Double tragedy

Third in a four-part series

People remember Misty Star Sorensen's crime because of how they found the baby.

The drugged-out young mother awoke draped over the end of a couch. Her 2-month-old infant was dead beneath her — and the baby girl, named Kalee Ann Jones, had a meth baggie stuck to her cheek.

Kalee's obituary, printed on Thanksgiving Day in 1998, calls the girl a little angel who "budded on Earth, to bloom into Heaven." The family used that exact language to describe the death of another Sorensen baby, which occurred last May under eerily similar circumstances.

"Although we won't watch her grow up," the obituary from May 16, 2004, continues, "we will feel safe knowing she is with Kalee Ann now, watching over us and keeping us safe."

Some in the Salt Lake Valley who've had a brush with Misty Star Sorensen and her history say privately they wish someone had watched over these two little girls.

Back in November 1998, the state medical examiner ruled that Kalee Ann Jones died of "compressional or positional asphyxia."

Sorensen told police she fell asleep about 3 a.m. in her South Salt Lake home. Kalee was sitting in a car seat on the floor drinking a bottle, she said. Sorensen said she awoke 12 hours later and found the baby dead but had no idea how her daughter got up onto the couch.

The death raised suspicions immediately.

"I did observe the reactions of Misty and (her boyfriend) outside the residence. Their general attitude seemed to be one of disinterest and bother rather than loss or upset," South Salt Lake police officer Eric Jensen wrote in his police report.

"Both parties were uncooperative with officers and acted unemotional to the baby's death."

Officers also found a bevy of drug paraphernalia.

Sorensen was 20 at the time and pleaded guilty to child-abuse homicide. Third District Judge William Barrett placed Sorensen on three years' probation. He did not send her to prison on the third-degree felony, agreeing with her defense attorney and prosecutors that she had been punished enough.

"I hope she'll do whatever is necessary to make sure this doesn't happen again," Salt Lake County prosecutor Jim Cope said at the time.

But a year after she was released from probation, on May 10, 2004, 1-month-old Alexandria Miracle Sorensen died in just about the same way after being in a twin bed with Sorensen and her boyfriend, according to a Salt Lake County sheriff's report. The state medical examiner documented the cause of death as "undetermined."