Being in New York and friends with many Jews in the tri-state area, I feel like this news is pervasive in the Jewish world. However, my dad told me that it didn’t even make the national news. This shocks me. (The combination of fear-mongering, gruesome details, and the ability to gawk at chassidic Jews should have made this top-billed national news.) Just in case you readers in Lurker Land haven’t heard, I wanted to share so that you can join the Jewish people in davening for the Kletzky family.
In short: On Monday, 8 year old boy, Leiby Kletzy, (turning 9 this month) was walking home from day camp for the first time, a distance of 6-7 blocks. He missed his turn and became lost. He appears to have asked a orthodox Jewish man for directions. This man took him home. When Leiby didn’t arrive at his doctor’s appointment, literally hundreds of people (maybe more) came to Brooklyn to search for Leiby. The man claims that he panicked when so many people began searching, so he suffocated Leiby and dismembered the body. He then went to work, where his boss claims he acted normally. He confessed to the police and told them where to locate Leiby’s remains. The funeral was held last night with thousands in attendance. He has been charged with second degree murder.
As my own rant, it blows my mind that the prosecutor chose only second degree murder. That flies in the face of both the facts and the law, as I understand it.
I chose one of the more “mild” news stories: Thousands Mourn Boy Killed in Brooklyn. If you want the gruesome details, there are many other news stories that include them.
In a different article, I saw a different quote from Leiby’s dad at the lavaya (funeral). I found it very touching: “Pray for your sisters and the rest of your family, including the entire Jewish nation, which is now part of our family.”
Baruch Hashem that there are so many people caring for the family and the kiddush Hashem of this whole community.
I've seen the story on various non-Jewish places on the internet and my friend living in Mormon-ville (Utah) heard about it too. So, I do think it's gone somewhat national.
It made CNN by last night, after the body had been discovered, and his funeral was on the front page of the NYT yesterday, but during the initial search, the news was largely limited to the frum internet.
Yes, it's definitely gone national. Wrong info.
At the time I wrote this (early Wednesday evening, almost 12 hours after the announcements), it hadn't.