Craig Martin Sorger (February 10, 1990February 15, 2003) was a developmentally disabled 13-year-old American boy who was murdered by his then 12-year-old friends Evan Drake Savoie (born October 22, 1990) and Jake Lee Eakin (born November 14, 1990) in Ephrata, Washington.
During a court hearing, Savoie and Eakin were charged with first and second-degree murder respectively. As part of a plea bargain, Eakin eventually confessed to murdering Sorger and agreed to testify against Savoie. Eakin was sentenced to 14 years in prison and later appealed his conviction unsuccessfully. Savoie was initially sentenced to 26 years in prison, which was reduced to 20 years after an appeal. Savoie eventually also confessed to murdering Sorger at his second trial.
Victim Craig Sorger, of Everett, was a thirteen-year-old seventh grade special education student from Ephrata Middle School with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. He had a 11-year old brother named Keith. According to his family, he liked Hot Wheels, video games, catching turtles and drinking Irish coffee with his grandmother. He could also "figure out how to make the lights work on a broken VCR". His family moved to Ephrata when he was 11 years old because he was being bullied. He struggled socially and had a learning disability.
Perpetrators Evan Savoie, of Ephrata, and Jake Eakin, of Moses Lake, were twelve-year-old boys in the sixth grade. Eakin had one brother, Jonathan Eakin, and two stepbrothers, Austin and Christopher Vickery. Savoie had one stepbrother named Andy Parent Jr.
Eakin met Savoie when they were two years old. Savoie went to the same school as Sorger and Eakin went to Moses Lake Middle School, where he was a special education student. Eakin met Sorger in middle school when Savoie introduced Craig to Jake, and they had played several times before. Evan was a popular student at school and the class clown, but was known for bullying younger or unpopular kids. He also worked as a delivery boy for the local newspaper. Other kids often bullied Eakin because of his speech disability. He also supposedly has a learning disability, though he denied it.
Murder On the afternoon of February 15, 2003, Savoie and Eakin were hanging out at the park, until Savoie showed a knife to Eakin and said that he "wanted to go on a killing spree", which Eakin didn't believe.
At one point, they stopped by the Sorger residence while Craig and his brother Keith were watching TV and asked Craig's mother, Lisa Sorger, who did not know them, if Craig could play. Lisa allowed Craig to go with the two boys, but told them Craig could not play for long because he was afraid of the dark.
After that, Eakin, Savoie and Sorger 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. Savoie then began to repeatedly stab Sorger in his head, neck, chest and torso with a knife. According to Eakin's later testimony, Sorger cried out "why are you doing this to me?" and said that he was dying. Eakin testified that he tried to stop Savoie, but he pushed him. Eakin later hit Sorger with a tree branch in the head and legs after initially trying to attack Savoie with it until it broke. With Sorger lying motionless on the ground, Savoie shook Eakin's hand and threw his bloody T-shirt, that he had gotten for his birthday, and knife at the river and him and Eakin went to Savoie's home.
As night fell, Lisa got worried as her son was afraid of the dark and hadn't come home yet. So she searched for him to no avail. She visited Savoie's residence and discovered Savoie and Eakin there playing video games together, but Craig was not present. She then called 911 and went to search the park, where she was joined by Keith, Savoie, his parents Holly and Andy Parent, and members of the Ephrata Police Department. A police officer soon discovered Sorger's body in a pile of leaves near a trail, along with the rock and tree branch used in the attack nearby.
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. They soon changed their stories and told police that they saw Sorger fall from a tree, where Savoie yelled for Sorger to wake up and went to check his pulse, making movements he described as "robotic", and after finding no pulse, Savoie "panicked" and left the park.
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. Sorger's autopsy revealed that in addition to being beaten several times, he was stabbed five times in the chest and torso and at least 34 times in the head and neck. He also had at least 20 blunt force injuries.
Savoie and Eakin were arrested on February 18, 2003 and were held in Grant County Youth Services Detention Center. 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 idolized and supported the D.C. sniper attacks. The knife used in the attack was found in a nearby river one year later.
Trials 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. On March 2004, Eakin changed his story and claimed he went to buy a soda, and came back seeing Savoie stabbing Sorger.
In February 2005, The Washington Supreme Court upheld the decision to try the boys as adults by declining to hear the case. At twelve-years-old they became the youngest murder defendants tried as adults in Washington since 1931, and the youngest overall.
Eakin finally confessed to his role in the killing on April 28, 2005 after spending two years in jail. 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. Eakin was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to over 14 years in prison. Grant County Superior Court Judge Kenneth L. Jorgensen ruled that there were no mitigating factors to allow for a sentence of eight years. Several members of Eakin's family, including his parents, Christopher and Tammy, cried and gasped as the verdict was read.
On April 3, 2006, Evan Savoie's murder trial began with jury selection, and opening arguments started on April 10.
On April 14, Jake Eakin testified as a witness against Savoie by describing the murder's details.
On April 25, Craig Sorger's best friend, Cody Cook, who had a history of juvenile delinquency, testified on the trial that he was taking a walk on the day of the murder, but heard what he thought was a fight, and witnessed Savoie stabbing Sorger with a knife while Eakin was hitting Sorger with a tree branch and a rock. Cook testified he hid behind bushes and was "frozen" while witnessing the attack. He later testified that he went to Sorger to check him out, and then ran back to his family. His testimony was deemed not creditable by the lead investigator due to his juvenile delinquency history.
On April 29, 2006, Savoie was convicted of first-degree murder. On July 8, 2006, he was sentenced to over 26 years in prison, the maximum sentence for a first-time offender. 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. 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". In 2007, Eakin appealed his sentence unsuccessfully.
Savoie's retrial
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, Savoie later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2013, and finally confessed to murdering Sorger after ten years.
On March 25, 2014, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Superior Court Judge John Hotchkiss.
Aftermath Eakin and Savoie were incarcerated at Green Hill Training School until their 18th birthdays, when they were sent to separate adult prisons.
On June 12, 2016, Eakin escaped from work release while serving the final months of his sentence at Ahtanum View Work Release Center. He was recaptured by U.S. Marshals two days later in Rapid City, South Dakota and was returned to custody.
Eakin remained incarcerated at Washington Corrections Center for the rest of his sentence. Eakin was conditionally released on February 10, 2017. He married his childhood friend, Marissa and had two daughters with her: Elizabeth (born April 9, 2018) and Evangeline (born September 17, 2019). His full sentence ended in April 2019. He is now an anti-LGBTQ and anti-abortion activist. He has also apologized to Sorger in an interview, and said he dedicated his activism to him. He was arrested twice after his release: in 2018 for trespassing and in 2022 for larceny.
Savoie was incarcerated in the Airway Heights Corrections Center. He was conditionally released in June 2020. His full sentence ended in April 2026.
See also Lionel Tate List of youngest killers Trial as an adult
Notes
References
Further reading
External links 60 Minutes II interview with Savoie and Eakin