mercy killing

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Son Confesses to Killing Parents in TV Interview
Son Confesses to Killing
Parents in TV Interview
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Sep 28, 2025 3:00 PM CDT

Son Confesses to Killing Parents in TV Interview

Albany's Lorenz Kraus describes them as mercy killings after police found the bodies

(Newser) - A man who once ran for president on a fringe platform now stands accused of killing his elderly parents—and a TV confession is a major factor, reports the Albany Times-Union . Lorenz Kraus, 53, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges related to the 2017 deaths of his parents, Franz...

'Devoted Daughter' Spared Prison After Smothering Father

English judge agrees Lisa Davenport was trying to end his pain

(Newser) - An English judge has declined to send a woman to prison for smothering her terminally ill father with a pillow, after a prosecutor said Lisa Davenport believed that the killing "was an act of mercy." She received a two-year suspended prison sentence in the death of Barrie Davenport,...

Dutch Who Feel 'Life Is Complete' May Get Right to Die

Not terminally ill? No problem, say ministers

(Newser) - Already, the Netherlands allows assisted suicide for those who are terminally ill or living with "unbearable suffering." Soon, people who feel they have nothing more to do in life might get the same freedom. In a letter to Parliament on Wednesday, the country's health and justice ministers...

Woman Allegedly Murdered Husband by Plugging His Nose

Retired nurse Jan Sochalski accused of killing spouse in his hospital bed

(Newser) - A retired nurse in Florida is accused of killing her husband while he lay in his hospital bed. Staff at Florida Hospital Memorial Center in Daytona Beach tell police they saw Jan Sochalski, 61, lying across the chest of husband Henry Sochalski, 64, and pinching his nose, reports People . He...

Mom Killed Disabled Daughter So She'd Be 'in Heaven With Me'

Bonnie Liltz thought she was dying, was scared what would happen to daughter with CP

(Newser) - An Illinois woman accused of giving her severely disabled adult daughter a fatal dose of meds last year before trying to kill herself stood before a Cook County judge Wednesday, explaining that her love for her daughter was so strong that killing her seemed the most humane thing to do....

Cancer-Stricken Dad, 86, Dies After Son Tries to Kill Him: Cops

Medical examiner hasn't ruled on official cause of death yet

(Newser) - Authorities in Ohio are trying to figure out whether a Florida man acted out of compassion, rage, or drunken recklessness when he allegedly tried to suffocate his 86-year-old terminally ill father in a Brecksville nursing home. Staff members at the facility say they walked in on an "intoxicated" Steven...

3 Days After Botched Mercy Killing, Wife Dies

Husband on suicide watch faces murder charge

(Newser) - An 88-year-old man who shot his wife in a Nevada hospital in what he says was an attempted mercy killing is now facing a murder charge. Frances Dresser, 86, was pronounced dead three days after her husband of 63 years shot her in the chest, reports NBC . William Dresser, who...

Man, 88: Hospital Shooting Was a Botched Mercy Killing

He says he meant to kill paralyzed wife, himself

(Newser) - An 88-year-old man charged with shooting his wife as she lay in a hospital bed says he would have killed her and then himself if his gun hadn't jammed. William Dresser of Carson City, Nevada, has told police that his wife of 63 years had been paralyzed by an...

Murder Suspect Says Wife Asked Him to Shoot Her

She was suffering from breast cancer, allegedly wanted him to 'end her pain'

(Newser) - "Hello … I just shot my wife." That's how Ernest Chris Chumbley introduced himself to a 911 operator yesterday morning. "Give me police. I'm under arrest," he said, according to a tape obtained by WKYT . Sure enough, police arrived to find his wife Virginia...

Husband, 86, Gets Probation in Wife's Mercy Killing

George Sanders says ailing wife begged him

(Newser) - An 86-year-old man who carried out a mercy killing by shooting his ailing wife in the head was sentenced to probation today after an emotional hearing where family members tearfully spoke on his behalf. George Sanders could have faced more than 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter....

Ohio Man Shoots Wife of 45 Years in Hospital

Cops believe it was an attempted mercy killing

(Newser) - An Ohio man is facing a charge of attempted murder for what police believe was an attempted mercy killing. John Wise, 66, shot his wife of 45 years while she was in a hospital intensive care unit on Saturday, the Akron Beacon Journal reports. Barbara Wise, 65, was declared brain...

BBC Announcer Charged in Murder of Dying Lover

Ray Gosling confessed to mercy killing on UK television

(Newser) - British police have arrested a BBC presenter who confessed on television that he'd killed a former lover who was dying of AIDS. Ray Gosling, 70, was arrested on suspicion of murder this morning, less than two days after the airing of a TV program in which Gosling tearfully described smothering...

BBC Announcer: 'I Smothered Dying Lover'

Ray Gosling confesses to mercy killing of lover with AIDS

(Newser) - British police plan to investigate a BBC presenter's confession that he smothered a lover who was dying of AIDS. "In a hospital one hot afternoon, the doctor said, ’There’s nothing we can do’. He was in terrible, terrible pain," Ray Gosling revealed in a program on...

Mom: I Killed Brain-Injured Son With Love

'I couldn't leave my child like that'

(Newser) - A British woman on trial for murdering her brain-damaged adult son by injecting him with a heroin overdose said she did it "with love." Frances Inglis, 57, said her 22-year-old son, Tom, was in a "living hell" of pain since suffering severe head injuries in a fall...

Kevorkian Set to Leave Prison Friday
Kevorkian
Set to Leave
Prison Friday
May 27, 2007 12:23 PM CDT

Kevorkian Set to Leave Prison Friday

'Doctor Death' will retire from mercy killing, won't stop lobbying for legalization

(Newser) - Jack Kevorkian, the champion of mercy killing, will be released from prison June 1 after doing eight years for helping a Michigan man commit suicide. The 79-year-old retired pathologist spent a decade assisting terminally ill patients end their lives, using a homemade machine to administer the fatal drugs and then...

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