Bashara trial witness: Joe Gentz talked about being hired hitman

DETROIT – There was a contentious character on the witness stand Wednesday in the murder trial against Bob Bashara.

Lorna Beth Riikonen doesn't remember everything about her text message talks and phone calls with Joe Gentz, but she says she will never forget what Gentz told her.

Riikonen said she met Gentz on a cellphone singles website. She thought he was a biker. Instead, he started telling her that he'd been hired to kill someone.

"While he was in my vehicle, Mr. Gentz said somebody had offered him some money to put a hit out on someone else," she said.

Gentz is in prison after admitting he killed Jane Bashara. He claimed he was paid by her husband Bob to do the murder.

In earlier testimony heard Wednesday, Grosse Pointe Shores woman Joy Jolly talked about Bob's search for a home with his mistress, Rachel Gillett. Jolly's ex-husband was friends with Bob. She was selling her mother's house and was shocked when Bob brought Gillett with him to come look at the home.


-- Joy Jolly

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Jolly left Bob a scathing voicemail on his home answering machine after hearing he was gossiping about her. Then, Bob showed up again at her door.

"It was just Big Bob, he was just always real big and ... he was normal. It was normal. He wasn't angry or mad," said Jolly.

Also on the stand Wednesday was the first police officer called by Bob Bashara to report his wife was missing. The officer said he was frustrated because Bob could not remember basic facts about his wife.

Backstory:

Jane Bashara was found strangled on Jan. 25, 2012 inside her SUV that was parked in a Detroit alley, a few miles from the family's Grosse Pointe Park home.

Gentz, who worked as a handyman for Bob Bashara, has pleaded guilty to killing her, but saying he did so at her husband's behest.

Bob Bashara is already in prison after being convicted of trying to hire a hit man to kill Gentz.

Gentz will not testify in the trial against Bob.


About the Author:

Local 4 Defender Shawn Ley is an Emmy award-winning journalist who has been with Local 4 News for more than a decade.