Confession in Parents’ Murder Case
An upstate New York man has admitted, in a television interview, that he killed his parents and buried their bodies in his backyard nearly ten years ago. This revelation came shortly after police recovered the remains at their home.
Lorenz Klaus, 53, spoke to CBS6 in Albany during a 30-minute interview where, at first, he hesitated to openly state he was responsible for his parents’ deaths in 2017. The police had been looking into why Franz and Theresia Klaus continued to receive Social Security payments despite not having seen them for years.
In the interview with Greg Floyd, Klaus initially sidestepped direct questions, but then made a striking admission. When asked by Floyd, “They knew this was that for them, are they perishing in your hands?” Klaus eventually replied, “Yes, and it was very fast.”
Klaus characterized the act as a mercy killing for his parents, who were, according to him, in poor health. Although he stated they did not explicitly request to die, he suggested he acted out of concern for their declining health. “I fulfilled my duty to my parents,” he remarked, adding that his main concern was their suffering.
While he did not explicitly say his parents had a terminal illness, he mentioned that his mother had sustained a fall and that cataract surgery had left his father unable to drive. Floyd pressed him further on the circumstances of their deaths, directly asking, “Did you suffocate your parents?” To this question, Klaus confirmed, “Yes.” He stated he first killed his father.
After leaving the TV studio, Klaus was arrested and charged with two counts of murder, along with two counts related to concealing human remains. He briefly appeared in court the following day, where his defense attorney entered a plea of innocence on his behalf. Klaus remained silent during this hearing.
An investigation into financial irregularities led to this discovery, revealing that Klaus had collected Social Security benefits from his parents, which he used for personal expenses.
