ALBANY, N.Y. – Lorenz Kraus, 53, a former fringe presidential candidate, confessed to murdering his parents during a live interview with Albany station WRGB, the outlet reports. Kraus admitted to suffocating Franz and Theresa Kraus in 2017 as “mercy killings” and burying their bodies in the backyard of their Albany home.
Albany Police arrested Kraus in the station parking lot off Balltown Road in Schenectady immediately after the interview. He faces two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of concealment of a human corpse.
The confession followed a multi-agency investigation that uncovered human remains in the backyard of the Kraus residence on Crestwood Court. Excavation crews recovered the remains on Sept. 24 and 25. While authorities are confident the remains are those of Franz and Theresa Kraus, forensic testing is ongoing. The couple, aged 92 and 83 at the time of disappearance, had lived in the home for decades.
The investigation began after the Social Security Administration raised concerns about ongoing benefit deposits despite losing contact with the couple. Authorities discovered that Lorenz Kraus had been collecting his parents’ Social Security benefits for personal use.
Kraus, who appeared on the 2020 New Hampshire presidential ballot as a Democrat, had promoted extremist views and ran a platform calling to dissolve the presidency. His campaign website used an antisemitic domain and included statements targeting “the Deep State” and other groups, according to a Boston Globe report.
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