Plymouth Teen Convicted of Beheading Man [USA]

An 18-year-old teen was found guilty by a jury on Wednesday of killing a man, beheading him and torching the body.

Jean Pierre Orlewicz of Plymouth, Mich., was the teenager responsible for the atrocious killing. He was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the case of the Nov. 7 killing of Daniel Sorensen, a 26-year-old young man from River Rouge in Wayne County's Canton Township.

After only one day of deliberations, the jury has reached a verdict in Orlewicz case. The conviction carries a mandatory punishment of life in prison without parole. His defense team already announced their intention to appeal.

Surprisingly, Orlewicz didn’t seem to be bothered by the verdict, while Sorensen’s family wept in the audience.

Orlewicz’s alleged accomplice, 18-year-old Alexander Letkemann of Westland, pleaded guilty of second degree murder and testified against him. Letkemann now faces 20-30 years in jail.

According to Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran, the victim was lured to a garage and then attacked by Orlewicz, who cut his throat and stabbed him several times.

Thinking he would get away with it, the killer burned Sorensen’s fingers to get rid of the finger prints, beheaded him and took the body to a field in Northville Township where he set it on fire. Orlewicz threw the head of the victim in the Rouge River in Hines Park.

“It seems so far out of character that it’s hard to believe,” Orlewicz father, William, said.

Orlewicz defended himself by saying that he acted in self defense and after he realized that he killed Sorensen he panicked. He said he mutilated the body of the victim because he feared reprisal by organized crime figures.

However, prosecutors found out that Orlewicz had planned the crime after Sorensen, a bar bouncer, pointed a gun at him.

The murderer's family has a nice home in a nice`neighborhood in a`great community. The kids “web pages” were available for viewing for a while. One thing I noted was that the boys described themselves as atheist on their blogs. One's seemed “darker” in content than the other's. A parent has to let a child become independent at sometime, but the paths the child takes, depending on their psyche, friends, or circumstances can, as we see here, be ruinous. I know it's just my opinion, but I got the impression that Orlewicz was fantasizing about murdering someone. That is not exactly something you confide to a parent about. I think the accomplice, who plead guilty, and testified against the murderer, answered the call of a “friend” at the wrong time, and, unlike other people involved failed to say “NO, I don't want any part of this.” Orlewicz's parents have been very silent since this happened, so I don't know much about them. But the victim's parent's and the accomplice's parents seem to be leaning on their faith to get through this trying time.

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