Montco man, 80, charged with killing wife, 75

A diminutive 80-year-old man who had accused his 75-year-old wife of having an affair called police and admitted killing her after she had called him names, Montgomery County officials said today.

Rudi Adolph Koos was charged with murder in the strangulation death of his wife, Waltraud, in their apartment on the 200 block of West Broad Street in Souderton, police said.

Rudi Koos, who is 5-foot-3 and 170 pounds, was arraigned this afternoon before Magisterial District Justice Kenneth E. Deatelhauser in Souderton.

County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman's office said Koos called 911 at 2:03 this morning to report the crime.

"I killed my wife . . . yesterday evening . . . 9:00 o'clock or so . . . she's in the kitchen . . . I killed her . . . with my hands . . . she's dead," Koos said, according to a statement from the prosecutor's office.

Police went to Koos' apartment and found the woman dead on the kitchen floor.

"Mr. Koos said he got home around 9 p.m. [yesterday] and that his wife was 'making fun of' him so he 'pushed her,' " the statement said. "Mr. Koos said his wife 'scratched him in the face.' "

He later told detectives he was in the kitchen watching television when his wife entered and started laughing at him.

The statement continued: "Koos said she began calling him names as he recently accused her of having an extramarital affair. Koos said he then pushed Waltraud and she scratched his face. Koos said he then 'lost it' and pushed Waltraud onto the kitchen floor. Koos said he then choked Waltraud until she 'didn't move anymore' Koos said he then placed a blanket over her body."

At the arraignment, Koos had two deep scratches on his left cheek.

An autopsy determined Waltraud Koos was strangled, and her husband was charged with her murder. He was being held without bail.

Koos was a member of the German Army during World War II, he told detectives, and worked as a police officer in East Berlin after the war. The couple immigrated from East Germany in 1957, and lived ever since in the W. Broad Street apartment.

The couple had no children, Ferman said.