Craig Austin Lang, 35, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms after a federal conviction for the April 2018 murders of Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo Jr. and Deana Lorenzo during a robbery prosecutors say aimed to fund travel to Venezuela to fight Nicolás Maduro’s government. The victims were ambushed after traveling to meet a seller from an Armslist listing and were carrying $3,000. Lang, extradited from Ukraine, was convicted in September on federal charges including robbery and conspiring to kill persons abroad; his co‑defendant, Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, was sentenced to two life terms in 2024.
Ex-U.S. Soldier Sentenced To Two Consecutive Life Terms For 2018 Double Murder To Fund Plans To Fight In Venezuela
Craig Austin Lang, an ex-US soldier, was extradited from Ukraine to the U.S. to face multiple federal indictments, including murder, dating back to 2019.
A former U.S. soldier, Craig Austin Lang, 35, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms after a federal jury convicted him of killing a Florida couple in a robbery prosecutors say was intended to bankroll travel to Venezuela to join an anti‑government paramilitary effort, the Justice Department announced.
Lang was convicted in September on federal counts including robbery and a conspiracy to kill persons in a foreign country. He was extradited to the United States from Ukraine, where he had volunteered to fight against Russian-backed forces, before facing charges related to the April 2018 killings.
Craig Austin Lang, left, an ex-US soldier, is accused of killing Deana Lorenzo, right, and her husband in a double homicide in 2019 before he allegedly fled the country to fight as a mercenary in foreign countries.
"Lang’s alleged conduct is shocking in its scope and its callous disregard for human life," Nicole Argentieri, principal deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a prior statement.
Federal prosecutors say Lang and another former soldier, Alex Jared Zwiefelhofer, ambushed Serafin "Danny" Lorenzo Jr. and Deana Lorenzo in a parking lot in Estero after the couple traveled from Brooksville to meet what they believed was a seller responding to a firearms listing on the online marketplace Armslist. The victims arrived carrying $3,000 in cash and were shot multiple times, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors contend the robbery was staged to raise funds so Lang and Zwiefelhofer could travel to Venezuela and join a paramilitary group planning to oppose the government of Nicolás Maduro. Zwiefelhofer was convicted earlier and received two consecutive life sentences in 2024 for his role in the killings.
Craig Austin Lang, an ex-U.S. soldier, faces three federal indictments in three states dating back to 2019 after fighting extradition from Ukraine for years, the Department of Justice said.
Lang was dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army in 2014. Reporting in The Washington Post indicates that he later joined the far‑right Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector in 2016 and volunteered to fight in Ukraine. Court filings and testimony described both men as having served in Ukraine and discussed traveling to other conflict zones.
The sentence reflects federal authorities' view of the premeditated and violent nature of the crime, as well as its alleged international dimension. Family members of the victims and prosecutors said the killings were planned to obtain money and weapons for travel to Venezuela.
Case Status: Lang received two consecutive life terms; Zwiefelhofer previously sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 2024.
