A killer dad who murdered his son and wife 17 years apart for insurance money likened their deaths to 'bad luck' before being caught.
Karl Holger Karlsen, 59, was found guilty on Monday of murdering his wife, Christina, in an arson attack in 1991 - and could face a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Karlsen was convicted while already serving 15 years to life for the murder of his son, Levi, in 2008.
He inherited more than $900,000 (£701,945) from both his wife and son's insurance policies.
Christina's mother, Arlene Meltzer, said on Tuesday: "I just knew that he had something to do with it. It is something a mother always carries in their heart."
In an interview with NBC's Dateline before his conviction, murderer Karlsen likened the deaths to other instances of 'bad luck' in his life and compared it to things such as losing a horse and having a barn burnt down.
Reporter Andrea Canning asks Karlsen in the episode: "Bad luck that they died?"
Karlsen replied: "What would you call it? I've had many other things in my life that...I've had horses died, I've had a barn fire."
Ms Canning then questioned him whether he considered himself 'a victim of bad luck', and Karlsen said: "If I told you everything, you wouldn't believe what's happened to me."
Court documents showed that Karlsen moved back to New York and bought a house with his life's insurance money.
In 2008, his 23-year-old son Levi bought a $700,000 life insurance policy and named his father the sole beneficiary of his policy in the event of his death.
Hours after signing the paperwork, Levi's body was found under a truck in the garage by Karlsen's second wife, Cindy, according to the New York Times.
Authorities deemed Levi's death as an accident at the time but in 2011, Cindy realised Karlsen had invested money from his son's policy into a $1.2million life insurance policy for her and alerted the authorities.
Karlsen admitted to Cindy that he had deliberately caused the truck to fall on his son and the following year, he was charged with murder.
He pleaded guilty in 2013 in exchange for 15 years to life in prison.
Since then, California police reopened the investigation into his first wife's death and eventually brought formal charges against him.
Ms Meltzer said: "For 30 years we stood and waited - right now I am just taking quiet time to help me get strong.
"I just kept my prayers going because I knew that he was involved, but I just had to stand by and believe that God was going to take care of it.
"It has finally come to an end."
