Jane Bashara Murder: Sources Say Possible 'Accomplice' in Custody

GROSSE POINTE PARK, Mich. (WJBK) -- "When I heard Grosse Pointe and the murder, it did cross my mind, his name, because I knew he had moved there," said Debra McWheter.

She and other women were not surprised to hear that Joseph Gentz may have been involved in Jane Bashara's murder. They were his neighbors at the Eagle Pointe Apartments in Saint Clair Shores until he was evicted, and they say he was the kind of man you didn't want anywhere near you, let alone next door.

"He was so big and angry," McWheter explained.

"He broke into the apartment above me twice," said former neighbor Glenda Southerland.

"He was squatting here threatening my life," said apartment manager Kellie Roddy.

"He'd walk around here like a caged bear," McWheter said.

She explained that she and Gentz went out a few times. She told us he didn't work and relied on disability. He has a daughter, who she said is now in foster care and at one point his mother had custody.

"The thing that scared me most about him was him talking about killing his mother. He literally would tell me I'm going to kill my mother. I'm going to have somebody do it," said McWheter.

Gentz moved out last fall and told neighbors he was moving to Grosse Pointe.

"He was moving in with his landlord. The landlord was going to be living upstairs. He was going to be living downstairs," McWheter told us.

Now, sources have said Gentz is in police custody. He has allegedly told police that Jane Bashara was viciously murdered in her garage and he helped dispose of her body.

Meanwhile, Jane Bashara's husband, Bob Bashara, the man that has been labeled as a person of interest, has brought in well known criminal defense attorney David Griem, who represented Stephen Grant for a short period of time. Grant was convicted of murdering and dismembering his wife in 2007.

Griem wouldn't say much outside the Bashara home Tuesday evening, but it appears he is preparing to raise some serious questions about this alleged accomplice.

"Very questionable, but again, out of respect for Jane Bashara, I have no other comment," he said.

Griem did shed a little light on his conversations with Bob Bashara and the couple's adult children.

"This is a very, very difficult time having lost their mother. They have nothing but love and support for their father," he explained. "All he has said to me is that [there is a] great sense of loss that he has for his wife and the fact that he's doing anything and everything he can do to make this as bearable as possible."

Griem has also said that Bob Bashara identified Gentz as someone who may have had it out for the family and put him on a list of people that police should look at. So, this is yet another strange connection.

As of 10:00 p.m. Tuesday, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office had not received a request for an arrest warrant in this case.

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Watch the video report for more on this case from FOX 2's Ronnie Dahl.