An upstate New York resident admitted during a televised interview on Thursday that he had murdered his parents and buried them in their backyard nearly ten years ago, according to officials.
Lorenz Kraus, aged 53, gave a startling on-camera admission to CBS6 in Albany just a day after police reported finding two bodies at the residence in the city. The authorities were initially probing why Kraus’ parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus, continued to receive Social Security benefits despite being out of contact for several years.
In a 30-minute conversation with news anchor Greg Floyd, Kraus hesitated initially to confess outright to the 2017 murders of his parents. However, after a few minutes into the discussion, Kraus openly acknowledged his actions.
“They knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand?” news anchor Greg Floyd asked Kraus.
Floyd asked Kraus about the details regarding his parents’ deaths.
“You suffocated your parents?” Floyd asked Kraus.
“Yeah,” Kraus replied.
Kraus listens to his attorney during an appearance in Albany City Court on Friday. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
Kraus stated he first killed his father, saying, “and after he passed, my mother laid her head on his chest, remaining there for some time, and then I ended her life.”
Kraus was taken into custody shortly after exiting the TV studio and faced charges of two counts of murder and two counts of human corpse concealment.
During a brief court session on Friday, Kraus did not speak while a public defender argued a plea of not guilty on his behalf.
The initial financial crimes investigation that led to the discovery of the bodies found that Kraus had been collecting his parents’ social security benefits and using the funds for his own personal use, according to police.
