The murder of Cathy Krauseneck is a scary story that has captivated true crime fans. At the centre of it all is Sara Krauseneck, a young girl who was caught in a tragedy. Sara was only 3½ years old when her mother was brutally killed in 1982. She stood by her father, James, as he faced charges for the crime decades later. NBC’s Dateline: The Bad Man and CBS’s 48 Hours: The Brighton Axe Murder look into her emotional story. At Spiky TV, we’re looking into Sara’s life, from the trauma she went through as a child to the support she always gave her father and the lasting effects of her family’s troubles.
Sara Krauseneck’s Early Life and the Day of the Murder
Sara Krauseneck was born in April 1978 to James and Cathleen “Cathy” Krauseneck in Fort Collins, Colorado. The young family later moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where James taught economics, before settling in Brighton, New York, in September 1981. Cathy was a devoted mother and she and Sara shared joyful moments, like sledding and planning a trip to the circus. However, tragedy struck their lives on February 19, 1982.
That evening, James returned home from his job at Eastman Kodak around 5 p.m. He noticed the garage door was broken, with glass scattered on the floor. Inside, he found Cathy dead in their bedroom, an axe lodged in her skull from a single, fatal blow. Sara, unharmed, was in her room, wearing two sweaters—both on backward, suggesting she had dressed herself. James took her to a neighbour’s house, and the neighbour called 911.
When questioned, Sara told her father and police she saw a “bad man” with “many colors” on his face in her parents’ bedroom. Investigators later believed she was describing her mother’s bloodied body, a traumatic memory for a toddler. The crime scene looked like a staged burglary, with Cathy’s purse and a silver tea set spread out in the dining room, but nothing of value was missing. The Krauseneck family owned the axe, and there were no fingerprints or DNA from anyone else, which suggests that the person knew the house well.
James Krauseneck’s Role and Sara’s Childhood
James told police he left for work around 6:30 a.m. that day, returning to find the horrific scene. The autopsy estimated Cathy’s time of death between 4:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m., placing James at home during the critical window. At first, he was helpful and gave statements, but he quickly hired a lawyer and moved to Michigan with Sara to live with his parents, which raised suspicions. He prohibited the police from speaking with Sara any further due to her young age and the significant trauma she had experienced.
Sara grew up in her father’s care, moving with him to Washington and later Arizona. James remarried multiple times, and Sara developed a close bond with his fourth wife, Sharon, whom he married in 1999. In a 1991 statement, James said Sara was coping with her mother’s loss in her own way, suggesting she might have understood what happened to Cathy. Despite the tragedy, Sara and James maintained a strong relationship, and she got along well with his subsequent partners.
Sara’s Support During James Krauseneck’s Arrest and Trial
The case went cold for decades due to a lack of direct evidence, as DNA technology wasn’t available in 1982. In 2015, Monroe County District Attorney Sandra Doorley reopened the investigation with FBI support. A revised time-of-death estimate by forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden (3:30 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.) strengthened the case against James. In November 2019, he was indicted for second-degree murder based on circumstantial evidence, including the staged crime scene. James surrendered to authorities and pleaded not guilty.
Sara, who is now in her 40s and known as Sara Ann Young, stood by her father. She went to every court hearing and always told Brighton police detectives that she thought he was innocent. On September 6, 2022, the trial started in Rochester, New York. Prosecutors said that the burglary was fake and that the time of death pointed to James. The defence pointed out that there was no direct evidence and brought up a confession from convicted felon Edward Laraby in 2012—which was later ruled out because his story was not accurate.
After 10 hours of deliberation, the jury found James guilty of second-degree murder on September 26, 2022. Sara gave a moving victim impact statement before he was sentenced to 25 years to life on November 7. She talked about how kind her father was when she thought about Cathy, and she said how sad she was to have lost both of her parents, one to murder and the other to prison. She talked about feeling like a failure, which showed how much the case affected her emotionally.
Sara’s Life After the Tragedy
Sadly, James passed away in prison from esophageal cancer on May 5, 2023, just six months after he was sentenced. Because he died before his appeal could be heard, New York law says that his conviction was dropped. This is called abatement ab initio. Sharon Krauseneck, who stood by James during the trial, kept saying he was innocent. In June 2023 she said she thought the conviction was unfair. Sara and Sharon worked together to clear her father’s name after he died.
Sara has since chosen to live a private life, and it is said that she now goes by the name Sara Ann Young and lives outside of the United States. She is now in her mid-40s and stays out of the public eye. Not much is known about where she is or what she is doing. She must have deep emotional scars from losing her mother at a young age and from her father’s conviction and subsequent death. Interviews with Cathy Schlosser’s sister Annet and DA Sandra Doorley in both Dateline and 48 Hours show how Sara’s life has changed since then.
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