May 26, 2021 8:48 am Nicole Valinote

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) — The Rochester Police Department is offering rewards of thousands of dollars for information about two unsolved homicide cases.

RPD said in a news release on Wednesday that police are revisiting the cases of April Sorensen, who was killed 14 years ago, and Robert Volgmann, who was killed a year ago. Police are offering a $25,000 reward in each case to anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest and conviction.

“Our number one goal is to deliver the highest level of public safety, so when a homicide occurs in our community, we feel a deep responsibility to deliver answers and, ultimately, justice,” Police Chief Jim Franklin said in the news release.

Sorensen was killed on April 17, 2007 in her northwest Rochester home. RPD said a TV technician called 911 when he saw smoke coming through her window. First responders determined that the fire wasn’t accidental. Her body was found in her bedroom after the fire was extinguished, and an autopsy determined she had been stabbed and strangled. She was 27 years old.

Anyone with any information about Sorensen’s death is asked to call Sgt. Eric Boynton at 507-328-6925.

Volgmann was assaulted and killed in his northwest Rochester apartment. Police said he was last seen alive on April 12, 2020, which was Easter Sunday. There was a snowstorm that day, and the bedroom window of his apartment was open for several days after. His body was discovered four days later after his landlord went to check on him and called police to the apartment.

“We all are still devastated. We didn’t just lose a brother or an uncle or a son, we lost our best friend,” his sister said in the news release.

Anyone with any information about Volgmann’s death is asked to contact Investigator Chris Weber at 507-328-6922.

Tips about both cases can also be shared anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or here.

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April 16, 2017, 9:06 AM CST / Updated April 16, 2017, 9:06 AM CST
By Jane Herman NBCNews

The Rochester, Minnesota police force has an incredible track record of solving crimes, but there is one case that has weighed heavily on the community for a decade.

“It happened to someone who should have been in the prime of their lives,” Capt. John Sherwin told Dateline NBC. “She never got the chance to start her career or have a family.”

April Jean Sorensen, 27, was easy-going, athletic, and a hard-working student at the Rochester Community and Technical College, studying to become a dental hygienist.

Thinking about her sister’s untimely death still brings Holly Beenken to tears. “She was just not a person you would think would be targeted,” she told Dateline.

On April 17, 2007, April’s TV technician arrived at her home at 12:30 p.m., for a scheduled visit. He saw smoke coming from inside the house and immediately called 911.

When police and investigators arrived at the scene, they determined that the fire was not an accident.

After the fire was extinguished, police found April’s body inside her bedroom. Autopsy reports confirmed she had been stabbed and strangled to death.

Police believe that the killer set the fire to burn away the evidence of the crime.

Capt. John Sherwin, a patrol sergeant at the time, said investigators have retraced April’s steps, interviewed thousands of people and collected DNA samples in their attempts to solve this mystery.

Despite their efforts, the case still remains open.

On the night before her murder, April had worked the early-morning shift at UPS Inc. in Rochester from 4:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Then she attended class from 10:00 a.m. to 10:50 a.m., leaving a less than two-hour window from when April returned home, to when she was killed and her house was set on fire.

April was living with her husband, Joshua, who worked for IBM. Investigators questioned Joshua right away.

During this type of investigation, “everyone is on your radar,” said Capt. Sherwin.

While they initially looked at Joshua as a possible suspect, police quickly cleared him, as he had an airtight alibi. IBM had a very secure corporate campus and he was at work during the time of the murder.

The TV technician was also ruled out as a suspect, because it was confirmed that he had just arrived to the scene based on his work schedule for that day.

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