During a broadcast interview Thursday, a man confessed to murdering both his parents in Albany, New York.
After Lorenz Kraus made the confession, police arrested him in the parking lot of the television station, according to WRGB-TV, the news outlet that interviewed him.
He’s been charged with two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of concealment of a human corpse.
Kraus first came under suspicion on May 21, when the Social Security Administration arrived at his parents’ home. The couple was at that point receiving Social Security benefits, according to WTEN-TV in New York.
⚠️ WARNING: This post contains graphic descriptions of a double murder.
A New York man has confessed on-camera to murdering his elderly parents & burying their bodies in the backyard of their home after they went missing in 2017.
In a chilling TV interview, Lorenz Kraus, 53,… pic.twitter.com/Rf5ukmNtWD
— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) September 26, 2025
But upon arrival, investigators learned that Theresia Kraus, 83, and Franz Kraus, 92, weren’t home.
Their absence initiated a fraud investigation, which ultimately led to a search of the house on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, investigators dug up a body in the backyard, followed by another on Thursday.
“While we are confident that those are the remains of Franz and Theresia Kraus, we still need to do some work and confirm that’s who that is. So we are not going to confirm that is who that is right now, because we need to ultimately go through the actual forensic process,” Albany Police Chief Brandon Cox said.
At some point, police interviewed Kraus.
“He had told us that they weren’t there, but certainly we had enough suspicion to say we need to find out where they were,” Cox said.
During a subsequent news interview, however, Kraus admitted to killing and burying his parents.
News anchor Greg Floyd asked Kraus if his parents realized what was happening as he murdered them.
“Yes,” Kraus said. “And it was so quick.”
Kraus said he used a pillow to suffocate his father first.
“After he died, my mother put her head on his chest, and she was there for a few hours, and then I finished her,” he said.
It was several days later that he buried them on the property.
Kraus said his parents never asked to be killed, but they made it clear “they were going downhill” with respect to health.
He murdered them in August 2017, he said.
That same year, when a neighbor asked Kraus about his parents, he said they moved to Germany, according to WTEN-TV.
“And I thought, OK, because they are German, but then I thought about it more and was like, but they didn’t have any moving equipment with them. They were here one day, gone the next,” neighbor Kate Calabrese said.
Despite his TV confession, he pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, according to WNYT-TV in New York.
He’s currently being held without bail and is scheduled for court again on Oct. 1.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.