Featured Image Credit: YouTube/CBS6 Albany
Topics: New York, Crime, True crime, US News
Emily Brown
A New York man has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder after he confessed to killing his parents in a lengthy interview with CBS6 in Albany.
Lorenz Kraus, 53, made the claim while being interviewed by CBS6 anchor Greg Floyd after he became the subject of an investigation conducted by the Albany Police Department.
Together with the New York State Police, and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, Albany police executed a search warrant at Kraus' home at 6 Crestwood Court on September 23 after Kraus was identified in a financial crime investigation.
In a statement, Albany police said that the investigation revealed Kraus' parents, 92-year-old Franz Kraus and 83-year-old Theresia Kraus, 'had not been seen or heard from for several years'.
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Kraus was accused of collecting his parents' social security benefits and using the funds for his own personal use, with police noting that 'several items of evidentiary value were recovered' during the search.
As the investigation went on, authorities discovered two dead bodies buried in the back yard of the home.
Just two days after police first came to search Kraus' home, the 53-year-old apparently decided to get ahead of the story.
He contacted CBS6, and told Floyd that he'd killed both of his parents in 2017, adding: “I buried them in their property."
With no choice but to digest this information, Floyd responded: “You buried them in the back of that house in Albany.”
Kraus then replied: “Right.”
Kraus claimed he 'knew [his parents] were going downhill', prompting Floyd to ask: “They knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand?”
“Yes,” Kraus responded, before describing their death as 'quick'.
“I did my duty to my parents,” Kraus said. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”
Immediately after the TV interview, Kraus was taken into custody by members of the Albany Police Department and charged with two counts of murder in the second degree and two counts of concealment of a human corpse.
Kraus appeared in court on September 27, but in spite of his on-air confession, he pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
His legal representative, Assistant Albany County Public Defender Rebekah Sokol, has urged members of the public to remember that Kraus is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.