This is one of the most horrifying murders I've ever read about. Perhaps also because I, too, live in Brooklyn - though not in the neighborhood where this atrocity occurred - and I consider it as having happened practically in my back yard. Yesterday afternoon as I left my apartment building, I saw that a flyer with the boy's photo and description had been posted near the entrance. On the main shopping street a block away, several flyers were taped to light posts and visible in store windows. Then, this morning, I heard the tragic news and that a suspect had been arrested.

As I write this, there is a huge funeral in progress and thousands of people from the Hasidic Jewish community are expected to fill the streets in the Borough Park neighborhood.

And what about the bastard who murdered that poor, innocent child? According to what I heard on the news, his ex-wife was shocked at the arrest and said she couldn't imagine him doing such a thing. Perhaps. But it would be equally horrifying if this guy gets off on an insanity defense or something similar. Yes, I know, in this country everyone is entitled to be defended and represented by counsel, but my gut feelings say if there was ever a case where the death penalty should be considered (though admittedly,there hasn't been an execution here since 1976), this one is it.

Signor V.