Levi Aron Pleads Guilty To Fatal Kidnapping Of Brooklyn Boy


A Brooklyn man pleaded guilty Thursday afternoon to abducting and murdering 8-year-old Leiby Kletzy, agreeing to a plea deal in exchange for a sentence of 40 years to life in prison.

In a largely empty proceeding in a ceremonial courtroom at the State Supreme Courthouse in Brooklyn, Levi Aron, 36 years old, admitted to the crime.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, yarmulke and with his hands cuffed behind his back, Aron gave faint answers that at times had to be repeated, explaining how he abducted Leiby, killed him, chopped up his body and “took it to a dumpster.”

“I put it in the suitcase,” he said of the boy’s body.

The plea before Judge Neil Firetog brings an end to a case that shocked a tight-knit orthodox Jewish community in which both Aron and Leiby were members, but unknown to each other. He will be sentenced at a later date.

The boy’s parents — who were not at Thursday’s proceedings –  and prosecutors had sought to avoid a trial in hopes of not having to relive the horrific events that led to Leiby’s body being dismembered. After the plea, State Sen. Dov Hikind read a strongly worded statement on that family’s behalf, in which they said they have “finally received some partial closure.”

Aron, who defense attorneys claimed is mentally disturbed, was found fit to stand trial earlier this year, setting up the possibility of a plea deal.

News leaked last week that the two sides had reached a tentative deal in which Aron would plead guilty and received a sentence of 40 years to life in prison.

On Thursday, Aron admitted to abducting Leiby off the street in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn on July 11, 2011, as the boy was walking home from a summer camp not far from his home, officials have said.

Aron said he first drove Leiby to a relative’s wedding in upstate Monsey, N.Y., where the child stayed in a car outside.

In a written confession, Aron has told police he then held Leiby captive in his cramped attic apartment for the night and became unnerved when he saw there was an extensive search under way for the missing boy.

Aron has told police that he and the child slept in separate rooms of his home in the Kensington section of Brooklyn. After returning home from work at a hardware store the next day, Aron told authorities he fed the boy a tuna fish sandwich before giving him a cocktail of muscle relaxants and pain killers. Police say he then smothered Leiby with a towel and dismembered him.

Police were led to Aron through surveillance footage showing Leiby getting into his car. When officers arrived at his apartment, they found a cutting board and bloody carving knives in his refrigerator.

Some of the boy’s remains were found in the freezer, and  Aron led detectives to the rest, which were found wrapped in a black plastic garbage bag, placed inside a red suitcase and dropped in a Dumpster in Sunset Park, about two miles from Aron’s apartment.

The case has drawn international attention. Local leaders say that in the year since Leiby’s death, the Kletzky family has received more than 200,000 letters of condolence from around the world.

When Aron was charged, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes had vowed a swift end to the case. Attorney for Aron had weighed bringing an insanity defense.



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