ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A man admitted during a television interview to killing his parents and burying them in the backyard of their upstate New York home eight years ago, then was arrested as he left the studio.
The stunning on-camera confession from Lorenz Kraus, 53, came Thursday, a day after police say they recovered two bodies from the home in Albany as part of an investigation that found Kraus’ parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus, were still receiving Social Security payments despite not having been seen or heard from in years.
Lorenz Kraus contacted local news outlet CBS6, and sat for a half-hour interview, in which he described the deaths as mercy killings for aging parents who were becoming more frail.
“They knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand?” news anchor Greg Floyd asked Kraus.
“Yes,” said Kraus. “And it was so quick.”
Kraus was initially reluctant to directly say he had killed the couple, but made the admission after several minutes of questioning from Floyd. Kraus said his parents didn’t ask to be killed but “they knew they were going downhill.”
“I did my duty to my parents,” Kraus said in the interview. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”
Kraus said his mother had recently been injured from falling while crossing a road, and that his father could no longer drive after cataract surgery.
Kraus, who did not mention his parents having any terminal illnesses, was arrested moments after he left the television studio and has been charged with two counts of murder. A public defender entered a not guilty plea during a brief court appearance Friday. Kraus did not speak during the hearing.
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The stunning on-camera confession from Lorenz Kraus, 53, came Thursday, a day after police say they recovered two bodies from the home in Albany as part of an investigation that found Kraus’ parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus, were still receiving Social Security payments despite not having been seen or heard from in years.
Lorenz Kraus contacted local news outlet CBS6, and sat for a half-hour interview, in which he described the deaths as mercy killings for aging parents who were becoming more frail.
“They knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand?” news anchor Greg Floyd asked Kraus.
“Yes,” said Kraus. “And it was so quick.”
Kraus was initially reluctant to directly say he had killed the couple, but made the admission after several minutes of questioning from Floyd. Kraus said his parents didn’t ask to be killed but “they knew they were going downhill.”
“I did my duty to my parents,” Kraus said in the interview. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”
Kraus said his mother had recently been injured from falling while crossing a road, and that his father could no longer drive after cataract surgery.
Kraus, who did not mention his parents having any terminal illnesses, was arrested moments after he left the television studio and has been charged with two counts of murder. A public defender entered a not guilty plea during a brief court appearance Friday. Kraus did not speak during the hearing.
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