Levi Aron indicted in kidnapping, killing and dismemberment of Brooklyn boy, Leiby Kletzky
(CBS/WCBS/AP) NEW YORK - Levi Aron has been indicted on murder and kidnapping charges in the killing and dismemberment of 8-year-old Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky, who was abducted last week.
A grand jury on Wednesday indicted the 35-year-old on a total of eight counts. He had previously pleaded not guilty after he was arrested.
Leiby's death was ruled a homicide on Wednesday after the autopsy determined that his death was caused by intoxication from the combined effects of cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant; quetiapine, an antipsychotic; and the pain medications hydrocodone and acetaminophen, followed by smothering.
Prosecutors say Aron lured Leiby to his home last week after the little boy got lost while walking home from an Orthodox Jewish day camp. According to CBS station WCBS, video cameras captured the fateful encounter between the two on a Brooklyn street, while Leiby's mother waited anxiously just a few blocks away.
Detectives later found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in the man's freezer, as well as a cutting board and three bloody carving knives, the station reported.
Police and prosecutors said Aron, a clerk at a hardware supply store, has confessed to suffocating the boy with a bath towel. Aron has written a confession which ended with "I'm sorry for the hurt that I caused," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told WCBS.
"It defies all logic and I think that's what's been so terribly disturbing about this case," Kelly said. "There's absolutely no reason. There's nothing more innocent than an 8-year-old child and to be killed in this manner is just heart breaking."
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said they were still investigating whether there were any other incidents in Aron's past.