call me obsessed but i believe him...



A Wayne County jury today convicted 18-year-old Jean Pierre Orlewicz of first-degree murder for repeatedly stabbing and beheading his older friend.

Orlewicz faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison for the Nov. 7 killing of 26-year-old Daniel Sorensen of River Rouge.

The jury deliberated for about four hours Tuesday and about eight hours today.

After the verdict, Kimberly Sorensen the mother of Daniel Sorensen, said, “It doesn’t bring Dan back but it does bring a sense of justice. It was the right thing to happen.”

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said she still believes Orlewicz killed simply for thrill.

“It appears this was a young man obsessed with murder and I stand by that statement,” Worthy told the Free Press this evening.

Jurors believed that Orlewicz lured Sorensen to his grandfather’s home in Canton and slit his throat when he walked into an adjacent garage. Orlewicz testified that he killed Sorensen in self-defense.

They also believed a former co-defendant, Alexander Letkemann, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on April 1 and testified against Orlewicz last week. Letkemann, 18, of Westland, will be sentenced to 20 to 30 years on April 23 as part of a plea deal.

Letkemann said Orlewicz stabbed Sorensen to death and cut his head off afterwards. The only motive offered by Letkemann was that Orlewicz told him Sorensen owed him money.

Letkemann testified that he helped Orlewicz clean the scene to clear a $100 debt.

Sorensen’s father, James Sorensen, said Letkemann’s testimony played a key role in the conviction.

“I’m very proud of Alex,” Sorensen said. “Please understand that I have some anger. That being said, this young man stood up, acted like a man and took responsibility for his actions.”

Orlewicz, who lived in Plymouth Township, testified Monday that the Nov. 7 slaying was a necessary act of self-defense to save himself and Letkeman in an extortion plan gone awry.

The teen testified he used a hacksaw to decapitate Sorensen to hide his identity because he feared Sorensen had Mafia relatives who would come after him. He also said he discarded the torso in a field and set it on fire in an attempt to hide the identity, and he later threw the head in the Rouge River.

Orlewicz told jurors that he dabbled in drugs, like marijuana and cocaine, but did not have a drug problem.

Several of his friends testified that he talked about wanting to get away with murder and mentioned the idea of killing Sorensen.

The trial began April 7 in Wayne County Circuit Court.

During his closing argument this morning, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran told jurors that Orlewicz is cold and calculating.

“Mr. Orlewicz is different,” Moran said. “It takes a different kind of person to do the things that he did.”

Defense attorney James Thomas argued self defense.