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Post by Joanna on May 9, 2016 23:32:48 GMT -5
Police Reopen 1982 Axe Murder CaseThe Brighton police, FBI and Monroe County District Attorney’s Office are jump-starting an investigation into one of the region’s most notorious unsolved homicides: the 1982 slaying of Brighton housewife Cathleen Krauseneck (above right), killed by an axe blow to her head.
In recent months, police have conducted a new round of interviews, including a meeting with Krauseneck’s husband, James (left), who now lives in Tacoma, Washington. The police and DA’s office are also looking at physical evidence for possible DNA testing, including the axe that was driven into Krauseneck’s skull. “The murder weapon ... has never been tested” for the presence of DNA, DA Sandra Doorley said in an interview in late April.
The homicide was so violent and its locale so unusual – Brighton’s Evans Farm neighborhood of Colonial homes and backyard barbecues – that the story of the slaying circulated nationally. The Krausenecks had just moved to the neighborhood and Cathleen was just 29-years-old. James Krauseneck, who was employed by Eastman Kodak in 1982, told police that on the morning of February 19, 1982, he left the house, as usual, around 6:30 and did not return until approximately 5 o’clock that afternoon. He discovered his wife lying in the couple’s bed with an axe embedded deep inside her skull. Their 3½-year-old daughter, Sara, had been wandering about the house for hours as her mother’s corpse grew ever more cold and stiff. According to the autopsy, Cathleen had been killed in the early morning hours.
James Krauseneck now lives in Mercer Island, Washington, and did not respond to email and telephone requests left at his workplace. Sara could not be reached for comment.
FBI assisting investigation. Brighton investigator Mark Liberatore spoke with Krauseneck in Washington state in late April, according to Brighton Police Chief Mark Henderson. Liberatore was accompanied by an FBI agent; the FBI has been assisting with the investigation. “It was a very young mother whose life was taken then,” Henderson said. She and her family – her parents still live on their Michigan family farm – deserve justice, he said.
Cathleen Krauseneck’s sister, Annett Schlosser, said she and her parents “are more hopeful than we’ve been in the 34 years since her death.” Her father, Robert Schlosser, is 90, and still works the family farm in Michigan. He and his 88-year-old wife, Theresa, often ask if there are any new updates with the investigation, said Schlosser, who lives in Michigan and has remained in contact with the Brighton police. “I really want this case to be solved for my parents, who have been living this nightmare now for 34 years. Justice needs to be done,” she said. “She was like my best friend,” Schlosser, who is 10 years younger than her sister, explained. “She was the most genuine, intelligent loving person. There isn’t a bad word that you can think about when describing my sister and to have her die like that is so unfair.”
Liberatore first contacted Cathleen Krauseneck’s family about a year ago, alerting them that investigators planned to take a fresh look at the case, Schlosser reported. The FBI has since digitized the ample criminal files on the case, and investigators are readying evidence for forensics testing. “We are hoping that the forensics testing will definitely be a significant factor in solving this case,” she indicated.
Burglary theory. In 1982, police said Cathleen Krauseneck may have been killed during a burglary. Silverware as well as a silver tea service and tray were found strewn on the dining room floor, but nothing appeared to be missing from the home.
The axe and a maul, used for splitting wood, were found inside the home. The axe, which had a 2½-foot handle, the maul, and another axe, were kept in the garage, which had been left unlocked. A window was shattered from the outside; the maul was apparently used to break the glass, police said. Investigators also found a sock the killer may have used when holding the maul. This, along with the axe and maul and other evidence in the home, can be tested for DNA, Doorley said. “I went through every single piece of evidence with Mark (Liberatore),” she added.
In the weeks following the homicide, the Krausenecks were described as a loving couple and James a doting and caring husband and father. The day after his wife was found dead, James went to Michigan, surprising police who hoped to continue an interview they had started. He later hired a Rochester-based attorney, Michael Wolford, who no longer represents Krauseneck. However, he has retained an attorney in Washington, Henderson said.
