By all rights, Leiby Kletzky would still be alive if Tzvi Aron’s brother, Levi, had not kidnapped and killed an 8-year-old boy walking home from a religious day camp. Fox News reported that It was a mere seven-block walk and the little boy’s first time walking home alone on his way to meet his mother. One wrong turn is all it took, along with a false promise from Levi Aron who ran into the child on the street and who ended the little boy’s life in 2011. Aron promised Leiby that he’d take him home.
That promise went unfulfilled. Instead, Aron took the boy to upstate New York approximately 40 miles from his home.
He went to a wedding, and still, did not return Leiby to his home. Following the wedding, he took Leiby to his (Aron’s) home. The next day, Aron went to work. He still did not return Leiby. Instead, he kept the child at his home overnight.
Search and discovery of murdered child
In Borough Park, a section of Brooklyn, a massive search for Leiby was underway in the large community of Orthodox Jews, the largest, in fact, aside from Israel. Volunteers numbered thousands from the Hasidic community who, convened and combed the streets looking for Leiby.
Flyers were plastered on lampposts with Leiby’s photo. Aron saw those flyers, got “spooked” went home and suffocated the 8-year-old child, police stated.
Leiby was also drugged, according to a toxicology report.
The child’s severed feet, found by detectives, were in a freezer wrapped in plastic. Officers also discovered three bloody carving knives and a cutting board in the refrigerator at Aron’s home, which was roughly two miles from where Leiby lived. The rest of the little boy’s body, which was dismembered, was found about a mile from his home.
Levi Aron is serving 40 years, to life, in prison. He pleaded guilty July 2011 to both kidnapping and killing Leiby.
Tzvi found dead in home where Leiby was murdered
Aron’s family stayed in the Brooklyn home where Leiby was murdered. The family’s home is divided into separate apartments. Tzvi Aron lived in an apartment in the basement.
He was last seen alive on Tuesday.
On Friday, detectives found him dead after his family called the police to the home. Aron was stuffed in a closet in his apartment. His hands were bound with tape and his body was wrapped in a blanket. Law enforcement is investigating his death as a homicide.
Within the last month, Aron was threatened, according to police. Following the murder of Leiby, the Aron family received death threats. It is not yet known why Aron was threatened or how he was killed. The house was surrounded by crime scene tape on Friday.
Kathleen Henderson, a neighbor, said it was “spooky.” According to her, everyone kept their eyes on Aron’s house as no one trusted the family after Leiby was killed by Levi Aron.
