Rudi Adolph Koos, 80, Strangles his Wife, Waltraud Koos, 75, to Death in Jealous Rage

Waltraud Koos, strangled to death by husband, Rudi Adolph Koos. He thought she was having an affair.

It seems that we have a few senior citizens gone rogue. First there was Marianne Bordt, a grandmother who drowned her five-year-old grandson, Camden Hiers, because she didn't want him to grow up in home in which the parents are divorced, to this latest case in Souderton, Pennsylvania. Rudi Koos, 80, according to Philly.com, had long suspected his wife of 60 years of infidelity and his doubts got the better of him and he committed an unthinkable act early Wednesday. He reportedly called police to inform them that he had just killed his 75-year old wife in their kitchen. He has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held without bail. Koos, a German national like Mrs. Bordt, moved to the United States in 1957. Authorities said after years of suspicion, Mr. Koos' jealousy erupted into violence, resulting in his wife's death.

Police said Koos, a retired bricklayer and machinist, had told them that at 9 p.m. Tuesday, he was watching television in the kitchen when his wife walked in and began laughing at him and calling him names because he had recently accused her of having an affair. He then pushed her, he told police, and she scratched his face.

He told police that he had "lost it" and pushed her onto the floor and choked her until she stopped moving. Then he folded her hands across her abdomen, put a pillow under her head, and covered her with a blue blanket, according to police.
Authorities could not explain what may have caused Koos, who served in the German Army as a teenager and suffered from polio, to allegedly snap, though they said his mistrust went back years. A few weeks ago, Waltraud Koos, known as Trudi, went for a walk and came back later than expected and with her hair mussed, fueling her husband's suspicions, authorities said. Source: Philly.com

It is a very sad commentary that yet another elderly person is looking at the prospect of spending the rest of their lives in prison. Like Mrs. Bordt, one has to wonder what really set this man off.

Photo credit: Rudi Adolph Koos, Philly.com