‘Did My Duty’: Man Confesses On TV To Killing, Burying His Parents At Their New York Home

Kraus was arrested soon after he stepped out of the studio. (Image: YouTube/CBS6 Albany)

A man confessed during a televised interview to killing his elderly parents and burying their bodies in the backyard of their Albany home eight years ago.

Lorenz Kraus, 53, sat down on Thursday with CBS6 for a half-hour interview in which he admitted to suffocating his parents, Franz and Theresia Kraus, in what he described as “mercy killings.”

His confession came a day after police exhumed two bodies from the backyard as part of an investigation into Social Security fraud — the couple had not been seen in years but continued to receive benefits, news agency AP reported.

“They knew that this was it for them, that they were perishing at your hand?” anchor Greg Floyd asked during the interview. “Yes,” Kraus replied. “And it was so quick.”

Though initially evasive, Kraus eventually admitted he suffocated both parents, who he said were becoming frail. He did not claim they had any terminal illnesses but said his mother had been injured in a fall and his father had trouble seeing after cataract surgery. “I did my duty to my parents,” Kraus said. “My concern for their misery was paramount,” he added.

Kraus was arrested immediately after he left the studio and charged with two counts of murder. He did not speak during a brief court appearance on Friday, where a not guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

TV station news director Stone Grissom said the interview came after Kraus emailed a two-page statement and agreed to appear in person. A plainclothes officer was also present during the recording, the report mentioned.

Authorities say the discovery of the bodies followed a financial fraud probe into the misuse of the couple’s Social Security payments. A public defender has raised concerns over the legal admissibility of the televised confession.