Cathy and Jim Krauseneck.
It seemed like every husband’s worst nightmare.
In the winter of 1982, in the upscale Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Brighton, Jim Krauseneck told police he’d returned home from work to find a gruesome scene: His wife Cathy was dead in bed with an ax in her head.
Jim grabbed the couple’s 3-year-old daughter, then ran to get help from a neighbor, who told police Jim, then 30, “had a look of terror on his face” and struggled to speak.
For decades, police searched for whoever killed the 29-year-old mom while she slept. Finally, police cracked the cold case, and how they did so is the subject of Monday’s episode ofPeople Magazine Investigates. Titled “Brighton Ax Murder,” the episode premieres Monday, Aug. 14 at 9/8c on ID and streams on Max. (An exclusive clip is shown below.)
In the clip, prosecutors recount investigators' heart wrenching interview with the couple’s 3-year-old daughter, Sarah.
Patrick Gallagher, an Assistant District Attorney with the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office, says in the clip, “Sarah said when she woke up, ‘Daddy was gone and Mommy was gone, and nobody was there to feed me or dress me.’”
While her father was at work, the little girl was home alone all day and fed herself breakfast. When she finally went into her parents’ room, she told investigators she saw “a bad man in Mommy and Daddy’s bed,” says Gallagher.
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When officers, trying to ascertain the race of the person, asked Sarah what “color” the man was, the girl replied he was “many colors.”
Eventually, a suspect was arrested — and the identity of the suspect uncovered a shocking web of deceit.
People Magazine Investigates: Brighton Ax Murderairs on Investigation Discovery and streams on Max Monday, Aug. 14, at 9/8c.
source: people.com
