Magna couple charged in ‘child torture’ case; neighbor horrified by ‘monsters’

MAGNA — A Magna man and woman were formally charged Thursday with more than two dozen counts of child abuse against three young children. In hindsight, their downstairs neighbor described what he saw and heard in the years leading up to their arrests.

On Thursday, the Salt Lake County district attorney announced 21 charges of second-degree felony aggravated child abuse and 8 charges of class A misdemeanor child abuse against 34-year-old Kristopher Riley North, and the children’s mother 27-year-old Sarah Louise Sorensen.

The two are described in court documents as roommates, who were romantically involved.

Their neighbor, Tyler Jones, explained that North and Sorensen rented the main floor of the home that Jones lives in. Jones and his family rent the downstairs and basement as a separate apartment, and he said they’ve lived there for about five years alongside North, Sorensen, and her children.

On Wednesday, Aug. 21, Jones said he returned home to find his house surrounded by police officers.

He described seeing paramedics out front along with police, and North sitting in the back of a patrol car.

“Kris was just in the back car freaking out, freaking hysterical,” Jones said.

Jones would later find out that Sorensen had called police saying that her roommate had hit and tried to strangle her 6-year-old son, leading to all three children being sent to the hospital for treatment.

According to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, the boy had marks on his neck, scratches on his body, severe bruising, and open wounds on his buttocks.

The investigation unfolded from there, revealing alleged physical and emotional abuse dating back to 2020 by North against all three boys, who are now 6, 8, and 9 years old.

The accusations involved constant violence resulting in severe injuries.

Jones said he was shocked.

“I got three kids of my own,” he said. “To think the fact that those three kiddos were up there being beat on half the time I was living here, just mind-blowing to me.”

‘Almost like child torture’

Gill told KSL TV Thursday that his office discovered a multi-year pattern of abuse, where the kids were forced to engage in exercise until they were exhausted, and if they didn’t do it in the right way, they’d be kicked in the head or ribs.

“They are disciplined for the easiest, smallest transgression with violence,” he said.

The charging documents Gill filed against both North and Sorensen outline multiple alleged instances of strangulation, choking, kicking, spanking, and hair-pulling.

North is accused of punching one of Sorensen’s sons until the boy fell over and lost consciousness, strangling one of the children until he nearly passed out, and pointing a gun at another son’s face, saying he was going shoot the boy.

“I have children who are talking about not only the abuse that happened to them, but the abuse that they witnessed to their siblings, and were witnesses to those injuries as well,” Gill said.

According to investigators, the incidents often left the boys badly injured with lacerations, bleeding, severe bruising, and in some cases head trauma.

The documents allege that North forced the boys to call him “sir,” and that he’d kick, slap, or spank them “over and over,” if they didn’t.

North often forced the children to do pushups or get in a pushup position until they collapsed, and would slap or kick them if they “didn’t do it the right way,” investigators reported.

“This is not only just the physical violence that was occurring, but this was the kind of emotional abuse that is almost like child torture,” Gill said.

Sorensen’s indictment accuses her of not only knowing about the abuse and witnessing it, but also documenting the injuries through photos spanning years on her phone.

Yet, Sorensen told investigators that she never reported it to police or took her sons to receive medical care in a timely manner.

“There is a complicity through the silence to tolerate, and witness, and observe — and not help,” Gill said, explaining why she was also charged in the case.

Neighbors who ‘turned into monsters’

After witnessing North’s arrest and learning the full allegations, Jones began to think back on the years he spent living in the same house below the couple.

Jones said he noticed how Sorensen’s children called North “sir.”

“He’s a military veteran. Maybe that’s his form of trying to teach the kids respect?” Jones wondered, at the time.

What also stuck out, Jones explained, was sometimes hearing loud noises and booms above them. One day, Jones said he hit the ceiling with a broom to get them to quiet down and the booming noises immediately stopped.

“We thought the boys were just up there being rambunctious, being kids,” he said.

Jones described how the boys often played with his own children, usually outside in the yard.

“Every now and then, they had some bruises and scrapes. The one little boy had stitches on his eyebrow at one point,” Jones remembered. “Anytime they got hurt, they always had some story to tell about it. And their mom would even go right along with it.”

He said he never would have suspected what the two are now accused of.

“Sarah and Kris seemed to be like good people, they seemed nice for the most part … and turn out to be monsters. Turn out to be child abusers,” Jones expressed.

He described the boys as always friendly and talkative with him, and said had he known what was allegedly happening right above his head, Jones would have reported it.

Jones expressed how this has been eye-opening for him, going to show that it’s important to be aware of your surroundings because you never know what could be going on.

He’s now thinking of the boys, and hoping they get the help they need.

“I kind of had a little bit of care in my heart for those little kids, and I just hope the boys are okay,” Jones said, adding, “and hope they never have to endure that kind of trauma anymore.”