John Jefferson
Insets left to right: Brenda Kross, John Eisenman plead guilty in court on Nov. 14, 2024. Background: The neighborhood where Kross and Eisenman killed their daughter’s boyfriend (KREM/YouTube).
A Washington couple who admitted to killing a teen and falsely claiming the victim had sold their daughter to a sex trafficking ring are expected to receive relatively light sentences after pleading guilty.
As Law&Crime previously reported, John Eisenman, 63, was arrested in November 2021 for the 2020 murder of a 19-year-old man whose body was apparently discovered after being left in a car for around a year. At the time of his arrest, Eisenman told police that the victim, whose name the family has sought to keep private, had sold Eisenman’s daughter to a Seattle-based sex trafficking ring.
Appearing in court on Thursday, Eisenman pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, while Kross pleaded guilty to manslaughter, KREM reported. Her statement of guilt acknowledged that there was no evidence of sex trafficking.
At the time of Eisenman’s arrest, Spokane police said that he learned the victim would be at a location in Airway Heights, a city less than 10 miles west of Spokane — and waited for him to arrive before confronting him.
“During that encounter Eisenman abducted the victim, tying him up and placing him in the trunk of a vehicle,” police said in a statement. “Eisenman subsequently assaulted the victim by hitting him in the head with a cinder block and then stabbed him repeatedly, causing his death.”
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The victim’s body was left in the trunk of that car, which remained in that same location for almost a year. In October 2021, it was moved to Hillyard, an area in northeast Spokane, police said.
The body was discovered by accident.
“[I]ndividuals were rummaging through the car and taking items when they made the gruesome discovery,” police said.
That vehicle was eventually traced back to Eisenman, leading to his arrest, local CBS affiliate KREM reported.
Eisenman’s fiance, Brenda Kross, 57, was arrested in 2022 and charged in connection with the slaying. According to KREM, Kross told a coworker that she helped kill the teen.
Eisenman and Brooks will be sentenced on Jan. 16, court records show. Prosecutors have reportedly agreed to seek relatively light sentences for both; according to KREM, prosecutors will recommend a sentence of 22 years for Eisenman, and eight years in prison plus three years of community service for Kross.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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