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Murder of Leiby Kletzky

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Leiby Kletzky (29 July 2002[1] – 12 July 2011[2]) was an American murder victim, an autistic boy aged eight. He was kidnapped on Monday, July 11, 2011, as he walked home from his school day camp in his Hasidic Jewish neighborhood of Brooklyn. His dismembered body parts were found in the Kensington apartment of confessed suspect Levi Aron, aged 35, and in a dumpster in another Brooklyn neighborhood on Wednesday morning, July 13. The kidnapping and murder of the eight-year-old boy shocked the insular Brooklyn Hasidic community, whose streets are considered relatively safe, and also because the suspect is an Orthodox Jew.[3]

Search for missing child

Leiby was the only son in a Hasidic Jewish family; he had four sisters.[4] His father was Nachman Kletzky.[5] According to the WPIX television channel, Leiby was autistic.[6] He was reported missing at about 6:00 p.m. Monday while walking home from a day camp held at his school, Yeshiva Boyan Tiferes Mordechai Shlomo.[7][4] Kletzky had begged his parents to let him walk home from the camp. It was the first time that his parents allowed him to walk alone; his mother waited for him at a predetermined point two blocks away. Leiby walked in the wrong direction upon leaving camp.[8][9]

Thousands of Orthodox Jewish volunteers joined in a block-by-block search for him, including Jews from the local community and from as far away as Queens, the Catskills, Monsey and Boston.[7] State Assemblyman Dov Hikind posted a $5,000 reward for information leading to the return of the child, which was eventually upped to $100,000 by members of the community.[9][4]

Meanwhile, police examined videos from surveillance cameras posted in stores and offices along Leiby's route. The videos showed that after leaving his school at 1205 44th Street, between 12th and 13th Avenues, at about 5:05 p.m., Leiby went walking on 15th Avenue in the direction of 44th Street. His parents were waiting to meet him at the corner of 13th Avenue and 50th Street. Other videos showed him a few blocks away at a hardware store, and then a few blocks further away in front of a dentist's office, where the suspect had gone in to pay a bill. New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said that the boy was lost and was apparently trying to find his way home when he encountered the suspect.[9] At one point, the videos showed the boy walking behind a bearded man on 45th Street and Dahill Road before possibly getting into his car.[10]

Discovery

With records provided by the dentist's office, the police identified the suspect's name and address around 2:00 a.m. Wednesday morning and went to his apartment in Kensington.[9][11] They arrived to an open door, and when they asked where the boy was, the suspect allegedly pointed to the kitchen, where the police found blood-soaked carving knives and body parts from the boy in the refrigerator.[11] The boy's severed feet were found in the freezer.[10] The suspect told police where to find the rest of the remains: in a red suitcase[3] thrown in a dumpster on 20th Street between Fourth and Fifth.[9] The suspect was taken into police custody at 2:40 a.m. Wednesday morning.[9] On Wednesday night, he was charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping.[12] In court on Thursday morning, he pleaded not guilty.[13]

Confession

According to a 450-word statement by the suspect in which he confessed to killing the boy, Leiby had asked Aron for directions and accepted a ride, saying he wanted to go to a bookstore but soon lost interest in that. Aron suggested that they drive together to a wedding in Monsey, New York. They returned to Aron's apartment around 11:20 p.m., watched TV, and went to sleep in different rooms. Aron said that he planned to return the boy to his family on Tuesday, but when he went outside Tuesday morning and saw the missing child posters, he panicked. He returned to the apartment and smothered the boy with a towel. Then, not knowing what to do with the body, he dismembered it and stuffed it into bags, which he placed in a suitcase and left in a dumpster in another neighborhood.[2][11] Afterwards Aron went to work as usual.[14]

In custody, Aron made statements to authorities later that he heard voices, presenting a schizophrenic-type illness and personality.[15]

There was no evidence that the victim had been sexually abused.[9] The suspect was unknown to the boy before meeting him on the street.[11] Child abductions by strangers are extremely rare in New York State, with none of the 20,000 children who went missing in 2010 having been taken by a stranger, according to state statistics.[16]

Funeral

Leiby's funeral, held on Wednesday in the parking lot of a Boro Park synagogue was attended by thousands of Orthodox Jews, many of whom traveled from throughout the Tri-State area to attend.[5] Attendance was estimated at 8,000 by Shomrim, a Jewish volunteer civilian patrol in the neighborhood,[7] and 10,000 by Arutz Sheva.[17]

Suspect profile

The alleged kidnapper and murderer, Levi Aron, grew up in Brooklyn. He lived in the attic apartment of his parents' three-family home on the corner of Avenue C and East 2nd Street in the Kensington neighborhood. He met a divorced mother of two online and married her in 2005, moving to Memphis where he worked as a security guard. They divorced a year later.[14]

He was described by his coworkers as quiet and socially awkward.[14] His lawyer stated that Aron "suffers from hallucinations" and "hears voices".[13]

Aron had no prior arrest record. He had been served with an Order of Protection in January 2007 and had received a fine for a seat belt violation and one speeding ticket. In Brooklyn, authorities cited a summons for public urination.[18]

References

  1. ^ "Missing Child Alert". New York Police Department. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  2. ^ a b "NYC boy spent hours with suspect before murder". CBS News. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  3. ^ a b Associated Press (13 July 2011). "8-year-old Brooklyn boy is killed and dismembered; Orthodox Jewish neighborhood is shocked". The Washington Post. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  4. ^ a b c Associated Press (13 July 2011). "Boy's remains found in refrigerator; New York man in custody". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  5. ^ a b Katz, Celeste (14 July 2011). "Thousands Mourn Brooklyn's Leiby Kletzky, 8". New York Daily News. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  6. ^ Ford, James (14 July 2011). "Leiby Kletzky: Body Parts Of Missing Brooklyn Boy Leiby Kletzky Found In Park Slope Dumpster; Was 'Brutally Murdered' - WPIX". WPIX. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Robbins, Liz (13 July 2011). "After Coming Together for a Frantic Search, a Community Is Left Reeling". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  8. ^ Reddi, Sumathi (14 July 2011). "Case Prompts Parents to Ask: How Old Is Old Enough?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Baker, Al; Robbins, Liz; Goldstein, Joseph (13 July 2011). "Missing Boy's Dismembered Body Found; Suspect Says He Panicked". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  10. ^ a b "Brooklyn, NY – NYPD: Man Implicated Self; No Relation To Family". Vosizneias. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  11. ^ a b c d "NYPD: Leiby Kletzky Had Gotten Lost & Asked Suspect For Help". Yeshiva World News. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 13 July 2011.
  12. ^ O'Connor, Anahad; Linderman, Juliet (13 July 2011). "Thousands Mourn Boy Killed in Brooklyn". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  13. ^ a b Meminger, Dean (15 July 2011). "Alleged Killer Of Brooklyn Boy To Undergo Psychiatric Evaluation". NY1. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  14. ^ a b c "Acquaintances: Suspect In Leiby Kletzky Murder Showed No Warning Signs". CBS New York. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
  15. ^ "CNN Special Report", Thursday July 14th, 2011.
  16. ^ Gardiner, Sean; Markey, Eileen; Grossman, Andrew (13 July 2011). "Missing Brooklyn Boy Found Dead: 8-Year-Old Was Victim of 'Totally Random' Abduction". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  17. ^ Sidman, Fern (14 July 2011). "10,000 Attend Funeral of 9-Yr-Old Leiby Kletzky in Boro Park". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
  18. ^ Ya'ar, Chana (14 July 2011). "Who is Levi Aron, Accused Killer of Leiby Kletzky?". Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
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