Suspect known in B'klyn as weird around children
Brooklyn loner Levi Aron gave people the creeps long before he was charged with slaughtering an innocent child.
The 35-year-old plumbing-supply store stockboy made his neighbors' skin crawl with the rides he gave neighborhood kids in his clunker Honda Prelude and the way he'd stare at local elementary-school students in a playground.
"The parents on the block wouldn't want their kids to go near him," said a neighbor, Chaim Lefkovitz, 39, who added that Aron was prone to furious outbursts.
"Sometimes he would just get angry out of nowhere," Lefkovitz added. "He was one of those people you stayed away from."
A family acquaintance, Lee Vogel, 21, said, "There was something strange about him. You know when you see Charles Manson, he has that look in his eye? Levi had that look."
Although Aron freaked out people who knew him, the only blemish on his record was a summons for public urination last year.
He worked at a job that paid just above minimum wage at Empire State Supply Co. in Borough Park. His boss called him a "quiet" but good worker.
"He seemed a little emotionally disturbed. He was very quiet, didn't communicate with people, and he went home," said shop owner Michael Panzer.
Co-workers described Aron as "slow." Some said there were signs of trouble.
"Casey Anthony didn't fit the profile for a killer," said a colleague. "But looking back now, this guy fit the profile."
Even as he kept to himself in public, Aron lived it up online.
He had a Facebook page with 220 friends, including many attractive young women. He listed Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and the Black Eyed Peas among his favorites. He also liked to watch "Glee" and "The Office."
Aron was married in 2004 to a woman named Diana Diunov, according to court records and Diunov's in-laws. The marriage lasted only about a year. After their breakup, Diunov, 38, was busted on federal fraud and conspiracy charges and is locked up in federal prison until next year.
About a year later, he met his next wife, Debby Kivel, 34, on a Jewish matchmaking Web site called SawYouAtSinai.com.
Kivel told The Post that she and Aron married in March 2006. Aron moved from Brooklyn to Memphis, Tenn., to be with her and her two children.
She described him as shy, but said he was a karaoke fanatic and lover of Lionel Richie who could, sing his songs "with lots of heart." He loved music, and even went to an "American Idol" event this year.
Kivel said he was injured at age 9 when a car hit his bicycle and it made him nervous around people.
"I am in shock," she said in Memphis. "He loved children. My kids are now 13 and 10 . . . and he loved them."
She said that he worked hard as a security guard to make ends meet, but that they eventually divorced in 2007 because of "a clash of character."
Still, she never saw the shocking criminal charges coming.
"I just talked to him -- he seemed like normal Levi," Kivel said. "Everything sounded fine and normal. This is totally out of character."
But not all of Kivel's family shared her rosy view.
"He was a creepy person," her father, Michael Kivel said. "I gather he went to Hebrew school, but wasn't smart enough and dropped out."
Things didn't go very smoothly during Aron's time in Memphis. After their marriage fell apart, Kivel said, she filed an order of protection against him. But she added that she did so only because a boyfriend told her it would expedite her divorce, and she later withdrew the order.
Debby Kivel said that after they broke up, Aron was once again briefly engaged.
His father, Jack, works in the accounts-payable division at a Manhattan photo store. Neighbors said that he is religious and domineering.
Several friends and neighbors said Aron's mom, Bayla, died of cancer about eight years ago. His sister, Sarah, died in 2009, according to public records. He also has two brothers, Rocky and Joe.
Aron, who has lived with his family in the area since the early 1980s, gave neighbors the creeps, even when he was young.
"When we walked into [his] house as kids, there was just a very eerie feeling in the air," said one neighbor. "It was not a nice place."
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