13 things about Albany, New York’s Lorenz Kraus

Lorenz F. Kraus is an American man from Albany, New York, United States. He is an alumnus of Albany High School in Albany, Siena University in Siena, New York and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

BIOGRAPHY

In 2017, Kraus fatally suffocated his parents Franz Kraus and Teresa Kraus and buried them in the backyard of their residence in Albany. After killing his parents, Lorenz collected their social security benefits and used the funds for his own personal use

“I did my duty to my parents,” Lorenz told CBS6. “My concern for their misery was paramount.”

In 2025, Kraus confessed to killing his parents after detectives investigated why his parents were still receiving social security payments despite not having been seen or heard from in years. Here are 13 more things about him:

1. Aside from Albany, he has lived in other parts of New York including Troy.
2. His father, who was born in 1925 in Yugoslavia, spent several years in a Soviet prisoners camp.
3. His mother was born in 1934 in Germany.
4. In the 1950s, his parents emigrated to the U.S.
5. He was born in 1972.
6. In 1974, his sister Rosa Kraus was born.
7. In 1988, his sister Rosa died of cancer.
8. From 1990 to 1994, he attended Siena University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and government.
9. From 2007 to 2009, he attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where he earned a master’s degree in business administration.
10. In 2016, he offered his services to Donald Trump in a YouTube video.
11. In 2017, he killed his parents in Albany.
12. In 2020, he appeared on the U.S. presidential ballot in New Hampshire, USA.
13. In 2025, he was arrested.

TIMELINE

In 2020, Lorenz ran for U.S. president as a Democrat. He proposed breaking the country up into four regions “to break the control of the Deep State, British agents, Rhodes scholars and the Jews”.

1990s

• In May 1994, he graduated valedictorian from Siena University.

2000s

• In May 2009, he graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

2010s

• On May 10, 2016, he posted a YouTube video titled “A Secret Message to Donald Trump”. In the video, he proposes issuing a new form of dollar that would decay in value by 1 cent per year in order to pay off the national debt immediately and offers his services to Trump, who was the incumbent U.S. president.
• In August 2017, his parents disappeared without a trace.

2020s

• In June 2022, he co-founded Pinda Technology, a digital asset company based in Laguna, Philippines, he wrote in his LinkedIn profile.
• In May 2025, detectives started looking into why social security payments continued to be deposited in the accounts of his parents who they could not contact since 2017.
• On September 23, 2025, investigators representing the Social Security Administration, the Albany County District Attorney’s office, the New York State Police and the Albany Police Department gathered at his residence at 6 Crestwood Court in Whitehall, Albany to execute a search warrant related to suspected financial crimes. On September 24, 2025, his parents’ remains were removed from the property.
• On September 25, 2025, he was interviewed by Greg Floyd of CBS6 and he confessed to killing his parents in 2017. After the interview, he was arrested in the parking lot of CBS6 in Albany and booked into the Albany County Jail in Albany.
• On September 26, 2025, he appeared at Albany City Court, pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and two counts of concealment of a human corpse and was remanded without bail.