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Neighbors Say Child Murder Suspect Tried To Kidnap Before

Ben Yakas

Published Jul 16, 2011

Modified Jul 16, 2011

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Ben Yakas

Published Jul 16, 2011

Modified Jul 16, 2011

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Neighbors have started making claims that Levi Aron, the man who pled not guilty to charges of first-degree murder this week after he previously confessed to killing and dismembering an 8-year-old Hasidic boy, had an obsession with young boys, and had tried to kidnap them before. Zisa Berkowitz told the Post that Aron had tried to kidnap her young son off their block on East Second Street in the last two years, but she scared him off by screaming. And another source told The Daily that Aron had stalked an 11-year-old in Borough Park the week before he is accused of killing Leiby Kletzky. "He kept turning around, feeling suspicious, and kept noticing the car was there, so he broke into a run and quickly went home to tell his parents," the source said.

A Facebook “friend” also told The Daily that Aron had written on the site that “he likes Brooklyn more than Tennessee because there are more boys here.” A former neighbor who grew up across the street told the Post that the "oddball...used to give kids rides in cars." After pleading not guilty to charges on Thursday, Aron is currently being held for a psychiatric exam, and put on suicide watch. His lawyer has planted the seeds for an insanity defense, telling the judge: "He hears voices and suffers from hallucinations."

And when it comes to Aron's long, strange written confession, investigators are so confused by the details, it might work. Experts can't make sense of his claims that he invited Leiby to a wedding, and only killed him when he "panicked" after seeing how much attention the missing boy had garnered. "It's highly illogical and makes no sense. If you realize there's a big search out there, okay you might be upset or frightened because you've got the kid, but you let the kid loose on the street," said Lawrence Koblinsky, a professor of forensic science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He added that Aron's lack of a violent criminal history, and indications that Leiby wasn't sexually molested, make things even more perplexing, and the crime might "boil down to a psychotic episode. If the guy is psychotic, that would explain a lot of things. Then, there's no logic to what they do."

But retired NYPD homicide detective Joseph Pollini believes an insanity claim would not succeed: "For him to make such statements such as he panicked, that he was aware they were looking for him, that would take away his ability to claim insanity. For someone to claim insanity, they would have needed not to know what was going on. They'd [have to] be in a different world."

Another person who doesn't buy that Aron is insane is his first ex-wife Diana Diunov, who is currently in jail in Connecticut for wire fraud. Diunov told the Post that Aron had been kind to her and her 10-year-old during their brief marriage, but he had always felt lonely, ostracized and rejected by his own Jewish community: "because he was slow, low-income," he was not considered a "prospective future son-in-law." But she sounds enraged at the prospect of him copping an insanity plea: "So far, they are hammering him and saying that he may be a child molester, may be a loner, may be this, may be that. Nobody said that he is troubled man with the sociopathic behavior, but he is -- and it is doesn't fall in the category of 'not guilty by reason of insanity.' He is sane."

She has her own bizarre theory as to why Aron committed the murder, dismembering the young boy then dumping parts of his body two miles away from his Kensington home: he wanted to be famous. "He always believed that he can become a famous singer one day. That he can write songs...For him, the meeting of this little poor boy was a chance to shine into media and make himself known. He probably believes that he can get off by work of lawyers and God knows who else."

Tagged

borough park

brooklyn

dismemberment

kidnap

leiby kletzky

levi aron

murder

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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