A 22-year-old Costco employee obsessed with his female coworker allegedly snapped and murdered a colleague after seeing the pair hug in the store’s parking lot.
Tyler Martin Sorensen of Renton, Washington had a possessive “if I can’t have her, no one can” attitude when it came to coworker Samantha Peterson, who he allegedly referred to as his “ex-girlfriend,” according to prosecutors.
Sorensen, 22, flew into a jealous rage on July 31 when he witnessed Peterson and another coworker, Jonathon Langdon, hugging in the Costco Headquarters parking lot in North Issaquah, Washington, a charging document said.
Sorensen revved his engine and tore through the parking lot, narrowly missing the couple.
“Always told me he was just a friend. My blood is boiling,” Sorensen texted to friends along with a photo of Peterson and Langdon, court documents revealed.
Sorensen then waited another 10 minutes for Langdon to leave the parking lot on his motorcycle, trailing him in his sedan at a high rate of speed, prosecutors said.
At one point, Sorensen allegedly swerved into the back of Langdon’s motorcycle, launching the 20-year-old into a roadside sign. Langdon died at the scene a short time later, prosecutors said.
Instead of calling 911 or checking on the gravely injured rider, Sorensen allegedly kept driving, stopping only to inspect the damage to his vehicle to make sure it was still drivable, according to investigators.
As he headed home, Sorensen was pulled over and ticketed for speeding by a Washington State Patrol trooper who was unaware the deadly hit-and-run had occurred just miles away.
Authorities said Sorensen returned to the crash scene only after his father learned about the incident and brought him back to surrender to police.
Following his arrest, Sorensen allegedly told cops that “it was stupid but I, I was, I meant to do it.”
“She (Peterson) always insisted he (Langdon) was just a friend. So I got pretty, I don’t know, panicked, riled up, just adrenaline,” Sorensen said after the incident.
However, Peterson told investigators that she and Sorensen never dated, adding that she had repeatedly warned him he was “crossing boundaries” as a friend and that she “needed space.”
Elaine S. Lee, Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney, King County, requested the court that Sorensen be held on a $2 million bail.
“The defendant refused to accept the boundaries set by Samantha Peterson, who wanted nothing more than friendship with the defendant… he believed if he could not have Ms. Peterson, no one could,” Lee said.
Sorensen is now facing three serious felony counts stemming from the fatal crash, anchored by a second-degree murder charge.
Prosecutors have also charged him with second-degree assault with a deadly weapon for using his car to intentionally strike or endanger the victim, alongside a count of criminal attempt for taking direct, intentional steps toward committing a violent offense.
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