Levi Aron, the man who confessed to killing an 8-year-old Hasidic boy this week, was formally charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping today in court. His lawyer, Pierre Bazile, entered a plea of not guilty to the charges that Aron killed Leiby Kletzky, and told the Judge, "He hears voices and suffers from hallucinations." Aron, who some have described as "slow," was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation. According to the Post, prisoners sharing a holding cell with Aron could be heard screaming, "You f--king killer!" before he was brought into the court.
Aron's ex-wife also revealed today that Aron worked as a part-time butcher at a Kroger's supermarket in Memphis. Investigators say they will search his computer to see if he had viewed any sites showing how to dismember a body, but based on the way he dismembered the boy, "he knew what he was doing." Moreover, despite no prior record, many police sources are finding it hard to believe this is his first major crime: "You don't kidnap a kid for the first time, tie him up in your house, leave, go to work, then come back and kill him then," one police source told the News.
At a press conference this afternoon, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly released new heartbreaking details about Leiby's kidnapping: he said the boy had been tied up for hours before his death, and "based on marks on the defendant it appears that there was some sort of struggle," Kelly said. Because of the marks on Aron's arms and wrists, police believe that Leiby fought for his life as he was being smothered to death by the 35-year-old man. Police are still trying to collect more forensic evidence around Aron's home in Kensington, but they believe that the cause of death was a "result of suffocation."
Police are also still trying to determine whether Aron's claim in his written confession that he brought Leiby to a wedding in upstate Monsey before he killed him is true or not. To that end, detectives are reviewing videotape from the wedding reception and questioning many of the 600-plus guests to find out whether anyone saw Leiby there.
As it stands, Aron has denied sexually molesting Leiby, though he did admit to dismembering his body, all of which Kelly said unsettled him, and other seasoned investigators, even more: "In this business, you see a lot of violence...Here, it defies all logic, and I think that is what makes it so terribly disturbing. To be killed in this manner is just heartbreaking. It is baffling."
Update: In case you're interested, you can watch the raw video of Aron's arraignment today below.
