Levi Aron had pleaded guilty this month to lesser charges in a deal that spared him a criminal trial and the possibility of life in prison without parole. When asked Wednesday if he wanted to speak at his sentencing hearing, the 37-year old whispered "no." He will be eligible for parole in 40 years.
Aron admitted he kidnapped and killed 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky after the boy approached him on a Brooklyn street and asked for directions on July 11, 2011. The boy was Hasidic, an ultra-Orthodox version of Judaism, and the killing shook the tight-knit community in Borough Park, a safe and somewhat insular neighborhood home to one of the world's largest communities of Orthodox Jews outside Israel. Aron, who lived nearby, was Orthodox but not Hasidic.
Leiby's family did not attend the sentencing hearing. A prosecutor read statement from his father, Nachman Kletzky, that said, "God did not abandon our son nor our family for one second."
Leiby got lost on his walk home from a religious day camp. It was the first time he was allowed to walk alone, and he was supposed to travel about seven blocks to meet his mother but missed his turn.
About 33 hours later, detectives found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in Aron's freezer. A cutting board and three bloody carving knives were found in the refrigerator. The rest of the boy's body was discovered in bags inside a red suitcase in a trash bin about a mile from Aron's apartment. His legs had been cut from his torso.
The medical examiner's office said Leiby had been drugged then suffocated.
Aron was taken into custody and an unnerving story unfolded about the hours he spent with the boy. Authorities said Aron promised to take Leiby home, but instead he brought the boy upstate to Monsey, N.Y. where he attended a wedding before bringing him back to his apartment. The two watched television before going to sleep. The following morning, Aron left for work at the hardware store, leaving Leiby alone nearly all day in the home.
Meanwhile, a massive search was conducted by his family and friends in the community. When Aron noticed fliers plastered on lampposts with the boy's photo, he says he panicked, went home and suffocated the boy and dismembered him.
Aron has said little during court appearances, often looking ahead with a vacant stare, or down at the ground. His attorneys had planned to mount a defense that he was not guilty by reason of mental defect, bolstered by a reported obtained by The Associated Press that said Aron had an adjustment disorder and a personality disorder with schizoid features. "His mood is neutral, practically blank," the psychologist wrote. "The only time he seems to show any emotional response is when he is asked difficult questions about the reason for his incarceration."
During his guilty plea two weeks ago, Aron spoke barely above a whisper. He expressed no remorse and only hinted at motive: At one point he told the judge he felt "panic" when he found out there was a frantic search on for the boy.
The judge asked him what he decided to do, and he responded simply, "Smother." He also answered yes when asked if he had bound and drugged Leiby.
Leiby's family has filed a lawsuit against Aron's father, who owned the building where his son lived when the boy was killed. They argue that the father should have known something unspeakable was happening under his roof and could have saved the boy if he tried.
