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West Allis police announce arrests in September 2019 stabbing death of Ryan Sorensen
Nearly a year later, police have announced the arrest of a Milwaukee man and woman in connection with the fatal stabbing of an Onalaska man believed to have been random.
WEST ALLIS - West Allis police on Wednesday, July 29 announced two arrests in the Sept. 15, 2019 stabbing death of Ryan Sorensen -- believed to have been random. West Allis police said a 31-year-old man and 32-year-old woman from Milwaukee were arrested, with charges referred to the district attorney.
Police said Sorensen, 33, from Onalaska, was stabbed during a physical altercation between two groups. He was walking in the area near 71st Street and Rogers Street when friends said he was taunted and stabbed by two strangers on bicycles.
Sorensen's father said while the arrests bring some small sense of satisfaction, no amount of justice will bring back Ryan, who was a friend, a brother and a son.
"This was just, he was in town to come and see me, show me his new car, yuk it up, watch the Packer game," said Bill Sorensen, Ryan's father.
Bill Sorensen wouldn't get that chance. Ryan Sorensen and some friends were on their way home from a bar early Sept. 15 when police said there was some sort of altercation that ended with Sorensen fatally stabbed.
"Somebody riding a bicycle," said Bill Sorensen. "I thought they'd have them by lunch time the next day."
That didn't happen, and in the days and months that followed, the only thing known about the attackers came from grainy surveillance video and sketches of the pair. Through it all, Bill Sorensen said detectives stayed in regular contact -- but doubt still crept in.
Ryan Sorensen
"So I was always of the mindset that, hey, he's lost," said Bill Sorensen. "He's gone forever."
Following news of the arrests Wednesday, Bill Sorensen said he's still at a loss for how much life his son has missed, and how much he still misses his son.
"It was good news. It's a two-edged sword, you know?" he said. "They took all this away from him on an evil, senseless act that I would like to ask these people, 'What possessed you to do something that evil to someone you don't know?` To do it to anyone, but to a total stranger? Take their life? What reason? Explain it to me."
Those are questions that, for now, will go unanswered. More information could come as soon as charges are filed.