Murder of Craig Sorger

Craig Sorger, of Everett, was a thirteen-year-old seventh grade special education student with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.^[7] His family moved to Ephrata when he was 11 years old because he was being bullied. He struggled socially as he was a special education student with a learning disability.^[8] He did Special Olympics.^[9] Sorger was known to be vulnerable and was diagnosed with autism^[10] at age two.^[9]

Evan Savoie, of Ephrata and Jake Eakin, of Moses Lake, were twelve-year-old boys in the sixth grade. They are cousins. Evan's biological father's name is Karl. Jake's biological father's identity is currently undisclosed. Eakin met Savoie when they were two years old. Jake has one brother and two stepbrothers.^[11][c] Savoie had one stepbrother.^[d] Evan was a popular student at school and the class clown^[12] but was known for bullying younger or unpopular kids. He also worked as a delivery boy for the local newspaper.^[9] Eakin was often bullied because of his speech disability by other kids.^[12] He also supposedly has a learning disability, though he denies it.

On the afternoon of February 15, 2003, Savoie and Eakin stopped by the Sorger residence and asked Craig's mother, Lisa, if he could play. According to Craig's brother,^[e] Evan and Jake had played with Craig several times before.^[13] Craig's mother allowed her son to go with the two boys, but told them Craig could not play for long, because he was afraid of the dark.^[13]

According to Eakin's later testimony, the three boys went to nearby Oasis Park. After playing for a while, Savoie asked Sorger to feel the ground to see if it was wet. He instructed Sorger to touch the ground and count to ten. While Sorger was on his knees, Savoie dropped a rock on his neck.^[14] Savoie then began to repeatedly stab Sorger in his head, neck, chest and torso with a knife.^[14] Eakin testified that he beat Sorger in his head and legs using a tree branch.^[14] With Sorger laying motionless on the ground, the two boys went to Savoie's home.^[14]

As night fell, Sorger's mother searched for him since he did not return home. She visited Savoie's residence and discovered Savoie and Eakin there playing video games together; her son was not present. She then called 911 and went to search the park, where she was joined by Savoie, his mother Holly Parent, his stepfather Andy Parent, and members of the Ephrata Police Department.^[13] A police officer soon discovered Sorger's dead body in a pile of leaves near a trail along with the rock and tree branch used in the attack nearby.^[15]

When police questioned Savoie and Eakin that night, they claimed they climbed trees and played tag until around 4:30 pm, when they saw Sorger head home.^[15] They soon changed their stories and told police that they saw Sorger fall from a tree.^[15][16]

Police found no evidence that Sorger fell from a tree. The coroner also pointed out stab wounds on the body, which were later determined to come from a knife.^[9] Sorger's autopsy revealed that in addition to being beaten several times,^[9] he was stabbed five times in the chest and torso and at least 34 times in the head and neck.^[9] He also had at least 20 blunt force injuries.^[13]

Savoie and Eakin were later arrested on February 18, 2003.^[17][f] They were held in Grant County Youth Services Detention Center.^[15] Authorities found a note written by Savoie in which he planned to kill someone else after Sorger. Authorities also found a journal named "Sniper" written by Eakin, in which he idolised and supported the 2002 D.C. sniper attacks.^[15] The knife used in the attack was found in a nearby river one year later.^[18]

Although Savoie and Eakin both claimed innocence, they were charged with first and second-degree murder respectively and tried as adults by Grant County Superior Court Judge John Antosz.^[19] In February 2005, The Washington Supreme Court upheld the decision to try the boys as adults by declining to hear the case.^[20] At twelve-years-old, they became the youngest murder defendants tried as adults in Washington since 1931, and the youngest overall.^[2] Eakin finally confessed to his role in the killing in 2005, after spending two years in jail awaiting trial.^[1] He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder by complicity and agreed to testify against Savoie. Prosecutors agreed to request a relatively light sentence of eight years in prison in exchange for the guilty plea.

On April 28, 2005, Eakin was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to over 14 years in prison.^[2] Grant County Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Jorgensen ruled that there were no mitigating factors to allow for a sentence of eight years.^[14][2] Several members of Eakin's family, including his stepfather, Christopher, and mother, Tammy, cried and gasped as the verdict was read.^[21]

On April 29, 2006, Savoie was convicted of first-degree murder.^[22] On July 8, 2006, he was sentenced to over 26 years in prison, the maximum sentence for a first-time offender.^[4] His lawyer stated that the likelihood that his rehabilitation would be more effective after 26 years than 20 was ridiculous. Grant County Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Jorgensen, however, disagreed, ruling that Savoie's punishment must match his crime.^[23] Savoie's mother later complained about the trial's verdict, claiming that her son was "innocent" and that "the killer is still out there". She also called the judge "biased".^[24] In 2007, Eakin appealed his sentence unsuccessfully.^[3] In 2011, Savoie's conviction was overturned on appeal based on the judge's closure of parts of the trial to the public and his appointment of a lawyer for the victim's family who intervened in the trial. Despite initially pleading not guilty in 2011,^[25] Savoie later plead guilty to second-degree murder in 2013, and finally confessed to murdering Sorger after ten years.^[6] On March 25, 2014, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss.^[5]

Eakin and Savoie were incarcerated at Green Hill Training School until their 18th birthdays, when they were sent to separate adult prisons.^[26]

On June 12, 2016, Eakin escaped from work release while serving the final months of his sentence at Ahtanum View Work Release Center.^[27] He was recaptured by U.S. Marshals two days later in Rapid City, South Dakota.^[28] He was returned to custody.^[28]

Eakin remained incarcerated at Washington Corrections Center for the rest of his sentence.^[29] Eakin was conditionally released in February 2017. His full sentence ended in April 2019. He is now an anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion activist.^[30] He has also apologized to Sorger in an interview, and said he dedicated his activism to him. However, he was arrested two times after his release: in 2018 for trespassing^[31] and in 2022 for larceny.^[g]

Savoie was incarcerated in the Airway Heights Corrections Center.^[32] He was conditionally released in June 2020. His full sentence will end in November 2033.

• Curtis Jones
• Eric Smith
• George Stinney
• Jesse Pomeroy
• Kristen Pittman
• List of youngest killers
• Trial as an adult

1. [a]

   Evan's mother made a Facebook post in 2022 wishing him a happy birthday on October 22.
2. [b]

   In one of his Facebook accounts, he lists his birth date as on November 14, 1990.
3. [c]

   His brother's name is Jonathan and his stepbrothers's names are Austin and Christopher Vickery.
4. [d]

   His stepbrother's name was Andy Parent Jr. They no longer are stepbrothers because Evan's mother and stepfather divorced.
5. [e]

   Craig's brother's name is Keith.
6. [f]

   Jake has stated in one of his Facebook posts that he and Evan were arrested for Craig's murder 3 days after they did it.
7. [g]

   A now deleted page of Jake on GreenvilleCounty.org revealed that he was arrested on May 12, 2022 for larceny.