SPOKANE, Wash. — A Washington state father is facing a first-degree murder charge after Spokane police said he beat, restrained and fatally stabbed a 19-year-old man he believed sold his underage daughter into a Seattle-based sex trafficking ring.
John Eisenman, 60, is accused of murdering Andrew Sorensen, 19, whose body was found Oct. 22 in the trunk of an abandoned car.
Update 3:08 p.m. EST Nov. 15: The victim’s parents told NBC News that their son was developmentally disabled with no ties to sex traffickers, however, and accused Eisenman of demonizing the young man in a bid to mitigate sentencing.
“He was a disabled kid. He didn’t have the capability to sex traffic anybody,” Sorensen’s father, Randy, told the network in a brief telephone interview.
The family also issued the following statement that directly contradicted Eisenman’s characterization of events: “We spent a year searching for him and hoping he would return. Claims by his confessed killer have been very hurtful and only added to our family’s grief. The word ‘alleged’ means of an incident without proof. It has already been reported: Both the FBI and Washington State Patrol said there is no sex trafficking investigation into the victim.”
In an email to NBC News, Chris Loftis, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, confirmed that the agency “is not involved with any investigation involving Mr. Sorensen.”
Loftis did confirm to the network that Sorensen’s name was on the agency’s missing persons list at one point but said that was the extent of the Washington State Patrol’s familiarity with the victim.
“An investigation of that type would likely be conducted by local authorities, not WSP (Washington State Police). We have had no investigation of him related to sex trafficking,” Loftis stated.
Meanwhile, the FBI confirmed to the network that it does not “comment on the existence or the nonexistence of any investigation.”
Read the complete NBC News report.
Original report: According to police, Eisenman discovered in October 2020 that his daughter’s boyfriend had allegedly sold her into the sex trafficking operation for $1,000, KIRO-TV reported.
Police said Eisemann retrieved his daughter from Seattle that same month and learned that the boyfriend, identified as Andrew Sorensen, would be near Spokane the following month, the TV station reported.
Eisenman admitted in a recent police interview to murdering Sorensen, whose body was found Oct. 22 in the trunk of an abandoned car that at one point belonged to Eisenman’s fiancee, KXLY reported, citing court documents.
According to police, Eisenman confronted Sorensen in November 2020, zip-tied him and placed him in the trunk of a car. Meanwhile, court documents state that Eisenman threw a cinder block at Sorensen’s head and stabbed him multiple times in the stomach, killing him, KIRO-TV reported.
According to court records, Eisenman told officers that he abandoned the car, with the body inside, in a remote part of north Spokane County, removing the vehicle’s battery, so no one would drive it, KXLY reported.
An unidentified third-party moved the vehicle to Spokane’s Hillyard area in last month and abandoned it, police said, noting that neighbors rummaging through the vehicle discovered Sorensen’s body, the TV station reported.
Eisenman, who has no recent criminal history, appeared in court Monday, where bond was set at $1 million.
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