Bob Bashara Charged With 1st Degree Murder In Wife's Death

By Christy Strawser

DETROIT (CBS Detroit) Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced charges Wednesday including first degree murder against Bob Bashara in the death of his wife more than one year ago.

"I am confident that this concludes our investigation," Worthy said.

She called handyman Joseph Gentz "a strong and credible witness" in the case against Bashara, who is also charged with perjury, solicitation of murder, witness intimidation and witness tampering after allegedly trying to force one unnamed witness to move out of state.

It is always best and most efficient to do the work of the case before it's charged, even if we know the direction the case is going to take," Worthy said. "This case needed a great deal of care and attention."

Worthy would not discuss motives or the role of DNA in the charges, though she did say the case "has a lot of tentacles." She added she would "keep her opinion to herself" on Bashara himself.

Worthy made the announcement amid a gathering of FBI agents, Wayne County Sheriff's deputies, and police from Grosse Pointe Park.  There are 5,000 pages of documents associated with the case that stretches across numerous states including Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Texas. The witness list includes 300 people, she added.

She added she "couldn't even begin to imagine" how much the case has cost. Worthy's announcement comes almost two months since Gentz was sentenced to a minimum of 17 years in prison in Jane Bashara's death.

Gentz pleaded guilty to second degree murder — telling the court he strangled the Grosse Pointe Park mother of two at the behest of her husband, who gave him $2,000 for the task. Gentz was the first domino to fall for Bashara in the case of his marketing executive wife's death.

The case has drawn national attention with tales that Bashara, a business owner in tony Grosse Pointe, secretly ran a sex dungeon in the basement of one of his businesses, had "submissives" at his disposal and was known in chat rooms and at S&M parties as Master Bob. In TV interviews, Bashara denied having extramarital relationships, but two other women later came forward who claimed to be in relationships with him. The Basharas have two grown children.

In a plea deal with prosecutors, Gentz offering his testimony in any upcoming trial related to this case. His attorney has said his client "wants the truth to come out."

Gentz was also charged with conspiracy but that charge was dropped as part of the deal.

Bob Bashara was sentenced in a separate case to 80 months to 20 years in prison for hiring a hit man to kill Gentz in jail.