Lorenz Kraus, 53, arrested for killing his parents after confessing on TV, is arraigned before Judge Joshua Farrell at Albany City Court on Sept 26. (Photo: The Albany Times Union via AP) A 53-year-old man in upstate New York admitted during a live television interview that he had killed his parents eight years ago and buried them in the backyard of their Albany home, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The confession by Lorenz Kraus came Thursday, a day after police said they recovered two bodies from the property as part of an investigation into Social Security payments that continued to be made to his parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus, despite their absence.
“Yes,” Kraus replied when he was asked whether his parents “knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand.” He added: “And it was so quick.”
Kraus described the deaths as mercy killings, saying his parents were becoming increasingly frail. “I did my duty to my parents. My concern for their misery was paramount,” he said according to AP.
Arrest and charges
Kraus was taken into custody as he left the CBS6 studio in Albany and has been charged with two counts of murder. He did not speak at a court hearing on Friday, where a public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Kraus told the station his mother had been injured in a fall and his father could no longer drive after cataract surgery, but he did not cite any terminal illness.
Stone Grissom, news director at CBS6, said Kraus had emailed local outlets a two-page statement with his phone number. When Grissom called and asked if Kraus had killed his parents, he said, “I plead the Fifth.” Kraus later agreed to come to the station, arriving within an hour, reported AP.
How the interview came about
Grissom said he searched Kraus to make sure he was unarmed, while an officer was stationed in the lobby. Floyd, who had just 10 minutes to prepare, said he kept pressing Kraus on the central question: “Did you kill them?” Eight minutes into the interview, Kraus admitted he had suffocated both parents.
“I did not prepare for this because it was thrust upon us with virtually no notice,” Floyd told AP. He said the spontaneous nature helped him “just follow the script that [Kraus] laid out.”
Floyd said he keeps thinking about Franz and Theresia Kraus, aged 92 and 83 at the time of their death, whom their son described as World War II survivors from Germany.
Police said the case began as a financial fraud investigation, with Kraus accused of using his parents’ Social Security benefits. Neighbours told reporters they assumed the elderly couple had moved back to Germany.
