In the quiet, affluent community of Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, the life of 56-year-old marketing executive Jane Bashara came to a shocking and tragic end. On January 24, 2012, after she was reported missing by her husband, her body was discovered in the backseat of her Mercedes-Benz SUV, abandoned in an alley in Detroit. An autopsy would later confirm that she had been strangled to death, with bruises and broken fingernails indicating she had fought for her life.
The initial investigation quickly zeroed in on her husband, Bob Bashara, who was named a person of interest after inconsistencies in his statements and a failed polygraph test raised red flags for law enforcement.
The case took a dramatic turn when a local handyman with a low IQ, Joseph Gentz, turned himself into police. Gentz confessed to the murder but claimed he had been hired by Bob Bashara to kill his wife. According to Gentz, Bashara had promised him between $2,000 and $8,000 and a used Cadillac to carry out the crime. Gentz stated that on the day of the murder, Bashara was present in the garage of their home and, after an argument with his wife, pulled a gun on Gentz and ordered him to 'shut her up.' Following his confession, Gentz was arrested in March 2012 and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
As the investigation deepened, a darker side of Bob Bashara's life emerged. Authorities uncovered his involvement in a BDSM lifestyle as 'Master Bob,' complete with a mistress and a desire for a life unencumbered by his marriage. The prosecution's theory was that Bashara wanted his wife out of the picture so he could freely pursue his alternative lifestyle. While Bashara's defense attorney painted a picture of an open marriage, the evidence suggested a more sinister motive. In a further twist, before he could be tried for his wife's murder, Bob Bashara was arrested and convicted of trying to hire a hitman to kill Joe Gentz while he was in jail.
In May 2013, Bob Bashara was arraigned on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and several other offenses related to his wife's death. His trial, which began in 2014, lasted for over two months and featured testimony from more than 70 witnesses. Joe Gentz, who had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 17 to 28 years in prison, gave a dramatic and detailed account of the murder, implicating Bob Bashara as the mastermind. On December 18, 2014, a jury found Bob Bashara guilty of his wife's murder. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Bob Bashara died in prison on August 17, 2020, at the age of 62.