Question over qualifications. Shortly before the killing, issues arose concerning Krauseneck’s employment at Kodak, according to police and Schlosser. He had previously taught at Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Va., where he was an assistant professor of economics. He had indicated to the college that he had a doctorate, and told Kodak the same thing when interviewing in Rochester for a job that paid significantly more than his collegiate teaching. However, apparently, early in 1982, Kodak learned that Krauseneck had not completed his doctoral work. Whether he was at risk of losing his job is unclear, but Cathleen did become aware of her husband’s workplace issue, advised Annett Schlosser, who said she learned this from investigators well after her sister’s murder.
Several times in the past 34 years, police have taken a hard look at the homicide, hoping for clues or leads that were not found in 1982. Schlosser said she sees a seriousness on the part of investigators that, coupled with forensics advancements, could finally identify the person who killed her sister. “My mom prays every night for this case to be solved and justice to be served,” she said.
Anyone with information concerning the murder of Cathleen Krauseneck should call the Brighton Police Department at (585) 428-7033. Sources: Gary Craig, The Democrat & Chronicle, May 7, 2016; Citizens Against Homicide; and The Finger Lakes Times, February 22, 1982.
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Post by madeline on May 10, 2016 19:27:21 GMT -5
I say the husband did it. No one would break into a house, kill a woman in bed with an axe and not take anything.
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Post by natalie on May 18, 2016 8:18:59 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing as you, Madeline.
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terry
New Member
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Post by terry on Sept 29, 2017 16:38:49 GMT -5
Given the corrupt, incompetent, unethical Keystone Kops we have in Brighton, NY, it doesn't surprise me in the least that this has gone unsolved for 35 years.
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Post by kitty on Sept 29, 2017 18:49:13 GMT -5
Given the corrupt, incompetent, unethical Keystone Kops we have in Brighton, NY, it doesn't surprise me in the least that this has gone unsolved for 35 years. Do people in the area where it happened think that the husband did it? I do.
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Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 1, 2017 14:40:53 GMT -5
Brighton Axe Murder House for Sale One of the most infamous crimes in Monroe County, New York, occurred at this home at 33 Del Rio Drive in Brighton. The two-story house, tucked away on a quiet street in a tree-lined neighborhood, has a dark secret – make that two dark secrets.
Thirty-five years ago, James Krauseneck, who worked for Eastman Kodak, called police and reported that when he returned home around 5 p.m., he discovered his wife dead in bed with an axe imbedded in her head. The couple’s 3-year-old daughter had been wandering around the house all day alone. Krauseneck told investigators he had left for work around 6:30 that morning and his wife and daughter were still asleep. An autopsy determined 29-year-old Cathleen Krauseneck had died in the early morning hours.
In addition to the axe, a maul, used for splitting wood, was also found inside the house, though, according to Krauseneck, both were kept in the garage. A window of the house had been shattered from the outside and police also found a sock they surmised the killer may have utilized while using the maul to break the glass. Initially, the murder appeared to be the work of a burglar. Later, however, investigators began to wonder why a burglar went to all the trouble of breaking into the house and sinking an axe into a woman’s head, but left without taking anything. No one was ever charged with the crime and the murder remains unsolved. James Krauseneck now lives in Mercer Island, Washington. Now, the notorious home is on the market. Listed at $189,900, the 2,057-square-foot house in the Evans Farm neighborhood was built in 1945. It has three bedrooms, two full baths and one half-bath, a huge eat-in kitchen and newly refinished hardwood floors. But despite the fact the home is currently occupied by a family and boasts a new roof, new windows and a high-efficiency furnace, the property has been on the market for more than three months. According to Davide Salafia of ReMax Plus, this is unusual for an updated-home in the town of Brighton where well-priced homes in good condition are in high demand.
