GROTON, Mass. (NEWS CENTER) — Newly released documents reveal a disturbing timeline of events leading up the day 22-year-old Orion Krause is accused of fatally beating his mother, grandparents and their caretaker with a baseball bat.
According to newly released documents Krause told a former teacher "I think I have to kill me mom" before being charged with four counts of murder in the September 8 deaths.
Documents from the Knox County Communication Center say Krause’s mother, Elizabeth Krause, called 911 in the summer of 2016.
While much of the phone call is redacted, the documents state that Krause's parents said he "came home not acting like himself" and that he was "screaming religious rants".
Elizabeth Krause told first responders that he had "joined some sort of cult" and she was not sure about drug usage or what he had done the previous night. How that incident was resolved is not made clear.
According to the 911 transcription, Krause's mother preferred that a police officer was not sent to their house and said her son "needed gentleness, he doesn't need any force....this has got to be a loving experience".
Fast forward to September 7, 2017, the day before the gruesome killings, where another phone call was made to Rockport Police about Krause's well-being by Elizabeth Krause.
This time she told first responders she was worried because Krause was missing when she came home from work and he had taken off in her car. She said she was concerned because "he has been troubled." Elizabeth Krause told first responders she doesn't believe drugs or alcohol were involved but mentions that she "checked a couple places, including the hospital lot to see if he might have checked himself into the PARC unit."
The PARC program is a treatment center in Rockport that focuses primarily on substance abuse services.
Elizabeth Krause also told police her son "suddenly had the urge to go to Chicago" but she and her husband were not able to drop everything to go with him. She asked police to keep an eye out for the car's license plate number so she would know if he was headed to Chicago or a college friend's home in Ohio.
Information regarding whether the 22-year-old had been suicidal has been redacted from the conversation, but his mother told police she had "told him that the world wants him alive, and he did promise he wouldn't do it."
According to the documents, the next day on Sept. 8, a woman called police around 5 p.m. to report a very disturbing call her husband had received from Krause, a former student of his at Oberlin College. The woman says Krause did not sound like himself and he told her husband, Jamey Haddad, that he had "done something bad." Krause went on to tell Haddad "I think I have to kill my mom."
According to the officer report, police immediately tried to contact Krause's family to make them aware of the situation, however, no one was home.
Police were able to get in touch with Krause's twin brother, Cooper Krause, who said his parents and brother were visiting their grandparents in Massachusetts. After multiple attempts to reach the Krause family were unsuccessful, Rockport Police contacted the Groton Massachusetts Police Department.
The Rockport officer was told his call was the fifth one to Groton Police about Orion Krause. Shortly after Rockport police were told Groton Police had found the bodies of the four people.
Krause has pleaded not guilty of the four killings and is currently being held in the Bridgewater State Hospital in Massachusetts.
Krause was found competent to stand trial last week and is due in court again November 22, 2017.