Lake Elsinore Man Who Stuffed Girlfriend’s Body In Suitcase Scheduled For Sentencing

Fifty-seven years to life in prison is the sentence Joseph Dorsey can expect when he faces a judge this week.

Dorsey, 29, will hear his fate Friday from Judge Mark Mandio at the Southwest Justice Center in French Valley.

On June 27, Dorsey was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Canyon Lake resident Christine Stewart. The petite 47-year-old’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase at a Best Western hotel in Poway in early August 2012. It was later determined she had been murdered just days earlier by Dorsey, who strangled her to death at his residence on Main Street in Lake Elsinore before stuffing her into the suitcase and driving southbound with the body.

Dorsey checked into the Poway hotel with the suitcase, but he never checked out and instead fled to Mexico. Best Western staff found the 3-foot-long black bag in Dorsey’s room and took possession of it. Investigators working the missing person case of Stewart knew of the dating relationship she had with Dorsey. As they searched for his whereabouts, they were led to the hotel and the subsequent grisly discovery of the unclaimed suitcase carrying her body.

A warrant was issued for Dorsey’s arrest and on Oct. 23 he was located by Mexican law enforcement and placed under arrest in Playas de Rosarito before being returned that day to the United States.

The jury in Dorsey’s murder trial took little time to render its verdict: it was delivered the same day as closing arguments.

The case was prosecuted by Riverside County Deputy District Attorney Burke Strunsky.