burned corpse found on a cul-de-sac about 20 miles northwest of Detroit and identified as a 26-year-old convicted sex offender.
Police are searching for a burgundy Chevy S-10 pickup truck belonging to the victim, Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, Mich., after state police used fingerprints to identify the body.
"We believe it's an isolated incident," said Det. Lt. Michael Wildt of Northville Township Police. "We have to find out who did it, why and where did it happen. This is where we found the body, but we don't believe the person was murdered there."
Sorensen had been convicted of the criminal sexual abuse of a teen between the age of 13 and 17 in Tazewell County, Ill., according to that state's sex offender registry. But investigators weren't sure if that had anything to do with his brutal death.
"As of right now we don't have anything that says it is; we don't have anything that says it isn't," Wildt said. "We don't know."
The body was found Thursday morning by Northville Township public works employees along a road in Hidden Ridge, a subdivision under development. The body was set on fire Wednesday night between 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., police said.
"It burned for a long time," Wildt said.
Sorensen's head has not been found and a cause of death has not been released.
"Who would do something like this to my son?" his father, Jim Sorensen, told MyFOXDetroit.
Click here to watch the MyFOXDetroit report.
Sorensen worked odd jobs doing construction and landscape work, police said. He was last seen alive on Wednesday.
His pickup truck has the Michigan license plate BBV 9503.
FOXNews.com's Sara Bonisteel contributed to this report. ..more..
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sewer crew finds man's mutilated body
11-9-2007 Michigan
Investigators believe someone tried to hide the identity of a murder victim found burned and decapitated Thursday at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac.
But a single fingerprint copied by State Police forensic evidence experts from the victim's burned hands confirmed the man as a River Rouge resident with an Illinois sex abuse conviction.
The torso of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, was found about 9:30 a.m. Thursday by a three-man crew from the township's sewer and water department checking the operation of a fire hydrant.
"Somebody went a long ways making an effort to obscure the identity of this man," said Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth.
Sorensen was convicted in 1998 in Illinois of criminal sexual abuse of a teenager, according to the Illinois Sex Offender Information Web site. He is listed on both the Michigan and Illinois sex offender registries.
Sorensen's torso was found next to the curb of a new street in a yet-to-be developed subdivision south of Maybury State Park. His head is missing.
Werth said he didn't have a motive for the slaying and has no indication the death is related to Sorensen's status as a sex offender.
Sorensen apparently was killed and perhaps decapitated elsewhere, before his body was dumped near the curb. An autopsy to determine the cause of death is set for today.
Investigators said Sorensen appeared to have suffered numerous stab wounds.
Police said a neighbor reported seeing a fire at the end of the unoccupied road about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Another witness said the fire could still be seen about 10 p.m. Werth said a flammable liquid appeared to have been poured on the already headless torso.
Sorenson worked as a bar bouncer, his father told WJBK-TV.
"Who would do something like this to my son? It's not real to me right now," said Jim Sorenson.
The criminal sexual conduct charge stemmed from a relationship with an underage girl, his father said. His sex offender status was "a cloud that hung over his head," his mother Kim told WXYZ-TV.
"He was a good person ... but he had a rough life," she said. ..more.. by Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Police still have no solid leads in murder of River Rouge man
11-9-2007 Michigan
Search on for roommate’s 2001 Chevy S-10 truck
Northville Township Police still had no solid leads Friday afternoon in the murder of a 26-year-old River Rouge man whose badly burned and decapitated body was found Thursday morning in an undeveloped subdivision.
The body of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, formerly of Westland, was found lying by the side of the road in a cul-de-sac at 9:32 a.m. Thursday by township water and sewer workers.
The workers were performing routine fire hydrant checks when they found the body and called authorities.
Police are searching for Sorensen roommate’s vehicle, a burgundy 2001 Chevy S-10 pickup with the Michigan license plate number BBV-9503.
The vehicle is not registered to Sorensen but is what he was last seen driving.
The pickup is registered to the man’s roommate in River Rouge, according to Lt. Greg Rhodes, Northville Township Police Department.
The license number has also been listed in the nationwide law enforcement database as a wanted vehicle, Rhodes said.
Sorensen’s sex offense conviction took place in 1998 in Illinois, according to police. He was 17 at the time, and the victim was 15, according to news reports.
It appears the sex conviction was more of a statutory indiscretion, according to police.
Investigators are continuing to interview the murder victim’s family members and friends.
Police have learned that Sorensen didn’t have steady employment but that he did have a girlfriend.
According to news reports, he was an only child.
