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July 14, 2011

Slain Brooklyn boy alive for hours after disappearance

Suspect Apparent confession details how child spent the night in alleged killer's home

Eight-year-old Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzy and the man arrested for his murder were together for more than 12 hours after the child went missing, according to a transcript of the suspect's alleged confession obtained by NBC New York.

Police and volunteers began looking for Kletzy late Monday afternoon after he disappeared while on his way to meet his mother in the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Borough Park after attending a day camp. It was the first time the boy had been allowed to leave the camp on his own, sources told NBC New York.

In the 450-word alleged confession, suspect Levi Aron claimed that Kletzy had asked him for a ride to a book shop, but then "changed his mind and wasn't sure where he wanted to go."

"So I asked if he wanted to go for the ride — (a) wedding in Monsey — since I didn't think I was going to stay for the whole thing since my back was hurting. He said OK," Aron said, according to the transcript.

"Due to traffic, I got back around 11:20 p.m. ... so I brought him to my house thinking I'd bring him to his house the next day," he added. "He watched TV then fell asleep in the front room. I went to the middle room to sleep."

'I panicked'

The next morning, Aron said, the child was still sleeping "when I was ready to leave."

"So I woke him and told him I'll bring him to his house ... when I saw the flyers I panicked and was afraid," he said. "I was still in panic ... and afraid to bring him home. That is when I went for a towel to smother him in the side room. He fought back a little bit."

Aron said he again panicked "because I didn't know what to do with the body." He then described in graphic detail how he dismembered the body.

"I understand this may be wrong and I'm sorry for the hurt that I have caused," he added.

Aron was charged with second-degree murder Wednesday, his 35th birthday.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the boy's parents had taken him through the route home the day before he went missing, and he was to walk the seven blocks from the camp to meet his mother.

He left at about 5:05 p.m. and got lost. He is shown on surveillance footage outside the dentist's office for about seven minutes, and then is seen getting into Aron's brown Honda sedan about 35 minutes later.

Kletzy's remains were found stuffed in a trash bin and the suspect's refrigerator, police said Wednesday.

Ex-wife 'in shock'
"I am in shock. I am not believing this," Debbie Kivel, Aron's ex-wife, told The New York Post. "He loved children. He loved kids. My kids are now 13 and 10, but when we were married they were younger — and he loved them."

The couple met online through a Jewish dating website. They married in March 2006, but parted later after a "clash of character," Kivel told The Post. They were divorced in 2008.

Aron lived in Tennessee for a time, working odd jobs as a security guard, clerk and butcher at a kosher deli at Kroger's, a supermarket, The Commercial Appeal in Memphis reported.

Kivel described Aron as a person who was shy until he got to know you and said he enjoyed music, karaoke and "American Idol."

His former father-in-law, Michael Kivel, described him differently.

"He was creepy person," Kivel, told the Post. "I gather he went to the Hebrew School, but wasn’t smart enough and dropped out."
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Aron lived alone in an apartment on Avenue C in a building occupied by his parents and other family members, detectives said.

The gruesome killing shocked the Hasidic community in Borough Park, in part because it is one of the safest sections of the city and because Aron is an Orthodox Jew.

Thousands of mourners and residents gathered in a Brooklyn neighborhood courtyard for Kletzky's funeral Wednesday night, The New York Times reported.

A volunteer with a security patrol group estimated that close to 8,000 people were in attendance, the Times reported.

Hasidism is a form of mystical ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Followers live in communities nearly closed off to modern society and wear traditional dress — for men, dark clothing that includes a long coat and a fedora-type hat. Men often have long beards and ear locks.

Most of the 165,000 members in the New York City the area live in neighborhoods in Brooklyn and are part of three different major sects. Hasidism traces its roots to 18th-century Eastern Europe.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/43750080/ns/today-today_news/t/slain-brooklyn-boy-alive-hours-after-disappearance-suspect-allegedly-says/

Posted by Nealus at July 14, 2011 08:23 AM

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