Lorenz Kraus, 53, a failed fringe Democratic presidential candidate, stunned authorities and the nation after confessing on television that he killed his parents nearly ten years ago and buried their bodies in the backyard of their Albany home.
The admission came during a rare on-camera interview with CBS6 anchor Greg Floyd Thursday, a day after police recovered the remains of Franz and Theresia Kraus.
The case initially surfaced during what began as a financial crimes investigation.
Officials discovered Kraus had been collecting Social Security benefits meant for his parents, who had not been seen or heard from in years.
What started as a probe into possible fraud escalated dramatically when police located the remains buried in the backyard of the family home.
Kraus’s political history adds a striking layer of context.
He appeared on the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary ballot as a fringe presidential candidate, according to Times Union.
Analysts widely dismissed the campaign, which called for dismantling the presidency, promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories and proposed dividing the country into four regions to weaken what Kraus called the “Deep State.”
During the CBS6 interview, Kraus described the deaths as “mercy killings” in response to his parents’ declining health.
“I did my duty to my parents,” he said. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”
He recounted that he killed his father first, and that his mother lay on his father’s chest for several hours before he ended her life.
Kraus acknowledged that neither parent explicitly asked him to act but claimed they understood their worsening conditions.
He said his mother had suffered a fall and his father’s vision was impaired after cataract surgery.
He did not cite terminal illnesses, framing his actions as acts of compassion rather than malice, Fox News reports.
Authorities arrested Kraus shortly after the television interview and charged him with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of concealment of a human corpse.
During a brief court appearance Friday, his public defender entered a not guilty plea. Kraus remained silent in court and is being held in custody, with his next hearing scheduled for Wednesday.
The confession, which has already gone viral online, could influence the legal proceedings.
Attorney Greg Rinckey told CNY Central that the interview’s public exposure may lead to motions to change venue or suppress the confession entirely, warning that potential jurors might already be biased.
“If that confession is suppressed, now you need evidence that ties him to the crime,” Rinckey said, emphasizing the critical role of the medical examiner’s report.
CBS6 News Director Stone Grissom explained that the interview was arranged after Kraus emailed a statement with his contact information.
Grissom contacted Kraus, who agreed to come to the station within the hour. Law enforcement ensured he was unarmed, and a plainclothes officer remained present during the meeting, according to CBS News.
Floyd described the interview as unlike any in his 45-year career.
He noted that neighbors believed the couple had returned to Germany, leaving the public unaware of the parents’ fate until authorities arrived at their home.
The discovery of the bodies on the tightly packed residential street has left the community and legal observers grappling with the extraordinary nature of the case.
What began as an investigation into Social Security fraud ultimately uncovered a gruesome homicide, raising questions about both the ethics of on-camera confessions and the shadowy trajectory of a man whose past included a failed presidential campaign and now shocking allegations of murder.
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