A New York man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the dismembered remains of an 8-year-old boy were found in his apartment.
Leibby Kletzky was declared missing when he failed to meet his family on Monday after his walk home from day camp in Brooklyn's Borough Park neighborhood.
Police say they have surveillance tapes showing the boy encountering 35-year-old Levi Aron outside a dentist's office.
A search by police and members of the neighborhood's tightly knit Orthodox Jewish community led authorities to the suspect's apartment early yesterday.
Detectives found what were believed to be the boy's remains in Mr Aron’s refrigerator
The boy seemed to have lost his way and had asked Mr Aron, a stranger he met on the street, for directions, police said.
"He was trying to find his way apparently," New York police department commissioner Ray Kelly said, adding: "This is every parent's nightmare. That's what makes this so horrific."
Confronted by police in his apartment, Mr Aron pointed to his kitchen, where blood was visible on the handles of the freezer, commissioner Kelly said. Inside was a bloodied cutting board, three knives and body parts believed to be the boy's.
Mr Aron led police to a rubbish container about 4km away, where more remains were found, wrapped in a plastic rubbish bag. Mr Aron was subsequently arrested on a charge of second-degree murder.
"It was just happenstance and a terrible fate for this young boy."
The boy apparently was alive until Mr Aron saw the activity and extent of the search conducted by the police and the community, Mr Kelly said.
"He panicked and that's why he killed the boy," Mr Kelly claimed, citing statements from the suspect. He said the search had been a "full-court press" by police, members of the community and a neighborhood patrol.
The boy's parents had agreed to let him walk by himself seven blocks from camp to a meeting point halfway home, commissioner Kelly said. They walked the route with him last Friday, he said. "Parents have to make certain judgments. There's no easy answer. It's just a terrible, terrible tragedy."
Mr Aron did not have a criminal record and works as a clerk at a maintenance supply company in Brooklyn, he said
Asked if the suspect was a member of the same religious community as the victim, commissioner Kelly said: "He had all of the trappings of being an Orthodox Jew."
The suspect lives in the attic apartment of a three-story house owned by his family.
Reuters