Tourist Gets Killed In Hotel Room While His Wife Was Hiding In Hotel Bathroom

A Missouri tourist who was visiting Louisiana with his wife was fatally beaten in his hotel room on Thursday, Dec. 1.

David Sorenson, a 73-year-old tourist from Missouri, was fatally beaten in his New Orleans hotel room as his wife hid in the bathroom. Sorenson had visible injuries to his head and was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, FOX8Live reported.

When questioned, the victim's wife said she and her husband were sleeping when they awoke around 11 p.m. to the sound of the hotel's fire alarm. She told police someone knocked on the door of their room No. 612. The suspect, identified as 29-year-old Martin Hurtado, burst into the room and began attacking Sorenson. Sorenson's wife then ran into the hotel's bathroom. Before she shut the door, she recalled seeing Hurtado punch her husband in the face.

The Missouri tourists had no known connection with Hurtado.

According to the coroner, Sorenson died of blunt-force trauma.

When officers arrested Hurtado inside the dead man's room in the Avenue Plaza Hotel, his right hand had been swelling, his face had cuts, and there was blood around his nose, the Sun Herald reported.

“The officers went into the room. They had a male in the bedroom section of the hotel room. He was down and looked like he had trauma to his face,” NOPD homicide division Capt. Ryan Lubrano said. “The victim was later transported to the hospital, where he expired at about midnight.

“During this time, officers made an apprehension of an individual, Martin Hurtado. ... They apprehended him in the bathroom.”

Hurtado was booked last Thursday, Dec. 1, with second-degree murder.

Sorenson lived in the St. Louis suburb of Wildwood. He was a beloved husband of more than 50 years, a father to four children, and a grandfather.

When detectives interviewed Hurtado, he told them all he could remember was drinking at work around 6 p.m. that evening and that he didn't remember anything after that. He worked at Tacos & Beer, a restaurant just down the street from the hotel.

Hurtado remains jailed at the Orleans Justice Center.