Levi Aron's handwritten confession in Leiby Kletzy murder released
(CBS/WCBS/AP) NEW YORK - Levi Aron, the man accused in the kidnapping and dismemberment of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, told detectives Leiby put up a struggle and after the murder he began hearing voices in his head. The voices told Aron "to take his own life for what he did," according to court papers made public Thursday.
Police say Aron made the remarks last month around the time he directed them to a trash bin where he dumped a red suitcase containing body parts. As interrogations wore on, Aron told them, "I'm famous," the papers say.Aron, 35, was also asked if he knew anything about past sex crimes against children. According to reports, he recalled how a man groped him on a subway train when he was a teenager.
"But I never did that to a child because I don't swing that way," he said.
The alleged statements, including a handwritten confession, were turned over to the defense on Thursday at an arraignment where Aron pleaded not guilty.
In the confession Aron says he brought him into his house with the intentions of taking him back to his home the next day, but when he saw the missing flyers he panicked. Aron then went on to give grisly details of the alleged murder of the young boy. He gave gruesome details of the heinous act.
"That is when approximately I went for a towel to smother him -- in the side room. He fought back a little bit until eventually he stopped breathing. Afterwards I panicked because I didn't know what to do with the body," Aron said.
At his arraignment psychiatrists determined that he is mentally competent to stand trial and that he understands the charges against him, but his defense team said it may still go with an insanity plea, reports CBS station WCBS.
"There will be evaluations by our psychiatric experts to determine whether a psychiatric defense is viable and whether or not we have evidence to present it at trial," said Aron's defense attorney, Jennifer McCann outside the courtroom on Thursday.
Aron had been undergoing psychiatric evaluations at Bellevue Hospital since his arrest. Aron's lawyers said he was "hearing voices" and needed to listen to music to drown them out.
Prosecutors said Aron kidnapped Leiby from his neighborhood in Borough Park and gave him a toxic mix of prescription and over-the-counter drugs before smothering him. Aron then allegedly butchered the 8-year-old's body, hiding part of it in his freezer.
Investigators pulled dozens of bags of evidence out of Aron's home in Kensington, Brooklyn. Some of the bags, according to WCBS, contained children's clothing, a pillow, spoon and cup.
According to his lawyers, Aron's court case could take at least a year.