26-year-old Daniel Sorensen was murdered early in November 2007. His headless body was found on November 8, 2007, in a residential development near Detroit. The body had been stabbed 12 times, its hands and feet burned with a blowtorch. His severed head was found a few days later in a separate location nearly 15 miles away.

In November 2008, 17-year-old Jean Pierre Orlewicz was convicted of Sorensen's murder, which prosecutors had described as a "thrill-killing." Orlewicz's lawyers requested a new trial in a hearing that began in February 2009. In April, The Detorit Free Press asked that Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow lift a ban on press access to the hearing.Detroit Free Press: Free Press seeks access to hearing in beheading case (April 14, 2009)

Jean Pierre Orlewicz, 17, and Alexander Letkemann, 18, were charged with premeditated murder, felony murder and mutilation of a corpse. Prosecutors say that Sorensen was lured into Orlewicz's grandfather's garage, then murdered and wrapped in a tarp which had previously been prepared. Letkemann pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of second-degree murder in order to avoid a mandatory life sentence attached to first degree conviction. He was sentenced to 20-30 years in prison. He claims that he had not taken part in the killing, but only witnessed it and helped clean up afterwards.

Prosecutors are calling the murder a "thrill killing" as no obvious motive could be found. He allegedly owed Orlewicz a small amount of money and had possession of a gun belonging to Orlewicz, but prosecutors claim that this is unrelated to the murder. Sorensen was required to register his address in relation to a sex offense. When he was 17 years old, he had a sexual relationship with a 14 year old girl. His registry status was also, prosecutors say, unrelated to his murder.

On April 16, 2008, Orlewicz was found guilty of first-degree murder for the alleged thrill-kill of Sorensen. The jury only took a day of deliberation to convict Sorensen's murderer.