Anyone who sees the vehicle in question can call the township police department at (248) 349-9400. ..more.. by Northville Record staff writer Pam Fleming can be reached at (248) 349-1700, ext. 105, or pfleming@gannett.com.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Man likely died before head was severed:
26-year-old's autopsy says stabbings were the cause of death of burned body left in subdivision.
11-10-2007 Michigan:
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- Daniel G. Sorensen, 26, likely was dead long before his head was cut off and his torso set ablaze on vacant lot No. 5 of a new subdivision south of Maybury State Park.
An autopsy performed Friday by the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office determined Sorensen was killed by multiple stab wounds probably hours before his body was discovered Thursday morning by a Northville Township crew checking on the operation of a fire hydrant in Hidden Ridge Estates.
Sorensen's head has not been found.
Investigators also are looking for a missing pickup truck. The burgundy 2001 Chevrolet S-10 with an extended cab and black fender flairs had been driven almost exclusively by Sorensen but was registered to a friend. The Michigan license plate number is BBV 9503.
Sorensen's body was doused with a flammable liquid, and particular attention appeared to have been paid to the hands, said John Werth, Northville Township director of public safety. He speculated that the killer tried to hide the victim's identity.
Werth said detectives Friday had discovered promising and fast-developing leads in the case.
Police said the area's neighbors reported seeing a campfire-like blaze at the end of Hidden Ridge Court about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Sorensen was convicted in 1998 in Illinois of sexual abuse involving a teenager. He was on both the Michigan and Illinois sex offender registries, which friends said haunted him.
"It was a consensual relationship with a girlfriend who was a couple of years younger than him, which made her underage," said Jennifer Furie, 22, of Chesterfield Township.
"Every time he applied for a job, it came up. My dad this morning when he read it in the paper was angry because this was the boy who used to come over and watch movies at my house. It was unfair and now this monstrous thing happens to him. Whoever did this had a lot of hatred."
Furie said she and Sorensen attended Livonia's Franklin High School. He was several classes ahead of her.
"He was a teddy bear. A big guy who could tell a joke and was always open to easy conversation," Furie said. "He had a hard time getting jobs, even getting a car, because a teenage relationship got him branded for life." ..more.. by Doug Guthrie at (734) 462-2674 or dguthrie@detnews.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tazewell Co. sex offender found dead in Michigan
11-10-2007 Illinois:
PEKIN — Police in Michigan continued their investigation Friday into the grisly death of a man once convicted of molesting a teenager in Tazewell County.
The beheaded, burned corpse of Daniel Gene-Vincent Sorensen, 26, of River Rouge, Mich., was found Thursday in Northville Township, Mich., about 20 miles northwest of Detroit. Police told reporters they believe Sorensen was murdered at another location and dumped on a cul-de-sac.
Tazewell County State’s Attorney Stewart Umholtz confirmed that Sorensen was convicted of criminal sexual abuse of a minor in 2000. He was placed on 12 months of probation for the misdemeanor offense.
Police identified the badly burned victim by using an automated fingerprint identification system. An autopsy was conducted Friday but a cause of death has not been released.
A search was under way for Sorensen’s truck. The victim was last seen on Wednesday. He worked odd jobs doing construction and landscape work. ..more.. by Edith Brady-Lunny eblunny@pantagraph.com
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dad begs: Help find who killed my son
11-10-2007 Michigan
Jim Sorensen is not only coping with the image of his 26-year-old son's decapitation, he's trying to defend his son's reputation surrounding a sex offense conviction.
As Northville police continued to search for suspects in the killing of Daniel Sorensen of River Rouge, his father begged Friday that anyone with information call police or turn themselves in.
"If you know anything, look at what this person did to my son," said Jim Sorensen, 51, of Westland. "If you were involved, turn yourself in because you will be caught."
Police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint Thursday to identify Daniel Sorensen's body. It had been found Thursday morning on Hidden Ridge Drive in Northville Township.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said. His head has not been recovered.
Jim Sorensen said the sex offender conviction occurred when his son was 17 and dating a 14-year-old girl that he met on the Internet. Daniel Sorenson thought the girl was 16 and went to Illinois to meet her.
"He's not a pedophile," Jim Sorensen said. "This was consensual touching. We have a son who has been murdered violently, but we have a view of him as a sex offender, and that is not fair."
He said he does not believe his son's death is related to the sex offense.
The conviction on the fourth-degree sex offense dogged Daniel Sorensen when he applied for jobs, his father said. Most recently, he told his parents he was driving a truck.
"Dan was a social being," his father said. "We called him 'Bear,' because he was like a big old teddy bear."
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth said police followed up on leads Friday. They are searching for Daniel Sorensen's red Chevrolet S-10 pickup.
