A young New York mom was hacked to death by an ax murderer nearly four decades ago — and now her 93-year-old father is vowing to see her killer face justice.
Robert Schlosser will travel from his home in Michigan to Rochester this June in hopes of closure in the death of his daughter Cathy Krauseneck, who died in bed of a 3-inch single strike ax wound to her head in 1982, the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reported Thursday.
The case — which became known as the “Brighton ax murder” — went cold until this past November, when authorities in Brighton announced second-degree murder charges against Cathy’s husband, James Krauseneck.
“I’m going to go, hell or high water,” Schlosser said about the upcoming trial. “I want to see him with the cuffs on.”
With assistance from the FBI and state-of-the-art DNA testing, Brighton police were able to link James, now 68, to Cathy’s slaying. But they’ve been mum on the specific evidence against him and the results of the testing have never been disclosed.
“The crime was in the early 1980s,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Jeremy Bell told ABC 13 in 2016, when Cathy’s case was reopened. “The science behind the DNA has come a long way since that time, so we’re able to use that new science to help out the Brighton Police Department.”
The couple’s home in the Evans Farm neighborhood of Rochester was scrubbed clean of fingerprints and there were signs of a burglary — though nothing was taken.
James told police he found his 29-year-old wife dead in their bedroom when he returned home from his job as an economist at Kodak Company around 5 p.m. on Feb. 19, 1982.
The Krauseneck’s 3 1/2-year-old daughter, Sara, was home at the time but unharmed. The little girl told police that she saw a “bad man” in her parent’s bedroom, but James refused subsequent interviews with cops, the Democrat and Chronicle reported.
The day after the murder, James left Rochester with Sara in tow, to return to Michigan, where his family lived. But his sudden departure raised red flags for Cathy’s own family.
“It was just impossible to figure out that he would do that,” said Schlosser.
Police said in November that he was unwilling to cooperate with the investigation — a claim his lawyer Michael Wolford has refuted.
“Jim’s innocence was clear 37 years ago; it’s clear today,” Wolford said last month, according to ABC News. “At the end of the case, I have no doubt Jim will be vindicated.”
Sara has also stood by her father and “has never doubted her father’s innocence,” the lawyer added.
Krauseneck, who was 30 years old at the time of the crime and now lives in Arizona, has pleaded not guilty. He is free on $100,000. The trial is set to begin June 2.
