The nightmare is over.
“Brooklyn Butcher” Levi Aron who lured a lost boy into his sick lair last year before murdering the child and chopping up his body, pleaded guilty today in a deal that spared the victim’s family the heartache of an emotional trial.
Aron told a Brooklyn judge that he killed 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky after abducting him and panicking amid an all-out search for the boy who missed a turn on his walk home from day camp.
Judge Neil Firetog asked Aron a series of questions, drawing out the gruesome details of the shocking heartless murder.
With clipped, whispered answers, the bearded Aron, wearing an orange jumpsuit and a yarmulke, with his hands cuffed behind his back, admitted that he kidnapped the boy, tied him up, and smothered him until he died.
The judge and Aron spoke to each other during the proceeding. Aron said Leiby tried to fight back as he killed him. Then the judge asked Aron what he did next:
“I got rid of the body,” Aron said.
“How did you get rid of the body,” the judge asked.
“I put it in a suitcase. “
“In order to put the body in a suitcase, did you have to cut up the body?”
“Yes.”
“Did you get a knife?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“The kitchen.”
“What did you do with the suitcase?
“I took it to a dumpster.”
Under the deal, Aron will get 25 years in jail on the murder charge and an additional 15 years for kidnapping.
Even though Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes vowed after Aron’s arrest that there would be no plea bargain, his office relented at the request of Leiby’s parents, who wanted to avoid a lengthy and painful trial where they would have had to revisit the gruesome details.
Nachman and Esther Kletzky stayed away from today’s hearing, but did issue a statement.
The parents did issue a statement.
“There is no way one can comprehend or understand the pain of losing a child,” Nachman Kletzky said. Esther and I faced this unspeakable tragedy last year when out little boy Leiby was ruthlessly taken from us.”
“Today my family has finally received some partial closure on one aspect of this nightmare. Closure does not mean we don’t continue to feel the pain. A day does not pass without our thinking of Leiby — but today we close the door on this one aspect of our tragedy and seek to remember only the gifts that God has bestowed, including the nine years Leiby was with us.”
Family representative Dov Hikind also spoke following the guilty plea.
“Nachman and Esther are remarkable individuals whose strength and faith remain undiminished, despite their profound loss,” the state Assemblyman said.
“While what happened to Leiby was certainly the worst tragedy that’s ever happened to us, the unity we saw here—and from people everywhere on behalf of this child—was almost beyond belief. Leiby was everyone’s child; everyone felt this pain and wanted to help. Today, we all remain a little more united.”
jsaul@nypost.com