Relatives of little Leiby Kletzky have set up a memorial website in his honor with the hope of raising $1 million for needy kids.
Leiby Kletzky's family starts website in honor of slain boy, aims to raise $1 million for needy kids
Oren Yaniv, Rich Schapiro and John Lauinger • New York Daily News
Relatives of little Leiby Kletzky have set up a memorial website in his honor with the hope of raising $1 million for needy kids.
The site - which features pictures of the slain 8-year-old as a baby and toddler - quickly raised nearly $60,000 within the first hours after it went up Thursday.
"Leiby will never do all the acts of charity and kindness he would have done had he been granted more years to live," the site stated. "But Leiby's memory can and will live on through the Leiby Kletzky Memorial Fund established by his grieving parents and sisters."
The fund, which will be overseen by Leiby's parents Nachman and Esty, will help children who have lost their parents, critically ill kids and impoverished families struggling to feed and clothe their children.
The site - www.leibykletzkymemorialfund.com - was put up just a day after the man who confessed to kidnapping and killing Leiby was indicted on murder charges.
Sources say the alleged Brooklyn butcher, Levi Aron, gave the boy a deadly drug cocktail that may have been sprinkled in a tuna sandwich, before dismembering him.
Leiby died of acute intoxication from a mix of Tylenol and three prescription drugs - a painkiller, a muscle relaxer and an anti-psychotic medicine, an autopsy found.
A police source said the three prescription drugs belonged to the 35-year-old Aron.
Hours after he gave the boy the drugs, cops pounded on the suspect's door and found a grisly crime scene, including the boy's severed feet in a freezer.
The city medical examiner said Leiby, who was tied up at some point during his abduction, died of acute intoxication.
"He caused the child to ingest a large number of drugs," Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said, announcing the first-degree murder indictment.
In addition to the drugs, police sources said, Aron admitted using a towel to smother the boy. Police have found no evidence Leiby was sexually assaulted.
Leiby went missing in Borough Park on July 11 as he walked home alone from day camp for the first time and got lost.
Cops say the boy ran into Aron on the street and asked him for help but the man abducted him instead.
The suspect, a hardware store clerk, went to work the next day, leaving the good-natured Hasidic boy inside his small apartment in the suspect's parents' home. He left work just before 5 p.m. and returned to his attic lair.
The suspect told police he killed Leiby after freaking out when he learned of the massive search for the boy, authorities said.
Aron dismembered the lifeless boy, cutting his legs from his torso and his feet from his legs, Hynes said. Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, July 13, Aron ditched most of Leiby's remains in a Dumpster in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, sources said.
Less than three hours later, about 2:40 a.m., cops knocked on his door. Aron pointed to the freezer, where cops found Leiby's feet - chilling evidence in a crime that has shocked the insular Hasidic community and the entire city.
Here's the Kletzky family's statement:
By the Grace of G‑d
Tammuz 19, 5771 / July 21, 2011The traditional seven intense days of mourning (“shiva”) for our beloved Leiby are complete, but the ache in our hearts will remain forever.
We thank G‑d for the nearly nine beautiful years that He entrusted us with Leiby’s pure soul. We are certain that Leiby is now looking down from heaven and blessing us all.
We would like to once again thank all our friends and neighbors; all the selfless volunteers from near and far; local, city, state, and federal agencies; and all our fellow New Yorkers and beyond who assisted us physically, emotionally, and spiritually—as well as all of G‑d’s children around the world who held our dear Leiby in their thoughts and prayers.
We pray that none of you should ever have to live through what we did. But if any tragedy is to ever befall any of you, G‑d forbid, you should be blessed with a community and public as supportive as ours. We feel that through Leiby we’ve become family with you all.
Many of you have asked us what you can do now in Leiby’s memory, and how you can help us find comfort. Looking back at Leiby’s all-too-short years among us, here are a few ideas:
Acts of unity and lovingkindness. Let us perpetuate the feeling of collective responsibility and love expressed during the search for Leiby. An additional act of kindness toward your neighbor, or to those less fortunate than you, can go a long, long way toward perfecting our world. Putting a couple of coins into a charity box daily is oneway of tangibly expressing that lovingkindness.
Gratitude. Leiby deeply cherished his siddur, his prayerbook, and praying to G‑d meant the world to him. He was known by his teachers for his concentration in prayer, always being the last to finish. In Leiby’s memory, when you wake up each morning take a few moments to pray and reflect and thank G‑d for giving us life (“Modeh Ani” in the prayerbook).
Light. Every Friday evening our family sits down together for Shabbat dinner to the light of the Shabbat candles. A candle shines for each of our children—and Leiby’s candle will always be included. On Friday evening, please give a few coins to charity and light the candles before sunset with our beloved Leiby in mind.
Memorial fund. Together with Rabbi Binyamin Eisenberger, we have established a memorial fund to help people in dire need (www.leibykletzkymemorialfund.com), to channel the lovingkindness shown to us and our dear Leiby toward many, many others in need. We welcome your participation.
From the deepest place in our hearts, we thank you all for your help, your support and your prayers. May Leiby’s soul live on as a blessing inside each and every one of you.
Sincerely,
Nachman and Itta Kletzky