Suspect Levi Aron in Leiby Kletzky murder "hears voices," says lawyer
(CBS/WCBS/AP) NEW YORK - Levi Aron, the man accused of kidnapping, murdering and dismembering 8-year-old Brooklyn boy Leiby Kletzky, has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation after his lawyer told a judge that his client "hears voices."
"He has indicated to me that he hears voices and has had some hallucinations," said attorney Pierre Bazile.
The 35-year-old pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and kidnapping. Prosecutors say he lured Leiby Kletzky to his home Monday after the little boy got lost while walking home from an Orthodox Jewish day camp.
Video cameras captured the fateful encounter between the two on a Brooklyn street, while Leiby's mother waited anxiously just a few blocks away. Detectives later found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in the man's freezer, as well as a cutting board and three bloody carving knives.
At his arraignment Thursday afternoon, Aron appeared disheveled, confused and pale. According to CBS station WCBS, he was held without bail, placed on suicide watch in protective custody.
Police and prosecutors said Aron, a clerk at a hardware supply store, has confessed to suffocating the boy with a bath towel, but they continued to work on verifying his horrific and bizarre explanation for the boy's death.
Officials said the killing stands out because there's no clear motive. Aron has written a confession which ended with "I'm sorry for the hurt that I caused," Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told WCBS.
"It defies all logic and I think that's what's been so terribly disturbing about this case," Kelly said. "There's absolutely no reason. There's nothing more innocent than an 8-year-old child and to be killed in this manner is just heart breaking."