A New York man who killed his son to be able to collect benefits payouts has been sentenced to prison.
A man named Karl Karlsen, who, in November, pled guilty to a charge of second degree murder of his son in order to commit life insurance fraud, has now been sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
The man was able to collect the payout of $700,000 on his son’s policies, as he was the beneficiary.
Karlsen, 53 years old, admitted to shifting a truck off a truck under which his son, Levi Karlsen, was working in 2008. Seventeen days before the event, the father had purchased the massive policy on his son so that he would be able to commit this life insurance fraud. That said, last year, Karl was charged with murder following a lengthy investigation.
The suspicion of life insurance fraud and murder initially developed among relatives of the man and his son.
These relatives requested the investigation, which then proceeded to look into the death of the son on the property at Finger Lakes in Romulus, New York. Until then, the death had been ruled to be an accident. However, after that time, Karl finally admitted that he had jumped up into the cab of the truck, which caused it to drop on his son. He then went to attend an event with his wife while his son was left to die.
The death of Christina Karlsen, Karl’s former wife, is now also being reviewed. This additional investigation is being conducted at the suggestion of officials in Seneca county to investigators in Calaveras County, California. The reason is that the late Mrs. Karlsen had died in a fire that occurred only three weeks after he had purchased a life insurance policy worth $200,000. According to the Office of the Calaveras County District Attorney, that case remains under investigation.
When Seneca County Court Judge Dennis Bender who heard the the case, sentenced Karlsen following this life insurance fraud involving murder, it was reported that he told him “You belong in prison and I suggest you belong there until you die.”