Reno County officials are asking the public for information in the 1977 murder of a Hutchinson woman.
On February 11, 1977, 28-year-old Gayle Sorensen left work to run errands for her employer, and when she did not return, co-workers notified her husband and she was reported missing. Her car was later found in the parking lot of a Dillons store at 734 East 4th. A witness later reported seeing the vehicle and saw a woman in the driver’s seat when a man standing outside the car. The witness said both were laughing and it was assumed they knew each other. The man was described as white, 26 to 28 years of age, 5 feet 10 inches to 6 feet tall with brown hair. He was wearing wire-framed glasses with brown lenses, a red stocking cap and he had a mustache and goatee beard.
Several days later, Gayle’s body was found southeast of Hutchinson along the Arkansas River Levee. Her throat had been slashed and she had been sexually assaulted. Reno County detectives and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation worked on the case, but the murder remains unsolved.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact Captain Shawn McClay or Detective Diana Skomal with the Reno County Sheriff’s Office at 620-694-2735. Anonymous tips can be called in to 620-694-2666, or 1-800-222-TIPS.
