A King County Superior Court jury Thursday found Randall Edward Connor guilty of first-degree murder for the stabbing death of Merianne Lorentson in 2007 at her Kent apartment.
The jury returned its verdict after one day of deliberations, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. The trial started in late February before Judge Sharon Armstrong at the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
No sentencing date has been set yet. Connor, 31, faces a sentencing range of 23 to 28 years in prison.
Lorentson, 24, an aspiring model and a single mother of a then 5-year-old daughter, was found March 9, 2007 stabbed to death in her living room at an apartment in the 10400 block of Kent-Kangley Road. She was stabbed more than 30 times in her head, neck and body, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s autopsy report.
Connor, who once lived in SeaTac, had dated Lorentson, according to the charging papers.
Kent detectives used DNA test results, cell phone records and interviews with friends and relatives of Connor and Lorentson to build their case against Connor.
Lorentson had told friends that she feared Connor because he had assaulted and threatened her at gunpoint, according to the charging papers. Connor also had reportedly told Lorentson he would kill any man he saw with her. Relatives of Connor told police that Lorentson had broken up with him.
Connor pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge in April 2008. Several defense requests to continue the trial date helped cause the trial to be pushed out nearly three years, said Dan Donohoe, spokesman for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
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