Salafia, who is a Brighton resident, has shown the property to a prospective client without disclosing that a murder took place on the premises. Real estate laws vary from state to state and in New York, sellers are not required to disclose suicides or murders, he said, explaining that he had listed a home a few years back where a suicide took place. But if a realtor is asked a question directly, he or she has the professional obligation to be honest and up-front.
A house may suffer from stigmatization, Salafia continued. There will be a pool of buyers who will never consider purchase a home where a tragic event took place. The house is priced very well for the area, he added, noting that the retail price should be in the $220,000 range. But even without disclosure, it’s very easy for consumers to Google search an address and there they’ll find details of what happened 35 years ago, he admitted.
But the horrific axe murder wasn’t the first tragedy at 33 Del Rio Drive. Five years before someone sunk an axe into the head of Cathleen Krauseneck, Dr. Anthony Schifino, founder of Rochester Radio Supply, Inc., and one-time owner of the Avon Inn, and his wife Estelle, died of carbon monoxide poisoning. On the evening of April 11, 1977, Mrs. Schifino returned from bowling and apparently left the car running in the attached garage. Later that week, when their adult son couldn’t reach his parents by telephone, he went to their home and found the corpse of his father sitting in a living room chair, where he was believed to have been reading, and his mother in her nightgown, lying on the floor of the couple’s upstairs bedroom – the same room in which Mrs. Krauseneck was murdered.
Alison M. Carling, the current owner, purchased 33 Del Rio Drive in May 2003 for $182,000. In November 2012, she advertised the property for sale, but when it did not sell, removed the listing six months later. The house was listed again June 15, 2017, at an asking price of $218,000. The price was reduced to $199,999 a month later and reduced again to $189,900 on September 9. The previous owners lived in the home only four years.Sources: Mary Chao, The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, September 28, 2017; The Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, April 14, 1977; Monroe County Property Appraiser; and Trulia.
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Post by pat on Oct 2, 2017 14:06:44 GMT -5
I looked it up on Trulia and it's a very nice house. If it was in a place that I wanted to live, the murders and other deaths wouldn't keep me from buying it.
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Post by natalie on Oct 3, 2017 14:35:14 GMT -5
Wow, considering the size and appearance of the home, it seems incredibly cheap! I always thought New York homes were beyond unaffordable so this was a surprise. Regardless of its past, you simply cannot buy a home for that price in my city unless it's badly rundown and in an undesirable neighborhood.
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Post by steve on Oct 3, 2017 18:06:06 GMT -5
Wow, considering the size and appearance of the home, it seems incredibly cheap! I always thought New York homes were beyond unaffordable so this was a surprise. Regardless of its past, you simply cannot buy a home for that price in my city unless it's badly rundown and in an undesirable neighborhood. When people who don't live in New York think of New York, they think of New York City, where the houses are beyond affordable. But the rest of New York has affordable houses. This ax murder house is in Brighton, which is a suburb of Rochester, and you can find houses that size and bigger for less than $200K.
www.trulia.com/NY/Rochester/
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Post by madeline on Oct 4, 2017 14:18:40 GMT -5
I looked it up on Trulia and it's a very nice house. If it was in a place that I wanted to live, the murders and other deaths wouldn't keep me from buying it.
I feel the same. I live in an old house where a lot of people died and one woman committed suicide and it's never bothered me. Until around the 1950s, or later in some places, most people died at home.
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Post by pat on Sept 18, 2019 20:52:33 GMT -5
Have there been any updates in this case?
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Post by Graveyardbride on Sept 19, 2019 2:42:00 GMT -5
Have there been any updates in this case? No, and it's been three years since the case was reopened.
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Post by steve on Sept 19, 2019 18:16:34 GMT -5
The first article about reopening the case says there are items that could be DNA tested. I can't find anything online about whether they were tested or if the materials were too degraded for testing.
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Post by maaquilino on Nov 8, 2019 11:52:35 GMT -5
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Post by steve on Nov 8, 2019 12:23:26 GMT -5
This is great news, but you have to subscribe to the Democrat & Chronicle to read the article. Could someone please copy and paste an article about the arrest?
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