Randall Connor, a felon, is on trial for the 2007 slaying of his girlfriend, Merianne Lorentson, in her Kent apartment.
By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter
In the weeks before she was killed, Merianne Lorentson made a pact with a close friend — if a day went by and she didn't call, then the friend should contact police.
The 24-year-old model and personal trainer lived in fear of Randall Connor, a man whom Lorentson was reportedly trying to break up with in the last days of her life, according to court filings.
After not hearing from Lorentson for more than a day, her friend Stan Muller called the manager of her Kent apartment complex on March 9, 2007. The manager found the single mother's body on her living-room floor. According to police, she had been stabbed more than 30 times.
Lorentson's purported fear of Connor is expected to figure prominently in Connor's trial for first-degree murder, which opened Monday in King County Superior Court. If convicted, the 31-year-old man faces up to 29 years in prison, prosecutors said.
The couple's relationship was apparently winding down just before her death and, according to Lorentson's friends, Connor was not happy about it.
Lorentson complained to friends that Connor was abusive and allegedly had handcuffed her, assaulted her and threatened her at gunpoint, according to court charging papers.
When Lorentson's body was found, Connor was quickly considered the lead suspect, but police said they needed time for DNA and other evidence to be processed. When Connor was charged with her slaying in 2008, he was in prison in California for violating the terms of his parole on an armed-robbery charge.
During her opening statement Monday, King County Senior Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Snow portrayed Conner as a bully, somebody who overpowered the slim model. She said that the 6-foot-4 Connor was a muscular 250 pounds at the time of Lorentson's slaying. Snow said police found no defensive wounds on the much smaller victim.
"Marianne Lorentson was completely overpowered. She offered little to no resistance to her killer," Snow told jurors.
But defense attorney Don Minor criticized the prosecution for lacking enough evidence to prove that his client is responsible for the slaying. While prosecutors say they have DNA evidence linking Connor to the slaying, Minor said DNA from at least one other person was also found around Lorentson's apartment and that Lorentson had been dating another man.
Police say that on the night of the slaying, Lorentson left her new boyfriend's house, went shopping and then picked up Connor at his brother's house, charges said. Lorentson made her last cellphone call shortly before 10 p.m.
Connor, the day after the slaying, told his mother and sister that he might be going back to prison because he "did something," charging paperwork said.
Mary Connor, his sister, told him that he wouldn't be locked up very long for a parole violation, but Connor told her he had done something else, charges said.
When later interviewed by police, Connor said he had never threatened or assaulted Lorentson.
Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com
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