"We are clueless at this time," Jim Sorensen said. "We need the public's help." ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Three 'persons of interest' ID'd in gruesome Northville Twp. slaying
11-10-2007 Michigan
NORTHVILLE TOWNSHIP -- Investigators have identified three persons of interest in the case of the burned and beheaded body found Thursday at the end of a suburban cul-de-sac.
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth declined to say whether the three are in custody, but confirmed Saturday an unspecified number of arrest warrants are being sought in connection with the slaying of Daniel G. Sorensen, 26.
The River Rouge resident's body was found early Thursday in a vacant lot at the end of a street in a yet-to-be-developed subdivision near Ridge Road, south of Maybury State Park. Police believe an effort was made to hide the victim's identity by removing his head and burning the torso, particularly the hands. Sorensen's head wasn't found with the body.
The Wayne County Prosecutor's office is expected on Monday to consider evidence and information detectives collected late Friday, including Sorensen's missing pickup truck. The burgundy 2001 Chevrolet S-10 was found shortly before 10:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Meijer store at Warren and Newburgh roads in Westland.
Northville Township Police executed search warrants at five locations on Friday and early Saturday with assistance from officers in Livonia, Westland, Plymouth Township, Michigan State police troopers and detectives from the Wester Wayne County Special Investigative Task Force. Werth declined to identify two other communities where warrants were served.
"We have additional evidence that was used in the crime that is being processed right now," Werth said. "We have a lot of loose ends to tie up, but we are confident with who we have."
Werth declined to discuss his investigator's theory of the motive for the killing. Sorensen had a 1998 sex abuse conviction as a teen in Illinois, stemming from a relationship with an underage girl, according to his friends. His name and address were listed on both the Illinois and Michigan Sex Offender registries.
"It's a complex case and we are being very careful. We are continuing to follow leads that have developed very quickly," Werth said. "This was a horrendous crime and I don't want to jeopardize prosecution of the case by speaking about that before the prosecutor has time to review the evidence."
Officially, police released only a brief statement on Saturday morning: "The Northville Township Police Department is continuing to actively investigate all the leads in the case. Due to the incident's complexity and the numerous details that have arisen no press release will be made until all leads have been investigated and arrest warrants are obtained." ..more.. by Detroit News
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Truck of slain man found in store lot
11-10-2007 Michigan
Late Friday night, police recovered the red Chevrolet S-10 pickup belonging to a River Rouge man who was found decapitated and his body severely burned.
Northville Township Public Safety Director John Werth said the victim's pickup was found at a Meijer grocery store at Newburg and Warren in Westland at about 10:20 p.m. He said it was being towed to the department's impound lot for processing.
Werth declined to say whether arrests were imminent in the case but did say, "We are talking to persons of interest."
Meanwhile, the man's father, Jim Sorensen, said he is not only coping with the image of his 26-year-old son's decapitation, he's trying to defend his son's reputation surrounding a sex offense conviction.
As Northville Township police continued to search for suspects in the killing of Daniel Sorensen of River Rouge, his father begged Friday that anyone with information call police or turn themselves in.
"If you know anything, look at what this person did to my son," said Jim Sorensen, 51, of Westland. "If you were involved, turn yourself in because you will be caught."
Police, with the assistance of the Michigan State Crime Lab, used a fingerprint Thursday to identify Daniel Sorensen's body. It had been found Thursday morning on Hidden Ridge Drive in Northville Township.
Sorensen was decapitated and his body was severely burned, police said. His head has not been recovered.
Jim Sorensen said the sex offender conviction occurred when his son was 17 and dating a 14-year-old girl that he met on the Internet. Daniel Sorenson thought the girl was 16 and went to Illinois to meet her.
"He's not a pedophile," Jim Sorensen said. "This was consensual touching. We have a son who has been murdered violently, but we have a view of him as a sex offender, and that is not fair."
He said he does not believe his son's death is related to the sex offense. ..more.. by BEN SCHMITT at 313-223-4296 or bcschmitt@freepress.com.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human head found in Hines Park
11-11-2007 Michigan
DEARBORN HEIGHTS -- The Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed that a head was found at Hines Park in Dearborn Heights on Saturday.
However, it is yet to be determined if the head belongs to 26-year-old homicide victim Daniel Sorensen, whose decapitated body was found earlier this week.
The River Rouge resident's body was discovered early Thursday in a vacant lot at the end of a street in a yet-to-be developed subdivision near Ridge Road, south of Maybury State Park. Police believe an effort was made to hide the victim's identity by removing his head and burning the torso, particularly the hands.
Sorenson's head wasn't found with the body.
