Prosecutors have charged a warehouse employee with second-degree murder, alleging he intentionally used his car as a weapon to kill a colleague who had hugged a woman he was fixated on. According to court filings, Tyler Sorensen, of Renton, followed 20-year-old Jonathon Langdon out of a Costco lot in Issaquah, Wash., on July 31, 2026, crossed traffic lanes, and deliberately struck Langdon’s motorcycle, launching the rider into a metal sign that killed him.
Sorensen, 22, entered a not guilty plea on August 6 during his arraignment in King County. A judge ordered him held on $2 million bail and barred him from contacting the victim’s family, the woman at the center of the incident, or any witnesses.
Deadly Obsession Over Female Colleague
Court documents describe an escalating workplace fixation that culminated in violence around 9 p.m. that evening. Authorities say Sorensen became enraged after seeing Langdon embrace a female employee whom Sorensen claimed was his ex-girlfriend. The woman denied that account to detectives, telling them the two had never been in a relationship and that she had repeatedly told Sorensen he was violating her boundaries.
According to charging papers, Sorensen photographed the hug and texted the image to friends, insisting the woman had always described Langdon as nothing more than a friend. In those same messages, he allegedly stated his blood was boiling. Minutes after the fatal collision, prosecutors say, he sent another text: “I f—ed up bad.”
Contradictory Confession
Sorensen gave a mixed account to the Issaquah Police Department (IPD) but ultimately conceded the crash was no accident. “It was stupid but I, I was, I meant to do it,” he told investigators, according to the IPD. He also claimed he “didn’t mean to hit” Langdon and only wanted to “spook him.”
Surveillance footage reviewed by authorities captured the sequence in graphic detail. Langdon, who was wearing a helmet, was ejected from his motorcycle upon impact and slammed into a signpost. Court filings state the video shows his body wrapping around the metal pole before he recoiled and fell face down. Emergency responders were unable to save him, and he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Evidence suggests the attack was not a sudden snap but a deliberate pursuit. Prosecutors allege Sorensen nearly hit both Langdon and the female coworker earlier in the Costco parking lot, then waited roughly 10 minutes before trailing Langdon onto the road. After the collision, Sorensen drove away and pulled over only to check his own car for damage. Police stopped him shortly afterward and issued him a speeding ticket, unaware at the time that he had just fled a fatal hit-and-run.
Return to Scene After Father Intervened
Sorensen did not come back on his own. Court documents indicate he returned to the crash site about an hour later only after his father learned what had occurred and brought him back to turn himself in to authorities.
He now faces a single count of second-degree murder and is being held at the King County Jail. The King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is handling the case, with the next court appearance scheduled for August 27.
The IPD has said the surveillance video corroborates Sorensen’s admission of intent, showing the defendant’s car colliding with the motorcycle and causing Langdon to be thrown from his bike, resulting in his death. For the victim’s family, the loss of Jonathon Langdon — a 20-year-old who finished an ordinary workday and left on his motorcycle — was the result of what prosecutors describe as jealous rage over a workplace hug.