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Teens Allegedly Burn and Behead Man

By COREY WILLIAMS,
AP
Posted: 2007-11-12 22:12:25
Filed Under: Crime News, Nation News
DETROIT (Nov. 12) - 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.

Alexander Letkemann, 18, left, and Jean Orlewicz, 17
Wayne County Sheriff / AP

Alexander Letkemann, 18, left, and Jean Orlewicz, 17, are accused of planning the slaying of a 26-year-old acquaintance earlier this month. The victim's hands and feet reportedly were burned with a blowtorch in a possible effort to conceal his identity.

Canton High School senior Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and Alexander James Letkemann, 18, ambushed 26-year-old Daniel Sorenson on 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 sawed off and his body 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," she 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 in Northville Township and set it on fire using gasoline, Worthy said. A utility crew found it Thursday morning, police said.

Sorenson's head was found Saturday in the Rouge River on the border of Detroit and Dearborn Heights, about 15 miles from where the torso was found.

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.

Sorenson was convicted in Illinois when he was 17 of having sex with a 14-year-old girl, said Northville Township police Lt. Greg Rhodes.

"We've all seen a lot. We've seen it all," Worthy said of the Sorenson 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."

Other people may have been involved, Worthy said.

Raymond Cassar, Letkemann's attorney, urged the public not to rush to judgment. He said Letkemann's only other brush with the law came a couple of years ago when he was charged with being a minor in possession of alcohol.

James C. Thomas, Orlewicz's lawyer, declined to comment.

Orlewicz, of Plymouth, and Letkemann, of Westland, were arraigned Monday on one count each of first-degree premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse. Not guilty pleas were entered on their behalf, and both were ordered held without bond and are due in court next Monday.

The murder charges carry mandatory sentences of life in prison. Mutilating a corpse carries a maximum sentence of 10 years.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2007-11-12 17:09:12
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 3588
3588 comments

laureenj3 01:51:55 PM Jan 06 2008

TO SWIMMINHUNNI07 HELLO!!!!!! HOW CAN YOU DEFEND SOMEONE WHO CUT OFF SOMEONES HEAD AND BURN THEIR BODY , THERE IS NO WAY TO JUSTICIFY THAT, I THINK YOU NEED TO SEEK HELP ,I THINK THAT YOU WILL END UP IN THEN NEWS SOMEDAY SOON

laureenj3 01:18:46 PM Jan 06 2008

I LIVE IN DETROIT AND I LOVE DETROIT AND I KNOW A LOT OF BAD THINGS HAPPEN IN DETROIT, IT SEENS LIKE EVERY THING THAT HAPPENS GET BLAMED ON DETROIT AND THATS NOT FAIR THERE ARE AT LEAST 300 HUNDRED OTHER CITIES SURROUNDING DETROITAND CITIES SHOULD TAKE CREDIT FOR THERE OWN CRIMES.

kineticsungod 07:49:37 AM Nov 27 2007

THEY MUST BE JEWISH!...WHEN JEWISH PEOPLE COMMIT CRIMES, THE STORIES GET BURIED. THEN THEY FOCUS ON PEOPLE WHO WERE FOUND NOT GUILTY, LIKE OJ.

jusus82306 09:12:38 AM Nov 21 2007

lovedov 12:27:35 PM Nov 18 2007

Report This! These PEOPLE are so SICK sob's. It funny, the media hasn't played up this story whatsoever
_____________________________They were 2 white boys

Bariegrrl 11:22:00 PM Nov 19 2007

In Michigan if he is 16 and she is under age it also can classify him as a "sex offender" which is absolutely stupid. Chances are it was her parents who pressed charges.

As for the 18 and 17 year old killing him.. well. They definently have something going on upstairs. And should get help.

It's wrong for them to classify it as something being wrong with society. I agree that things need to change. But you basically just put them into a catagory claiming that most kids today are f'd and that our future will be poor as a result. Where are their parents? They are capable of making their own decisions, yes. But where were their parents?

usforjustice 10:53:27 PM Nov 18 2007

Check out what's really going on within our criminal justice system at: www.justiceforus.org

lovedov 12:27:35 PM Nov 18 2007

These PEOPLE are so SICK sob's. It funny, the media hasn't played up this story whatsoever.

AquariusDreamerJ 06:02:00 PM Nov 17 2007

These "boys" are more than old enough to realize the ramifications of their crime. They should get the death penalty.
As for the murdered being a sex offender, I'd like to know if he raped the 14y/o girl or if the sex was fully mutual. Barring any mental disabilities a 14y/o girl is old enough to say yes or no to sex. It's total BS to make him a sex offender if she were a willing participant.

bengunnin 03:45:33 PM Nov 15 2007

FRY the SCUMBAGS! Better yet shoot then while "trying to escape". Save the taxpayers the cost of a trial.

Catnut45 11:29:19 AM Nov 15 2007

How could these boys do something like this? The man just owed them money. He probably would have paid them back, if he was given the chance. If that wasn't the reason for the killing, then what was? They just felt like it? If so, that really scares me that people like this are living in our society.

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