On Nov. 7, 2022, more than 40 years after his wife, Cathy, was found dead in her bed, an ax embedded in her skull, James Krauseneck was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.

Krauseneck, who turned 71 five days after sentencing, had remained uncharged and unprosecuted for decades after Cathy’s grisly slaying. He went on to marry three more times, to become vice president of a Fortune 500 company, to sail his yacht, to live in exclusive neighborhoods of Arizona and Mercer Island, WA, to amass a sizeable fortune.

He died in prison, of esophageal cancer on May 5, 2023, just six months into his sentence. Because of his pending appeal, his indictment and conviction will be set aside.

Longtime journalists Laurie Bennett and Nancy Monaghan are finishing a book about the killing. Bennett, a former reporter and city editor of the Rochester (NY) Times-Union, reporter for Gannett News Service and the Detroit News, and the first new media director of the Detroit Free Press, covered the case in the 1980s aand 1990s.

As the metro editor of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, Monaghan edited the original stories about the murder in 1982. She later was managing editor for news at USA Today and president & publisher of three Gannett newspapers.

The book doesn’t have a title yet, but we’ll let you know when we settle on one!