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The big question is: What took so long?
As expected, the Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy on Wednesday announced that Grosse Pointe Park businessman Bob Bashara, who had become somewhat of a local household name, was being charged in the Jan. 24, 2012 slaying of wife Jane Bashara.
Deadline Detroit reported in November that authorities planned to charge Bashara in the murder. On Wednesay, he was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, perjury, witness intimidation and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutor Kym Worthy announces charges.
Worthy rattled off a number of reasons for the delay in charging. She said the intensive investigation required interviewing nearly 300 witnesses and reviewing about 5,000 documents. The investigative trail, she said, led to multiple states including Iowa, Illinois, Florida, Kentucky Oregon and Texas where a number of witnesses were. And multiple cell phones and computers were forensically analyzed.
"This case needed a great deal of care and attention," she said, noting that a lack of resources -- a sore point in her office -- also resulted in a delay in charges.
Nonetheless, she said of Bashara, 55,: "He was always a person of interest. "
From a layman's vantage point, the case seemed like a no-brainer after handyman Joe Gentz, 49, quickly came forward and confessed to killing Jane Bashara, 56, at the behest of Bob Bashara. He said Bashara had offered him $2,000 and a used Cadillac, and put a gun to his head to force him to pull off the murder.
But prosecutors privately had some concerns about relying too heavily on Gentz's testimony at a trial, considering he was mentally challenged and might be easily tripped up by a good defense attorney. And the case seemed to have, as Worthy said, a lot of "tentacles."
Worthy on Wednesday called Gentz a "strong witness" but added: "He's not the only witness."
Worthy said Bashara attempted to interfere with the investigation by encouraging witnesses to lie under oath and call in false tips. She also alleged that he got a witness to leave the state.
The investigator's case was bolstered when a businessman wore a wire last June and recorded Bashara offering to pay $20,000 to put a hit on Gentz, who was in the Wayne County Jail. The theory was he wanted to shut up Gentz before he could testify in the Jane Bashara murder.
Bashara was busted shortly after that and pleaded guilty to putting out the hit, which gave authorities more ammunition to proceed against him in his wife's murder.
Gentz has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Jane Bashara and was given 17 to 28 years in prison. As part of his plea, he agreed to cooperate against Bashara, who is being housed the Oaks Correctional Facility in Manistee, in northern Michigan.
Bashara in Department of Corrections Photo
Worthy thanked a host of law enforcement agencies that participarted in investigation including including police departments in Detroit, Grosse Pointe Park, the Michigan State Police and ATF, FBI and U.S. Secret Service.
The Detroit News had previously reported that police officials said Bashara wanted his wife killed so he could set up a sex dungeon in a house near his Grosse Pointe Park home, and he could live with his girlfriend and a woman from Oregon he'd met on a S&M related website.