A press conference on Sorensen's death is planned for 10:30 a.m. Monday at the Northville Township Police Headquarters, 41600 Six Mile Road, according to the Northville Township police.
Other law enforcement agencies and the Wayne County Prosecutor's office are expected to attend.
Investigators have identified three persons of interest in the case.
Sorensen had a 1998 sex abuse conviction as a teen in Illinois, stemming from a relationship with an underage girl, according to his friends. His name and address were listed on both the Illinois and Michigan Sex Offender registries.
His body was identified by a partial fingerprint. ..more.. by Christina Stolarz at (586) 468-0343 or cstolarz@detnews.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Detroit-area teens charged in the slaying, mutilation of a man
11-12-2007 Michigan
DETROIT -- A high school senior and another teenager were charged Monday in the slaying and mutilation of an adult acquaintance, whose burned torso was found last week and severed head discovered this weekend in a local river. Prosecutors say the teens killed the man for the thrill of it.
Canton High School student Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, of Plymouth, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, of Westland, are charged with one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse.
They are accused in the planning, ambush and slaying of 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson last Wednesday in a Canton Township garage owned by Orlewicz's grandfather, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
"They lured him in the garage where they prepared a space to kill him," Worthy said at a news conference.
A tarp had been spread on the garage floor, and Sorenson was stabbed multiple times in the back. His head was sawed off and his body wrapped in the tarp, authorities said.
His hands and feet were burned with a blowtorch, possibly in an effort to conceal Sorenson's identity, the said.
His torso was driven in a pickup truck and dumped in a Northville Township cul-de-sac where it was set on fire with gasoline. A utility crew found it the next morning, police said.
His head was dumped in the Rouge River near the border between Dearborn Heights and Detroit. It was found Saturday.
"They made plans on how they were to clean up the blood," Worthy said. "They made plans on how they were going to dispose of the body. No matter how malicious we all think it may be, it was very thought out and very methodical."
The investigation is continuing and involves other persons of interest, she said.
"We've all seen a lot. We've seen it all," Worthy said of the case's investigators. "Still, a crime like this surprises us all.
"Anytime anyone kills just because they want to, and that's what the evidence seems to suggest here, is bone-chilling. Why anyone would want to do that, especially being 17 years old, it makes us think and ask a lot of questions about our society."
Sorenson's history as a registered sex offender in Michigan and Illinois and that he may have owned his attackers a small amount of money appears to have had nothing to do with his death, Worthy said.
Orlewicz and Letkemann were arraigned Monday in a Romulus courtroom.
The murder charges carry mandatory sentences of life in prison. Mutilating a corpse carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. ..more.. by WOOD-TV
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Mich. Teens Charged in Dismemberment
11-12-2007 Michigan
Two thrill-seeking teenagers stabbed an adult acquaintance, took a blowtorch to his corpse and threw his severed head into a river, prosecutors said Monday as they charged the pair.
Canton High School senior Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, ambushed 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson last Wednesday in a garage owned by Orlewicz's grandfather, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said. A tarp had been spread on the floor, she said.
"They lured him in the garage where they prepared a space to kill him," Worthy said at a news conference.
Sorenson, who had worked as a bouncer, was stabbed multiple times in the back, his head was sawed off and his body was wrapped in the tarp, authorities said. Orlewicz and Letkemann burned his hands and feet with a blowtorch, possibly in an effort to conceal his identity, Worthy said.
"They made plans on how they were to clean up the blood," Worthy said. "They made plans on how they were going to dispose of the body."
The teens loaded Sorenson's torso in a pickup truck, dumped it in a cul-de-sac and set it on fire using gasoline. A utility crew found it Thursday morning, police said.
Sorenson's head was found Saturday in the Rouge River.
Sorenson's history as a registered sex offender in Michigan and Illinois and the fact that he may have owed his attackers a small amount of money appear to have had nothing to do with his death, Worthy said.
"We've all seen a lot. We've seen it all," Worthy said of the case's investigators. "Still, a crime like this surprises us all.
"Anytime anyone kills just because they want to, and that's what the evidence seems to suggest here, is bone-chilling. Why anyone would want to do that, especially being 17 years old, it makes us think and ask a lot of questions about our society."
Worthy did not immediately respond to a message seeking more information, including whether the defendants had lawyers.
Orlewicz, of Plymouth, and Letkemann, of Westland, were arraigned Monday in a Romulus courtroom on one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse. The murder charges carry mandatory sentences of life in prison. Mutilating a corpse carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.
The investigation is continuing and other people may have been involved, Worthy said. ..more.. by COREY WILLIAMS
1 comment:
How could he be registered in two states, shouldn't one show the address of current address?
Post a Comment