His killers called him a trafficker on a crowdfunding page that raised money for their defense. Police searched and found nothing to support it. The boy they killed had cerebral palsy and autism, and his family says he never sold anyone, anywhere, for anything.
A Disappearance That Took a Year to Notice
Andrew Sorensen was 19, living in the Spokane, Washington area, when he disappeared in November 2020. His family reported him missing, but with little to go on, the case sat unresolved for nearly a year.
On October 22, 2021, residents near the 1800 block of East Everett Avenue in Spokane noticed an abandoned, mold-covered car giving off a foul smell. When people began going through it, they discovered human remains in the trunk. Police identified the body as Andrew's. He had been bound with zip ties, his mouth sealed shut, with puncture wounds in his clothing consistent with stabbing.
A Year in a Car Trunk
Investigators traced the vehicle, a green Honda Accord, to a woman named Brenda Kross. Through her, they identified her fiancé, John Eisenman, the father of Andrew's girlfriend, as the person responsible.
Eisenman initially told police the car had been stolen and that he had no connection to it or to Andrew's death. That story didn't hold — Eisenman had never reported the vehicle stolen, despite repeating the claim to multiple people. He was arrested on October 29, 2021, and charged with first-degree murder.
What Eisenman Claimed, and What Investigators Actually Found
According to Eisenman's own account to police, he had grown convinced in October 2020 that Andrew, his daughter's boyfriend, had sold her into sex trafficking in the Seattle area for $1,000. He and Kross traveled to Seattle and brought his daughter back to Spokane. Weeks later, having learned Andrew would be at a location in Airway Heights, Eisenman confronted him there, bound him, and forced him into the trunk of the car. While Andrew was in the trunk, Eisenman admitted to punching him, throwing a cinder block at his head, beating him, and stabbing him repeatedly. Eisenman then drove the car, with Andrew's body still inside, first to his own residence and then to a remote property off U.S. Highway 2, where he removed the car battery to keep anyone from moving it. He didn't return to the location for nearly a year.
This is the most important fact in the entire case, and it's worth stating plainly: Spokane police investigated the sex-trafficking claim and found no evidence to support it. A detective working the case later wrote that he had "not been able to document any independent and verifiable facts" indicating Andrew had trafficked his girlfriend. Andrew's own family maintained from the start that the accusation was false. Andrew lived with cerebral palsy and autism.
Despite this, the case drew national attention specifically because of the trafficking claim, and a crowdfunding page set up to cover Eisenman's legal defense drew supporters who described him as a "hero." Eisenman later told investigators he was likely under the influence of methamphetamine around the time of the killing.
A Second Arrest, Nearly a Year Later
Eisenman was the only person charged for almost a year. That changed in September 2022, after Kross reportedly described the killing to a coworker — including, according to that coworker's account to police, that she had played a song about crying while Andrew begged for his life, taunting him with it as he died, and that she and Eisenman had laughed and sung while he cried. The coworker said Kross described punching Andrew and helping beat and stab him, and that she'd said he "got what he deserved." Kross was arrested and charged with first-degree murder.
Guilty Pleas, Three Years Later
In November 2024, both Eisenman and Kross pleaded guilty. Eisenman pleaded guilty as charged to first-degree murder. Kross pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, a reduced charge from the original murder count, in exchange for an agreed sentencing recommendation.
At sentencing in January 2025, Kross received 8.5 years in prison and was ordered to pay restitution to Andrew's family. Eisenman was sentenced in March 2025 to 25 years — above the jointly recommended 22 years, after the judge heard victim impact statements from Andrew's family. Prosecutors described Eisenman as the "primary actor" in the killing; Eisenman himself told the court he wanted the family to know it was him, not Kross, who had killed Andrew.
Andrew's father, Randy Sorensen, addressed Eisenman directly in court: "We could have worked through any issues involving their children... It would have just taken a phone call, brother. You're going to prison, and my kid's dead." He went on to say plainly that he believed evil had taken hold of Eisenman, adding that he didn't understand why.
Andrew's mother, Theresa, brought a box of his medical records to the sentencing hearing — a quiet, deliberate reminder, in the middle of a case that had spent years being discussed primarily in terms of an unproven accusation, of who her son actually was and what raising him had meant.
Where Things Stand
John Eisenman and Brenda Kross are both currently incarcerated, serving their respective sentences. The case remains a stark illustration of how quickly an unverified accusation can escalate into irreversible violence — and of how easily a real victim's identity can get overshadowed by the claim used to justify what was done to him. Andrew Sorensen was 19. By every account from people who actually knew him, not the people who killed him, he deserved better than to be remembered primarily as an allegation.
Sources
Spokane parents plead guilty to killing daughter's 19-year-old boyfriend who was baselessly accused of sex trafficking — The Spokesman-Review
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2024/nov/14/spokane-parents-plead-guilty-to-killing-daughters-/
'Evil came over you': Man who brutally killed 19-year-old he falsely accused of sex trafficking gets 25 years in prison — The Spokesman-Review (via Yahoo)
https://yahoo.com/news/evil-came-over-man-brutally-035900959.html
Spokane man sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty in murder case of daughter's ex-boyfriend — KREM
https://www.krem.com/article/news/crime/john-eisenman-sentencing/293-443e281b-d7a5-4e0a-825a-571694b409d8