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40 years ago, Cathy Krauseneck was found with an ax blade embedded deep in her forehead. The case recently made headlines when her husband, James Krauseneck, was found guilty by a jury at the age of 70.
The crime scene was first discovered by James, who claimed to have been at work the entire day and found his wife dead in bed after returning home. Investigators initially lacked potential suspects and leads who could've helped solve the case. The only witness to the crime was the victim's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who was found unharmed in her bedroom.
It took decades of investigation and assistance from the FBI and celebrity forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden to bring Cathy's killer to justice. The case was reportedly re-opened in 2015 and led to James' arrest four years later. He was then convicted of his crime in 2022.
NBC Dateline will chronicle Cathy Krauseneck's case in an upcoming two-hour episode titled The Bad Man, which is scheduled to air this Friday, January 20, 2023, at 9.00 pm ET.
Cathy Krauseneck was killed with an ax over four decades ago
Cathy Krauseneck, 29, was discovered dead in her bed on February 19, 1982, at the Brighton home she shared with her 30-year-old husband James Krauseneck. She died after a single ax blow to her skull. Authorities initially thought the homicide was the result of a botched burglary at the couple's suburban home in Rochester, New York.
James Krauseneck worked as an economist at Eastman Kodak Co. He claimed that on the evening of the crime, he returned home just before 5 pm and found that the garage door and another nearby door were open. He also mentioned that he found glass on the floor. Upstairs in their bedroom, he found Cathy dead, still in bed with an ax in her skull. Their daughter was in another room unscathed.
The couple, who were originally from Michigan, moved to the neighborhood about six months before the horrific incident. James and Cathy attended the same high school in Michigan. However, they didn't start dating until they were students at Western Michigan University and eventually got married in 1974.
Authorities alleged Cathy Krauseneck's husband murdered her and then staged the crime scene to make it look like a burglary
At the time, authorities believed that Cathy Krauseneck was attacked in her sleep and that the incident occurred in the early hours of the day, given that she was found in her nightwear. The duo's three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Sara was home alone. James claimed that immediately after finding the crime scene, he grabbed Sara and rushed over to a neighbor's house for help.
Although there were indications of a break-in, such as a broken window, nothing seemed to have been taken from the house. Years of insufficient evidence and leads contributed to the murder remaining unsolved until 2015. This was when prosecutors collaborated with the Brighton Police Department, the FBI, the Monroe County Crime Lab, and Dr. Michael Baden to further examine the case.
After a lengthy and in-depth investigation, a grand jury indicted James in November 2019 on a charge of second-degree murder. They claimed that he killed Cathy Krauseneck, staged the crime scene to make it look like a botched burglary, and then left for work. The pandemic caused many delays in the trial, and ultimately, in September 2022, a jury found James Krauseneck guilty in the case.
