Police are awaiting autopsy results to determine the identities of two sets of human remains found this week in an uptown Albany backyard.
What began as a "financial crimes" incident Tuesday has become a darker, deeper investigation into a mystery surrounding a missing elderly Albany couple.
Speaking Thursday afternoon at Albany Police headquarters, Chief Brendan Cox said the investigation began with a call from the Social Security Administration on May 21st, asking for the Albany Police Department’s help.
"They were doing some investigation follow up to the address at 6 Crestwood Court to check on the welfare of Theresia and Franz Kraus, who lived at that address and were receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration," said Cox, noting it wasn't the first time Albany police were contacted about the elderly couple.
"We had also gotten a call back in February of 2020, to check on their welfare. At that time, we had gotten information from a neighbor that they had moved away, moved out of the country. We had tried to contact the person that had called us, which was a distant relative that did not live in the area, and were not able to contact that person, and we had no reason at that moment to find anything more suspicious at that time."
This time, Cox said suspected social security fraud led police to interview the couple’s 53-year-old son Lorenz as they tried to piece together what had happened to the Krauses and the actual state of their finances.
"That culminated in the executing, execution of search warrants that started on Tuesday the 23rd. We are still at that residence. Ultimately yesterday, on the 24th, we did uncover human remains of two people in the backyard of 6 Crestwood court," said Cox.
Multiple agencies, including New York State Police and the Albany County District Attorney's office, have been involved with the investigation.
Cox suspects the remains are those of the Krauses, who neighbors say disappeared in 2017. But investigators need to verify via the actual forensic identification process, as well as determine the cause and manner of death.
As authorities await autopsy results, Cox promises there will be a "conclusion to the investigation," but there is "a long way to go." He would not elaborate.
