The Crestwood Court "financial crimes" investigation takes another strange turn.
53-year old Lorenz Kraus appeared before Judge Joshua Farrell in Albany City Court Friday morning. Kraus is charged with two counts of murder and two counts of concealing a corpse. He pleaded “not guilty.”
Police arrested Kraus Thursday evening outside WRGB TV studios in Niskayuna after he gave the station an interview in which he admitted to killing his elderly parents, Theresia and Franz Kraus, in 2017 and burying their bodies in the backyard of their 6 Crestwood Court home.
Multiple agencies, including the State Police and the Albany County District Attorney's office, have been involved in a Social Security Administration investigation into the whereabouts and finances of Theresia and Franz Kraus. It culminated this week with an intense search of the Kraus property in uptown Albany, leading to the discovery of two sets of human remains.
Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon says the case poses a few challenges. "I think the words last night spoken on Channel 6 speak for themselves. But ultimately, you know, we have to build a case not just on what he said, but, you know, physical evidence and witnesses and everything. So that's the next phase, and that's what we're starting right now," said Kindlon, pointing out that further investigatory work at 6 Crestwood Court continues. He noted that he watched the televised interview while it was being broadcast.
"Certainly the stuff he said to Channel 6 last night probably is going to provide some additional avenues of investigation. But, again, I'm going to leave that to the hard working men and women of the Albany Police Department [and] the state police, they got us here," Kindlon said.
Kraus also reportedly sent a document described as a manifesto to some local media outlets. Albany County Assistant Public Defender Rebekah Sokol said people should not read too much into the writings.
"I know something was given in writing. I have no background information," said Sokol. "Certainly unusual, you know, but I mean, unfortunately, I've dealt with apologies, a lot of unusual kind of setups throughout my career, and you know, certainly this is a unique one, but that doesn't mean that we're not going to be doing everything possible in terms of my office and what we can do for Mr. Kraus."
Sokol said "all possibilities are on the table" to build a defense for Kraus.
"You always need to be looking for certain defenses or possibilities, or, you know what's going on in somebody's background that may have led to what they're accused of, assuming they even did it," she said.
Kindlon says Kraus is innocent until proven guilty. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for October 1st.
