Leiby Kletzky Drugged With Muscle Relaxant, Antipsychotic, Pain Relievers
Autopsy results for Leiby Kletzky, the 8-year-old boy whose body was found in a refrigerator last week, revealed on Wednesday that the boy had been drugged and then smothered before being dismembered.
The New York City medical examiner found several traces of drugs in the boy’s body, including cyclobenzaprine, a muscle relaxant, quetiapine, an antipsychotic drug, Vicodin, and Tylenol, ruling the death a homicide, according to ABC.
The findings corresponded to the statements made by the boy’s accused killer, Levi Aron, who told police that he smothered Kletzky with a towel before he chopped up his body parts.
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Kletzky, who was part of the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, was reported missing on July 11 by his parents. The boy had begged his mother to give him permission to walk home alone, to which his mother agreed on the condition that she would meet him halfway.
However, when the 8-year-old took a wrong turn and got lost, he asked Aron, also a member of the Orthodox community, for help.
Aron then took Kletzky with him, first to a wedding that night, and then brought him back to his apartment where the boy fell asleep after watching television. The accused killer claimed they slept in separate rooms.
The next day, after going to work, he told police that he returned home and made Kletzky a tuna-fish sandwich.
But upon hearing about neighborhood searches for the boy, Aron panicked and smothered the boy with a towel and dismembered his body, which occurred on July 13, according to the medical examiner.
His body parts were found by police in Aron’s freezer as well as in a dumpster nearby.
Aron was taken into custody on July 13 and is being held without bail. His attorneys asked that he be kept on suicide watch at the jail, and asked for a mental evaluation because he was purportedly hearing voices.
The 35-year-old man was arraigned on July 14 in a New York court on charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping. His indictment is expected to occur on Wednesday evening.
He pleads not guilty and his attorneys will most likely present a case of mental instability.
Kletzky’s parents, Nachman and Esty, devastated over their loss, finished their traditional Jewish mourning period Wednesday morning, according to ABC. They also set up a fund that seeks to help families in crisis as well.
A special prayer service will be held Wednesday evening in memory of the boy at a synagogue in Borough Park, Brooklyn.
