Man Makes Horrifying and Shocking Confession During TV Interview

A shocking televised confession has rocked upstate New York after a man admitted on camera to killing his parents and burying them in the backyard of their Albany home eight years ago — only to be arrested as he walked out of the studio.

Lorenz Kraus, 53, sat for a half-hour interview with CBS affiliate WRGB-TV last Thursday, during which he calmly admitted to suffocating his parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus. The couple, aged 92 and 83, had not been seen for years, but were still receiving Social Security payments, sparking a fraud investigation that ultimately led police to dig up two bodies at the family home.

At first, Kraus dodged the question of whether he killed them, but under repeated pressing from anchor Greg Floyd, he finally admitted it: “Yes. And it was so quick.” He claimed the deaths were “mercy killings,” describing himself as a dutiful son who ended their suffering as their health declined, though he acknowledged they had never asked to die. “I did my duty to my parents,” Kraus said. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”

The interview was unlike anything the news station had ever aired. Kraus had first emailed reporters a rambling two-page statement and agreed to appear in person almost immediately. Floyd said he felt compelled to keep asking the crucial question — “Did you kill them?” — until Kraus confessed. Minutes later, video captured police arresting Kraus in the station’s parking lot.

He has since been charged with two counts of murder and two counts of concealing a human corpse. A public defender entered a not guilty plea on his behalf, and Kraus is being held without bail.

Investigators say the case began as a financial fraud probe after authorities realized Kraus’ parents were still drawing government benefits despite vanishing from public view. Neighbors assumed the elderly couple had moved back to Germany, where they originally lived before surviving World War II.

The confession and discovery of the bodies have left the quiet Albany neighborhood stunned. “No one had any idea until the police cars showed up and started digging in the yard,” Floyd later recalled.