Leiby Kletzky Killer Gets 40 Years
The murderer of 8-year-old Orthodox Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky has been sentenced to 40 years to life in prison, the AP reported today.
The sentencing comes weeks after Levi Aron, 36, pleaded guilty to the July 2011 killing.
“G-d willing, the sentencing of Levi Aron today will finally remove the spotlight from this tragedy and allow the Kletzys to raise their children in peace,” said New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind in a statement. Hikind represents the Orthodox Brooklyn neighborhood of Boro Park, where Kletzky lived and was abducted.
In interviews in early August, residents of Boro Park told the Forward that the bloody incident still haunted them.
“The kids, I think, have basically forgotten,” said one 28-year-old neighborhood woman who would only give her name as Sara,“ No one else has.”
Leiby Kletzky was walking home alone from camp for the first time when Aron snatched him off a street near his home in July 2011. The boy’s body parts were later found in a Dumpster and in Aron’s freezer.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.