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Sources: Levi Aron, Accused Killer Of Leiby Kletzky, To Plead Guilty

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Accused child killer Levi Aron will plead guilty to the murder and dismemberment of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky, a prominent Brooklyn lawmaker said Wednesday.

"Levi Aron is going to plead guilty to the horrible murder of Leiby," Assemblyman Dov Hikind told CBS 2's Sean Hennessey.

Hennessey has also learned Aron is expected to plead guilty next Thursday, and that Kletzky's parents will be at the courthouse.

Photos: Leiby Kletzky Case

The family has agreed to the deal, as they have no desire to recount their pain through a trial, sources told 1010 WINS' Juliet Papa. Aron will reportedly be sentenced to 40 years-to-life in prison for last summer's brutal murder.

1010 WINS' Juliet Papa With More On The Story

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"They didn't want to go through a trial just because, I think everyone could imagine, to have to listen to the horror, to have to listen to the details," Hikind said.

Given the opportunity to say whether Aron would fight the charges, his lawyer, Jennifer McCann, chose not to do that, instead saying "I will neither confirm nor deny that. I have no comment," Hennessey reported.

Hikind said the family has been assured there won't be a trial.

"That's what they wanted to do, working with the DA, working with the attorneys for Levi Aron, that's exactly what's going to happen," Hikind said.

An intense two-day search last July for the missing Borough Park boy ended with the arrest of Aron after Kletzky's dismembered body was found in two different locations by police.

Kletzky was walking to his home from a camp and got lost. He stopped at 18th Avenue and 44th Street, where he is seen on video talking to Aron and asking for directions.

He was supposed to meet his mother at 5 p.m. at the corner of 13th Avenue and 50th Street.

Later, Kletzky was seen getting into Aron's gold-colored sedan.

Police said Aron drove young Kletzky to upstate Monsey, where he attended a wedding while the boy stayed in the car. Then they went back to Brooklyn, authorities said. The boy stayed in Aron's apartment all night and the next day while Aron went to work.

Aron was tracked down after investigators, looking for Kletzky, noticed a man on the video going into a nearby dentist's office while Kletzky waited across the street.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Aron panicked after seeing flyers of Kletzky around the neighborhood and killed the boy. According to statements Aron made, he brought the boy to his apartment, killed him there and dismembered the body, police said.

When investigators arrived at the home, they found the door slightly ajar and asked where the boy was; Aron nodded to the kitchen. There, they found blood on the refrigerator handle.

"Inside the refrigerator was a cutting board with three carving knives with blood on them," said Kelly. "Some of the remains were in the freezer."

Detectives found the other half of Kletzky's remains wrapped in a black plastic garbage bag inside a red suitcase in a dumpster in Sunset Park, about two miles from Aron's home.

"It's just a horror for every parent. I mean it's just a tragedy today for everyone in New York," Hikind said at the time.

Kletzky had begged his parents to let him walk home. They had given him a note, saying he would not be taking the bus.

Kelly said that his parents had gone over the route Kletzky was supposed to take home with him before letting him walk it alone.  His mother was waiting for him at a halfway point, which the young boy never made it to.

In Borough Park, some were surprised at the news of the plea.

"I thought he is going to plead insanity," Harry Gluck said.

While others said if Aron does plead guilty, it'll bring a welcome end to an ugly and painful chapter.

"We think it's about time the case will be over," Rabbi Levi Rottenberg said.

"He's being honest with what he did," resident Gila Finkelstein added.

"I'm happy that the family is not going to have to go through all that pain," resident Miriam Stein said.

In the wake of the infamous case, 150 surveillance cameras are supposed to be installed in the area. The theory is the more cameras, the more security so what happened to Kletzy never happens again, CBS 2's Hennessey reported.

Are you surprised by this development? Let us know below.

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