Editor’s Note: An early version of this story included an incorrect name. We regret the error.
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — The Brighton man convicted of murdering his wife with an ax in 1982 is the subject of an upcoming episode of 48 Hours.
48 Hours: The Brighton Ax Murder airs Saturday, February 25 at 10:00 p.m. on News 8 WROC. In the special, Sharon Krauseneck speaks publicly for the first time after her husband James was found guilty of murdering his first wife.
Erin Moriarty: Did you ever ask him point blank?
Sharon Krauseneck: No I didn’t, I didn’t have to.
Erin Moriarty: You didn’t have to know?
Sharon Krauseneck: No. I know, I know he didn’t murder his wife
Erin Moriarty: Sharon, how can you be so sure, you only have Jim’s word for it
Sharon Krauseneck: No – when you’re married to a man, you know his heart and you know his soul.
Cathleen “Cathy” Krauseneck was 29 when she was found dead in her home on Del Rio Drive in Brighton, an ax in the back of her skull. That was February 19, 1982. James was not arrested until 2019, after a reevaluation of evidence led investigators to believe he could have been there at the time of her death.
A medical examiner initially determined Cathy likely died between 6:55 a.m. and 8:55 a.m. Krauseneck’s claim that he went to work at 6:30 a.m. gave him an alibi. In 2015, however, investigators took a fresh look at the case, finding no evidence that anyone other than Jim was at the house that morning.
Jim was arrested in 2019. World-renowned medical examiner Dr. Michael Baden testified at his trial, saying police reports, autopsy reports, photographs, and other evidence indicated Cathy likely died before 6:00 a.m., placing Jim at the scene of the crime.
Baden told jurors he based his determination on reports of partially digested food in Cathy’s stomach, and body stiffness observed by the original medical examiner assigned to the case, who had since died.
Baden said the level of body stiffness, or rigor mortis, reported by the medical examiner takes 12 hours to appear, meaning Cathy was killed between 9:00 p.m. the previous evening and 4:00 a.m. the day the murder was reported.
James Krauseneck was found guilty of second degree murder in 2022 and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. His current wife Sharon and Sara Young, his daughter with Cathy Krauseneck, both claimed he was innocent.
Edward Laraby, a convicted murderer who lived within walking distance of the Krauseneck home in 1982, was at one point considered a suspect. He wrote a letter confessing to the crime while dying in prison, but the letter contained incorrect information about the scene, what Cathy looked like, and her clothing. Laraby was also known to make false claims to local police.
