Spokane parents plead guilty to murder of daughter’s 19-year-old boyfriend on baseless sex trafficking charges

An engaged Spokane couple pleaded guilty Thursday to murdering their daughter’s 19-year-old boyfriend four years ago after baselessly suspecting him of sex trafficking the girl.

As part of a deal, John B. Eisenman, 63, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the death of Andrew Sorensen. Brenda D. Kross, 57, pleaded to first-degree manslaughter for her role in the November 2020 killing of Sorensen, whose mother said he suffered from cerebral palsy and autism.

The murder became a national story due to Eisenman’s sex trafficking allegation and earned him financial support on a crowdfunding website for his legal defense. He later said he was likely under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the murder.

The prosecution and defense agreed to a prison sentence of 22 years for Eisenman and eight years for Kross. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Annette Plese will sentence the couple on Jan. 16.

Sorensen’s body was found Oct. 22, 2021, in the trunk of an abandoned Honda Accord registered to Kross, near Rochester Heights Park in northeast Spokane, according to court documents. Surveillance video from a nearby residence showed the car two days earlier parked along the sidewalk and then abandoned.

Spokane Police Detective. Randy Lesser wrote in court documents that Sorensen’s ankles were tied together with zip ties and his hands were tied behind his back with zip ties. Duct tape appeared to cover Sorensen’s mouth.

Lesser visited Kross’ residence and spoke to Eisenman, as she was not home.

Eisenman claimed that he and Kross owned the vehicle, but that someone had stolen it from their residence more than a year ago, Lesser wrote. Kross repeated the story of the stolen vehicle a few days later, but Lesser noted that she never reported the vehicle stolen.

Eisenman and Kross told police their daughter was sold into prostitution in October 2020 in Seattle by Sorensen, her boyfriend. They said they went to Seattle to save her.

Plese said in court Thursday that there was no evidence that Sorensen engaged in sex trafficking with his girlfriend.

Police also said in the documents that there was no evidence to support the sex trafficking allegation. Lesser wrote that he “has not been able to document independent, verifiable facts that would indicate that Sorensen engaged in sex trafficking in any way” with his girlfriend.

Days after Sorensen’s body was found, Lesser learned that a resident called Crime Check to report that his neighbor had told him that Eisenman had confessed to killing someone and placing the body in the trunk of a vehicle . Lesser contacted the neighbor, who said Eisenman indicated he killed Sorensen because Sorensen forced his daughter into prostitution.

Eisenman provided specific details about Sorensen, who was reported missing in November 2020, found in the trunk of the Honda and whom only someone involved in the homicide would know, Lesser wrote.

Eisenman was arrested a week after Sorensen’s body was found.

He told police he and Kross traveled to Seattle in October 2020 to rescue their daughter. After returning to Spokane with the girl, he learned Sorensen would be at a mobile home park in Airway Heights. Eisenman said he watched the scene and saw Sorensen being dropped off at the scene, documents state.

Eisenman confronted Sorensen, used zip ties to tie Sorensen’s hands behind his back and placed him in the trunk of the Honda, he told police. Eisenman said he used zip ties to tie Sorensen’s ankles, put a sock in his mouth and wrapped duct tape around his mouth.

While Sorensen was in the trunk, Eisenman admitted to punching Sorensen and throwing a cinder block at his head, then stabbing him repeatedly in the stomach.

Eisenman told police he drove the car back to his residence with Sorensen’s body in the trunk and left the vehicle parked on the street. The next day, Eisenman drove the Honda, with Sorensen’s body still inside, to a property near U.S. Highway 2. He parked the Honda in the rear of the property and removed the battery of the car, so that no one can drive it.

He said he had not returned to the property since abandoning the Honda there in November 2020, documents state.

Kross spent nearly a year before she was arrested after telling a co-worker about taunting the dying teen, documents show.

Kross told her colleague in August 2022 that she played a song about “crying, crying, crying” while she and Eisenman killed Sorensen. Kross then began humming the song, the co-worker told police, saying she played the song because Sorensen was crying so much while begging for his life. The woman said Kross told her she and Eisenman were laughing and singing while the 19-year-old cried.

Kross told the co-worker that she punched Sorensen in the face and that she and Eisenman hit Sorensen with a cinder block, beat him and stabbed him. She said they put Sorensen’s body in the trunk of his vehicle before abandoning it.

The woman said Kross told her Sorensen “got what he deserved.”

Police arrested Kross and booked her into custody on September 15, 2022, on suspicion of first-degree murder.

Eisenman’s recommended sentence would be the lower end of a standard sentencing range of 20 to 27 years, plus two years for a deadly weapon enhancement.

The recommended sentence for Kross, who sat in the courtroom watching Eisenman plead guilty to murder before his hearing, was closer to the upper limit of the standard sentence of 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 years.

The attorneys also agreed to give the defendants credit for time served. Eisenman has been in prison since his arrest more than three years ago, and Kross has been in prison since his arrest more than two years ago.

Theresa Sorensen, Andrew Sorensen’s mother, told reporters after the hearing that she did not think the 22-year sentence suggested by Eisenman was justice for their son.

She said she looked forward to Plese’s sentencing.

“I just can’t believe the wickedness and evil of these people,” Theresa Sorensen told the Spokesman-Review after Kross’s 2022 arrest.