EPHRATA – Another boy may have been hiding in the bushes and witnessed the killing of 13-year-old special education student Craig Sorger, according to court documents.
Jake Lee Eakin and Evan Savoie, both 14, have been accused in the Feb. 15, 2003, death of Sorger at a recreational vehicle park.
Eakin pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by complicity Thursday, but said Savoie was the killer. Under a plea deal, he will testify against Savoie at trial, scheduled to begin May 16.
Savoie has maintained his innocence, and his attorneys have said someone else must have killed Sorger.
According to a November 2004 Ephrata Police Department report filed in court records, the new witness was at Oasis Park around the time Sorger was killed to watch a relative depart for Iraq with a reserve military unit. The boy also provided some details of the slaying, saying he saw Savoie stab Sorger while Eakin hit the victim with a stick.
Associated Press
Seattle: Mardi Gras riot conviction overturned
As expected, the state Court of Appeals has overturned the felony murder conviction of a man that stemmed from Mardi Gras rioting in Pioneer Square in 2001. King County prosecutors were not available late Thursday to say what their next move would be in the case of Jerell Thomas, whose second-degree murder conviction and 15-year prison term were overturned Monday by a unanimous three-judge panel. Thomas, 17 at the time, was convicted in the death of Kristopher Kime, who was blindsided and punched three times in the head while trying to help a woman who also had been victimized. The appellate ruling did not affect Thomas’ convictions for assault involving two other people during the riots, in which about 70 people were injured late Feb. 27 and early Feb. 28, 2001.
Associated Press
Burien: Man arrested in death of a friend
A man argued with his ex-girlfriend, left her apartment and – apparently unaware that a friend was behind his pickup truck – hurriedly backed up vehicle over the other man and killed him, authorities said. The driver, 37, of Maple Valley, was booked into the King County Jail after the death early Thursday for investigation of vehicular homicide, sheriff’s Sgt. John Urquhart said. Urquhart said the two men went to an apartment complex in this suburb south of Seattle shortly after midnight in a 1985 Toyota pickup. While the driver went inside to see his former girlfriend, the friend, 52, stayed outside with the truck. The older man apparently got out of the truck while the driver and the woman argued, and the younger man didn’t noticed when he hastily backed up the truck over his friend, Urquhart said.
Associated Press
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
